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Google has just announced the latest addition to its lineup of web-centric Chromebook laptops. Unlike prior variants that drew their main value from their low price tag, the new Chromebook Pixel hopes to entice another set of users who live in the cloud and are willing to spend ‘a little more’ for better specs. That includes a 12.85 inch 2560×1700 touch screen, Core i5 CPU, bigger SSD and 1TB of storage on Google Drive for three years.
Starting at $1,299 for the basic Wi-Fi version, however, the Chromebook Pixel is definitely not for everyone.
As the name suggests the high resolution screen is the highlight of this device. With a pixel density of 239 pixels per inch it manages to outclass the 220 PPI of Apple’s MacBook Pro with Retina display, and the use of a 3:2 aspect ratio is supposed improve viewing web content with 18% more vertical space than a 16:9 layout.
It's thicker and boxier than the MacBook Pro but it shares some design elements and there's similar attention to detail. From the invisible speakers that fire upwards through the keyboard, to the vents hidden in the hinge, a full-sized LED-backlit keyboard, and a large glass touchpad tuned with a laser for a grippy finish. Hands-on impressions popping up across the web all agree that if feels like a solid piece of kit.
Under the hood you’ll find a dual-core Intel Core i5 processor alongside 4GB of DDR3 RAM and 32GB of flash storage -- nothing to rival a similarly priced Windows laptop but then again you don’t need much more for Chrome OS. Other features include Bluetooth 3.0, an SD slot, two USB 2.0, one Mini DiasplayPort, and a trio of integrated mics that cancel out background noise when videoconferencing on the 720p webcam.
An LTE-equipped model with 64GB of storage is scheduled to arrive in early April for $1,449.
Google’s app suite including services like Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, Google Maps, and Search are all a few clicks away, with another couple of thousand more available on the Google Web Store. The company also demoed a new Google+ app that should arrive in a few weeks, as well as new Quick Office integration so you can open and edit Word and Excel documents natively from Google Docs.
The Chromebook Pixel will be available on the Google Store and in select Best Buy locations nationwide.
We can’t fault Google for trying something different and bold with Chrome OS, but at that price it’ll be a hard sell when you can get more for less. Even with the high resolution display as a key selling point it’s hard to justify the investment when a higher-spec MacBook Pro with Retina display running a full fledged desktop OS costs $50 more. Sadly, there are still no high-resolution alternatives available from the Windows camp.
User Comments: 44
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avoidz said:
No hard drive [almost] so viva Cloud! - the way to go - never worry about your documents again.
Yeah, no need to worry about online storage, safe as houses. Nothing ever went wrong with data stored online :|
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I would rather build a hi spec PC with the money. You could get a super CPU and graphics card and have money spare for twin monitors.
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Why an i5, 4gb of ram, and a high res screen for surfing the web... so stupid
An i5 isn't much in a laptop. My i5-2430M (In my XPS L702x) is a great CPU but its nothing more then dual core with HT and turbo boost. 4GB isn't much these days either, I consider it to be the bare minimum.
It takes some power to fly around on the web now with many sites having advanced media and flash built-in ,and anything less then 900p for a resolution is trash IMO.
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JC713 said:
An i5 isn't much in a laptop. My i5-2430M (In my XPS L702x) is a great CPU but its nothing more then dual core with HT and turbo boost. 4GB isn't much these days either, I consider it to be the bare minimum.It takes some power to fly around on the web now with many sites having advanced media and flash built-in ,and anything less then 900p for a resolution is trash IMO.
Yes, 4GB is not much these days for Windows, Linux, and OSX PCs. More advanced OS'-such as Windows-have more capabilities than Chrome OS, and therefore need to cache more processes and use more memory. The reason they bumped the memory from 2GB (from cheaper Chromebooks) to 4GB is probably because of the shared memory with the graphics.
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davislane1 said:
According to this article, someone just out appled Apple. Never thought I'd see the day.
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ArthurZ said:
Yeah, no need to worry about online storage, safe as houses. Nothing ever went wrong with data stored online :|Every piece of data hitting the Cloud is replicated across several different locations making daya loss nearly impossible.
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JC713 said:According to this article, someone just out appled Apple. Never thought I'd see the day.
Not with the price tag. you can get a 13 inch retina MacBook Pro for $1500 and it has a much more robust system with more capabilities.
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davislane1 said:you can get a 13 inch retina MacBook Pro for $1500 and it has a much more robust system with more capabilities.
That was my point...
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How good is the Intel® HD Graphics 4000 (Integrated)?It should drive full HD Blu-Ray with no problem.
At least the desktop version will. It's all about home theater, not gaming on a grand scale.
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In case you haven't notice, Google is already expanding its market base. I won't be surprised if they start taking over the desktop market as well."The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". (Edmund Burke).
So then,"good men", should buy something else. After all, Google can't expand into a market that that isn't open to them, now can they?
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JC713 said:It should drive full HD Blu-Ray with no problem.
At least the desktop version will. It's all about home theater, not gaming on a grand scale.
I feel like this is the issue with running at high resolutions it does it fine, but as for the 15 inch MacBook Pro, I dont get why apple only offers 1GB of VRAM when it should be 2GB @ those resolutions
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The internals of the Samsung series 3 Chromebook are perfectly adequate for running Chrome OS, would have brought the price down massively, as well as running cooler and quieter and allowing a thinner form factor, so why they felt the need to lumber it with an i5 is beyond me. The logic behind the use of the 3:2 aspect ratio for the screen is similarly lost on me.
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JC713 said:
Yeah I hate square screens
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The internals of the Samsung series 3 Chromebook are perfectly adequate for running Chrome OS, would have brought the price down massively, as well as running cooler and quieter and allowing a thinner form factor, so why they felt the need to lumber it with an i5 is beyond me.Good thinking, but rather backwards. They're not trying to drive the price down, they're trying to drive it up with an i5. I think the children call it, "street cred"!The logic behind the use of the 3:2 aspect ratio for the screen is similarly lost on me.The "3:2" aspect ratio is, and has been for decades, the format for the 35mm camera. (1:66:1:00). Hi-Def aspect ratio, (IMHO) is useless below about 23" diag!
Common photo image ratios are as low as 4:5, (8" X 10"
. You simply can't render them at 1:1 with 16:9 monitor smaller than about 22". So, you can't use a stinking hi-def laptop to show granny's 8 x 10 vertical portrait @ 1:1Yeah I hate square screensIf this is in response to our illustrious guest's post, 3:2 isn't square, 2:2 is. (Customarily this is given the LCD(*) treatment. So then "square" = 1:1)I feel like this is the issue with running at high resolutions it does it fine, but as for the 15 inch MacBook Pro, I dont get why apple only offers 1GB of VRAM when it should be 2GB @ those resolutionsWhy does it need 2GB of Vram? It's not intended as a gaming platform.Besides, the "Retina Display" is mostly smoke, mirrors, and bulls***. You can't possibly put enough graphics power in a laptop to drive the display at its native resolution. They're supplying the same information across several pixels. At least @ 2:1, possibly 3:1.
Think about it. 300 ppi, would be a total resolution of 3000px on a screen of 10 inches. At 15 inches, 300 ppi would 4500px. Now tell me where you're going to find a laptop VGA that will drive at a resolution of 3000 x 4500?
(*) "LCD", archaic acronym for "lowest common denominator".
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JC713 said:
I am confused... where did ya get 3k by 4.5k? Isnt it a 2560 by 1600 resolution? Also yeah, it isnt for gaming, but if you use a Mac for professional purposes, making a video or image at that resolution will be tough without 2GB of VRAM
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Why an i5, 4gb of ram, and a high res screen for surfing the web... so stupid
Because it's not for just surfing the web. What do you fools think you are using literally on all other Operating Systems for local file management? Yeah.... basically your Browser Engine! lol.....
NOW..... let's take this back to the days of Microsoft declaring that Explorer.... and therefore Internet Explorer was part of the system. Only difference is that Google doesn't allow their Chrome Browser to explore internal local system files and that's exactly how Apple designed Mac OS X, but w/o encrypted security of Cloud computing. You can use a CLI terminal in any of these operating systems including within Chrome OS. In fact the Browser GUI (, Finder, Sherlock, Safari Engine/Spotlight) is primarily wrapped up on top of the system. Yet only Google's Chrome OS keeps their Browser (file manager) GUI sandboxed off the system used primarily to manage it's Cloud Storage rather than local storage.
This phenomenal Pixel laptop is around 10 times more secure than it's local stored competitors, that never bother to encrypt data to local storage drives. Yet.... Google Chrome can encrypt all your data on the fly (SSL) and it's all stored that way on Google Drive. Safe from hackers, or even Google's prying eyes, because only you have the keys!
Basically the whole reason, Enterprise and Government are so interested in Cloud Computing is users are totally Anonymous and encrypted. So hackers not only have to hack Google (let's say), but they have to hack each and every encrypted Cloud based user and even the NSA has a hard time doing that. Because they don't know who you are until they hack Google first and then hack you. This is the primary reason for Cloud Computing in the first place. Your computing is done locally, but all stored securely in the Cloud among a myriad of other encrypted users..... so YOUR SECURITY IS ACTUALLY ENHANCED and GUARANTEED!
So there you have it..... somebody could hack your new Chromebook Pixel locally, steal it or break it, etc, but it really doesn't matter. Because all your data is stored remotely totally encrypted on top of that anonymity. You never lose your data and so even if the system crashes, your data is still SAFE! .....and yet you never lose even one single key stroke. Because Chrome OS has it all saved securely in the cloud for your instant retrieval! ....Chrome OS using Chrome as it's GUI is totally irrelevant!!!
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JC713 said:
It is still not worth 1300 bucks out of my pocket. Heck, I feel like this could be a step in the wrong direction but could also help push high resolution in the PC market. Maybe if they lower the price tag next version, make it slimmer and more stylish, maybe give it an i3, and increase its functionality. I would probably pay at most 800 for a chromebook, and that is a bit too much.
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I am confused... where did ya get 3k by 4.5k? Isnt it a 2560 by 1600 resolution? Also yeah, it isnt for gaming, but if you use a Mac for professional purposes, making a video or image at that resolution will be tough without 2GB of VRAMThis is partly due to the fact I steer well clear of Apple's product and Apple's hype.
To the best of my knowledge Apple is calling their "Retina Display", in the iPhone, a "retina display" because it has the same resolution as the human eye, which ostensibly, (at least according to Apple), is 300dpi.
If they've decided that that is no longer the case, or if they've chosen to call lower pixel per inch "retina display" as well, I'm not aware of it. Or if they're not calling the Mac Book Pro a "retina display" I'm not aware of that either. Any calculations I put down, were based on the iPhone BS.
From my point of view 2GB of Vram isn't necessary (? ), at the anticipated refresh / framing rates, which in the case of this notebook, should be nearly the same. (60 FPS).
I understand that that high end gaming cards have huge amounts of Vram, but their game framing rates can be in excess of 200FPS. In the case of the stated resolution of the Mac Book Pro, the video is only going to scale standard 1080P to the 2500ppi, not run a game at that actual resolution. When playing a 1080P source, does the Mac Book have black bars on the screen?
As far as the "retina display" concept goes, I continue to think it's nonsense. The smaller you make a pixel, the smaller it's angle of emission becomes. As that happens, the worse its off angle viewing becomes. I suspect the quickest way to resolve that, it to engineer light leakage between the cells. And doing so, kind of defeats the purpose. (IMO, of course).
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JC713 said:
Interesting, thanks for the explanation.
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