Google Introduces the Chromebook Pixel to Compete With the MacBook Air

Interesting that the screen is 4:3, and not a wider aspect ratio.

Whether or not this turns out to be the product that Google wants it to be, I'm glad the prices of high-resolution displays are coming down.

lanirugzo said:

Whatever they are smoking, I want the same!

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Definitely crack...

On the Pixel's site it says that leading laptops have 118 pixels/inch....

I think Pixel needs the i5 processor to run all the pre-installed tracking cookies, so google can sell your every move.

This must be the most expensive portable billboard ever made.

dgree03 said:

Everyone is missing the point on why this is so expensive...

You are paying for the 1tb for 3 years. Google currently charges $50 per month for that amount. So for 3 years that is $1800! So essentially you get the laptop for free...

Problem is your average customer will not care one bit... this is niche product.

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50$ a month. Wow. It's almost the price of a 1TB disk.

Renzatic said:

Eh. I think that's a matter of opinion more than any solid objective fact. There are tons of people out there getting used to Win8 touchscreen laptops who went from skeptical and unsure to loving the feature, and missing it when it's not around.

My opinion? I could take or leave raw touchscreen support. What I want is an onscreen digitizer.

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Agreed. Touchscreens aren't viable yet as the ONLY input device for day-to-day computing. The Surface is a great example of this, try to use the Surface without the Touch Cover or Type Cover and you quickly get frustrated, especially if you're trying to use Microsoft Office.

But as an additional input method, to augment the trackpad and mouse, it's actually really intuitive. I was skeptical too until I tried it. Now I'm very, very close to buying a Lenovo Yoga. But the more research I do, the more I realize how much a digitizer and stylus could be handy too. Now I'm seriously exploring the "pull apart" tablet/laptop combinations that offer stylus support, like the upcoming Thinkpad Helix.

johncrab said:

This is for those who looked at the Surface Pro and have been waiting for a more overpriced, fewer-featured, less capable piece of crap.

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So you're calling a MacBook Air a piece of crap?

Because from a "feature" perspective (touchscreen, Wacom pen, higher res display), the Surface Pro offers more than what you get with the Air.

dgree03 said:

Everyone is missing the point on why this is so expensive...

You are paying for the 1tb for 3 years. Google currently charges $50 per month for that amount. So for 3 years that is $1800! So essentially you get the laptop for free...

Problem is your average customer will not care one bit... this is niche product.

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I don't trust Google's cloud with all my data. Heck, I stopped using gmail.

johncrab said:

This is for those who looked at the Surface Pro and have been waiting for a more overpriced, fewer-featured, less capable piece of crap.

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I thought the day would never come

Fully secure OS???

mshahnoora said:

Expensive web-heavy OS which really lacks significant adoption in marketplace to make it worthwhile. Not to mention, secure.

There's a reason my company doesn't allow Andriod-based and other not-fully-secure OS's in our office.

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Wait, so what OS do you use? You do realize NO OS is fully secure, right?

The Next "Q"?

Brought to you by the same folks who gave us the Nexus Q. How long did that last? Two months? Perhaps the key is their tagline "For what's next" since this $1300 price tag certainly makes no sense "for what's now". Maybe they have a real OS up their sleeve for this thing. Android on a laptop? Who can say? But ChromeOS is a bad joke @ this price point.

I tried ChromOS. Still on training wheels. Price is the biggest impedement.

bushido said:

lmao is this 2004? or targeted towards hipsters?

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The engineers who designed it maybe haven't set foot outside the Googleplex since 2004.

Even though they didn't directly copy Apple products, but they copy Apple's marketing strategy. If Apple release a new product, they will match with similar thing.

Does anyone else think the Google's OS will eventually take the place of Windows?

1. Its free
2. Android will merge with it. PC / smartphone integration (just like ios)
4. Google's cloud integration
5. App store, for purchasing media and software apps.

I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

tkermit said:

That depends on what you consider to be the product. I would consider the combination of OS and hardware to be the product, in which case this is in absolutely no way comparable to what Apple puts out.

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Not sure why people are saying this looks good. To me it looks like a fake display model you'd see in a furniture store. And when closed the back looks hideous. No way on par with a MacBook.

$1300 for a Chromebook

KPOM said:

I don't trust Google's cloud with all my data. Heck, I stopped using gmail.

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Do you really think iCloud is more secure?

tmroper said:

the engineers who designed it maybe haven't set foot outside the googleplex since 2004.

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1999**

I wonder if you could install windows or even better OS/X on it...

I'll be honest, it looks really really cool. Would I spend $1300 on it? No

God, Google has become as shameless of copying Apple as Microsoft has.

I can't believe those two guys could sit in front of the camera with a straight face, as if what they were doing was actually original.

maxwelltech said:

$1300 for a Chromebook

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How quickly people forget how much they paid for a POS that was the first MBA (with way worse specs than Pixel BTW)!

this is an absurd price for a web only OS. absurd.

Avatarshark said:

List of reasons why this laptop won't take off

1. Price
2. Always-On internet connection
3. Wifi 1299
4. LTE 1499

Need anymore reason why it won't work?

Although I'll give you that 1tb of online storage space is tempting but if you are already on a tight budget you probably can't afford to stream 1tb of data per month (oh did it only mention that it includes on three months of storage, after that you got to pay). And as much as there are web apps, you just really can't replace the desktop apps. Even with Google Drive where I can create documents, more advanced features aren't there yet, some features you just can't export to the web as hard as you might try.

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The price is expensive, yes, but Chrome OS hasn't required an 'always-on' Internet connection for quite a long time now.

lilo777 said:

Do you really think iCloud is more secure?

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I think he's implying that Google's primary business is advertising - Apple's is selling Hardware and Software. So that alone makes iCloud more secure.

I'm pretty sure I read in some article that Google have the right to sell on data from Google Drive - something to do with T&C'S I could be wrong but I seem to remember reading that.