We told you awhile back that it looked like Google was planning to make the move to the high-end with a new laptop dubbed the Chromebook Pixel, which looked to be designed to take on the Macbook Air. Today, in an effort to sate power-hungry cloud users, Google launched the $1,299 laptop with a high-resolution touch screen.
CNET:
“The goal was to push the boundary and build something premium,” Sundar Pichai, the senior vice president of engineering in charge of Chrome and the Google Apps online services, said in an interview. Google engineers set out on the “labor of love” project two years ago, asking themselves, “What could we do if we really wanted to design the best computer possible at the best price possible?”
The 3.3 pound computer is designed to bring a little more high-end pizzaz to a lineup that’s been all about low-cost.
The new Chromebook Pixel is priced MUCH higher than the previous top of the line Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 was at $550. The two Chromebook Pixel models that will be available in the U.S. are a Wi-Fi only model with a 32GB SSD for $1,299, and a 64GB $1,499 model that adds 4G LTE Verizon service. Prices also include 3-years of access to 1TB of cloud storage space on Google Drive, and 12 sessions of GoGo Inflight Internet access.
The device features an nice set of hardware specs, with a 12.85 inch high-density 2560×1700 touchscreen (that’s 4.3 million pixels) with a 3:2 aspect ratio, Intel i5 processor (Dual Core 1.8GHz), Intel HD Graphics 4000 (Integrated), 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, Dual-band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, and Bluetooth 3.0.
TechCrunch did a nice chart, seen below, that compares the “Pixel” to the Microsoft Surface Pro, and the Apple MacBook Air. (Click the chart to view a larger version.)
For more information, visit the Chromebook Pixel website.
