Ondrej Holzman Google has shown off a new Chromebook aimed at Apple's MacBooks. It's called the Chromebook Pixel, it's powered by Chrome OS for the web, and it has a great display. The price starts at 1300 dollars (about 25 thousand crowns).
The Pixel is a new generation of Chromebooks where Google combines the best of hardware, software and design. "We spent a long time experimenting with different surfaces under the microscope until we came up with one that is very pleasant to the touch," said a representative of Google, which wants to offer the best laptop for demanding users who are surrounded by the cloud.
The Pixel is equipped with a 12,85-inch Gorilla Glass touchscreen display with a resolution of 2560×1700 with 239 PPI (pixel density per inch). These are practically the same parameters as the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, which also has only 227 PPI. According to Google, this is the highest resolution on a laptop in history. "You'll never see a pixel again in your life," reports Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome. Nevertheless, such a display has an aspect ratio of 3:2 in order to best display the content of the website. The screen is thus almost the same in height and width.
The Chromebook Pixel is powered by a dual-core Intel i5 processor clocked at a frequency of 1,8 GHz and with Intel HD 4000 graphics and 4 GB of RAM should achieve the same performance as current Windows ultrabooks. Google claims that the Pixel can play several 1080p videos at once, but this takes its toll on battery life. It manages to power the new Chromebook for about five hours.
Available in the Pixel you will have either 32GB or 64GB of SSD storage, a backlit keyboard, two USB 2.0 ports, a Mini Display Port and an SD card reader. There is also Bluetooth 3.0 and a webcam recording in 720p.
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The Pixel runs the Chrome OS web operating system that Google introduced almost two years ago. The software offering isn't yet nearly as extensive for Chrome OS as the competition, but Google says it's working hard with developers.
The Pixel will be sold in two variants. A version with Wi-Fi and a 1299GB SSD is available for $25 (about 32 crowns). The model with LTE and 64GB SSD is marked with a price tag of 1449 dollars (about 28 crowns) and will reach the first customers at the beginning of April. The Wi-Fi version will go on sale in the US and UK next week. You'll also get 1TB of Google Drive free for three years when you buy a new Chromebook.
Based on the price, it is clear that Google is changing its strategy and the Chromebook Pixel is clearly becoming a premium product. This is the first Chromebook designed by Google itself, and it takes on both the MacBook Air and the Retina MacBook Pro. However, the question remains as to how much of a chance it has to succeed. If we consider that for the same price we will buy a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, which has a proven ecosystem with many applications behind it, Google has a problem with its Chrome OS. Developers will have to get used not only to the new system, but also to the non-traditional resolution and aspect ratio.
Well, phew.
First impression: very useless thing. Without instant web access, nota bene fast access, it's just a piece of fancy aluminum, silicon and glass. Maybe on the desk of some geeky boss or some really strong lover of this company.
All competition is good ;) Of course, retina notebooks cannot threaten this product, but it's competition and they came up with something new. Cloud notebook, in general, is being worked on recently, everyone is pushing everything somewhere in the cloud.
would you say another failed copy of MBA (MBP)
We will not buy an MBP with retina for the same price, on Apple CZ I sell it for 38 CZK, maybe without retina, it is only 990 CZK.
nice article, but somehow your statement "...If we assume that for the same price we will buy a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display..." for the same price? After all, the cheapest 13″ with retina costs 39, which makes a difference, wow: 11. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I took the American prices, where we agree on 1499 dollars. It's not worth recalculating it to Czech crowns, I don't know the Czech price of the Pixel, if it ever will be.
design like from '86 :D
Well, this doesn't even come close to a MacBook...shocker. Apple definitely doesn't have to worry about competition from the "Chromebook" type.
So it seems to me that they beat the advertisement as well, with only one trick to make it not really look the same, so they have a black background, but otherwise the style of performance, music, details, they simply borrowed the director from Apple...
I'm asking for a better wording of what you actually want to tell us. It's a connection to me that "Chromebook targets Macbook".. Targeting and target group is one thing, mostly in relation to people. What is the next sales strategy, against which product the novelty will be positioned as the main competitor, that is another matter. Maybe you don't mind, but it catches my eye.
That Frostík + Hanuschi:
Check prices in America.
MacBook Pro, 13 inch, Retina display, 2,5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, endurance 7 h = $1.
Chromebook Pixel 12,85 inch, 1,8 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, LTE, battery life 5 h = $1.
so the only thing Pixel is better at is LTE, worse in everything else.. the hardware is more similar to the basic Macbook Air 13″: 1,8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 7 h endurance = $1,199.00, so $200 cheaper.
"Nevertheless, such a display has an aspect ratio of 3:2 in order to display as well as possible
website content. The screen is thus almost the same in height and width."
I would have expected such stupidity somewhere on the internet, but here..
Boxed copy of MBP 13″…
So in the first seconds of the ad I thought it was really an ad for some apple product.
32GB SSD for that price? Quite a nice but expensive web browser. No matter what, I don't know why, I like the colorful gay salt
I like it a lot!
It's just necessary to appreciate Google's efforts for something similar to what Apple offers. They target the segment where they want to offer what Apple offers in better parameters at a lower price. I'm sure a lot of people will buy it.
However, the parameters are not much, mainly 32 or 64GB SSD, that is very little, there is no information about whether it is SATA II or SATA III, the use of USB 2.0 is also strange in today's and much faster USB 3.0 era. Battery life is normal, no wow effect. The frequency of the processor is also low compared to Apple, although probably sufficient. They just created such a stretch to say: we also have a super high-resolution display, but not much inside. I would rather expect 8GB of RAM, is there any possibility of expanding from the standard 4GB to more? Or the possibility of a higher freq processor?
And it's like they're trying to make people mistake it for a macbook pro?
And what can be done about it...?
Do you think it is possible to install Win7?
After all, nothing works on chrome os. The entire laptop will only be overpriced for the internet browser. I'd rather have an iPad :)