Google Chromebook Pixel Announced

We all know and love the Google Chromebook right? It’s cheap, looks good, secure and most importantly – fast. Yesterday in a blog post, Google announced the latest version of their little web based devices; the Chromebook Pixel.

The original Chromebooks are very popular with both professionals and users alike, wanting the convenience & speed of a high powered laptop, yet the battery life of a tablet. The Chromebook fills this void perfectly. However, the Pixel breaks this mould and is aimed towards the high end market like the Apple Macbook Air and the Asus Zenbook.

Specification

The specs are definitely higher than that of the original Google Chromebook, with a 32GB SSD instead of the 16GB in the original Chromebooks, double the RAM at 4GB and the bulky Intel Core i5 dual core 1.8GHz CPU is a big jump up from the Atom found in the original Chromebooks.

Then there is the screen, and oh what a screen it is! The Chromebook Pixel sports a 12.85″ Gorilla Glass touch screen, with a 3:2 aspect ratio and a magnificent screen resolution of 2560×1700 utilising 239 PPI. It really is a far cry from the 1366×768 screens found in the original Chromebooks, and in many laptops these days.

Along with the higher specs of the hardware, the Pixel also comes with a few extra goodies like a backlit Chromebook keyboard and a huge 1TB of Google Drive storage for three years. There is of course all the usual stuff like a couple of USB ports, Wi-Fi B/G/N, Bluetooth and an SD card reader.

A winning formula?

Well, I personally don’t think so. You see, the specifications of this device are very good but I would have liked to see a larger amount of local storage available, especially when you consider the 1TB of cloud storage that comes with the device. Having the ability to store more data offline would be a real advantage and have many more users adapt to using the device. If the Pixel came with a 128GB SSD or even a 256GB the for me personally, the Pixel would be very hard to refuse.

The big stinger and probably a deal breaker for many prospective buyers is the price. The Chromebook Pixel costs a huge £1,049 here in the UK which translates to $1,299  over in the USA. With much more powerful devices on the market for a lot less money, I really can’t see why anyone would want to buy this device over others like the Macbook Air or Asus Zenbook. If you want to take a closer look at the Pixel, here is a video straight from the guys at Google.

Conclusion 

The Chromebook Pixel is a beautifully designed piece of kit and does look stunning. But with it being five times the price of the Acer Chromebook I really can’t see there many early adopters. but maybe I’m missing something here and you guys can see an advantage that I can’t? If so, please let us know in the comments section below. Personally, I won’t be buying one any time soon.