Google Chromebook Pixel revealed: Has Apple Retina-rivalling touchscreen
The Chromebook just got serious: Google have revealed the Chromebook Pixel, a high-resolution notebook using their Chrome OS, following weeks of speculation and leaks.
Packing in a 2560×1700, 239ppi touchscreen display 12.85 inches in size, it’s bigger than Chromebook’s from Google’s partners, with its anodized aluminum body clearly looking to court those who’d otherwise look towards purchasing an Apple MacBook Air. Indeed, it’s got 19 more pixels per inch than even Apple’s might MacBook Pro with Retina display.
Interestingly, the Chromebook Pixel sports a 3:2 ratio display. Google executives state this is due to its web-centric nature – websites use more vertical designs than standard applications, and this unusual screen size will accommodate it by meaning you won’t have to scroll around them as much to view them. The screen also boasts a 400 nit brightness and 178-degree wide viewing angle.Though using the web-only Chrome OS (the Pixel will come in both Wi-Fi only and a Wi-Fi and 4G variant in the States), the machine is fairly well spec’d compared to the standard low-powered Chromebooks on the market. Though storage space remains low, with only 32GB and 64GB SSD variants available (Chrome OS encourages you to save all your files in the Cloud through Google’s Drive storage service, and 1TB of free storage for three years is offered with the Pixel), under the hood also sits a decent 1.8GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB RAM. Don’t expect to do any serious gaming on the device though; its only Intel’s integrated Graphics 4000 card on offer here.
Other features include a backlit keyboard, glass touchpad, two mics with noise cancelling tech, a 720p webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, a mini-display port and a two-in-one SD and MMC card reader.
It wont come cheap though. Expect to pay $1,299/£1,049 for the Wi-Fi only version, while the LTE build will cost $1,449 in the States. So far, no 4G version is slated for release in the UK. Cost taks into account onboard storage capacities; 32GB for Wi-Fi only, while there’s 64GB in the LTE model.
