Chromebook Pixel—Google’s groundbreaker laptop

Google has once again stunned the tech world. The new laptop they unveiled yesterday in San Francisco—the ‘Chromebook Pixel’— stands out for many things radically new.

Its specs compete with any of the existing Ultrabooks or Macbooks; its resolution outdoes the best existing ones by almost 100 percent. That’s as good as, if not better than, what Apple calls ‘retina display’. 

It has touchscreen, along with a keyboard and mousepad; the high-res touchscreen allows all the fancies and utilities like ‘tap’, ‘pinch to zoom’ and ‘swipe’.

Chromebook Pixel runs on Intel Core i5 processor and comes out in two models: 32 GB model with WiFi only, 64 GB model with WiFi and LTE.

Apart from the 32 GB or 64 GB built-in storage, Google offers 1TB free space on Google Drive for three years.

In addition to all regular Google apps and docs, Chrome Pixel buyers can enjoy seamless integration with Microsoft Office—to satisfy the MS Office fanatics Google is offering Quick Office for free.

Where to buy: The Chromebook Pixel is already available in Google Play, and shall soon be available on bestbuy.com.

The Price: The google blog says it has aimed the Chromebook Pixel for ‘especially for power users who have fully embraced the cloud’.  Hence, unlike the earlier Chromebooks from Google and its partner manufacturers like Samsung, Acer and HP, which are sold for as low as $199, the Chromebook Pixel targets an elite class of buyers who don’t bother about the price, but minds the performance; users who are happy working on the cloud across superfast connectivity. Hence the price is in the upper band: $ 1299 for 32 GB WiFi model; $ 1449 for the 64 GB LTE model.

More details (as touted by Google and gleaned from sneak previews)

Screen: 12.85-inch touch-sensitive Gorilla Glass screen. 2560 x 1700 pixels on 12.85 inch screen translate to 4.3 million pixels, i.e. 239 pixels per inch whereas the best current laptops give a resolution of 118 ppi according to Google.

OS: Chrome

Webcam: 720p

Audio: Powerful, full-range speakers tucked under the backlit keyboard. Three microphones designed and deployed in a manner that cancels all surrounding noise—two mics on either side of the cam, one laser mic under the keyboard. These ensure, Google claims, that the system cancels out even some keyboard tapping noises that you may make during videoconferences.

Look and feel: Anodized aluminium alloy body that is smooth and durable; vents and screws are hidden, ports are not marked.

Speed: Driven by Intel Core i5 processor and solid state flash memory architecture, it is quick and agile.

Security: built-in antivirus protection, regular updates every few weeks