The Chromebook Pixel(chrome.blogspot.com)
chrome.blogspot.com
The Chromebook Pixel
http://chrome.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-chromebook-pixel-for-whats-next.html
487 comments
I wonder if they are doing this, at least in part, because they really want a Chromebook that is high-end to display in their physical stores? Maybe having a really nice, really expensive Chromebook will make the brand not seem cheap to casual store browsers.
The Verge has more pictures.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/21/4013480/google-chromebook-...
It looks an awful lot like a Macbook: Just witness the aluminum-like color and the black bevel around the screen. Where it looks different, it's uglier. The hinge looks particularly bad. And judging by the pictures it's an awful lot bulkier than a Macbook Air.
Chrome OS strikes me as an underpowered OS. That is, there's a lot it won't do and it seems mostly suitable for underpowered machines.
UPDATE: this paragraph is wrong; I stand corrected! -- The ChromeBook Pixel has a 4:3 display. Now, I recently came across an old laptop of mine that had a 4:3 display and it looked off. I'm not saying that 4:3 aspect ratio a bad choice in an objective sense, but it strikes me as a bad choice from a marketing point of view.
For one hundred dollars less you can get a 13" Macbook Air. For two hundred dollars more you can get a 13" Macbook Pro with Retina Display. Both these machines seem better than the Chromebook Pixel in every way, including battery life (7 hours versus 5).
In conclusion, I think this is going to fail badly.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/21/4013480/google-chromebook-...
It looks an awful lot like a Macbook: Just witness the aluminum-like color and the black bevel around the screen. Where it looks different, it's uglier. The hinge looks particularly bad. And judging by the pictures it's an awful lot bulkier than a Macbook Air.
Chrome OS strikes me as an underpowered OS. That is, there's a lot it won't do and it seems mostly suitable for underpowered machines.
UPDATE: this paragraph is wrong; I stand corrected! -- The ChromeBook Pixel has a 4:3 display. Now, I recently came across an old laptop of mine that had a 4:3 display and it looked off. I'm not saying that 4:3 aspect ratio a bad choice in an objective sense, but it strikes me as a bad choice from a marketing point of view.
For one hundred dollars less you can get a 13" Macbook Air. For two hundred dollars more you can get a 13" Macbook Pro with Retina Display. Both these machines seem better than the Chromebook Pixel in every way, including battery life (7 hours versus 5).
In conclusion, I think this is going to fail badly.
Am i the only one seeing this as a high-end computer with :
- Linux drivers working out of the box
- Amazing screens
- Very easy to transform into a full fledged Linux development machine
I hope it can fit the bill, certainly looks promising from that perspective ! Anybody has a link to full specs ?
- Linux drivers working out of the box
- Amazing screens
- Very easy to transform into a full fledged Linux development machine
I hope it can fit the bill, certainly looks promising from that perspective ! Anybody has a link to full specs ?
As a Chromebook user, I find this device both very intriguing and expensive. I use my Chromebook for writing, Web surfing, light code work. It's a nice little machine to have around. It's not the main event, however.
For heavy-duty work, I use my 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which not only has a much better screen, touchpad and other hardware, but it also has a big SSD and a full-fledged OS. Chrome OS is not a OS X competitor, and there are a lot of things I simply cannot do on ChromeOS. The beauty of ChromeOS is that its a lightweight OS that can be placed on cheap hardware to make it usable and fast by serving as a thin client. I don't see it as a great OS to stick on expensive hardware.
I find the Pixel to be an intriguing device, and hope that all laptops have high pixel density screens within five years. This price point is too high for ChromeOS. I'm not spending $1,000 for a machine that cannot do certain computing tasks.
There are no good graphic or photo editors in the cloud. Editing audio and video is very difficult to do as well. Using your machine as a development device without connecting to a server is not possible. Not to mention that the MacBook Pro can play games, run Windows and Linux, etc.
The Retina MacBook may have cost more than the Pixel is going to, but it is worth several times more. Not to mention that Apple has spent a lot of time working with hiDPI screens and has made the OS work well for it.
What would make an intriguing price point? $799. Perhaps $999. It will come down to the software, however. I've never see ChromeOS with a touchscren. Maybe it'll work well, and maybe what would really work well is a Pixel-like device with a detachable screen. But the kind of people that spend more than $1,000 on a computer are looking for more than just a thin client.
For heavy-duty work, I use my 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which not only has a much better screen, touchpad and other hardware, but it also has a big SSD and a full-fledged OS. Chrome OS is not a OS X competitor, and there are a lot of things I simply cannot do on ChromeOS. The beauty of ChromeOS is that its a lightweight OS that can be placed on cheap hardware to make it usable and fast by serving as a thin client. I don't see it as a great OS to stick on expensive hardware.
I find the Pixel to be an intriguing device, and hope that all laptops have high pixel density screens within five years. This price point is too high for ChromeOS. I'm not spending $1,000 for a machine that cannot do certain computing tasks.
There are no good graphic or photo editors in the cloud. Editing audio and video is very difficult to do as well. Using your machine as a development device without connecting to a server is not possible. Not to mention that the MacBook Pro can play games, run Windows and Linux, etc.
The Retina MacBook may have cost more than the Pixel is going to, but it is worth several times more. Not to mention that Apple has spent a lot of time working with hiDPI screens and has made the OS work well for it.
What would make an intriguing price point? $799. Perhaps $999. It will come down to the software, however. I've never see ChromeOS with a touchscren. Maybe it'll work well, and maybe what would really work well is a Pixel-like device with a detachable screen. But the kind of people that spend more than $1,000 on a computer are looking for more than just a thin client.
So, it is real!
It looks awesome, but at $1,299, I don't think it's priced well. That's $100 more than a 13" MacBook. I just don't see that much value in a Chromebook at this point in time.
It looks awesome, but at $1,299, I don't think it's priced well. That's $100 more than a 13" MacBook. I just don't see that much value in a Chromebook at this point in time.
To help get context on this, I went back in time and looked at discussion about the initial iPad launch:
- http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1081505
- http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1081140
The first poll is especially telling. Overwhelmingly, people said they wouldn't get this device (2/3 of the voters). The initial iPad was obviously very successful.
The complaints in the second thread are largely a mirror of the conversation in this thread, except for back then, nobody came up with counterarguments in favor of the iPad. Does that indicate that the market for this sort of thing is different these days?
- http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1081505
- http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1081140
The first poll is especially telling. Overwhelmingly, people said they wouldn't get this device (2/3 of the voters). The initial iPad was obviously very successful.
The complaints in the second thread are largely a mirror of the conversation in this thread, except for back then, nobody came up with counterarguments in favor of the iPad. Does that indicate that the market for this sort of thing is different these days?
I know this is going to seem like a nitpick, but laptops without magnetic power connectors these days just feel cheap. It's such a simple addition that greatly improves the product. I don't see why larger companies aren't all converting over to them. I know apple has a patent on them, but there's tons of prior art for heaven's sake. I think the only non-apple product out there I've seen with them on it is the microsoft surface (though admittedly the surface one is pretty bad, it's still better than this style of connector).
Overall though it seems like a nice product. I'd probably be interested if I could install ubuntu on it.
Overall though it seems like a nice product. I'd probably be interested if I could install ubuntu on it.
That is one beautiful laptop (note that it's not 16:9 either). I feel like we're missing something, there's no way Google would be blind enough to build such a powerful machine (vs existing Chromebooks) that's so limited by the OS. There's either something we aren't being told or Google's jumped entirely off the deep end.
(Alternative: there's no way they could do a "Retina" Chromebook for reasonably cheap, but the Nexus 10 would seem to disprove that)
(Alternative: there's no way they could do a "Retina" Chromebook for reasonably cheap, but the Nexus 10 would seem to disprove that)
I think it is purely amazing the specs for that price.
But I am really bothered by the fact that it is...
A Chromebook.
I hate "cloud" stuff, I like to have stuff where I know where they are, and who can see them.
Also I live in Brazil, where internet is patchy, at best. And it is sad it does not support Ethernet... I like Ethernet! It is faster and more stable!
But impressive, very impressive, well done Google.
If anyone here has a idea if there are a way to use Chromebook as non-Chromebook (specially, non-cloud), tell me :)
But I am really bothered by the fact that it is...
A Chromebook.
I hate "cloud" stuff, I like to have stuff where I know where they are, and who can see them.
Also I live in Brazil, where internet is patchy, at best. And it is sad it does not support Ethernet... I like Ethernet! It is faster and more stable!
But impressive, very impressive, well done Google.
If anyone here has a idea if there are a way to use Chromebook as non-Chromebook (specially, non-cloud), tell me :)
With 4GB of RAM, USB 2.0 (how do you even get that? what kind of oooold chipset are they using?) and only 32GB of storage, this thing is ridiculously overpriced and pretty much dead on arrival.
This is basically a $1,300 web browser. I don't get it, beautiful touch display or not.
The battery life is crap. I honestly didn't think that $1300 was awful. Pricey, but not awfully pricey. And then I saw the battery life... only 5 hours =( If you want to delight the user with a mobile, battery life needs to be a priority. 5 hours is industry standard in crap laptops. Even the el' cheapo Chromebooks (my cr48) get better than 5 hours.
Where are the real specs? Google have gone and copied what Apple do, and just dumped marketing blurb everywhere.
"Intel® Core™ i5 Processor (Dual Core 1.8GHz)" - What's the model number? There are numerous Core i5 processors and their performance varies, which one am I getting? http://www.cpubenchmark.net/laptop.html
32 GB SSD - What kind of read/write speed? Standard SATA or mSATA interface?
4 GB DDR3 RAM - Is the RAM soldered or user upgradeable? How many ram slots? What's the maximum capacity?
Perhaps I'm in the minority, but at that price, I do actually want to know if I'm buying an appliance or a computer.
"Intel® Core™ i5 Processor (Dual Core 1.8GHz)" - What's the model number? There are numerous Core i5 processors and their performance varies, which one am I getting? http://www.cpubenchmark.net/laptop.html
32 GB SSD - What kind of read/write speed? Standard SATA or mSATA interface?
4 GB DDR3 RAM - Is the RAM soldered or user upgradeable? How many ram slots? What's the maximum capacity?
Perhaps I'm in the minority, but at that price, I do actually want to know if I'm buying an appliance or a computer.
Google Drive 1TB for 3 years = $1,800
Chromebook Pixel 1TB for 3 years = $1,300 + free laptop
Or put another way, commit to Google Drive for 3 years of 1TB, get 30% off and a free Chromebook Pixel.
Chromebook Pixel 1TB for 3 years = $1,300 + free laptop
Or put another way, commit to Google Drive for 3 years of 1TB, get 30% off and a free Chromebook Pixel.
Oh boy. If only they gave it 128 GB drive.
The way it is it's useless for me (and I guess most people on HN, though I think basic Ubuntu could fit into 32/64 GB), but it still makes me cautiously optimistic that after years of stagnation and perhaps even regression, the 1366x768 era might be nearing it's end. I can hope that in a year, "reasonable-resolution" (as Linus called it) laptop like the Pixel will be not outrageous or top of the line but simply normal.
And the screen aspect ratio is just a cherry on top.
The way it is it's useless for me (and I guess most people on HN, though I think basic Ubuntu could fit into 32/64 GB), but it still makes me cautiously optimistic that after years of stagnation and perhaps even regression, the 1366x768 era might be nearing it's end. I can hope that in a year, "reasonable-resolution" (as Linus called it) laptop like the Pixel will be not outrageous or top of the line but simply normal.
And the screen aspect ratio is just a cherry on top.
I feel there is far too little discussion here on the screen.
This laptop screen is amazing. Since we today have light, fast, power efficient and sturdy laptops. The next big thing, is the screen.
A TN screen on a laptop is just sad. My first Macbook pro felt horrid just because I was used to a PVA desktop screen. I kept adjusting and adjusting the screen.
If you take a moment to appreciate your crummy laptop screen you will notice a few things.
1. The screen has a tint to it. Ranging from green to purple from the top of the screen to the bottom. Put the screen on its side and this is very clear.
2. The viewing angles are horrendous. Put on a black background and try to adjust the screen so that it's evenly black top to bottom. At arms length this is impossible, and really annoying when watching a movie.
3. Try having a friend stand behind you while you work and show him a picture of your girlfriend, he'll be shocked at how pale she has become.
I'm currently on a Macbook with retina screen. I have an iPad with retina screen and I have a normal 24" 1920x1200 desktop which used to be my best screen, but is now only better than the screen on my old ipod touch.
People complain about their laptop keyboards. I complain about laptop screens.
This laptop screen is amazing. Since we today have light, fast, power efficient and sturdy laptops. The next big thing, is the screen.
A TN screen on a laptop is just sad. My first Macbook pro felt horrid just because I was used to a PVA desktop screen. I kept adjusting and adjusting the screen.
If you take a moment to appreciate your crummy laptop screen you will notice a few things.
1. The screen has a tint to it. Ranging from green to purple from the top of the screen to the bottom. Put the screen on its side and this is very clear.
2. The viewing angles are horrendous. Put on a black background and try to adjust the screen so that it's evenly black top to bottom. At arms length this is impossible, and really annoying when watching a movie.
3. Try having a friend stand behind you while you work and show him a picture of your girlfriend, he'll be shocked at how pale she has become.
I'm currently on a Macbook with retina screen. I have an iPad with retina screen and I have a normal 24" 1920x1200 desktop which used to be my best screen, but is now only better than the screen on my old ipod touch.
People complain about their laptop keyboards. I complain about laptop screens.
I'm glad Google is going to offer a high-end Chromebook, but I'd really like to see a $400 model that improves on screen quality and size. A 15" IPS Chromebook would be the sweet spot for me.
Also, I can't help but think that making a chromebook touch screen is a waste of money. Gorilla arm, anyone?
Also, I can't help but think that making a chromebook touch screen is a waste of money. Gorilla arm, anyone?
3 TB of Drive for free is incredible. Just 2 TB sets you back $99/month normally.
EDIT: KevinEldon corrected me below, it is 1 TB for 3 years, my mistake. Normally that would be $49/month.
EDIT: KevinEldon corrected me below, it is 1 TB for 3 years, my mistake. Normally that would be $49/month.
So this looks like it could be a very nice Linux laptop assuming all the drivers are open source (nothing bad stood out in a cursory glance of the specs, though I imagine the noise-canceling and touchscreen won't work on vanilla Linux). Only issue is how well your favorite Linux interface (Gnome, KDE, etc) will scale to such a high pixel density.
Even though I use my chromebook every day, I think this is a very high price point for this device.
Seems like they release a new chrome os device every few months, I would much prefer updating my chromebook every year for 400$-500$ with faster lighter version, instead of investing 1300$.
Seems like they release a new chrome os device every few months, I would much prefer updating my chromebook every year for 400$-500$ with faster lighter version, instead of investing 1300$.
The price ($1,299) should be in the title of this post so people can avoid getting excited about it.
I was going to jump on this as soon as it was announced. Sadly, I don't think this is suitable for Android development given the specs. What are your thoughts? My GF is very tempted to take over my macbook pro...
It all started a few years ago. People didn't understand at first. It looked hap-hazzard.. but now. Now they get it - but even more than that, they're trapped.
One used to be able to expect both freedom and choice. Now they have neither.
It was a kicker too, starting out with a service here, a device there, a bit of infrastructure over there.... but now? Now its one big system. From bit to brick, its all one big pipe - an experience fully enclosed, encapsulated, enumerated, evaluated and.... exploited. For every single bit of information about, well, everything.
They worked their way down the layers. What was once a web service is now the actual physical net.
You cant push a packet without them seeing it.Most people don' care though - they bought into the web services decades ago. Phones were next, then laptops, service providers and frequencies.
Its basically the commercial version of the NSA these days, hell, there hasn't even been a real difference between the two for some time now.
Now, pretty much any connection is provided by them. They started out nice enough... do no evil and all... but when you're the only game in town - it's pretty hard to not abuse your power. Hell, its more than power. Power is limited... omnipotence is not. That's what they are now - omnipotent, and there isn't anything anyone can do about it now, either.
Every spoken word, every communication mashed out from keyboard to carrier is captured in the goog. They pretty much own thought at this point...
One used to be able to expect both freedom and choice. Now they have neither.
It was a kicker too, starting out with a service here, a device there, a bit of infrastructure over there.... but now? Now its one big system. From bit to brick, its all one big pipe - an experience fully enclosed, encapsulated, enumerated, evaluated and.... exploited. For every single bit of information about, well, everything.
They worked their way down the layers. What was once a web service is now the actual physical net.
You cant push a packet without them seeing it.Most people don' care though - they bought into the web services decades ago. Phones were next, then laptops, service providers and frequencies.
Its basically the commercial version of the NSA these days, hell, there hasn't even been a real difference between the two for some time now.
Now, pretty much any connection is provided by them. They started out nice enough... do no evil and all... but when you're the only game in town - it's pretty hard to not abuse your power. Hell, its more than power. Power is limited... omnipotence is not. That's what they are now - omnipotent, and there isn't anything anyone can do about it now, either.
Every spoken word, every communication mashed out from keyboard to carrier is captured in the goog. They pretty much own thought at this point...
Two words: reading maps.
A high-PPI screen is heaven for using Google Maps. I always get so frustrated on my 1080p screen: even with the browser map in full screen mode, I can't seem to see "enough" of it when browsing random geographical locations and trying to get a sense of how the surrounding area looks.
A 239 PPI screen allows displaying a character in an 8-pixel font (eg. "fixed" on Linux) in a 1x1mm area. You could have all the tiniest roads and cities labelled on the map, even if barely readable.
A high-PPI screen is heaven for using Google Maps. I always get so frustrated on my 1080p screen: even with the browser map in full screen mode, I can't seem to see "enough" of it when browsing random geographical locations and trying to get a sense of how the surrounding area looks.
A 239 PPI screen allows displaying a character in an 8-pixel font (eg. "fixed" on Linux) in a 1x1mm area. You could have all the tiniest roads and cities labelled on the map, even if barely readable.
Props to them for making the display vertically rather than horizontally oriented. I've been incredibly tired of the stupidly short 16:9 displays dominating the market. However, one has to wonder why such a good display is being wasted on a product like this. Great specs, great display, but horrible, crap operating system.
Who needs this kind of laptop to just browse the web? I would buy this in an instant if it had some custom Linux distribution on it.
I guess it's Retina or nothing, then, unfortunately.
Who needs this kind of laptop to just browse the web? I would buy this in an instant if it had some custom Linux distribution on it.
I guess it's Retina or nothing, then, unfortunately.
Besides being too expensive for something in which you can't do real work (yes, I know, you can SSH into a hosted box, but why would I pay $1300 and $X.XX for hosting, to essentially use this new machine as a dumb terminal), what's the point of having a touch screen on a laptop? Haven't we concluded that this is a horrible idea? Just look at this demo (http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/21/4013480/google-chromebook-...) from The Verge, Dieter fumbles around trying to hit a tab.
It strikes me odd that Google, a company with no shortage of talent, can't get retail right. Who is this laptop for? The 12 year old Engadget/Verge reader who thinks this Chromebook Pixel is the nail in Apple's coffin?
This is so misguided. I know I shouldn't be so infuriated over a botched product launch, but this irks me for some reason. I guess it's because I like Google's products and want them to succeed in hardware, but I lose hope when I see questionable decisions like the manufacturing of this neutered MacBook Pro ripoff. Ugh.
It strikes me odd that Google, a company with no shortage of talent, can't get retail right. Who is this laptop for? The 12 year old Engadget/Verge reader who thinks this Chromebook Pixel is the nail in Apple's coffin?
This is so misguided. I know I shouldn't be so infuriated over a botched product launch, but this irks me for some reason. I guess it's because I like Google's products and want them to succeed in hardware, but I lose hope when I see questionable decisions like the manufacturing of this neutered MacBook Pro ripoff. Ugh.
Direct link to specs: https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromebook-pix... (scroll down and click "full specs")
I think it's interesting they chose a 3:2 aspect ratio. The price is a bit high for the specs you get, but I suppose a lot of that is the (multi-touch)screen.
I think it's interesting they chose a 3:2 aspect ratio. The price is a bit high for the specs you get, but I suppose a lot of that is the (multi-touch)screen.
The big problem for me would be chrome os, the hardware looks nice though.
Is the 1TB Google Drive account complimentary with the purchase? And for how long? Cuz that's $600 in the first year, right there.
Perhaps this is a vanity product for the wealthy. But wealthy people are going to just surf the web on an iPad.
I really don't get this product.