Chromebooks are not exactly known for their high end specifications, which is perhaps why they never really sold like hotcakes either. Well, the Acer C7 Chromebook is sorely in need of far more processing firepower than it packs at the moment, and where the original $199 model lacked in terms of a battery life that amounted to just 3.5 hours, the new refreshed Acer C7 Chromebook intends to compensate its weaknesses with a couple of key upgrades, namely a 6-cell, 5000mAh battery that offers (theoretically) twice the battery capacity as its predecessor, which should translate to around seven hours of computing, as well as 4GB RAM that doubles up on the previous 2GB.
Unfortunately, the processor will remain the same, with an Intel Celeron 847 1.1GHz processor running the show underneath the hood, but it ought to get the most basic jobs done without any hiccups, especially with the bump in the RAM count. How now, brown cow, is the refreshed Acer C7 Chromebook worth taking a look now?
The Acer C7 Chromebook is now a bit more powerful. With the RAM doubled to 4GB, the latest flavor of Acer’s inexpensive but still tasty Chromebook should be able to handle a few more simultaneous tasks. Plus, the new model ships with a 6 cell battery able to last 6 hours rather than the 4 cell found in the original. Too bad Acer couldn’t manage these upgrades without inflating the price from a cute $199 to a slightly intimidating $279.
Acer previously noted that the C7 was a huge hit with the education crowd, once accounting for 5-10% of all of its US shipments.
The C7 is now more expensive than the Samsung Chromebook. For $249 the Samsung Chromebook is less expensive, thinner, and sports a longer battery life. However, the Acer still tops the Samsung in some areas.
The Samsung Chromebook only contains a 16GB hard drive where the Acer rocks a 320GB HDD. Plus, with an Intel Celeron 847, now backed with 4GB of RAM, the system is a touch more powerful than the Sammy’s ARM SoC — an important fact for those looking to put Linux on the little notebook.
The new C710-2055 is priced at $279 and initially headed only to Acer’s commercial market. At that price it’s sadly out of the impulse buy range, but still a good deal for a platform quickly gaining traction. The original C7 was a huge hit with the education crowd; a repeat performance is likely in the cards.
Back in November, we took a look at Acer’s $199 C7 Chromebook, which featured entry-level specs that were great for the everyday internet surfer and email checker on a budget, but Acer today announced an updated model that comes with some faster hardware. However, the price tag also saw a bump this time around as well.
The C710-2055 comes with an Intel Celeron 847 processor clocked at 1.1GHz with 4GB of RAM. There’s also a larger 320GB hard drive for storing various files, along with cloud storage that Chromebooks are known for. Acer claims that this new model will last six hours on a single charge, compared to four hours with the previous model.
Acer says that while the C7 is particularly aimed for educational uses, this new Chromebook is still a good choice for anyone needing a low-powered computer for everyday use. As for looks, the new model doesn’t seem to be all that much different from the C7 we reviewed late last year, but that’s not particularly surprising, since it’s mostly just a hardware bump anyway.
The new C710-2055 is priced at $279, which is a little steep compared to the $199 of the original C7, but you’ll also get better and faster internals if you need them, along with more storage space. The new model comes with a 11.6-inch display, and the whole unit weighs just over three pounds. The Chromebook is available now in the US at various retailers.
A patent application has just revealed that Google is going to be implementing rear-touch controls for its future Android smartphones. The patent is similar to a patent filed by Apple in 2006, which it planned on using to implement the rear-touch feature in its future iPads. However, it’s been 7 years since Apple was granted the patent, and yet there are still no iPads with rear-touch controls. Perhaps Apple will begin production on that project now that Google is gunning for it too.
The rear-touch controls will allow users to navigate through various content. They will be able to flip through pages in a magazine or an e-book, navigate through their music selection by skipping or replaying their songs, scroll around through web pages, and more. There are a ton of possibilities that can come with rear-touch controls, and most will be utilized in order to create a much more pleasant one-handed user experience.
While Google has just received its patent, and Apple had the patent since 2006, they’re still way behind Sony. Sony was the first to implement rear-touch controls in its PlayStation Vita device. The device utilizes the rear-touch feature in many games. The touch-pad is used in many games to perform tasks like lobbing grenades, performing silent kills, controlling the camera, selecting multiple targets, navigating through maps, and more.
Google will not be limiting rear-touch controls on just Android smartphones however. It says that it may bring it to its Android tablets and Chromebook as well. Hopefully Google follows through with implementing its rear-touch controls, unlike Apple. We could see the use of rear-touch controls be used in so many ways other than just flipping a page. Developers would probably have a field day with the feature, integrating it within their apps and their games for a much better user experience.
Google certainly put on a spectacle when they announced the all-new Chromebook Pixel, and the display is truly wonderful. Everything about this new Chromebook is top notch. The design is elegant, the screen is crisp and beautiful, but we still have what many would probably agree is a love-hate relationship with the Chrome OS. Add in a touchscreen for our smartphone accustomed brains and we could really have something here. However, read on to find out if the $1,299 price is worth the risk.
Google’s Chromebooks have all been budget devices that match perfectly with their web-focused streamlined user interface, but this is different. The Pixel is in a category all by its lonesome self, and shows Google knows how to make some serious hardware that could truly contend with the competition. Well, the hardware can at least.
Hardware & Design
The design and elegance of the Pixel truly is a winner. It won us over the minute we laid our eyes, and hands on it. The same way we felt when Apple went to the unibody design for the Macbook Pro is how this device makes us feel – and it should. If you’re going to go from offering $249 laptops to a full out $1,299 Chromebook it better WOW. This certainly did exactly that. We’ve long been using the MBP for a benchmark to compare laptops in terms of quality, and the Chromebook certainly lives up to that benchmark.
The Pixel just completely screams “premium” when you touch and use it. The pictures and video truly don’t do this machined aluminum and anodized unibody device justice. With a dark gunmetal finish (although a bit fingerprint happy) you’ll instantly notice the amount of precision and time that went into making the Pixel. The design isn’t radical and instead everything is squared off, tapered when needed, and just smooth and simple – but in a good way. There’s absolutely no flex or creaks to the body, the display is as durable as can be, and all the squared edges have a nice rounding off to keep it comfy. Oh and did we mention the keyboard is a joy to use. The keys are a bit stiff, but Google’s certainly got the keyboard right – even if we’d like some options for the backlight.
It just feels right. The Pixel is elegant and beautiful yet dead simple in design. Add in the fact that this gorgeous piece of technology is as durable as it is, yet only weighs 3.3 lbs. You’ll be happy to know it’s comfortable to carry around too. The only part that isn’t squared off is that round piano hinge on back, which also adds comfort while carrying the device in hand running around campus – or walking into that Starbucks nearby. It’s slightly thinner and lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Pro, but still loses to the Air. Now lets talk about the real hardware that’s important. That being the astonishing display and the goods under the hood.
The Pixel features a 12.85-inch ‘Pixel’ display with a 2560 x 1700 resolution at 239 PPI and 4.3 million pixels – and it absolutely looks amazing. Sporting a Gorilla Glass 2 protected multi-touch panel it offers excellent viewing angles. Under the hood you’ll be working with a 1.8 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 32GB SSD for storage. That isn’t all either. With your purchase users get 1TB of free Google Drive cloud storage. Basically Google wants us putting anything and everything on the cloud. Then you’ll get two USB 2.0 ports and sadly no 3.0, Displayport, and 3.5mm for headphones all on the left edge, then a full SD slot on the right side for when you need more than the integrated 32GB of storage. The right also houses the Verizon 4G LTE sim slot for those opting for the 64GB 4G LTE model priced at $1,449.
Then we have that awesome notification light on back which has all sorts of glowing colors. It’s blue during use, white while on standby, and will let the people behind you know the battery is low by glowing red. Sadly you won’t see it, but the OS will let you know so don’t worry. Then on open and close you’ll get a neat little rainbow of Google colors. It’s a neat little extra polish, and we like that Google’s keeping things fun. Sadly we don’t like the large and cumbersome charger that came included, however it also features a ring LED with green, yellow, and red for when you’re charging.
We’ll talk more about the display and the actual performance below, this was just a quickie rundown on the hardware. One last time we’d like to mention how gorgeous the Pixel display is. It’s sooo crisp, can’t all things be this way? Google’s certainly reached that higher level of hardware and design, that’s for sure. The question is whether or not the rest can complete the picture.
Display
If you’re going to call it the ‘Pixel’ and give it a multitouch touchscreen it better be amazing. Don’t worry though guys, the display is the best thing this laptop has going for it, and surely won’t disappoint. Again, front and center is a 12.85-inch 2560×1700 ‘Pixel’ HD IPS LCD display. The pixel density comes in at 239 ppi which is slightly higher than the MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch for being slightly smaller, and a few extra pixels. While comparing the two, the Pixel had a slight yellow hue compared to the MBP Retina, but that would be the only negative – if one at all – that we can hold against it. Everything else is just stellar. The screen obviously is amazingly crisp, colors are bright, vivid, and pop, and the brightness was excellent. You truly have to see it to enjoy it.
Before the touchscreen hands-on video below we did want to mention a few things about the display. Sadly the Chrome OS is pretty plain and that amazing HD resolution is wasted by lots of blank white space inside the OS. Being a simple web-based OS there’s really nothing to fill it up. Of course that’s why you go to SlashGear and enjoy a good read. The second thing being screen glare. Uhh, it’s awful. Apple did an excellent job with reducing glare almost making that a feature in itself on the Retina. Sadly Google didn’t do the same. It handles fingerprints amazingly well since you’ll be touching the screen, but the glare is something we couldn’t look past.
Screen glare aside, the display is still the star of the show here and will certainly stand out to anyone that uses this device. While we wish the Chrome OS had more use for a touchscreen display, here’s a quick look at what you’ll be working with on the Chromebook Pixel.
As you can see our smartphone and tablet-aimed minds will feel right at home with the Pixel. Flipping through webpages was fun, easy, and smooth. Then of course using pinch-to-zoom in Maps and such works as you’d expect. Sadly there wasn’t too many other moments where this is extremely needed – at least not on the Chrome OS – but all the apps and games surely will benefit from the option. For now the OS doesn’t fully need a touchscreen, or at least we don’t think so, but hopefully that will change in the future.
Overall we don’t want to keep beating the horse here, but the screen is truly top notch. We absolutely love it! Viewing angles are great being an IPS display but get too high or to the side and they quickly wash out with yellow and pink, but for day to day use we had absolutely zero issues. Compared to anything else available nothing compares expect the MacBook Retina’s – which have already been readily available for some time.
Keyboard & Trackpad
Google certainly put the Pixel in a class of its own here too, on multiple levels. The chiclet or island style keyboard is present, and even features backlit keys. Adjusting the lighting could be easier instead of a keyboard combo, and randomly my backlight was off for about 2 hours – that aside the backlit keys are excellent. Make no mistake about it, the keyboard closely matches that of Apple’s. They sit in a slightly recessed area but float up and are easy to hit, comfortable, and as we mentioned above just gives users a stellar typing experience. The keys have a perfect blend of spacing, and the same perfection is there for the pressure and resistance while typing. However, the top row of quick-keys were slightly more resistant than the rest, for whatever reason.
The only complaint about the keyboard would have to be the slightly tougher and not spaced top row of keys. On the other hand everything we enjoy about the keyboard and display is mirrored with the Trackpad. Made of etched glass the trackpad works as expected. It’s smooth, accurate, and comfortable although many HP’s still just feels better in my opinion. It has a nice black matte finish that slightly makes it not as smooth to the touch, but don’t worry you’ll be using that glass touchscreen more than you think.
The last thing worth mentioning regarding the keyboard has to do with sound, in two different ways. One being the Chromebook Pixel has a few noise cancellation microphones to cut down on the keyboard typing sound if you’re using a mic or enjoying a Google+ hangout, but this could be improved. Secondly, the built-in stereo speakers are calmly integrated under the keyboard. There’s no speaker grills to make the device unnecessarily long, and the sound isn’t hindered by that either. I was actually extremely impressed with the Pixels overall volume levels. Obviously you’ll still get that laptop tin-can airy sound, but the sound quality and volume levels are some of the best we’ve used.
Software & OS
Hmmm. Google Chrome OS. It certainly is a far more usable and enjoyable OS than it was a few years ago introduced with the CR48, but it’s still far from being perfect – or capable for that matter. As we said above the Chrome OS is something we have a love-hate relationship with, and beautiful hardware can’t change that. We’re not going to get into a huge Chrome OS review here, since we all already know what to expect there. Amazing fast boot up and shut down times, worry free browsing, and essentially everything in the cloud. Is this window into the cloud worth $1,299 though. That’s a tough sell.
Again we’re not going to get into the OS as a whole, but rather mention some things regarding it and the Pixel specifically. For one, the awesome touchscreen is great but not all that useful. You’d think Google would introduce more touch sensitive – or even supported – features and options to the OS to take advantage of this. They have not. Surely some are coming soon, but at the moment that feature will only be slightly useful for the web and a few web apps from the Chrome store. Secondly, the trackpad. Google offers a top-notch trackpad yet we have no gesture support in the Chrome OS. Two finger swipes to go back in the browser, quick minimize, pinch-to-zoom, or anything of this sort is all absent. You can’t even pinch-to-zoom in the image viewer in Chrome OS to use the awesome trackpad. Why Google, Why?
However, in Google Maps a two finger swipe will zoom in and out, but pinching does nothing. Pinch-to-zoom works on Maps with the touchscreen, but not the trackpad. An epic failure when it comes to the possibilities here. Again, they’re probably coming in the future but we need them now if we’re paying top dollar for the machine.
Above is a small gallery of a few screenshots from the OS. Google’s conveniently added a huge Chrome OS support page that’s even better than before. Details on how to get the most usage and productivity from their web-focused OS, as well as what will help you with tasks whether they are work, play, and everything else. So one more time we don’t want to review the OS as a whole here, but it’s seriously underpowered for this piece of luxury.
With a built-in apps and things like Google Music, a minimal media player, as well as a file browser Chrome OS has the essentials, but that’s it, the bare minimum essentials. Google Drive (with 1000GB of space included) certainly helps with these types of tasks and you can transfer from the Pixel to another device. Doing anything intensive for photo editing, video, or anything else for that matter the OS just doesn’t support it. This brings us to something we mentioned in the video above. Chrome’s webstore has tons of awesome games, most which don’t work on the Chrome OS. They don’t get filtered out and you’ll install something on the Chromebook only to later realize it only runs on Windows or OSX. Google needs to clear this out of the webstore for those primarily on a Chromebook.
Last but not least, the software can and will be improved. There’s absolutely zero doubt in our minds that Google has huge plans for the Chrome OS, tons of features coming soon, and will improve it with frequent updates. On another bright note, you can change out the Chrome OS for something like Linux. I don’t know about you guys, but this would be the best looking Fedora or Ubuntu device I’ve ever seen. What do you guys think?
Performance & Battery
As far as performance go we can’t really compare to anything from the Windows camp, and benchmarks aren’t something we can do either. However, thanks to the Core i5 dual-core processor at 1.8 GHz and 4GB of DDR3 RAM this device is speedy at all times. The specs might be light compared to well priced Mac’s and Windows 8 powerhouse laptops, but they are more than enough to run the Chrome OS. There’s nothing that will tax this hardware to the full extent in its current form, that’s for sure.
There’s really not anything to say here about performance. The browser-based OS is blazing fast. The dual-core also handles HD video with ease, and any games that manage to be supported from the Chrome Store play without a hitch too. Things do get a bit hot though, we must say. The keyboard acts as vents, and the Piano-style hinge for the display Google claims acts as a heatsink to keep the device cool, but sit it on your lap and enjoy some 1080p video and it will warm up quick. On a cooler note, I actually only heard the fans once on the device. So that’s a plus.
Battery life. Chrome OS sips on the battery, and the dual-core isn’t strong enough to drain it too fast either. However Google states the Pixel will get “up to 5 hours of continuous use.” As a comparison the Macbook Pro and most other laptops usually aim for at least 6. In real world usage the Chromebook Pixel with brightness at 65% viewing multiple videos, playing Angry Birds and a few other games I found, and browsing Reddit for a while it barely lasted 4 hours. Actually 3 hours and 57 minutes to be exact. I wouldn’t call that great, but it isn’t too bad either. Make sure to have that charger nearby if you’re doing anything too intensive.
Pricing & Competition
There’s only two options that will be available from good old Google, and that is the 32GB WiFi model priced at $1,299. Then the 64GB WiFi + Verizon 4G LTE for $1,449 so you’re options are pretty limited. The competition however, options are nearly endless on all fronts. We’d rather not compare the Pixel to the Macbook Pro – because honestly there’s no real comparison from the full view of things – but on a hardware level that’s the closest thing. Not to mention some of HP’s nice laptops like the Spectre XT.
The Pixel certainly isn’t cheap, not one bit. In fact, that’s actually pretty darn expensive for what’s merely a window for the web. That 1000GB of free Google Drive cloud storage for 3 years costs more than the Pixel in general, so you could look at it from that way. To be honest though comparing the Chromebook Pixel to others, especially a Macbook Pro just almost doesn’t seem fair given the limited OS. This certainly will not be replacing my MBP anytime soon, if ever, but on a hardware level it certainly comes close. I hate to be so blunt but there’s just no way in good conscience compare the two fairly given the extremely limited OS compared to the powerhouse that is OSX. There is really no comparison.
Wrap-Up
Unfortunately for Google the Chromebook Pixel is grounded by the OS, but make no mistake they’ve crafted one beautiful computer. We’ve always had a hard time recommending or giving a thumbs up overall to a Chromebook of any type, except for someone that absolutely needs a minimal computer experience. So while the Chrome OS works great for that, there’s multiple devices with ALL the same shortcomings for much less money. You could pay $199 for Acer’s C7 Chromebook and have the same experience and get all the same things done. You just won’t look as classy doing it, the screen won’t be as crisp, and the very limited touch features won’t be available to you. You’ll have a heck of a lot of cash leftover in your pocket though. Enough for months and months of Starbucks.
In the end what makes the Pixel a winner and absolutely amazing also makes it a loser – and that is the price. There’s no doubt that the Chromebook Pixel very well could be what the future of laptop computing holds for many, but at the same time it’s here too early, and will dent our pockets way more than anyone would like. The Pixel is an amazing piece of hardware but no matter how amazing it is, the $1,300 price is an extremely hard pill to swallow.
So just like we asked in our initial Pixel hands-on: Does Google tempt the daring? For us the answer is sadly a clear as day no, but others might feel different. It saddens me to say it but this is a Ferrari with a 4-cylinder engine. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for cloud computing, Google, and the Chrome OS, but this is too much too soon.
I had a little bit of time to play with the Chromebook Pixel today and I’m a regular user of the Acer C7, a $199 machine that is wildly underpowered but good enough on a bad day. I really like the concept and I really like ChromeOS – it’s a solid way to get a little browsing done, say, in a cyber cafe or hotel bar. It isn’t, however, an OS.
As Linus Torvalds notes, the Pixel is an amazing piece of hardware and it makes you wonder just what other laptop manufacturers are thinking. It’s pricey, sure, but the touchscreen works well, the display is striking, and the styling is on par with the MacBook. Even MG (the G stands for Grumpy) liked it, and he doesn’t like anything.
But then there’s the problem of apps. Torvalds writes:
I’m still running ChromeOS on this thing, which is good enough for testing out some of my normal work habits (ie reading and writing email), but I expect to install a real distro on this soon enough. For a laptop to be useful to me, I need to not just read and write email, I need to be able to do compiles, have my own git repositories etc..
The creator of Linux, the paragon of pure computing, wants to install a “real distro.”
Ouch.
What the Chomebooks can’t yet do is run real applications. I’m currently dual-booting my C7 so I can install Skype on Ubuntu and you get this sense, once you’re in a real environment, that ChromeOS is like one of those “pre-OSes” that they used to stick on laptops so you could browse the web and watch movies without booting into Windows. It’s not all there.
That’s fairly easy to fix: allow vendors to create real apps for the platform. After all, Google is the “open” company, right? There should be a way for me to jackhammer Skype and Audacity into the ChromeOS environment. After all, a beautiful big screen is useless when all you open on it is Gmail.
Apps matter. As much as everyone clamors that Windows Phone and BB10 will thrive, they can’t do it without lots and lots and lots of apps. They can’t win without a dedicated developer base and groups of users who go out of their way to learn programming just to program for their favorite platform. While web-based apps are fun, in theory, we’re just not there yet in terms of real value. In the uncanny valley of application programming, HTML5 and attendant technologies are too stiff and jerky, like the humans in the first Toy Story movie. We need a few more years to bake them into real usability.
Until then, we’re stuck turning silk purses into sow’s ears (or, depending on your opinion of Linux, silk purses into penguins). I can’t, for example, recommend that my Mom pick up a Chromebook because she’ll immediately hit a brick wall when she wants to, say, Skype my in-laws. We can regress the argument down to “Well, they can use Google Hangouts” but that doesn’t solve the problem. In human-computer interaction, there should be more than one way to do something. That way, I’m sad to say, is through the introduction of a full SDK.
I call them Chromebook Pixel apologists. They’re coming out of the woodwork to defend Google’s super-expensive but flawed $1,299 laptop. You’ll hear things like “It obviously isn’t for everyone” or “You either get it or you don’t.” Count me as one of the people who don’t get it. As I say in my Chromebook Pixel review, the quality, sharper-than-Retina display, booming speakers and superior touchpad and keyboard all make this a lust-worthy machine. But the Pixel’s beauty isn’t much more than skin-deep. If Google really wants to convert more shoppers to its flagship anti-MacBook, it’s going to have to address the following issues head-on. And, yes, I’m sorry to say that some of my fixes will have to wait for Chromebook Pixel 2. More »
500px had a bit of controversy back in January when the iOS app was temporarily pulled from the iTunes App Store due to nude photo searches. As of today however, 500px has returned with a bit of good news for Chrome users — a 500px app is now available for Chrome. This app release is for the Chrome browser running on Mac and Windows as well as Chrome OS computers including the new Chromebook Pixel.
The 500px app can be found by way of the Chrome Web Store. The app is free to download, free to use and thankfully, it brings the features that one could expect. Of course, some may remember the 500px app from the Chromebook Pixel announcement as the app was briefly shown using the touchscreen display on the Pixel. In fact, they are touting this app as being touch-enabled and as being built for the Chromebook Pixel laptop.
Another feature of the 500px app includes being able to browse images by category including Popular, Editors’ Choice, Upcoming and Fresh. The app will also allow users to create a personalized photo stream using Flow, click (or in the case of the Pixel, tap) images to view them full-screen and read descriptions and photographer’s information. Additionally, social sharing also comes in with Google+ as well as Facebook and Twitter.
Otherwise, it was pointed out that the 500px app is more than just a Chrome extension, it is actually an app. That is to say the app launches outside the browser and works offline by default. 500px for Chrome aside, the company has also said they are working to release an update to their Android app in the near future. The Android app update is expected to bring it “up to iOS parity and beyond.”
Google’s brand new Chromebook Pixel wasn’t entirely unexpected, but last week they blasted onto the high end laptop scene with the all-new device. With all previous models being aimed primarily at the low end, this Google-made Chromebook looks to change everything. With a stunning 2560 x 1700 HD ‘Pixel’ display, a powerful Intel Core i5 processor, and a beautiful design is it worth $1,299? Read on for our first impressions.
Google’s Chromebook Pixel was certainly needed, with all their previous devices being extremely budget-oriented laptops, but is Google and their OS ready? We’ll have to spend more time with it and let you know in our full review. Chrome OS aside, this device is stunning on all sides. From the display, design, build quality, and even the integrated speakers. Lets dig in!
The Chromebook Pixel is finally a Chromebook with specs to match some of the competition, which also surpasses them on many levels. The Pixel features a 12.85-inch ‘Pixel’ display with a 2560 x 1700 resolution at 239 PPI and 4.3 million pixels – and it absolutely looks amazing. It’s rocking a Gorilla Glass 2 protected multi-touch panel and offers excellent viewing angles, but out of the gate we’ll let you know the screen glare is pretty awful. Under the hood you’ll be working with a 1.8 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 32GB SSD for storage. As well as a 64GB 4G LTE option coming later. That isn’t all either. With your purchase users get 1TB (1000GB) of free Google Drive cloud storage. Essentially putting anything and everything on the cloud. Then you’ll get two USB 2.0 ports, Displayport, and a full SD slot among other things.
It’s pretty safe to say our initial impressions on the screen are good. It is certainly on the same level as a MacBook Retina. The colors are amazing, but the viewing angles weren’t quite as good as we expected, and Apple has a leg up here. Using the touchscreen for our limited time with it we don’t have too many thoughts. The video below you’ll see how smooth the touchscreen operation is, but we’re not sure how useful real world usage will be. The actual device is blazing fast and the most smooth and fluid Chrome OS we’ve seen or used to date. That’s all thanks to the Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM of course. For now we’ll just let you enjoy the video:
Everything about this Chromebook screams “premium high end product.” The all aluminum design is solid and extremely sturdy, the Gorilla Glass protected display is sturdy and creak free, and the keyboard is a joy to use. Typing on this thing has been a wonderful experience so far. The backlit LED keyboard is nice, and the speakers are safely integrated under the keyboard to keep things sleek. We do want to make one thing clear, the speakers are exceptional for a laptop. It’s loud, clear, and extremely crisp. I was blown away at the first video I watched.
For those that missed the announcement the all new Chromebook Pixel is up now on the Google Play Store for $1,299 which gets you the 32GB model, and $1,449 coming soon with 64GB and 4G LTE from Verizon. Yeah.. it’s certainly not cheap. Not one bit. Google needed a premium device, but this is really premium.
We’ll obviously need a few days to enjoy the Chromebook Pixel. Find some of its strong points, and the quirks, and we’ll report back shortly with a full review. Can this premium laptop be your daily device, or is Chrome OS too much in its infancy? Does Google tempt the daring with the Pixel – we’re not sure. Stay tuned for our full review to see if this is a Ferrari with a 4-cylinder, or if it can be the real deal.
Android and Chrome OS: Google’s split attention between two overlapping platforms has long come in for criticism, but rumors of a merge in time for the Chromebook Pixel failed to pan out. Then again, is the world ready for a $1,300 Chromebook, no matter whether it runs Android or Chrome OS? Perhaps not, Google’s director of Android user experience, Matias Duarte, says, but there’s more in Pixel’s prescience of the touchscreen future, he argues.
Pixel’s appeal on a purely hardware basis is undeniable: it’s a beautifully designed notebook, with an incredibly high resolution touchscreen and the same crisp lines that we liked from Google’s first Cr-48 Chromebook. However, its huge price puts Chrome OS up against full notebooks from Apple, Sony, and others, despite the relative limitations of the cloud-centric platform, a completely different market from earlier, highly affordable Chromebooks.
“Pixel shows the boundaries between types of computing blurring”
For Duarte, however, Pixel’s success won’t solely be measured by pure sales. “I think that Pixel is really exciting, because I think that Pixel shows the way that the boundaries between the different types of computing are blurring” he explained to us. “I think it’s great that the Chrome team is doing that, I think it’s great that the Chrome team is allowing Google to get into people’s lives with touchscreens on a desktop form-factor.”
That’s not a point of view shared by everybody in the industry, and in fact it puts Duarte and Google in the same camp as Microsoft and its hardware partners, rather than with Apple. Steve Jobs memorably decried the usability of touch notebooks, and Tim Cook has since made similar arguments, that reaching across a keyboard to tap at a display simply isn’t ergonomically satisfying.
Duarte disagrees, saying that despite what the MacBook makers think, users themselves are asking for a touchscreen approach. “I think that’s a real trend, that touch on laptops and on desktop form-factors is the way that people want to interact with computers” he says. “I think every screen should be a touchscreen in the future, regardless if it has a keyboard or not.”
Despite the overlap, then, between Android – which has touch at its heart – and Chrome OS – designed for more traditional form-factors – the two platforms still have a future as independent projects. According to Duarte, that will be the case for as long as it makes functional sense: the two OSes converging, perhaps, on a commonality of features as Google develops them.
“Google is excellent at diversifying, and experimenting” he told us. “And I think what Chrome OS does well – they’re getting better at, and it’s being reflected in what Android does well in succession – Chrome on Android is the best browser we’ve ever had, and we would not be at that level without the Chrome team doing the work that they do, without the Chrome OS team learning the things that they do, and learning to understand, for example, how to work on touchscreens.”
“Ultimately, still, the two platforms meet different needs”
Meanwhile, what was originally a smartphone, and then a tablet, OS has been gaining more functionality to bring it in line with a desktop platform, though Duarte says that it’s still not quite there year. “Of course Android has also been evolving, and I think it’s terrific the way that we are gaining capabilities on a day-by-day basis” he said. “For example in Jelly Bean we announced multi-user support, and that opens up a range of use-cases, but ultimately, still, the two platforms meet different needs.”
That also means Android playing more readily with accessories and other devices, as it continues its trend toward being the one “OS for humanity” as Duarte himself described it. “One of the things that was great that we did in Honeycomb, was we included much better support for peripherals” the designer said. “So if you go hook up your Nexus 10 to a Bluetooth keyboard, or even a Bluetooth trackpad, you’ll find you have a much better experience with that.”
Despite the convergence that has already happened, Duarte points out however, neither Android nor Chrome OS are at the point where they satisfy the overall needs of all users. “Until we have one solution for Google that can really capture everything, it makes sense for us to continue to develop two platforms” he explained. Exactly how long that development will take is unclear, but it may take some time before Chrome OS – or a flavor of it – achieves the same market dominance as Android enjoys.
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Chromebooks are not exactly known for their high end specifications, which is perhaps why they never really sold like hotcakes either. Well, the Acer C7 Chromebook is sorely in need of far more processing firepower than it packs at the moment, and where the original $199 model lacked in terms of a battery life that amounted to just 3.5 hours, the new refreshed Acer C7 Chromebook intends to compensate its weaknesses with a couple of key upgrades, namely a 6-cell, 5000mAh battery that offers (theoretically) twice the battery capacity as its predecessor, which should translate to around seven hours of computing, as well as 4GB RAM that doubles up on the previous 2GB.
