Hasta La Gadget!

We heard rumors about the Chromebook Pixel earlier this month in the form of a pretty big leak. While many of us were skeptical, it seems that it was all quite true. Google officially announced the Chromebook Pixel today, with pre-orders starting right now. The laptop will begin shipping in April, and it’ll cost you a pretty $1,299.

This specific Chromebook looks to take on Apple’s MacBook Pro lineup, instead of just being an affordable option like past Chromebooks from HP, Acer, Dell, Samsung, etc. The Chromebook Pixel sports a 12.85-inch display with a staggering resolution of 2560×1700, making it a higher resolution than the Retina MacBook. Although, it has a 3:2 ratio, which is fairly odd in this day and age.

The Pixel comes with an Intel Core i5 dual-core 1.8GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, and two SSD options: 32GB or 64GB. Of course, that’s not a lot of storage for all those media files you have, so Google is throwing in 1TB of Google Drive storage with a purchase of a Pixel, which will be free for three years.

You can pre-order the Pixel right this second on the Google Play store, and it’ll cost you a crazy $1,299, which is right on par for what you’ll pay for a MacBook Pro, but we’re certainly not used to seeing this kind of price for a Chromebook, since most of them have been price in the $200-$300 recently.

Chromebook Pixel coming in April for $1,299 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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With that glorious high-res display on the Chromebook Pixel, it only made sense that Google released a brand-new photo app to go along with it. In collaboration with the G+ Photos team, Chrome has worked on a new Photos app from the ground up so that it’s super-easy to upload, view and share your photos. All you have to do is plug in your camera’s SD card into the Chromebook and it’ll automatically recognize your pics and immediately start uploading your full-resolution photos to your G+ account — turns out there’s a really good reason the Pixel comes with one terabyte of Drive storage for three years.

Of course, the app is designed with the touch interface in mind, and they’ve built in social elements like G+’s plusses and comments into the UI. What we find particularly intriguing is that the app also has intelligent photo selection. It will look through your snapshots and will try its best to figure out which is blurry or has bad exposure. When you’re ready to create a G+ album of your photos, it’ll automatically select what it deems to be your best shots so you can set it up instantly. We talked to a Google representative here, and she said that while the app will be available to Pixel users initially via the Chrome Web Store, it’ll eventually roll out to all Chromebooks in the future.

Filed under: Laptops, Google

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Only yesterday we were being teased with the idea of a touchscreen Chromebook. Well, good news for people who hate waiting — it’s here, it’s called the Pixel, and you can pre-order today. The all-Google laptop is aimed at those who live in the cloud, but want a little more from their machine. Built from the ground up for the web, the 12.85-inch 3:2 ratio display claims to offer 18 percent more vertical space than 16:9 does. The screen the Pixel has is — as you can imagine — one of its proudest features, sporting a 2,560 x 1,700 resolution, giving a PPI of 239, and offers a brightness of 400nit. Oh, and of course, it’s touch-enabled so whatever your input preference, you’re covered. On the inside, there’s a dual-core 1.8Ghz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and two SSD options — 32GB or 64GB. If that’s not enough, Google’s ahead of you, and is throwing in 1TB of Drive storage with every Pixel for three years — what it expects the life of the machine to be. You won’t be basing your choice just on storage though, as the smaller capacity model is WiFi only, while the 64GB comes with Verizon LTE baked right in, and a choice of plans.

As for the rest of the features, the Pixel also has a triple-microphone configuration — with one under the keyboard — which helps improve noise cancellation, including the rattle of your typing during excited hangouts. This is also where the speakers are hidden, so it will be interesting to see how those play nice together. Other features include an “HD” camera, a custom keyboard action for less finger-fatigue, and an enhanced smooth glass trackpad. As for ins and outs, there are two USB ports, a mini displayport, a mic / headphone jack and an SD card reader — notably, no Ethernet. Wirelessly, you have WiFi a thru n and Bluetooth (plus that LTE if you opt in). Wondering what effect that display might have on the (59Wh) battery? Well Google claims its open-source test (available for criticism online) has rated the Pixel at five hours. If you want to get yourself some touchscreen Pixel action, you can order starting today from the Play store, or Best Buy starting tomorrow. The WiFi-only model will cost you $1,299, rising to $1,449 if you want some LTE (currently US / Verizon only). Not enough info for you right there? Why not head over to our minty-fresh hands-on.

Update: The WiFi model is available now from the Google Play store and will be on Bestbuy.com starting tomorrow. You’ll have to wait until April before you can order the LTE version.

Filed under: Laptops, Google

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At this point we’ve seen countless Windows 8 devices — Ultrabooks, convertibles and hybrids, oh my — but to date there are only a few in the latter category running Ultrabook-grade processors. Exhibit A, of course, is Microsoft’s long-awaited Surface Pro, but Samsung also has a horse in the race: the ATIV Smart PC Pro. This $1,200 machine packs a Core i5 CPU and includes a keyboard dock and an S Pen to appeal to productivity-minded users. We’ve spent some time with this 11.6-inch hybrid’s Atom-powered sibling, the ATIV Smart PC, and walked away unimpressed. So does the Smart PC Pro’s higher-end performance make for a more worthwhile product? Head past the break to find out.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Samsung

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Citing sources “familiar with the matter,” the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google has developed the first Chromebooks with touchscreens. A firm launch date for the laptops is MIA, but the WSJ claims that they’ll hit shelves “later this year.” If the notebooks do indeed pan out, Chromebook fans will finally get in on the touch-enabled action that Windows 8 hardware has been enjoying since last year.

Filed under: Laptops, Google

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Source: Wall Street Journal