Slashdot Mirror


The Chromebook Pixel Is Real, and Expensive

First time accepted submitter Lirodon writes "Just when you thought Google's rumored Chrome OS laptop, the Chromebook Pixel, was an elaborate fake, think again. This high-end Chromebook with a 12.85-inch high resolution touchscreen (available in both Wi-Fi only and Verizon LTE versions) and an Intel Core i5 processor under the hood is super fancy, and also super expensive: starting at $1299. Would you want to pay that much for what is essentially a premium netbook?" Engadget has a hands-on with the device.

24 of 392 comments (clear)

  1. nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    nope

    1. Re:nope by tehcyder · · Score: 4, Funny

      Fine for regular folk. Us enthusiasts have vastly higher expectations, and we're not a shrinking market.

      Well aren't we a bunch of precious fucking snowflakes?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  2. MICROSOFT TAX! by CajunArson · · Score: 5, Funny

    This thing would obviously only be $2.99 + S&H if it weren't for the Microsoft tax! I'm tired of M$ driving up the price of hardware with ... interruption... whispering .... uh... I'm tired of the GOOGLE TAX!

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
  3. Re:Looks pretty good. by BanHammor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Still, it's like 1 million dollar vodka - it does its job for sure, but it is surely a little expensive for that.

  4. Netbook??? by nomel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since when is Core i5, Intel HD 4000, and 4GB of ram, and a screen with an absurdly high resolution, considered a netbook?

    Sure, it has a netbook os installed...but that doesn't mean anything. I could also install windows 3.1...big deal.

  5. Re:Cheap alternative to Retina MacBook by alen · · Score: 4, Informative

    Apple just dropped the price on all their retina laptops

  6. OMG, the display! by dabadab · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only interesting thing in the whole machine is the display.
    It has sane proportions (3:2) and it has a very decent resolution (2560x1700). Basically these were the worst problems of the notebooks of the last few years: the 16:9 display that made no sense whatsoever* and the laughably low resolution. Now it seems that these may go away.

    *: please note that I'm talking about the really portable size range where basically the keyboard determines the width of the notebook - in this category the displays did not get wide; they got short, with huge unused spaces above and below them.

    --
    Real life is overrated.
  7. No. by Richy_T · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the last few days, I have switched over to the "Google is evil" camp and will be moving away from them as much as possible.

    If anyone cares what pushed me over the edge, it was when I found they now require you have Google Plus to write a review in the play store. A move worthy of Microsoft at its vilest. This is not the only issue by any means though.

  8. needs more ram as well 4gb is small at that price by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    needs more ram as well 4gb is small at that price also flash size is small.

  9. Re:wow, that's a ton more expensive than I expecte by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Informative

    It should not be a problem. I have a very similar built in intel card driving a 1366x768 and a 1920x1080 screen at the same time.

  10. Re:Cheap alternative to Retina MacBook by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hey, it's an x86 PC, even if it runs a crappy OS. I suspect most of these will eventually wind up running Windows, unless there's something about the hardware that prevents this.

    For people who liked the Retina hardware on the new MacBooks but couldn't justify the price (and don't care about or don't want OSX), this could be a good alternative. I'll wait a while, though: I don't see this price point lasting very long.

    You can't run Windows on a Chromebook. The BIOS doesn't exist - just a small loader that can boot Linux and that's it. You can flip a hidden switch into "developer mode" where it'll let you have a command prompt, but that's really all there is. You can modify ChromeOS at that point to have a Linux system (there are instructions for installing Ubuntu, but it involves a bit of work with DD).

    In regular non-developer mode, ChromeOS is quite locked down.

  11. Re:Looks pretty good. by beelsebob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't get why you'd want this – it's only $100 less than a 13" rMBP, while having 4GB less RAM, a much much smaller SSD, and a far inferior OS.

  12. Re:wow, that's a ton more expensive than I expecte by Bill+Hayden · · Score: 4, Informative

    But an Intel HD 4000 ?

    I'm not expecting that to keep up with the high-res display.

    It doesn't seem to be a problem for the Retina version of the MacBook Pro 13", which uses the same chip.

    --
    Protect your browser with the Force Safe Search add-on
  13. Re:Well.. by EGSonikku · · Score: 5, Informative

    The 13" Macabook Pro Retina starts at $1499.

    http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro

    For that you get:

    2.5GHz Core i5
    8GB RAM
    128GB SSD

    And out of the box you can run OS X, Windows, or Linux.

    So for $200 more than a Chromebook you get 4x the storage, and an actual OS and apps.

    Seems a no brainier to me, assuming you HAVE to have a super HD display.

    --
    - "Scientia non habet inimicum nisp ignorantem"
  14. If you HAVE to have a Retina/Pixel display... by EGSonikku · · Score: 5, Informative

    Get a Retina MacBook Pro.

    Lets compare:

    13" Chromebook Pixel
    1.8GHz Core i5
    4GB RAM
    32GB Storage
    5 Hour battery
    Only runs Chrome
    $1,299

    13" Retina MacBook Pro
    2.5GHz Core i5
    8GB RAM
    128GB SSD
    7 Hour battery
    Can run OS X, Windows, or Linux
    $1,499

    Seems to me that extra $200 gets you a LOT more bang for your buck. And if you don't care about the display then that same cash gets you a much better hardware spec'd laptop from many other places.

    --
    - "Scientia non habet inimicum nisp ignorantem"
  15. Re:Unask by theVarangian · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wouldn't a 'premium' notebook have a real OS?

    This isn't a 'premium' notebook, with Chrome OS installed it isn't even really a notebook, it's a portable $1299 thin client.

  16. Re:Gee whiz by aristotle-dude · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Similar form factor and specs to a Mac Book Pro .. and guess what .. similar price. Take that you Apple Apologists .. um .. err .. [Facepalm]

    Right but half the ram (4GB versus 8GB) and a quarter of the storage (32GB versus 128GB) for only 200 dollars less than the 13" rMBP. Shouldn't it be a lot less considering that it does not come with a fullblown OS and apps?

    --
    Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
  17. Re:Looks pretty good. by swillden · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Inferior OS? I dunno. I have a Samsung Chromebook and a MacBook Air, and for most work I prefer the Chromebook -- mostly because the OS gets in my way a lot less than OS X does.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  18. Re:Cheap alternative to Retina MacBook by Derek+Pomery · · Score: 4, Informative

    Bit of clarification on the linux instructions.
    http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.com/

    Has the typing commands portion of the instructions simplified down to:
    wget http://goo.gl/34v87; sudo bash 34v87

    run at least twice.

    And:
    sudo cgpt add -i 6 -P 5 -S 1 /dev/mmcblk0

    To set ubuntu as the default boot.

    So. No need to type in anything too complex w/ dd

    --
    -- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"' /. ate my old sig. Bastards.
  19. Hell no to touchscreens on laptops!!! by Xaedalus · · Score: 4, Funny

    As a proud member pervert in good standing of the Congregation for Appreciation of Internet Pr0n, I must heartily decry, deride, protest, and shake every conceivable appendage I can muster at the idea of a laptop having a touchscreen. I care not for access to dev mode and ease of conversion to Linux, nor do I care about comparisons to MBR, MBP, or any other model in its market class, nay; what I care most about is that when I am using internet on my laptop for the purpose that the Good Lord Snookums intended--the transmission of digitalized lewd images at 0.999999 percent of c to my eyes for transitional enlightenment of my load--that any incidental contact of whatever airborne fluids I may be generating will not hit my screen and be registered as input. I have a hard enough time keeping my screen nice and clear as it is, I really do not need the fruit of my loins sending me to yet another morally dubious website when I'm not yet done with the one I'm on! So NAY! I say! Nay to touchscreens on laptops! I will NOT be a consumer of this product!

    As a side note, I do not use my iPad for this very reason... well, that and my wrists tend to get crimps in them.

    --
    Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
  20. Re:x86? REALLY? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sure, it has that code - but its UI stack does not use it for widgets etc. Which is why it still doesn't have an option to e.g. make text bigger in all applications, like you can in Windows or most Linux DEs.

  21. Re:needs more ram as well 4gb is small at that pri by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Those 11" Ultrabooks come with a copy of Windows, so you can actually do something useful.

    Is that a feature or a bug?

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  22. Pricing Is For Cloud Storage by jdev · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm not clear what the hardware is worth, but people are ignoring why this is priced so high. What nobody mentions is the laptop comes with 3 years of 1TB Google Drive storage. If you check out pricing for that much storage, you are looking at $50/month, which translates to $600/yr or $1,800 for 3 years.

    So if you are a Google Drive power user and need a ton of storage space, this thing is a bargain. You get the storage at a discount and a nice free laptop. Sure, that seems like a crazy amount to spend on cloud storage space but this thing isn't exactly a laptop for the masses.

    The big question here is who needs that much cloud storage space. It sounds like something that would be nice to have, but I wouldn't spend $600/yr. I'm not the target audience though.

    1. Re:Pricing Is For Cloud Storage by jdev · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here, 1 TB of always-available, portable storage for $99.99, perhaps less if you shop around for a discount.

      Yes, portable hard drives are almost exactly like cloud storage. Except for the reliability. And the convenience. And ease of sharing. And accessibility. But besides that, it's exactly the same.