Google Chromebook Pixel Out-Retinas the MacBook Pro Discussion

Today, Google confirmed its latest Chrome experiment, the Chromebook Pixel. Leaked in a video several weeks ago, the Pixel takes Chrome, and gives it the best notebook display money can buy.

Read the full content of this Article: Google Chromebook Pixel Out-Retinas the MacBook Pro

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I just might drop the $1300 for the hardware, but I'll install ubuntu or win8 on it (once possible ofc). That screen is pretty sexy.

 

The aspect ratio zealots are going to be excited. A 3:2 aspect ratio? That's the most square screen I think I've seen in a long time.

Great resolution too, and great case design.

The touchscreen is pretty vindicating for everyone who said that touchscreen laptops were just a fad being forced on the market by Microsoft

But I can't get around the OS or the miniscule onboard storage. That'd be a deal-breaker for me. And the review is right...with that particular OS and its severe functional deficiencies, the price is hard to swallow regardless of a quality case and a superb screen.

 

Hmm ... I wonder how long it will take for a dedicated Hackintosh guide for the Google Chromebook Pixel to show up?

 

Heck I'd be happy with Linux, even. Windows 8 might be hard to squeeze onto the 64GB module. Seems a shame to waste the touchscreen on Chrome OS, though I'm open - if Google makes the software on this machine really compelling, I'd be happy to eat my words here.

 

I'd point out, too, before someone else does - that $1300 is about how much you'd pay for 3 years of 1TB cloud storage, assuming the price goes down over time. So if you really need that sort of capacity, you could look at buying this as getting a free (super chic) web browsing appliance.

Still, very few people need that sort of capacity at this point.

 

Good point Nelson, except that since it's only 3 years, if you use it a lot, you are forced at the end of the 3 years to either shell out another $350 a year to keep it up, or stop using the service (which begs the question, did you really need it in the first place).

The cloud push by Google is one of the reasons I didn't get a Nexus 4...I like my SD cards too much dammit!

Shame that for $1300 and such a boxy design, they couldn't fit in even an entry level graphics card.

 

No matte screen?



If there was a matte screen option, upgradable HDD, RAM etc, I would get it, and put linux on it.

 

Never mind third-party OS solutions, this would be more useful with Google's own Jelly Bean than with Chrome OS. Chrome OS boggles my mind...it's the only situation where a company has a mobile OS and a desktop OS, and the desktop OS has less functionality than the mobile OS.

 

Sigh, matte screen fanatics.

 

You got the "zealot" part right, at least in my opinion. And I'm most definitely one of them...

That's about the only thing I like about this - highly interesting but so-not-my-cup-of-tea - product...

However, it became the talk of the town within seconds, so whether it ends up selling well or not (I'd bet on the latter), Google certainly did get their point - whatever it may be - across...

 

Maybe this whole machine is just one big troll by Google so now they can advertise "Google Glass: only a few hundred dollars more than a Chromebook."

 

Considering the CPU power requirements (primarily a web browing/cloud connected device), I'd say an AMD APU would be a great fit for Chromebooks. The strength of integrated Radeons outweighs the HD4000. Any one agree/disagree?

 

Who care about the aspect ratio when you can't read it at it's native resolution. Gorilla Glass on on any non-touch notebook would be a no-go for me. Come to think of it, I've never had a desire to touch my notebook screen.

 

Agreed. Hate wiping the fingerprint marks...would love to see that screen (and its resolution) in real life, though...

 

Linux Mint on the Chromebook Pixel

 

No three mouse buttons, no matte screen.

I'll take the HP elitebooks, thank you.

 

i5 could be necessary if Flash makes a comeback.

That should read... per hour maybe? Not really a groundbreaking deal

 

Not sure if you were serious but it sounds like you are joking about the i5 and Flash seeing as any device these days can handle Flash just fine. I think. This device is obviously NOT meant to be a powerhouse so I just figured why not cram the best available integrated graphics in there and at a lower cost (win win for those interested in this). That should also help bring the overall cost of this niche device down, maybe closer to $999.99? Keep everything else the same, maybe add an mSATA SATAIII port for storage expansion, but change the APU. Because I mean, in the video, the guy did say they do not care so much about the hardware inside as much as the OS and the exterior of the laptop. So why not put in a AMD Trinity/Richland/Kaveri/Kabini/etc/ APU in there instead? Also, like the recently announced Sony Playstation 4, this device and its OS (Linux-based) can take full advantage of the APU (GPGPU) without the traditional Windows environment overhead.

I know some of you guys and gals would only ever consider an Intel CPU for almost anything, but in this case I don't see the benefit of the extra CPU power and the unnecessary cost to a luxury niche device like the Pixel when AMD's product can prove better in this case. Pride and personal preference aside, the main seller here is the display and design, not the internal hardware (which almost any modern architecture will suffice). Maybe Intel gave Google a heck of a deal or AMD couldn't meet their requirements (if any)?

Wouldn't the more powerful and faster integrated Radeon GPU perform better with such high resolution display compared to the HD4000? And maybe even the possiblity of Dual Graphics (asymetrical crossfire) too? Lately, this part of AMD's driver performance issues have been improving (but still need more work).

I have to say i do like the design and the display, but the price tag and functionality doesn't call my name. I'll wait for some reviews.

 

Haha, I saw that! To be honest, I'd probably be fine if Google even got an Android interpreter running on Chrome. With that touchscreen, being able to run a couple of windowed Android apps would be pretty cool.

You're definitely in the minority for that sort of request - I'm pretty sure we're going to see three-button notebooks completely go away over the next few years, since most (admittedly not all) users would prefer that space to go to a large touchpad area.

Speaking of touchpads, given how good the Pixel's sounds, I really hope that incorporated some multitouch gestures.

You wouldn't be using dual graphics on a notebook that didn't have a discrete GPU - that's when you combine both the on-die integrated chip and the discrete product to get something more akin to the sum of their parts, rather than just one or the other.

That being said, I think an AMD solution for this model would have been a feather in AMD's cap, but I doubt it's going to make a huge difference in the overall user experience. Maybe a next generation? Though Haswell will be just enough improvement to make the next generation good enough, too.

 

See but that's the thing. The next generation chips from AMD will still have better graphics than Intel's Haswell and will still cost less. This seems to be their only advantage as of lately so i doubt they'd give that up. So the same applies then as it does now. But yeah, who knows what'll happen and who knows if this project will even be successful for Google.

 

Coreboot support added by google, in theory is posible to install seabios and windows

[Phoronix] Google Provides Coreboot For Chromebook Pixel
[Phoronix] Google Designs Its Own Chrome Embedded Controller

 

Yeah, I know. Intel might have given them a better price, though; it's hard to say how much Google paid for anything.

Has there been an AMD-powered Chrome OS anything, yet? I don't think so; maybe there's some optimizations in the code that precluded Google going with the underdog.

 

You serious?????

Buttons are very important to me in work.

 

AMD's APUs would probably really be the more suitable hardware. But it's also a questions of drivers. Intel made quite some commitment recently to improve their Linux GPU drivers.
AMD did, too, but they don't have the same resources, and a lot more catching up to do..

 

Me too. I highlight text all the time - need the ability to press a button and drag my mouse around...

 

Key word being MOUSE. You can still use an external mouse. This change to a buttonless trackpad only affects people who care about "traditional user interfaces" enough to want physical buttons, but not enough to use a bluetooth or wireless mouse. And that's a pretty small market segment, far smaller than the mainstream users who prefer the extra trackpad surface area.

 

Yeah for more pixel, but do we actually get more work space? or is it just that I can't see individual pixel when I stick my head on the screen.

 

I mean external buttons - the trend toward integrated buttons is too steep to ignore.

If the trackpad is good enough, though, you shouldn't need external buttons. As an example, I use a MacBook Pro as one of my laptops because the trackpads are flat out superior. It's the major reason I use one - not the OS. I have no trouble selecting text, moving around, etc, etc.

 

I was talking about integrated buttons.

I use linux, and the middle button is essential to me. I can copy, then paste with a click of the middle button (no CTRL-C CTRL-V required). Also, in firefox (in linux and windows), I can open a link in a new tab by clicking the middle button.

I heart the middle button.

I SO hate idiot mainstream users!!!! All they want laptops for is facebook and youtube and twitter.
Use tablets for that you BEEP. Leave laptops to us who use it for work!!!

 

I also rely on the middle button, which is another reason why I like Thinkpads. With the Thinkpad Helix, though, we're seeing an integrated middle-click button. So long as it works just as well (which is a tough bar to reach), I don't have too much of a problem with it.

 

$1300 for this...I just don't get it, personally. I also don't get cloud storage - with storage prices of around .50 cents US per gb, just why? 1TB drives are available for 50-60, so unless you have massive amounts of data that you need access to around the world and can't carry an external drive (but you can carry a 12in notebook) it just doesn't make sense to me.

And the price for this...You could get a cheap but decent laptop ($750 lenovo thinkpad), a wi-fi only tablet ($200) and still have enough for the new PS4. Maybe I am missing something, but is a 3:2 aspect screen worth 1300?

 

There is also the decent build quality.

 

Cloud storage is better than local storage when you work on the same project from multiple devices. I use SkyDrive all the time when working on the document sometimes from work, sometimes from home.

Cloud storage (from a reputable company) is fail-proof. You'll never again lose a weekend's worth of homework, or your family photos, to a failed HDD or a house-fire. I once lost two months of pictures of my kids when my HDD failed. Since then, I've been more rigorous about frequent back-ups, but having a backup on a second HDD only protects you from mechanical failure, not fires/floods/burglars.

I haven't yet made the jump to primarily cloud storage from primarily local storage, but I definitely see the appeal.

 

What encryption solution do you use, Mitlov?

 

...and the relevance to the Google Chromebook Pixel is?

 

Cloud storage.

 

I've never felt the need to encrypt pictures of my kids sledding on Mt. Ashland. My concern is losing the pictures due to a bad HDD or a burglar or housefire, not sophisticated hackers from China copying photos of a kindergartener and a toddler playing in the snow. For people not involved in certain industries, the security offered by Google Drive (or iCloud, or SkyDrive) is perfectly adequate. It's certainly more secure than storing it locally on a computer that can be stolen by a burglar who breaks one window.

Your mileage may vary.

 

Security from burglars: depends what you mean by security. If you encrypt your HDD, your data is inaccessible to burglars.

 

Which won't help me if they steal all my electronics and only later check to see if they can read what's on it. I'm worried about meth-heads trying to steal electronics for a quick resale at a pawn shop, not covert operatives who are going to try to copy or review my files Mission Impossible-style while I sleep in the next room.

If you're worried about the latter scenario, then Google Drive (or Skydrive or iCloud) isn't for you. But that situation describes a small, small minority of users. For your typical user, data stored on a Google Drive server is at least as secure as how they store data on their PC's HDD.

 

At $200 a notebook that only runs a single program at least makes some vague sort of sense. At this thing's price it's like...huh?

 

1 TB of Google Drive storage costs $49/month at the current pricing scheme. The cost of three years of 1 TB storage is $1800. The $1300 Chromebook Pixel includes three years of 1TB storage at a substantial discount off the month-to-month rate AND a premium-quality high-res Chromebook as a signing bonus.

It's all in how you look at it.

 

But that analysis is for people who want 1 TB of cloud storage now. For people who are fine with traditional HDDs, you can have three 1tb drives (for backups) for $270, and this 3 drive solution will last longer than 3 years.

The question is what is the chromebook worth without the cloud storage?

 

Of course it is. A Chromebook-and-cloud-storage package like this is for people interested in cloud storage.

 

I still firmly believe this type of device would greatly benefit from a Richland APU (Kaveri gets even better).

EDIT: Review of the Google Pixel