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The Chromebook Pixel

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Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#101

Post by spankalee »

ConstantineXVI wrote: post #48

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 N…

Discliaimer: I work for Google, but don't know about real strategy decisions about this.

I think it's all about establishing more demand for web apps.

Already I can do everything I need to in Chrome except for a nice development environment, though Cloud9 is getting closer, and music apps like Logic. Those are quite doable though, especially with the Chrome App APIs, someone just needs to get the ball rolling.

The current crop of Chromebooks were really inexpensive and nice for the money, but they weren't going to appeal to the cutting edge tech users who will loudly demand and use better web apps. Chrome needs something that inspires, and I think the Pixel will do that. I've used it for a while now and the hardware is incredibly nice. It'll also create space between the $200-300 Chromebooks and the Pixel for some decent mid-range devices.

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#102

Post by wmf »

Vervious wrote: post #72

Why didn't they just turn it into a tablet? The trackpad seems almost extraneous, and the keyboard could be an add-on. Not to mention the square form factor that makes it look bulkier than it really is.

Isn't that the Nexus 10?

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#103

Post by mrtron »

nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #66
jbail wrote: post #14

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.

Considering that this is actually competing against the Retina MacBook Pro, it's actually $200 cheaper...

The importance of price anchoring...

$100 more? Is it better than a MacBook?

$200 less? Wow...MacBooks are so overpriced.

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#104

Post by robertst »

hadem wrote: post #55
robertst wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly think the high price tag is the point. Google is trying to establish itself as a major brand that isn't just offering alternatives to Apple hardware for a lower price. Think of the plans to build retail stores, and how the Android brand is given less prominence these days: they are working hard to build a consumer "Google" brand that's as strong as Apple. So far most of the devices they sold were priced to…

But isn't it essentially just running web applications? I know I could download applications from the Chrome app store but I couldn't install any other applications, correct?

Yes, it's just webapps, Chrome extensions and Chrome Apps from the Web store. If you feel strongly that you need to install other software then the Pixel is probably not a product for you... Just keep in mind that it's pretty much the same for all tablet users, since they can also only use webapps and install apps from their vendor's store.

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#105

Post by picklefish »

ebbv wrote: post #88
picklefish wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe Apple exclusively owns US Patent No. 7311526 ("Magnetic connector for electronic device", issued in 2007) and does not license the MagSafe connector or the patent.

And yet Microsoft has magnetic power connectors on the Surface tablets.

Hrmm. I don't know. I was just curious and looked it up. It appears that microsoft has their own patent for a magsafe-like connector: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/14/microsoft-magnetic-patent... from http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/19/microsoft-surface-power-c...

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#106

Post by rayiner »

yuxt wrote: post #77
recoiledsnake wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think it is purely amazing the specs for that price. The display specs are amazing, but storage is a paltry 32GB so I guess it's compensated there.

They also provide "One terabyte of Google Drive cloud storage, free for 3 years"

... which you will pay your ISP out the nose to access.

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#107

Post by glogla »

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.

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#108

Post by bitcartel »

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.

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#109

Post by ebbv »

picklefish wrote: post #105
ebbv wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet Microsoft has magnetic power connectors on the Surface tablets.

Hrmm. I don't know. I was just curious and looked it up. It appears that microsoft has their own patent for a magsafe-like connector: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/14/microsoft-magnetic-patent... from http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/19/microsoft-surface-power-c...

So clearly Google needs to get their own, or license Microsoft's. :P

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#110

Post by rayiner »

_delirium wrote: post #46
MatthewPhillips wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoops, still a good deal though.

Yeah, if you do use cloud storage in that vicinity, it makes the deal much better. At current prices, 500GB at Dropbox is $500/yr, and 1TB at G-Drive is $600/yr. Those will probably drop before the three years is up so you can't just multiply by three, but let's ballpark it and say it comes with at least $1k in cloud storage. Of course, that's only really worth $1k for people who were actually going to use that much…

Jesus. That's approaching SSD prices for storage that's slow and patchy to access unless you're sitting at a desk plugged into a fiber connection, that Google is going to rummage through to sell you ads.
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