Google Pixelbook: the $999 premium convertible
The successor to the bulky Chromebooks of old is the new convertible Pixelbook, presented yesterday alongside the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. This $999 offering from The Big G is a premium piece of hardware meant to show off the merits of Chrome OS featuring pen-ready capabilities.
The aluminum Pixelbook is a convertible with a high-end feel, which has a hinge that allows it to flip all the way in both directions without the 12.3-inch display detaching. The Wacom touchscreen is optimized to allow you to write or draw on the screen with the Pixelbook Pen, though you’ll want to continue to use the trackpad and keyboard in addition to it for navigation and typing. On the keyboard, there’s a dedicated button for its key software feature: Google Assistant. The Pixelbook Pen costs $99 extra and takes AAAA batteries, so it’s not rechargable and there's no place to store it.
In terms of hardware specs, the 2.4 pound heavy, $999 Pixelbook has a seventh generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB RAM and 128 GB of SSD internal storage so you don’t have to use cloud storage as much as with previous Chromebooks. The $1,649 model will become available later this year with 512 GB of storage and 16 GB RAM. Both devices have dual speakers, a headphone jack and two USB Type-C ports which allow for two hours of use in just 15 minutes of charging.
Pre-orders, available from the Google Store, will begin shipping on October 31. What do you think of the expensive new convertible from Google? Let us know if you’d buy one in the comments.
These will become interesting when, not before, they are optimized run Android apps natively. As a fancified Chrome browser, I'd only look at it to install Linux alongside on the nice hardware for offline use.