Google Unveils Broadwell-Powered Chromebook Pixel

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Google Unveils Broadwell-Powered Chromebook Pixel

Google has finally unveiled a new Chromebook Pixel! This high-end Chromebook starts at $999 USD and packs an Intel Core "Broadwell" processor with a HiDPI screen and up to 12 hours of battery life...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Chromebook-Broadwell-Pixel

[schmidtbag]

$1000 for a chromebook? I find it hard to justify paying 1/4 of that. And why does a chromebook need 8GB of RAM or an i5?

[DarkCloud]

Good news

$1000 for a chromebook? I find it hard to justify paying 1/4 of that. And why does a chromebook need 8GB of RAM or an i5?

Well with that much power you might be able to do something productive like run Ubuntu or Windows 7 in a virtual machine

[CTown]

Got scared for a second. This has 2x USB Type-C ports and 2x Type-A ports. (I hope I read wrong and the new $1400 Macbook comes with more than a single type-c usb port.)

@schmidtbag

It's a fairly high end Intel ultrabook. You could install any Linux based OS on it; especially if it still comes with a BIOS or UEFI payload for Coreboot. Afterall, ChromeOS is just Gentoo. For price per spec, these things are a steal (sort of like LG's and Google's Nexus 5 - which had a fairly complete working port of Sailfish OS 2.0 at World Mobile Congress)

The problem is 32 or 64 gb of storage, though.

[schmidtbag]

Well with that much power you might be able to do something productive like run Ubuntu or Windows 7 in a virtual machine

Or, y'know, buy a normal laptop and run those OSes natively. The appeal of Chromebooks is something very cheap and power efficient for basic web browsing tasks. This is the price and hardware of a mid-range workstation laptop.

I'm not saying this laptop itself is bad, but selling it as a chromebook just seems so wasteful of potential.

[Xaero_Vincent]

Using the $1000 Pixel for the intended purpose of accessing web apps ontop of Google's ecosystem of web services is idiotic.

The only justification for buying this machine would be to sideload Ubuntu or Archlinux in a Crouton chroot. There is no need for ChromeOS when the Chrome web browser on a proper Linux distro can run almost all "ChromeOS apps", even the offline ones. Furthermore, it's possible to run ChromeOS's new but limited android runtime on a proper Linux distro as well: Archon.

[grndzro]

Lmao jesus there went any reason to but a mac book air. That thing looks sweet.

[all2well]

The pixel's price is unjustified

It's a prototype device, one that's meant to test out advanced ChromeOS features. The market for this are tinkerers with money to burn, not average consumers. The $300 chromebooks are the mass-market devices.

[blackout23]

Got scared for a second. This has 2x USB Type-C ports and 2x Type-A ports. (I hope I read wrong and the new $1400 Macbook comes with more than a single type-c usb port.)

WRONG!...The new Macbook also has a headphone jack!
Yeah but that's it. Hope someone invents headphone jack -> HDMI/USB Type A Adapters . Otherwise you can't charge your Macbook while also having peripherals or USB sticks plugged in.

[Ericg]

WRONG!...The new Macbook also has a headphone jack!
Yeah but that's it. Hope someone invents headphone jack -> HDMI/USB Type A Adapters . Otherwise you can't charge your Macbook while also having peripherals or USB sticks plugged in.

Apple already sells an adapter that will do Type-C to Type-A & HDMI / VGA & (Something else that I forget)