Google used its annual hardware event to announce the Pixelbook[1]. This is essentially the third iteration of the company’s Chromebook Pixel laptop, though with the Pixelbook,[2] the company is taking a new approach. I’m not just talking about the fact that this is a very thin 2-in-1, though that’s obviously new, too. What’s different this time around is that the company actually believes it can make a laptop for the masses.
When the first Pixel laptop launched, Chrome OS was still in its early days, couldn’t run Android Apps yet and at a minimum of $1,299, it was a luxury machine that probably had more users inside of Google than outside. In return, though, you got the best Chrome OS laptop. The second iteration, which launched in 2015, was just as good and dropped the price to a more palatable $999 for the basic version. Still, the 2015 Chromebook Pixel was very much a niche luxury device in a sea of $300 Chromebooks. Both of these early devices were basically reference designs that were ahead of their time.
Now, with the Pixelbook, Google is once again pricing its laptop at $999, but times have changed and Google definitely isn’t looking at the Pixelbook as a reference design. This time, the company says it is aiming the Pixelbook at a wider audience and that it wants to get head-to-head with far more established laptop makers.
Given that the Pixelbook can run Android apps, that’s not a completely delusional idea. Indeed, Google worked with Adobe and other software houses to make sure that applications like Lightroom work well on the Pixelbook.
The laptop also features at least 128GB of storage space now. Early Chromebooks often had 16GB...