Google Launches The New Chromebook Pixel (2015)

Two years ago Google released the original Chromebook Pixel to the world. To this day it has remained the most premium and expensive Chromebook ever made, with specifications that rivaled Ultrabooks more so than Chromebooks.at the time. Its display was also one of the first HiDPI displays to be put on a laptop, which is where the name Chromebook Pixel comes from. Unfortunately, Chrome OS was still in its early days when the original Pixel launched, and it suffered both from a high barrier to entry with its price, and a lack of software functionality that buyers of expensive laptops required. Since that time, Google has continually improved their cloud based applications offerings to have more features and work more seamlessly with existing file formats used by desktop software like Microsoft Office.

That brings us to today, with the launch of the new Chromebook Pixel. On first glance, it’s difficult to tell this new Pixel from the old one. The chassis has remained largely the same, including its dimensions and its mass. But a careful examination will reveal that this new Pixel makes some huge improvements over the original model, and adopts some new technologies that will be very important going into the future. To get an idea of how this year’s Chromebook Pixel compares to the old model, I’ve put together a chart with the key specifications of both versions below.

Like I said above, there are some aspects of this new Pixel that are unchanged from the original. The size, shape, and mass of the laptop remains the same, as do the the basic specifications of its display. But once you move beyond the physical aspects of the device, things become much more interesting. The first big change is to the CPU, which makes sense given that its been two years since the original Pixel was launched. This new model adopts the i5-5200U which is one of Intel’s Broadwell-U CPUs. It’s a 2.2GHz dual core part which can turbo up to 2.7GHz when required. The GPU also moves up to Intel’s HD 5500 graphics from the HD 4000 graphics on the older Ivy Bridge model. While there will be some degree of performance improvement from the new CPU, the real improvement it helps to bring is greatly improved battery life. Google’s battery life estimate for the new Pixel is 12 hours, which is a massive increase over the 5 hours of battery life estimated for the original Pixel.

Perhaps the biggest change of all on the new Pixel is its new port configuration. The original model had two USB 2.0 ports, a Mini DisplayPort output, and your standard 3.5mm audio jack and charging port. The new Pixel does away with the dedicated Mini DisplayPort as well as the power jack, and instead replaces both of them with an incredibly versatile standard that we’re finally seeing come to market. Much like the MacBook that Apple launched two days ago, the new Chromebook Pixel features the new USB Type-C standard for both expansion, connections, and charging. However, Google has recognized the benefit of being able to both charge and connect devices simultaneously, and so they’ve included two USB Type-C ports on the Pixel. What’s also nice about the inclusion of one Type-C port on each side is that it allows the Pixel’s charger to be plugged in to whichever side of the laptop is more convenient in a given situation. 

Since Type-C is so versatile, it can replace a whole range of legacy ports. Google will be selling accessories to allow the connection of older USB devices, DisplayPort monitors, and HDMI cords. Google also sells a Type-C to Standard-A cable which can be used to hook the Pixel to any existing USB charging block. You can see the prices for each adapter in the image above. In addition to the two USB Type-C ports, the Pixel also has two USB 3.0 ports, the previously mentioned 3.5mm audio jack, and an SD card reader. 

In addition to the standard Chromebook Pixel, Google will also be offering a Chromebook Pixel LS. The LS stands for “Ludicrous Speed”, and this configuration bumps the CPU to an Intel i7 processor, while doubling both the RAM and SSD storage to 16GB and 64GB respectively. Both these models will only be available in the United States and United Kingdom, with starting prices of $999 for the normal edition and $1299 for the LS edition.

Eurocom P5 Pro / Clevo P750ZM Review: True DTR

Some people look at notebooks as a way to cut the cord and go mobile for long periods of time, but others view the portability as a mere convenience while they move from one power socket to another (e.g. from home to the office). If you’re mostl…

Apple Announces The New MacBook (2015)

Today Apple announced a brand new MacBook laptop. This new laptop doesn’t fall under Apple’s existing MacBook Pro and MacBook Air categories, but is instead simply called the MacBook. In truth, this is actually more like the return of an old name that hasn’t been seen in some time, rather than the creation of a new product line. When the MacBook Air was introduced, consumers overwhelmingly chose it over the original MacBook line. It eventually absorbed that category of Apple’s laptops, while the Pro line remained for users who needed something with more processing power. 

This new MacBook was recently rumored, and there have been many different reactions from Apple fans and tech press alike. It’s certainly a departure from even the existing MacBook Air, and in many ways it seems more fitting of the Air name than the current Air does. Apple’s goal was clearly to make something thin, light, and almost appliance like. They’ve certainly succeeded, but in order to get there the MacBook makes some big changes to what is currently thought of as a notebook.

The biggest change is to physical connectivity. Macs currently come with a couple of USB ports, a couple of Thunderbolt 2 ports, a 3.5mm jack for audio, and some connector for power. The new MacBook goes in a completely different direction, ditching every single legacy port with the exception of the 3.5mm jack. Instead, the MacBook has a single USB Type-C port on the left side, and this port is the only method of connecting with other devices, as well as charging. It’s a huge departure from the current MacBooks and laptops in general, and only time will tell how well consumers respond to this change.

Apple’s pursuit of thinness also necessitated changes to the input devices when compared to other MacBooks. With a slimmer chassis comes less space for the key switches underneath the key caps. In order to make the keyboard on the new MacBook, Apple designed a new type of key switch which they are calling a Butterfly Switch. This new switch is 40% thinner than the scissor switches used on older MacBooks, and it eliminates the wobble that occurs when pressing on the edges of scissor switches. The trackpad has also been redesigned to use Apple’s Force Touch technology from the Apple Watch. which allows the user to press anywhere on the trackpad to click, and gives a haptic response to presses. It can also determine the force of a press to perform gestures or other actions. Both of these changes are interesting, but they do make large changes to the feel of the keyboard and trackpad. Key travel distance has certainly been reduced, and the new trackpad won’t have the clickiness of the old ones. It will be interesting to see how consumers react to these changes.

Apple’s other goal seems to have been making the new MacBook fanless. In order to do so, the new MacBook utilizes Intel’s new Core M processors. The starting configuration at $1299 uses Core M-5Y70 which has a base frequency of 1.1GHz and a turbo frequency of 2.9GHz. The 1.2GHz Core M-5Y71 is available in the $1599 model, and a 1.3GHz version is available as a build to order option on Apple’s online store. All models come with 8GB of LPDDR3 memory standard.

Like all of Apple’s recent products, the new MacBook comes with a Retina display. This is a 12″ 2304×1440 IPS display, which equates to 226 pixels per inch. While this new MacBook is not a MacBook Air, it’s good to see the thin and light laptop in Apple’s line finally moving both to a high resolution display as well as to an IPS panel. Assuming that Apple does the same 2x scaling that they’ve used in all of their other products, users will be given a desktop with the same area as a 1152×720 display which is actually slightly lower than the 11″ MacBook Air. Apple specifies that the scaled resolutions available are 1440×900, 1280×800, and 1024×600, although it remains to be seen how well Intel’s HD 5300 will keep up when rendering at 2880×1800 offscreen for the 1440×900 scaled mode.

This new MacBook reminds me a lot of the iPad. It has a port for charging and for interfacing with other devices via adapters, and a port for your headphones. Everything else is meant to be done wirelessly, and there’s certainly no room for user upgrades or repairs. It’s very much an appliance-like computer, and it’s something very different from any laptop Apple has ever done before. I naturally want to feel skeptical about it, but the MacBook Air was an equally dramatic shift from the norm when it was first introduced, and it eventually replaced the original MacBook line entirely. Whether or not the changes in the new MacBook become common among future laptops is up to consumers. If you want to be one of the first people to enter uncharted territory with this new MacBook, it’ll be available in just over a month, on April 10.