Pixelbook is Google’s high-end Chromebook with Google Assistant inside
Google today announced the PixelBook, their new high-end Chromebook that aims to position itself as the only digital sale you’ll need in your everyday travels. We’ll get the hard part out of the way: it costs $999, which is a lot up against the horde of affordable options we normally see rolled out on a weekly basis.
But for that amount, this is truly a next-gen Chromebook. It features that slick metal design Google has become fond of for this line, and it really earns its Pixel moniker with the familiar two-tone look the phones have.
The device features free-swinging hinges to allow you to use it in notebook or tablet mode at a moment’s notice, which means yes, it has a touchscreen. And it’s on that touchscreen you can also use an optional $99 Wacom-powered pen that has 2,000 levels of pressure sensitivity and a response time of just 10ms.
Also along for the ride: built-in Google Assistant functionality. You can talk to it if you want, or push a dedicated Assistant key that’ll let you enter your query on your keyboard. That Google Assistant also helps you with the exact information you want it to: all you have to do is circle things of interest with the aforementioned pen.
It does all this with your choice of Core i5 or Core i7 circuitry and a whopping 8GB of RAM, with up to 512GB of storage onboard for more than modest needs. The most expensive configuration will run you about $1650. Here’s a full list of your options:
- $999 (8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, seventh-gen Intel CoreTM i5 processor)
- $1,199 (8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, seventh-gen Intel CoreTM i5 processor)
- $1,649 (16GB RAM, 512GB NVMe, seventh-gen Intel CoreTM i7 processor)
You can already pre-order your PixelBook today, with shipping slated to happen October 31st in the US, UK, and Canada.