This week Acer, HP, Toshiba, and Asus introduced new Chrome OS laptops and desktops featuring Intel Haswell processors. The Chromebooks are expected to offer longer battery life than their predecessors, and the Asus Chromebox will benefit from the latest Intel CPU and graphics performance.

But the company that made one of the most impressive Chromeboks to date has no immediate plans for a sequel. Google hasn’t yet announced plans for a next-generation Chromebook Pixel.

pixel_14

The Chromebook Pixel turned heads when it launched in February thanks to a 2560 x 1700 pixel touchscreen display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, an Intel core i5 Ivy Bridge processor, and an excellent keyboard and touchpad. It’s a remarkably good laptop, especially if you’re sold on Google’s idea of an operating system based around the Chrome web browser.

But with prices starting at $1299, it’s unlikely Google sold an awful lot of units — and PC World reports that Google is now calling the Pixel a prototype designed to show what a Chromebook could be and that the company currently has no plans to offer a second-generation model.

That doesn’t mean there won’t ever be a new Chromebook Pixel — GigaOm reports that Google spokesperson said the company isn’t commenting on future plans, which suggests that Google hasn’t ruled out a Pixel 2. It’s just not announcing anything at the moment.

It’s interesting to see that half a year later Chromebooks are coming out with faster processors, longer battery life, and other improvements over previous generations. But the Chromebook Pixel is still the only model with a 3:2 aspect ratio display, a higher-than-full-HD screen, or a touchscreen.

via Chrome Story

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7 replies on “Google has no plans for a Chromebook Pixel 2…yet”

  1. I’m sold on Chromebooks, but I need a laptop with a bigger drive because I’m a software developer. My sandbox in my home directory contains several active branches of code and the size of it is 50GB compressed, and that’s without binaries. Currently, I am working on medical imaging software that doesn’t use much 3rd party applications. But if I am working on a sizeable amount of code that uses Oracle or some other database, the amount of space will be even larger. Then there is a need to have 2-3 OS partitioned on the drive, and I would like at least a 1TB of space. And no, I’m not going to use my laptop to run Windows.

  2. While the Pixel looks great, its high price makes it a tough sell for Google. They need low-priced models to get people to buy into the Chromebook concept. So I don’t see a Pixel 2 coming out so soon.

    Google and it’s hardware partners have done a great job of improving the lower-cost Chromebook models. That’s made the Chromebook into a viable option for many computer users, especially as a second laptop.

    One obstacle to wider adoption of Chromebooks is the requirement to access Windows applications like Microsoft Office. However, there are third-party solutions that can overcome that issue. For example, Ericom AccessNow is an HTML5 RDP client that enables Chromebook users to connect to Terminal Servers and/or VDI virtual desktops, and run Windows applications or desktops in a browser tab.

    There’s nothing to install on the Chromebook, so AcccessNow is easy to deploy and manage.

    For an online, interactive demo, open your Chrome browser and visit:
    https://www.ericom.com/demo_AccessNow.asp?URL_ID=708

    Please note that I work for Ericom

  3. I was hoping for a Chromebook Pixel 2, also — that kind of amazing hardware and *designed* to run Linux? Wow! Oh, well.

  4. sad i was hoping for a pixel 2… would have gone with the normal chromebook pixel if it had at least 8hr battery life and was in the 900-1000 dollar range.

  5. Not to denigrate Chrome OS, but it’s a basic OS primarily meant to address simple needs. I suspect the primary market for a “wingtip shoes” priced Chromebook Pixel was the Pointy-Haired Boss.

    1. It’s a nice dev machine. I spend 80% of my time in Chrome OS and run a VM with Linux-y stuff in it.

      Full disclosure: I received a Pixel as a Google I/O attendee.

    2. You can install along with ChromeOS another OS (ex Ubuntu) through Crouton and you’ll have a pretty strong Dev machine

Comments are closed.