Chromebook Pixel is doomed due to a serious identity crisis

When the first Chromebooks appeared, they had a certain meaning. It was a kind of evolution of the netbook under the brand Google for those who are still on you with the tablet. But it’s already 2013, and consumers still don’t understand why Android has so many versions, and even more so they can’t understand what Chrome OS is and who needs it. With Chromebook Pixel , Google’s cloud laptops create a massive identity crisis.

Khrombuki and so confusing

After the leaked video and traditionally poor details of the The Wall Street Journal report, the Internet giant launches the Chromebook Pixel, a laptop with an HD touchscreen based on its own Chrome operating system for $ 1299. With such a high price and the Google operating system is a very strange bird. Pixel has a pixel density of 239 ppi (that's already a good name), which is not strong, but still more than Apple's 13-inch retinal MacBook Pro (227 ppi). Just like that, for no particular reason.
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Oh yeah, and this is a touch screen, that is, it will be covered in fingerprints.

The touchscreen means that the Chromebook Pixel will compete not only with retinal MacBooks, but also directly with Microsoft's Surface tablets, which are insanely expensive and insanely promoted. But with all this hype around hybrid devices, blurring the line between laptops and tablets (who Lenovo Yoga?), It is not yet clear that consumers want them the same way as "clean" tablets.

The advent of touchscreen notebooks was a strange side effect of the 2010 era, when panic over the iPad began. While there is no evidence that consumers want a device that combines the power of a laptop with the friendliness of the fingers of the tablet. Even if they wanted it, it would not be an expensive notebook with a quadrillion pixels and a stripped-down Chrome OS.

Not in that (price) steppe

Want a powerful laptop with a good screen for $ 1200? Buy a 13-inch MacBook Air for $ 1199. Want to spend a little less for a slightly more powerful machine, or do you need Windows 8 for some reason? Take Surface Pro. Are you drunk? Buy an ultrabook!

Recently, Google has been able to increase market share with the help of well-assembled and affordable alternatives. Android tablets like the Nexus 7 and even low-end Chromebooks rather successfully move competitors because Google is able to beat them with the price - the most important characteristic of all. And the Chromebook Pixel seems to have forgotten this lesson.

With smart prices of $ 249 and $ 199, the existing Chromebook family represents a good alternative for those users who have invested heavily in the Google cloud ecosystem. A touchscreen Chromebook Pixel for $ 1,299 can only attract intoxicated future “advanced users” who have wandered into the wrong corridor in Best Buy.

If you create a circular "Viennese" diagram with two groups of people who need a serious computer and who are willing to put up with the limitations of Chrome OS, then they never intersect.