Time for a rant.
Alright, so I just read a report from The Verge that states next week Google is planning to start selling a premium Chrome OS laptop called the Chromebook Pixel. That’s great news, because I like it when companies keep pushing forward with a product they believe in. The Chromebook is the revolutionary laptop made by Google that was made to be cheap, functional, and runs primarily on the web and web apps alone. They’re great for schools and businesses that are looking for a cheap alternative laptop for computing. The first Chromebook’s cost is very low, starting at just $249 – it’s what you’d expect for a laptop that has considerably limited functionality. So the Chromebook Pixel, which runs on the same OS but with better specs, should theoretically cost maybe around $500-$700 all things considering, right? Wrong. This premium laptop’s starting cost is a whopping $1,299.
That’s insane. I mean, for Google it is. For this it is.
I guess lately I’m just kind of surprised at what Google is doing. You’ve got Google Glass, which is a cool concept but it’s entirely too expensive in my opinion. Google Glass is an idea I can at least get behind though. It is, for lack of a better cliché term here, extremely innovative and a great idea. First world perspective is always intriguing and seeing the world through the very eyes of those around us is a pretty rockin’ idea. You can put a huge price tag on that because people want to be the first to use it. But a premium Chromebook? At that price? Google better start using that Google Glass of theirs to go find all those marbles they lost somewhere along the way.
I’m only worried because it seems that Google is heading in a somewhat dangerous direction. Google has been so successful thus far because they came in and right-winged the ever expensive Apple product with cheap products - and their devices actually worked well. They are the Robin Hood of our generation, but the strange new direction they’re taking with expensive glasses and fancy internet books is starting to make Apple products look like a bargain. You can get a MacBook Pro that does an entire world more than a Chromebook Pixel can do for a mere $200 more. I will take the slightly lower resolution for better functionality any day.
It’s not that Google has no right to mark their products up if it’s worth it, because they do, but this – this in particular – is just not worth it. Their reasoning for pricing it so high is because they think people will be intrigued by the resolution of the computer. They think the fact that you won’t be able to pick out a single pixel will be the real crowd-bringer. Although it’s nice to keep having displays get clearer and clearer, I stopped caring somewhere around Retina display. Can I see the pixels? Yeah, if I take out my contacts and hold the phone right up to my eye and focus, I might be able to pick out one here and there – but who does that? I’m not sure who uses their computer from that close up, but I guess to each their own. Aside from the display, they made another mistake by completely pulling a random resolution out of their left nostril: 2560 x 1700, so now web developers get to work on making their apps fit their new premium screen resolution. Nice.
As far as I can tell it’s a sleek looking laptop that has decent specs, which will be great at running... Facebook. Maybe I’m the only one that thinks this, but a $1,299 web browser just doesn’t sound that appealing to me.
What do you think, readers? Do you think Google is heading in a definite direction here, or are they just testing the waters a little bit? How do you feel about Chromebook Pixel?
Image via Google
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