Google outs Chromebook Pixel 12 8 inch touchscreen laptop

Google Chromebooks have gone premium with the super hi-res, multi-touch Pixel laptop. Its out on April 1st and itll cost you £1,049

Google has launched its first touchscreen laptop, the Chromebook Pixel, which brings a super-high resolution display and a premium price point.

The 12.85-inch Chromebook Pixel, unveiled at an event in London on Thursday night boasts an impressive 2560 x 1700 screen resolution with a pixel density of 239 PPI, which equates to 4.3 million pixels in total.

That pixel density is better than the 227 PPI on the 13.3 inch Apple MacBook Air with Retina Display and any other laptop for that matter, according to Google. The device also lays claim to a brightness rating of 400-nits, which is 25 per cent better than any other laptop on the market.

The multi-touch display, which brings touch access to Googles cloud-centric Chrome OS for the first time, is provided by Cornings Gorilla Glass and will enable users to tap, pinch and swipe objects on the somewhat unorthodox 3:2 ratio display. 

The US version of the device is also 4G LTE ready (UK users will have to settle for Wi-Fi only at present), while it also boasts an Intel Core i5 (dual-core 1.8GHz) processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and 32GB of solid stage storage, underneath a stylish anodized aluminum chassis. 

Users will be able to boost that 32GB of storage with 1TB of free Google Drive storage for a full-three years after purchase, leaving plenty of room for photos, documents, videos and makes them available to download from the cloud on any of your other devices. 

In terms of multimedia, the Pixel has powerful, full range speakers, a 720p webcam and three microphones positioned around the device in order to cancel out background noise.

The Google-made device (no third parties are involved, unlike with other Chromebook models), also features an etched glass touchpad, a backlit Chrome keyboard, 2 USB ports, a mini-display port and a two-way card reader. In terms of connectivity it has 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0

However, as youd expect with this gigantic spec leap for the Chromebook series, those extra pixels come at a premium cost. The Chromebook Pixel will cost a considerable £1,049 when it goes on sale in the UK on April 1st. The laptop is available to pre-order now. 

Interested parties will be able to see it in the flesh at four Currys PC World locations (Tottenham Court Road, London; Bristol; West Thurrock and Birmingham) in the UK from today.

Check out our Google Chromebook Pixel hands-on review and keep your eye out for a hands on video, but for now you can see Googles preview clip below.