At the start of March, Google celebrated the 10th anniversary of Chromebooks with a big Chrome OS 89 update. The company, in partnership with Targus, also made an “exclusive laptop sleeve” modeled after the original Chromebook Pixel, and it’s now available for anyone to buy.
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In Chrome OS 69, the laptop, desktop, and tablet OS gained Linux app support for a handful of devices, including the Google Pixelbook. Since then, more devices have slowly gained support, meanwhile others, like the 2013 Chromebook Pixel, are being confirmed to never receive the support, with a new batch being added to the collection this week.
Google’s next generation Pixel and Pixel XL have been thoroughly leaked feature and design-wise over the past few weeks. A new rumor now suggests that Google will also launch a new Chromebook Pixel and smaller Google Home alongside its new phones later this fall.
Update 3/2: Osterloh has revised his earlier statement about the ‘death’ of “Google’s own Chromebooks.” In a tweet, he notes that “They will live on” and that the company has “no plans to share at this time.” In another clarification, he interestingly comments that future Google-branded laptops might not necessarily have the Pixel brand:
“Regarding the future of Google-branded laptops (whether called Pixel or not), I should clarify that we don’t have any plans to discuss at this time.”
During an interview with some members of the press at Mobile World Congress, hardware head Rick Osterloh revealed that there are “no plans for Google-branded laptops.” While referring to the Chromebook Pixel line, the quote is broad enough to possibly include the long rumored Bison Pixel-branded laptop hybrid as well, which was reported to run “Andromeda”…
When thinking of Google, there are essentially two versions of the company that come to mind for most. Some immediately — and solely — link it to its iconic search box put front and center on google.com, while others who are more aware know about the ocean of products and services the Mountain View firm is deeply involved in. One thing that doesn’t often come to the average person’s mind, though, is hardware. Come the next few months, however, that may all but change…
With a replacement created in conjunction with HP widely available, Google is discontinuing (via Venture Beat) the Chromebook Pixel 2. Announced in February 2015, last year’s model was a refinement over the original device with USB-C and a 5th generation Intel Core CPU that resulted in much better battery life.
Albeit not being full-fledged PCs, Chromebooks are becoming increasingly interesting machines for a lot of people, given that the extremely simple and lightweight Chrome OS generally leads in reliability, ease of use and usually highly affordable prices.
However, a few of these computers have stood out for things like higher-end specs and interesting industrial designs — namely Google‘s own Pixels — and it looks like HP may have found a really sweet spot with today’s announcement. Partnering with the Mountain View company, the two are today unveiling the Chromebook 13, an all-metal machine with truly impressive specs and price…
The Pixel C is now available to purchase from the Google Store. The tablet was announced in a September event with the latest Nexus devices and just meets the “in time for the holidays” deadline given at that point.
A Google engineer by the name of Benson Leung is one of the many proponents of USB Type-C at the Mountain View company, and he’s now doing us the kind service of reviewing dozens of third-party Type-C cables on Amazon. Why? Because some of the cables coming from a variety of manufacturers could be “dangerous,” according to Leung, and are likely less-than-functional… Expand
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Google is planning to launch a large, 10.2-inch tablet with the Pixel brand attached, according to a report this morning from Android Police. Interestingly, this device is said to be launching later this year not with Chrome OS, but rather with Android Marshmallow. The device will also purportedly sport a detachable keyboard — a la the iPad Pro or the Microsoft Surface — and will pack the same quality build and lightbar found with the Chromebook Pixel. And, since this is a Pixel device and not a Nexus, the hardware is going be 100% Google’s… Expand
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Chrome 43 Beta is making its official debut today on a variety of platforms (including Chrome for Android, Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS), and with it comes several new features—with MIDI for Web being perhaps the most notable.
Google has also this evening announced an update to Chrome OS that bumps it to version 42.0.2311.87. The update, which comes on the heels of Chrome 42, adds a handful of new features and visual changes. First off, the Files app has been refreshed to feature a Material Design interface…
Google is trying to right a wrong plaguing customers who purchased the LTE version of its Chromebook Pixel. Released last year, this network connected edition of Mountain View’s uber-Chromebook originally shipped with a free 100MB of monthly 4G data from Verizon for a period of two years. However, for one reason or another, Big Red has stopped honoring this promotion, with its customer service reps telling Pixel owners that they’re unfamiliar with this service offer.
HP and Google combined to create two new Chromebooks which were launched early last month: The $299 Intel Haswell-powered Chromebook 14 and the smaller Samsung Exynos ARM-powered Chromebook 11. Both machines mark new territory for Google and HP. The Silicon Valley neighbors have been getting closer and closer since Meg Whitman took over as CEO, including an expanding array of Android tablets as well. The initial HP Chromebooks were clearly re-purposed Windows laptops. These clearly are something entirely different… Expand
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Google on Tuesday released a new Google+ Photos app for the Chromebook Pixel. The company originally demoed the app when the Pixel was announced, but is just now releasing it to the public. The app lets you log in with your Goolge+ account and backup any photos on your Chromebook to the service.
For example, if you plug-in an external SD card the app will automatically back the pictures up to the Google+ servers. You can choose to upload them in either full resolution or Google’s default 2048 pixel wide format, though there’s a cap when it comes to uploading at full resolution. When offline, you have the ability to view your most recently uploaded photos, as well as anything on your external storage device. All your images that are uploaded are private at first, but you have the ability to share them with the public or individual people, as well. Expand
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From 9to5toys.com (Twitter, Feed, Facebook), today:
Today only, eBay deals has the Wi-Fi variant of Samsung’s latest 11.6-inch Chromebook for the cheapest price we’ve seen at $239 + free shipping. We rarely see these Chromebooks go on sale, and, if you’re not going to pick up the new Chromebook Pixel, this is definitely the best value for your money in the Chromebook space.
Samsung Chromebook Wi-Fi 11.6″ 16GB Exynos 5 Dual 1.7GHz Notebook