Archives for October 2017

One of the brand new Google products announced yesterday [you can re-live our live-tweeting of the event if you have already finished reading the Yellow Pages] is now available for purchase at one of Google’s current bitter frenemy rivals, Amazon! The two i5 versions of the Google Pixel Book (2017) are available for pre-ordering for $999 (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB) or for $1199 for the 256GB storage version. Amazon’s release date estimate for these is October 31st.

The third model is not available for pre-order yet, not even at the Google Store where it reveals the price of the i7 model (16GB RAM, 512GB storage), it is $1649. That’s $650 more than the base model.

Note that the PixelBook Pen is NOT included with the devices. You have to purchase it separately for $99.

Needless to say, you can get a better value with other ChromeOS devices [eg Samsung Chromebook PRO for $500] or Windows laptops, this is more of a prestige flagship in the world of Chrome OS and ChromeDroid. During the keynote they showed someone using the Adobe Lightroom Android app on this to do their lightrooming.

CRACKPOT THEORY

Another interesting thing that could potentially have Google go head to head with Samsung in 2018 or beyond: the development of the stylus pen for the PixelBook could also make its way into the Pixel smartphone line.

So perhaps the Pixel Ultra “meeting” that was teased by Google employees during the Keynote is actually this: a Pixel phone with a PixelBook Pen, a direct competitor to the Galaxy Note 8 line! Or that “Ultra” could have been a sly shot at the “iPhone X”.