The Chrome Pixel Has Highest-Resolution Screen on the Market

Google announces today something called the Chromebook Pixel, a laptop running Chrome OS that, as the company says, “brings together the best in hardware, software and design to inspire the next generation of Chromebooks.” That verb “inspire” should sound familiar. Just as Microsoft made the Surface to give a sort of Platonic ideal off of which its manufacturing partners could offer variations, so is Google hoping to achieve the same with the Pixel.

Pixel is something of a misnomer, actually, since the main distinguishing feature of the Pixel is its high-resolution screen–designed, as Google says on its Chrome blog, “to make the pixels disappear.”

The device has a pixel density of 239 pixels per inch, the highest of any laptop screen on the market. That’s 4.3 million pixels, all told. And like the Surface, this device is something of a laptop/tablet hybrid, at least insofar as it has a touchscreen. “Touch makes it simple and intuitive to do things like organize tabs, swipe through apps and edit photos with the tip of your finger,” teases Google.

A few other key specs: the device packs an Intel Core i5 processor and solid state Flash memory architecture. LTE is “engineered directly into the machine, delivering fast connectivity across Verizon’s network,” says Google. And since the Chomebook is “for people who live in the cloud,” you get a terabyte of Google Drive cloud storage thrown in for lagniappe. (Another “cloud”-related perk: 12 free GoGo Inflight Internet passes, for you business travelers out there.)

Google released a video touting the device. What do you think?