The Made By Google event is expected to be at the beginning of October once again and apart from the Pixel 4 many expect Google to refresh their Pixelbook. It has been two years since we have seen a Pixelbook refresh and today’s leaks points towards another refresh this year.
First up is the FCC appearance. A new device has been submitted to the FCC for a new FCC ID by Quanta Computer Inc, the manufacturer of past Pixelbooks. The new ID requested is “HFSG021A” with the last five characters of that shedding light on the device.
G0XXA is often format for the codes used by devices made by Google for the FCC so the G021A signals to us that this is a Google device. Although the code does not match up to that of the current Pixelbook or Pixel Slate it is possible that they are bringing all of their products into a similar naming pattern — or the new device could be something other than a Pixel book — Clips 2 anyone?
The new device, let’s call it the new Pixelbook, will house an Intel Wireless-AC 9260 chip according to the FCC documents. The Chromium source apparently states that the device expected to be the next Pixelbook, codename Atlas, will indeed house this chip. Many are thus convinced that this is irrefutable proof that the device at the FCC is the next Pixelbook.
At this stage there are no images of the device available but elsewhere we have seen benchmarks appear for a device called Google Atlas — which could be faked of course. The benchmarks show scores that are a lot better than last year’s Pixel Slate and there is an i7 and an i5 version of the Pixelbook. Both versions come with 16GB of RAM which is a lot for a Chromebook.
A lot of this is speculation but with the rumours being so plentiful and the evidence mounting from with the Chrome source code we expect Google to launch a refresh to the Pixelbook line at the Made by Google event in October. Hopefully this is the year Google sell it directly to Australians but I’m not holding my breath.
My fingers are crossed that this Chromebook will be available in Australia this year!