It’s been a while since Google released an updated Chromebook. The Pixelbook was released alongside the Pixel 2 back in the heady days of 2017, and remains Google’s premium, flagship laptop.
The Pixelbook also remains elusive, in that Google won’t sell them to us in Australia. That’s okay though, the Chromebook market here seems mainly focused on education and a high-end premium Chromebook is probably a little unnecessary. Still, if you want one you can certainly import it.
About Chromebooks has spotted some variations on Chromebook hardware turning up in Geekbench, though: Chromebooks identifying themselves as “Eve” (the original Pixelbook designation) running Intel Core i7-8705G & 8550U, and a Core i5-8250U have shown up with 8GB/16GB of RAM.
The original Pixelbook hardware is getting a little long in the tooth. It’s running a 7th-generation Intel processor (Intel’s 9th generation is upon us).
Google’s been adding features to ChromeOS that are starting to make it a compelling platform for development instead of browsing. The platform’s recent addition of a Linux compatibility layer now allows it to run Android Studio (amongst other tools), meaning that you can build an Android app without a traditional laptop/desktop OS.
That takes a bit of grunt though, and Google’s issued hardware spec recommendations for running it – and the Pixelbook comes up short. It is high time for a refresh.
It’s possible that the new hardware is only intended for internal use at Google (it’s happened before), but as we approach the Pixelbook’s second birthday later this year, we’re hoping to see something new.
Of course, we’re also hoping to see it come to Australia, but we’ve been hurt by hope before.
