An allegedly leaked video for an allegedly new Chromebook made the rounds and convinced quite a few people that this could be Google's newest Chromebook dubbed the Pixel, one designed by it entirely.
The device sports a touchscreen and a huge 2560 x 1700 pixel resolution, hence the name.
In all likelihood, the video is fake, it's a high-quality fake and a very convincing would-be ad, but it's a fake nonetheless.
The company behind it, which says it has worked with Google in the past, claimed that "hackers" copied the video, which is for an upcoming product, from their servers. It did this on Google+ mentioning Sergey Brin in the process. There are also other tell-tale signs, you can read all about it here.
However, that's not to say that a similar device, at least as far as the screen is concerned, isn't in the works. In fact, the video originated from developer François Beaufort and he talks about a touch-enabled 4 megapixel screen.
Rumors about a touch-input Chromebook have been around before there were any Chromebooks, Google has created a touch-optimized UI for Chrome and even a virtual keyboard. Nothing came out of that until now and it may very well be that nothing will.
The recent success of the Chromebook, several models are selling in big numbers and more manufacturers are being introduced all the time, likely has more to do with the price of the laptops than with anything Chrome OS brings to the table.
A touch-input device with a Retina class display would cost a lot more than the current Chromebooks and Google probably doesn't have the courage yet to go head to head with the MacBook Air. It better not since Chrome OS won't stand a chance at that price level.
You do realize the Nexus 4 tablet has a retina class touch screen, as much processing power as Samsung's extremely well selling recent Chromebook and only costs $400 - right?
A notebook like this would probably have a larger screen sure. But that hardly implies the device would need to be $1000 rather than $400.
Comment #1.1 by: Lucian Parfeni on 08 Feb 2013, 12:08 GMT
But the Nexus 10 also has an ARM SoC and a smaller battery. The Samsung Chromebook 550 is $449 and that's because it's running an Intel processor. Add a retina-class touch display to that and the price goes up.
If Google was building a Tegra 4-powered Chromebook, as is rumored, with a touchscreen and a huge resolution, it could still keep the price relatively down. http://news.softpedia.com/news/A-Tegra-4-Chromebook-Is-in-the-Works-Could-Be-a-Nexus-Chromebook-327886.shtml