Google debuts Pixel, a premium touchscreen Chromebook

The Pixel, a new Chromebook built and designed by Google that has been the source of web rumors for weeks, is real. And, as also has been rumored, it’s a Chromebook unlike any other — premium hardware, high performance and a high-resolution touchscreen display.

It won’t come cheap. Pricing starts at $1,300 for a Wi-Fi-only version, which will be available in the United States and United Kingdom, and $1,450 for a Verizon LTE-capable version to be sold in the United States. Google is making the Pixel available for pre-order Thursday, and it will ship the first week in April.

“We really wanted to step back and say, ‘For a user who lives in the cloud, what is the best computer we can design,” said Sundar Pachai, Google’s senior vice president of Chrome at the Pixel’s launch event here. Pachai says his team started working on the Pixel two years ago with the intent of “rethinking everything that’s possible with a laptop.”