Little has been made of last year's Pixel Slate: an overcomplicated hardware form factor that made using its rather simple Chrome OS somewhat challenging. It made customers contort to buying keyboards and pens. Critics have said Google should've just stuck to a laptop. Well, perhaps the Pixelbook Go may be the laptop you've wanted since last year... from last year.

Sources to 9to5Google have affirmed that the Pixelbook Go had been in the works under the codename 'atlas' for the past couple of years, a laptop with no apparent convertible functionality — something that last year's Pixel Slate, or 'nocturne,' was clearly not and that the Pixelbook (seen above) clearly was. The clamshell body is composed of a magnesium alloy and is designed with tactility in mind.

Specifications for a masthead product are to be expected. There's a 13.3" display at 16:9 aspect ratio with two choices of resolution, either 1080p or 4K Molecular Display — the Pixelbook Go would be second to the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630 to offer a 4K option. To round out your viewing experience, one 9to5 source claims that the Pixelbook Go's front-firing stereo speakers will be more powerful than the Pixelbook's.

Chromium commits (and benchmarks) indicate that Intel's 8th-gen Core Y-series of processors are expected to be on offer with RAM set to either 8GB or 16GB and the rather skimpy internal storage options of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB — whether you take Chrome OS's cloud emphasis seriously or not, 64GB seems a little sad as a base model, period. There will be a 2MP webcam capable of capturing 1080p footage at 60fps, two USB-C ports, one each on the left and right sides, with LED indicators as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. Google's secure enclave, the Titan C chip, is on the device.

"Just Black" and "Not Pink" colors were seen in development.

It might be a bit much to call the Pixel Slate an abject failure as a firebrand for the Google Chromebook, but if /the company is looking to generate a little more faith in its product, pricing will be a factor. So far, there's been nothing heard on that front, meaning that we're left with last year's pricing model starting from $799.

Do the puzzle pieces make sense? We'll have to see come October 15 as the new Pixel phones also make their way to the public.

Source: 9to5Google