The Pixel Slate Is Here to Take on the iPad Pro and Surface

Author: Lauren Goode / Source: WIRED

Over the past few years, new forms of personal computers have challenged the status quo of the portable PC. Is a 2-in-1 the same as a laptop? Is a detachable a tablet? Is the tablet the new laptop? Throw in desktop-grade chips and mobile-focused operating systems and you’ve got a recipe for a major shift in what we think of when we think of PCs.

Now, add Google’s newest Pixel to the mix. At a hardware event in New York City today the company announced the Pixel Slate, a Chrome OS tablet with a funky detachable keyboard. It was designed not to be a laptop in a tablet form factor, or a tablet that’s really a large phone, but to be a “completely new experience,” Trond Wuellner, a director of product management at Google, said on stage at the event.

Google says it built customized touch features for the Pixel Slate, which is the first tablet from Google to run Chrome OS. The Slate switches between tablet mode and “laptop” mode depending on how you’re using it. Not surprisingly, Google’s Assistant plays a role in the UI, too.

This new tablet shows that Google is focusing its efforts entirely on Chrome OS as it takes aim at devices like Apple’s iPad Pro and Microsoft’s Surface line. Previously, Google made the Chrome OS-based Pixelbook laptop and the Pixel C, a high-end and somewhat experimental Android tablet. Two years later it discontinued the Pixel C, but kept the Chrome OS Pixelbook around.

The Pixel Slate is larger than the Pixel C, with a 12.3-inch display compared to Pixel C’s 10-inch display. The Slate has an LCD display with a resolution of 3000 by 2000.

Google claims it has the highest pixel density of any device in this category; while I haven’t used the Slate for any extended period of time yet, it does have a bright, lovely-looking display at first glance, and the type of LCD Google has used (a low-temperature poly-silicon) has the advantage of offering a high picture resolution.

The Slate is made of anodized aluminum, and its display is coated in Gorilla Glass. It’s 7 millimeters thin and weighs 1.6 pounds, which means it’s just a hair thicker and a few ounces heavier than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The edges of the Slate’s…

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