Google’s Pixel Slate arrives Thursday

[NelsonG]

Google’s last major piece of hardware for the year is finally shipping this week. A number of pre-orders have already begun receiving shipping notifications for the Pixel Slate, and the company just popped up a blog post noting that the device will officially be available at retail starting this Thursday (11/29).

The detachable tablet, which was announced alongside the Pixel 3 and Google Home Hub last month, joins last year’s Pixelbook on the high-end of the Chromebook spectrum. You can read my full review of the device here, but the TLDR version is solid hardware propping up an operating system that still has some work to do for pro users.

It also presents an interesting crossroads for the OS moving forward. The Slate doesn’t offer a whole lot to differentiate itself from the Pixelbook, right down to the specs. Really, the only key differences here are a higher-res screen and a detachable form factor — the latter of which isn’t hugely distinct, given the laptop’s fully swiveling keyboard. But hey, options are generally a good thing.

The tablet starts at $599 standalone. That gives you 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and an Intel Celeron. That maxes out at $1,599 for 16GB of RA and 256GB of storage with an Intel Core i7 processor. The keyboard case and pen will cost you an additional $199 and $99, respectively.

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