THE NEW CHROMEBOOK PIXEL BY GOOGLE

And it is, indeed, an extremely high-end laptop — by far the fanciest Chromebook to date, with specs that would be impressive if it were a Windows Ultrabook or a Mac. The knockout spec is the screen resolution: it has a 12.85″ screen with 2560-by-1700 pixels, for a density of 239 pixels per inch — the highest of any laptop ever, says Google. That’s high enough that it’s in the territory that Apple calls “retina” — Google’s Chrome honcho, Sundar Pichai, says that users will “never, ever see another pixel.”

The screen’s aspect ratio is 3:2 — tall rather than wide. That used to be typical for laptops, but wide-screen aspect ratios have become standard in recent years. Pichai says that Google went against the current grain because the web needs height, for scrolling lengthy pages, more than it needs width.

Oh, and the display is a touchscreen, too. Google is providing some web apps which are designed with touch in mind, including a Google+-centric photo-sharing service; it also says it’s working with third parties to encourage them to create touch-friendly web services and sites. In two to three months, it also plans to provide a new web-based version of Quickoffice, the venerable office suite Google acquired last year; it’ll complement Google Docs and will be aimed at business users who prize Microsoft Office file compatibility above all else.

As a piece of industrial design, the 3.35-lb, aluminum-clad Pixel, like nearly all modern thin notebooks, draws plentiful inspiration from Apple’s MacBook Air — though it has a textured finish and isn’t tapered, so it doesn’t come off as a shameless knockoff. Working with partners in Asia, Google designed the machine itself: it has hidden screws, vents and speakers, and the various ports are unlabeled. (Google found that consumers have no idea what the standard icons mean.)

The system packs an Intel Core i5 processor, which Google says packs enough oomph to permit smooth scrolling using the glass touchpad. It comes in two versions, a Wi-Fi-only model with 32GB of flash storage and one with Verizon LTE and 64GB of storage.