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If you were building a new platform, a platform that you fully and confidently expected to be the future of computation, would you want its most commonly cited advantage to be "cheaper than other laptops"? Do you think that kind of positioning would motivate cutting-edge development? Would you expect consumers to be excited about a device — even one with functional advantages over its alternatives — when they've only seen its category as the cheaper and lower-build-quality version of what they have now?

Or would you want there to be a premium, interesting, even exotic version, to demonstrate the possible future of the platform? Would you want developers, early adopters and advocates to have the opportunity for something luxurious to inspire pride and comfort? Would you want to highlight that in fact what makes the Web so amazing is that it's the kind of platform that can run effectively on cheap, even disposable devices with limited form factors and also on immaculately-designed high-end machines perfectly suited to it?

I don't think the Pixel will be a top-seller. I won't recommend it to many of my friends and family, including the ones to whom I've recommended or even outright given cheaper Chromebooks. But I want one, even though I can't really afford it. And I think that's a nice feeling to have about a Web-dedicated device.

—Nick