Google has launched a fresh assault on the laptop market against Microsoft and Apple yesterday as it unveiled the first machine to have been designed and built in-house and the first to come with a touch-sensitive screen.

The device represents a new front for Google’s Chrome operating system, which was developed for stripped-down laptops – Chromebook.

Putting Chrome on touchscreen devices could enable Google to make deeper inroads into Microsoft’s core system business.

Sales of Windows 8, designed to work on PCs and tablets, have got off to a slow start after mixed reviews.

The Chromebook Pixel will carry a premium price tag of $1,299 for a machine with wifi and $1,449 for a version with LTE that is due to ship in April. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013)