Despite the odds, Chromebooks have risen through the ranks and have proven themselves a competitor in the market of cheap, affordable laptops. Sales are up and Chromebooks have even managed to take a good chunk of the education sector away from Microsoft and Apple. How you do ask? Well, I’ll tell you how: Chromebooks are affordable, secure, reliable machines that work right out of the box without any of the fuss of a heavier operating system. And when I say affordable, I really mean cheap: there are Chromebooks on the market for as little as a $140 and they work perfectly well for light productivity work and browsing the internet. The Pixel, however, is not cheap and doesn’t really do anything other Chromebooks can’t. It just does it faster and comes in a prettier box.
“The Pixel is an expensive yet beautiful machine. ”
The Chromebook Pixel is, well, a Chromebook. It’s a computer built to run Google’s Chrome Browser, and not much else. It’s a machine that primarily runs on the cloud, although some applications can run offline if need be. That may sound limiting at first, but there really is a lot you can do from within Chrome itself. Chances are, if you really think about it, you are probably one of the many people in the world who perform 90% of their daily tasks from within a browser of some sort, and it is Google’s hope to mitigate the troubles of typical computing by making the Chrome browser the only software you need.
First and foremost, the Pixel is fast. The Pixel is the kind of fast that makes you re-evaluate your previous definition of fast. It boots in under five seconds and handles multiple tabs in Chrome like a complete boss. Web pages appear in the blink of an eye, and there’s really not much you can do to slow it down.
“The Pixel is Fast”
The Pixel is also a beautiful piece of hardware. The Pixel features a unibody aluminum design that feels solid in the hand and is a complete pleasure to be around. Most other Chromebooks keep their price down by using cheaper materials but not with the Pixel. The Pixel exhibits the same build quality typically found in Apple’s Macbooks, which is to say it’s pretty darn good. The lid of the Pixel features a light bar that serves multiple functions. When the lid is open, it displays the Google colors, but when the device is closed, you can knock on the lid and the light bar will flash green, yellow, or red, giving you a visual representation of how much battery is left on the device.
Speaking of battery life, the Pixel is an outstanding performer. Google rates the Pixel at 12 hours and real-world performance is spot on. The Pixel comes with quick charging technology which allows the Pixel to go from 0 to 100% battery in as little as 80 minutes. For comparison’s sake, the MacBook Air takes about 4 hours to charge completely, making the Pixel one of the best endurance machines on the market. The only complaint I have with the Pixel’s hardware is the bottom panel which feels slightly hollow towards the middle of the device, which is something you can test by simply knocking against the aluminum—gently of course.
“The Pixel fully charges in 80 minutes or less.”
Other standout physical features include a stunning 12.85 inch, 2560 x 1700 display that has a ratio of 3:2, making it a bit taller than most other displays. This aspect ratio is advertised as the best way to browse the internet, and it’s true, the extra vertical space allows for more content to displayed on the screen at once since most websites scroll up and down, not left and right. However, this does mean that watching videos in full screen will present you with lovely black bars on the top and bottom of your content since most videos are presented in widescreen format.
The screen features a pixel density of 239 PPI and colors that are vibrant and pleasing to look at--although the whites have a blue/green tint to them if you look closely. The panel is also a touch screen, which comes in handy for certain games and touch oriented applications, but for the most part, Chrome OS does little to take advantage of the screen's touch capabilities, making it more of a novelty than anything else.
Rounding out it’s physical features is a great keyboard and trackpad that perfectly compliment each other. The all glass trackpad is slick and easy to use and has a nicebclick to it, making it a very tactile experience. The keyboard is also what Google calls “contextually lit,” which means that when your hands are away from the keys, the backlighting turns off, but when your hands return, the lights go back on—pretty neat if you ask me.
As far as ports go, the Pixel features two USB-C ports, one on each side, and they’re very interesting to say the least. These new ports can be used for virtually anything: power, data transfer, outputting to an external display, and so on and so forth. There’s one on each side, allowing the laptop to be charged from either side (Thank goodness) and the addition of these ports future proofs the Pixel as USB-C looks to become the standard across all devices. Other than these two magnificent ports, there are your standard USB 3.0 ports (2 of them), as well as an SD card reader and headphone jack.
So, sounds pretty spectacular right? But then again it should be spectacular at a starting price of $999. You have to ask yourself, sure, it’s a fast machine in a pretty box but is a grand worth spending on a machine that is basically built around a web browser? At $999 dollars, you could buy 2 or 3 Chromebooks or even a standout PC or Mac
Truth be told, at $999, it comes down to this: For $999, it’s worth it for what it is, but not for what it can do. Let me explain.
So for $999 you get the latest Intel Core i5 running at 2.2 GHZ (2.7 GHZ max), integrated Intel HD 5500 graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 32GB of solid state storage. For $300 more you can get a faster Intel Core i7 CPU running at 2.4 GHZ (3.0 GHZ max), and double the memory and storage.
These price ranges put the Pixel in a tough spot when it comes to competing laptops. The question I keep asking myself is this: Sure the Pixel is fast and beautiful, but for my money, should I just get a normal PC or Mac? I mean, after all, a PC or Mac can run Chrome just fine.
So what’s the best argument for the Pixel? Well, you see, the Pixel is a machine that makes zero compromises.
Starting with the $999 range of laptops, any laptop you buy at this price point or less comes with some sort of flaw. No other manufacturer has developed a laptop for $999 that has what the Pixel has. In this price range, you will not find a laptop with a comparable screen, and if you do, it will also probably be accompanied by a cheap build and less than stellar battery life. And laptops with stellar build quality will come with less than stellar displays--looking at you MacBook Air.
The $1299 model, the Pixel LS (Ludicrous Speed), is a tougher sell. In this price range, you start to see fewer compromises in the competition, making the Pixel LS a purchase only a fanatic would make.
“The Pixel is a machine that makes zero compromises. ”
Regardless of which one you choose, the Pixel achieves exactly what it was intended to achieve. It was built for speed, reliability, and luxury— and it easily hits the mark. Can it do everything you need it to do? Maybe, maybe not. Chromebooks are growing in their functionality, but it might not be what you are accustomed to. Because Chromebooks rely heavily on an internet connection, their functionality dramatically decreases when there is no internet access.
This isn't necessarily a major problem as most people use their computers in the vicinity of a reliable WiFi connection anyways. There are people, however, that need to do work on the go, regardless if they’re connected to the internet or not, and the Chromebook will surely hold them back, especially since the Pixel does not come with a great deal of internal storage and rely instead on cloud-based storage such as Google Drive.
So then it comes down to this, the Pixel is worth it for what it is: a fast, beautiful, cloud computing device. But it’s not worth it, because, for the money, you can get a machine with more functionality. If you are someone who relies on a specific suite of applications that needs offline functionality, the Pixel is not for you. However, if you’re someone who could live within a browser and never think twice about it, then there is no finer machine than the Pixel.