Google - Pixelbook 12.3" Touchscreen Chromebook - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 128GB Solid State Drive - Silver

Google Pixelbook Setup/Testing/Conclusion I have to say, first impressions are key to a successful relationship… Let's just say, I am in LOVE with the Google Pixelbook. Google has done a wonderful job, everything from the packaging of the Pixelbook down to the actual Pixelbook. On the back of the box it says “Turns Heads”. When I opened up the box and removed the Pixelbook out of its beautiful packaging, I can tell you that everyone around me turned their heads. I had several individuals approach me and ask me what this beauty is. I told them, it’s apparently the best Chromebook out to date right now. The materials that Googled use are high quality. I mean, even the box is made of quality material. The Pixelbook itself is made of aluminium which makes it look stunning. If you have a Pixel phone, you’ll see the resemblance as the Pixelbook also as it has the glass bar which is in fact where the antenna sits. The Pixelbook also has no vents at all as there are NO fans. That’s right folks! NO VENTS or FANS needed! What does that mean? A low heat, low power consumption, no noise ultrabook. I mean common ladies and gentlemen… That is just wonderful! The screen itself is an LCD of 12.3” 2400x1600 (235 ppi). Normal viewing/use is great and watching YouTube or Netflix is even better. Don’t forget that the screen itself is also touchscreen. I didn’t use it too often but there are no problems to report here as well except for the large bezels. From what I know, Google made the bezels/border larger around the screen so that your fingers have a place to rest/hold/grip when the Pixelbook is turned into tablet mode. That’s right! The Pixelbook also has the ability to go into tablet mode by flipping the screen all the way back or even simply putting it in “tent” mode. The keyboard has some very nice feedback and I thoroughly enjoyed the soft pads that sits perfectly where your palms rest when typing. The keys are well spaced and has a travel of 0.8mm with some nice backlit keys. The Pixelbook’s keyboard is by far one of the best laptop keyboards I’ve ever used. The keyboard does take just a little bit to get acclimated with it. This is because there are no F keys along with no Windows or caps lock key. You can hold the alt key and hit what would be the caps lock key and it’ll turn caps lock on. Otherwise that key is what is used as the “search app key”. The traditional Windows key on the bottom left of the keyboard is the Google Assistant key. Another thing I want to highlight is the trackpad, it's made of glass and works perfectly with both smoothness and accuracy. It took me just a little bit here as well to realise how to right click as there isn’t really a right click built into the trackpad. As a matter of fact, I actually like being able to just tap with two fingers to right click; it’s faster and just feels down right great. There are a couple things I wasn’t too fond of and felt that Google can make some improvements on. The first problem I have with the Pixelbook are the speakers. The speakers are built underneath the keyboard so the sound doesn’t really have an “oomph” or anything at all. To be completely honest, the speakers sound… small. I can definitely see Google making an improvement on the speakers on their next version/model. The next thing I don’t like too much is the large bezel/border around the screen. There’s a lot of black and I personally feel like Google could’ve made the screen bigger instead of having so much bezel/border. I was able to test the camera and I feel like Google can also make an improvement there. I mean the Pixel phone is marketed to be the best camera on a phone out there. So why not put a crazy good camera on the Pixelbook? The last thing I didn’t like too much was the tablet mode. It just felt downright kinda weird… I mean sure the keyboard gets deactivated and all but holding it in tablet mode just feels… weird. I would’ve liked to see the screen being able to rotate and then flip all the way back into tablet mode. This way it's the back of the laptop that you’re touching instead of the actual keyboard. Now I’m going to actually talk about usage. Speaking on usage, I wasn’t able to really get 10 hours of usage on a full charge as marketed. I would say I got about anywhere between 6 ~ 7 hours of real world usage. The good thing is since it's USB C that charges the Pixelbook, you’ll be able to get some fast charging so you’ll be back at work in no time! Now to the talk about Chrome OS. Chrome OS definitely takes a little getting use to. Prior to the Pixelbook, I’ve mainly been a Windows guy. With Chrome OS, it gives you the ability to download apps on the Google Play Store along with download other goodies on the Chrome Web Store. Opening the Google Chrome browser, Gmail App, Google Docs, and YouTube was quite interesting… It basically opens everything up in the Chrome browser. I was able to test some games that I downloaded on the Google Play Store and it was pretty fun. All the games I played were all scaled correctly for the Pixelbook. I did have some hiccups like apps force closing and whatnot. The most annoying problem I ran into was when I shutdown the Pixelbook. When I booted it back up for some reason I couldn’t get any sound to come out of the speakers. I tried restarting the Pixelbook, toggle the mute button, and simply turning the volume up but nothing worked. I had to do something called a EC Reset (hardware reset). This is basically where you have to hold down the Refresh icon key and the Power button for 10 seconds. You then release those buttons and the Pixelbook should power down and either power back on or you’ll have to manually power it back on. Once I did the EC Reset the speakers worked again. I found this on a Reddit post by JimDantin. But I mean let's be real here… Chrome OS has been out only for 6 years. I’m a heavy Windows user and Windows has been out about 32 years. I still run into problems with my Windows PC… I’m just saying, there are gonna be some issues here and there. For what it’s worth, Chrome OS has made some major improvements through their 6 year lifespan. As far as being able to do what you need the Pixelbook to do… I don’t see what you would be missing out on if you were to use the Pixelbook instead of a Windows laptop or a MAC. The stores have pretty much everything you would need. Anything from writing docs, to creating spreadsheets, creating powerpoints, playing games, photo editing, video editing, and even music editing. Chrome OS has come a long way. I mean you can even install a copy of Linux (for advanced users) and get things like Steam. I personally feel like I am able to do anything and everything I need/want with the Pixelbook. Sure the price tag starts at $1000, but I mean you’re also paying for a quality built ultrabook. The specs on this beast make up a good part of the best experience in Chrome OS and in Chromebooks. So in conclusion… Do I recommend the Pixelbook? YES I DO. I can confidently state that. I am able to do all my daily tasks that I need in addition to doing things that I don’t normally do on a daily basis. Now, are there room for improvements? Of course there are. What products come out with nothing to improve? If that’s the case, I guess everyone would be just making one model and that is it right? NOPE! Well, that is why people spend money; to upgrade and get the latest and greatest. The Pixelbook is the latest and greatest Chromebook out there. I can see the next model of Pixelbook being even better than this one. Good job Google! Keep em coming! Specs 7th Gen Intel Core i5 Processor (1.2GHz i5-7Y57) Intel HD Graphics 615 8GB RAM (1866MHz) 128GB Solid State Drive 2x USB C Ports 3.5mm Audio Jack 802.11ac Wi-FI Bluetooth 4.2 720p Webcam @ 60fps Chrome OS What's in the box? Google Pixelbook AC Adapter USB C to USB C Cable Quick Start Guides Safety & Warranty Information

Google hit the market with its latest addition of a note worthy Chromebook in the form of the Pixelbook. What is a Chromebook? And is this going to be the right fit for you? Hopefully this review will answer that question and help in deciding on rather or not to buy this newest addition if you have been on the fence. First off for those not too familiar with the computer world a Chromebook is a laptop that was meant to be a break away from the other major markets in the field (i.e. Windows and Mac). Chromebooks run Linux based Chrome operating systems and browser, in a nutshell without getting too confusing its Googles way of entering the market in a world thats primarily controlled by Microsoft and Mac. The problem is if you have ever owned a Chromebook they were never that great and had many setbacks. For example the last Chromebook that i owned was horrible. Since it was Google/Chrome based you lost out on a lot of necessary operating systems that were used to complete everyday task. The set up i had required you to download apps to run the services you needed however most apps were not compatible with the operating system and therefore i found i could not do every day simple task. There was no way to edit or load my pictures with ease, writing and printing documents for work was also a task in itself. So when google came out with the pixelbook my first reaction was "oh great they launched another failed attempt." However that was not the case whatsoever. First off lets talk about what your going to get out of the box. Out of the box your only going to receive the laptop and power supply in the form of a USB-C charger. This is not a typical micro usb or power cable but rather a high speed adapter that google likes to use in most its products. Google claims that you can receive 2 hours of battery life off a 15 minute charge and that the unit will run for about 10 hours before needing a charge. What i can tell you is that i got about 9 hours of charge and a 15 minute charge got me roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes of charge level. Not too shabby there are other laptops that hold more charge but there are also others that cant even hold 5 hours of charge. The unit does not come with the google pen, that piece needs to be purchased separately at a price right now that is listed at $99 fyi. The laptop itself is very sleek and stylish, and the keyboard has a very nice back light and feel to it. It almost feels as if im typing on a mechanical keyboard just without the extra senstivity. The keyboard has two built in comfort pads to help with hand fatigue, this is a big plus for me because i usually am on my laptop quite a bit and typically type 80 wpm so over time laptops seem to wear on my hands and wrist due to its compact size. Now one thing i want to talk about for a minute is the keyboard. If you have never owned a Chromebook then this keyboard is going to be different and take some time to get used to. The keyboard removes the Caps lock button and the F keys and replaces them with action buttons. For example where the Cap locks key normally is it is now replaced by a google search button. I have uploaded a picture for you to examine to see what i am talking about. The keyboard flips back and turns the laptop into a tablet with its touch screen functionality. However i cant see too many people using it in this form as the weight of the laptop is felt over time. The tracking pad that serves as your mouse is very smooth and precise. I never once felt my finger tip drag or my indicator icon skip.The pixelbook also comes with google assistant built in. You have two ways to access this. You say "ok google" then speak whatever question you have or if your somewhere like a classroom and cant talk out loud then you can simply type your question. Lets talk functionality now. Google has greatly improved on what this laptop can do now. You now have access to just about every app on the play store now. Basically whatever app you find on your phone you can find on your pixelbook. This makes certain task very simply such as transferring photos or files via different apps all wireless. In the past Chromebooks were held back greatly when it came to apps that you could use. The older Chromebooks only allowed a very few small selection where as now the pixelbook allows just about all apps based on what i see. The picture quality is awesome and will appease just about most HD enthusiast out there. One draw back however is the audio quality. The audio quality is just horrible but thats too be expected from most compact laptops. In the end its not that big of a deal to me because you have a 3.5mm jack so that you can plug your headphones in. I prefer to this method anyways whenever i am listening to music or playing games. Computing speed is awesome. I wanted to see just how much it could handle before lagging out. I had a movie downloading in the back ground while live streaming a video and music with no glitches or hiccups. I have to say i was a little more impressed at the fact that it handled it without so much as a slight delay. There is one interesting feature i did not notice right away. That is that the pixelbook will link up with your pixel phone in the event that a wifi signal cant be found. What this means is lets say your at your office and the internet goes down, you can tether your pixelbook to your pixel phone and use your 4g internet to complete whatever task you have available. I have a pixel phone i was able to try this with and it does indeed work, however it tends to get a bit laggy and draws down your data pretty quickly. My suggestion is to only use this feature if you have unlimited data or for emergency projects only. Now at the moment this will only work with a pixel phone, i tried it with a Samsung S7 edge and it would not work. Heres my final verdict. The pixelbook is great for anyone looking for something different. If you are used to using windows or mac then this is going to be a big change for you and you may have a hard time getting used to some of the features. I feel however this is a perfect set up for anyone in college as you can easily complete your homework and whatever task your given then on your down time you can flip the keyboard back and watch a movie on Netflix or play a game off the google play store. Audio quality does suck but hey do you really want everyone around you listening to what your watching or listening to? All in all this is a big step up from any Chromebook out on the market and there is enough memory and power to complete or do whatever your heart desires. The price is high and i wish they would throw in the google pen at that price but one thing i will say is you do get what you pay for and that price you will not be disappointed and what this Chromebook has to offer. Pros: -Pixel tethering -Good picture quality -Access to all apps on the play store -Awesome keyboard design -Support for Google pen / stylus Cons: -Google pen not included -Poor Audio quality

-=|First Impressions|=- |Thoughts| If you are looking at this, you probably are already well versed in what ChromeOS has to offer and its limitations. Unpacking this was an adventure. When I opened the box and took out the laptop from the sleeve, I was excited. It felt better than Apple quality and on par with Microsoft Surfacebook sturdiness. Beautiful finishes like a solid aluminum unibody, glass accents, and silicone pads for the wrist rest stimulate your senses. Easily one of the most comfortable convertibles I have reviewed to date. It is light but doesn't feel cheap tipping the scales at only 2.4 lbs! This is the Ferrari of Chromebooks and you will have to pay a price for all that is under the hood. It is snappy and fast to setup. I think I was done with setup in less than 5 minutes including plugging it in and setting up ChromeOS. Simply turn it on and log in with your Google account and you're done. The charger is a well-constructed 45W USB-C to USB-C cellphone like charging block. |Packaging| It is well presented almost like a tablet or cell phone's presentation. Presentation was simple and clean. It is a little tough to separate the top half of the box though. -=|Design and Build|=- |Specs| 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i5 processor 8GB RAM (Up to 16GB Available) 128GB SSD (Up to 512GB options available) 2 USB-C (No USB 2.0 available) Front Camera 720p @ 60FPS -=|Love|=- +Keyboard - This keyboard is unique and I cannot compare it to any other. It is like a cross of a Surface Book keyboard and a Logitech Solar keyboard. Key travel is short but feels tactile in execution. There is a satisfying click letting you know it registered your stroke. The wrist rests are some sort of silicone-like material that is really comfortable. +Design and Build Quality - This oozes Pixel 2 design language. Aluminum and glass give this a premium feel. Track pad is glass and is very responsive and the hinges are tight without give. +Google Assistant - The Pixelbook brings Android functionality to a laptop! If you have an Android phone, this is a welcomed addition. I thoroughly enjoy the ability to control things in my automated home from the laptop. +Snappy Performance and Boot Up Times - This has got to be the fastest boot up EVER! Less than 5 seconds and it is on. +Quiet - The fanless setup makes this a very quiet laptop. It gets warm sometimes but what electronic doesn't?+Battery Life - I got about 9 hours of battery life on a full brightness. I never ran out of battery when I finished my day. I watched videos and checked email while also trying a few games. +Play Store/Android - You can load your favorite cell phone apps from the Play Store. +Dual Boot Option - You can dual boot Linux or Win10 (with research). This makes it a true laptop and compliments ChromeOS. +Pixel 2 Integration - You can use your phone to unlock your Pixelbook… very nice. -=|Not So Much|=- -Auto Rotation Lag - I find my unit is quick to go from portrait to landscape mode, but when you go from landscape to portrait mode there is almost a 5 second delay. -ChromeOS - Don't get me wrong, ChromeOS has come a long way but it feels to me still unfinished. They implemented Play Store and have not considered the lack of apps for this size screen. They also have not considered organizational systems to separate Web Apps from Android Apps. -Camera - Camera is 720p 60fps. Poor quality in low light. Very disappointing since most cell phones offer better cameras. Another thing is it lacks a rear facing camera. Some Android apps require one to function properly. Why isn't this standard? We are in 2018 almost and Google you are charging $1k for this base model. -Lack of USB Ports - You only get 2 USB-C ports and there are NO USB 2.0 available. This means if you are charging your device you only have 1 port available for use. You will also need to upgrade your peripherals unless you buy hubs. Not good enough Google. -Lack of SD Slot - With a limited SSD drive, you have to buy a USB-C adapter in order to transfer photos and other files. To me, this equates basically to an iPad with a built-in keyboard. Other cheaper Chromebooks offer SD expandable storage but not a $1k option? -App Drawer - The app drawer is a mess. If you download an Android app and also have a web app of the same thing you will see duplicates and have to click a few times to figure out what icon is the one you want. Please make sorting options available to alleviate this mess of an app drawer. -Sound/Speakers - These speakers are just ok. Nothing more nothing less. -HUGE Bezels - For something released in 2017 it reminds me of the thick bezels of an iPad1. -Price - It is a lot for a ChromeOS device. You get all the hardware to justify it, but I just don't see the value here. It should have provided the pen for this price. -Laggy - You would expect the light ChromeOS to run at blazing speeds using an Intel i5. It does, but the accelerometer has BIG delays in recognizing how you turn it. -Lack of Kensington Lock - This does not have a way to secure the Pixelbook to a desk. Not good if you are trying to use it for business or a public place and need to walk away from your area. -2016 7th Gen Intel Processor - We are going into 2018 and 8th gen has been already released and widely implemented for new convertibles. For this price, 8th gen would have provided better value. -=Verdict=- Overall, this Pixelbook is a lot like the Pixel 2 phone. It lacks many features considered to be standard in our day. However, it is a beautiful high quality Chromebook for those who are lovers of ChromeOS. I find it extremely limiting due to the lack of ports and expandability while the OS itself feels unfinished. After marrying the Android ecosystem to ChromeOS, it feels laggy when using basic Android apps and changing orientations. Not many apps are optimized for this screen so you will have to scale a phone app which is part of the problem. It is a high performance device with a high price like a Ferrari. I don't see the value here if you are not a heavily invested ChromeOS user. For the price it should include the Google pen they want to charge $99 for. In short, if you want the best Chromebook available… this is for you. If you are looking for a convertible laptop with functionality and options… look elsewhere for this price.

Well to preface, there is a little bit of a learning curve with this. Since it's not your average OS as it's built primarily around Google Chrome you're going to likely run in to a few issues, especially if you're intent on using it with standard Desktop software available on Windows or macOS. With that said, once you are able to get past that fact, ChromeOS is actually a really nice and slim operating system. There's really not a lot of overhead, and it may seem like an i5 or i7 and 8 or more Gigabytes of RAM is overkill, depending on your use, it may be just perfect. There are methods out there to install Windows on to once of these, however, that's entirely at your own risk. I have to say, I do have a Windows 10 tablet and I find myself going back to this more. I think that is in part because this has twice the available RAM, but all the other specs are nearly identical. It's fast, very fast, and that is in part due to the relatively small footprint of ChromeOS. It only takes a couple seconds to start up. Setup was a breeze and very fast. It really just works, and I love that. One of the biggest things a lot were clamoring for with ChromeOS was the ability to use app's from the Google Play Store. With some of the latest Chromebooks this has become a possibility. Now it is not perfect, and some apps just don't look right, and some apps just work flawlessly. There are some Mobile games I play on here and it handles them just as well, if not even better than some of the most powerful Android or iOS devices. The Pixelbook is currently the premier Chromebook that does offer this support for App store compatibility. Other more recent Chromebooks are slowly becoming available, however the Pixelbook has it right out of the gate. One caveat with this however, as this does use an Intel i5/i7 depending on which you settle on, this is only utilizing their integrated graphics. While potent for a lot of standard run of the mill games, it's not going to be able to utilize some features found in High-End Android, iOS or Windows based devices A gaming machine this is not, but it will not let you down with typical apps in the Google Play Store. I will note, when using it for games for a long time, it does get quite warm to the touch around the top of center of the keyboard. So if you are using it for this, I would highly suggest to use it in Tent Mode, or Tablet Mode so you're not keeping your there or on your lap. It's not enough to cause an issue, but it can be a bit uncomfortable with heavy tasks, but this is true in most devices, so your mileage may vary with how you use. You can pretty much throw just about anything at this. Even the battery life on it is great. For a heave session of web browsing and gaming, I'm sure I got around 6-8 or maybe even more hours. It uses USB-C to charge, I believe Ver. 3.1. It only takes a couple hours for a full charge with the adapter it came with, which is also fast charging. The cable itself is USB-C on both ends, so this will not connect to your run of the mill USB charger, you would need an adapter for that, or USB 2.0/3.0 Cable. I wouldn't recommend anything less than 3 for optimal charging. The screen on it pretty darn nice. It us only an LCD, which is pretty common for Notebook Computers. It's a little thick, and the bezels are a bit of turn off as there is quite a bit of space from the edge to the screen, probably an inch on the top and bottom and half an inch on the sides. It also get's plenty bright. If you use it outside, I don't see you running into to many issues, but direct sunlight may be an issue as it does have a reflective glass screen. Also, the ability to use it in either Notebook orientation, Tent orientation or Tablet Orientation is really great and the hinge design seems top notch. It doesn't feel loose, and I've had it for about 2 or 3 weeks now and it's like I just took it out of the box. Also, this is more about the construction of it, on the sides of the touchpad, there are softish like pads to rest your wrists or palms on. It also acts as a cushion that the screen will rest on. It also has this material on the opposite side of the device to cushion the screen when you have it in table mode. I does get a bit unwieldy as when you hold it, you're likely going to want to hold it in the middle, the problem there is that you are going to be pressing down on the touchpad. While it doesn't affect anything, it could over long use wear it out. Thankfully there's those cushioned pads on the side of the touch pad you can use so it is a little more comfortable. The all aluminium build of it definitely makes this a standout as it feels incredibly well built. It is a bit heavy, but when it comes to solidity and durability, I hold a lot more faith in this than I would in a Notebook with a bunch of plastic. They keyboard is very nice, and has a great tactile feel to is. I also appreciate that it is backlit so if you're in a dark place, you can still see when you type. They also did not stop with lighting the edges of the keys, the letters themselves are also illuminated.The touchpad is also very responsive. I did experience some false touches with it with the tap-to-click feature so i did turn it off. There's not a way to decrease the sensitivity of the feature as it's an all or nothing setting. Aside from that quirk it really is an all around great device. Also one of the other cool things it does feature is Google Assistant. This is something that has been slowly rolling out to other devices. It first started if I recall with the first Google Pixel and has slowly trickled into other devices. It's a really cool feature especially if you have a connected home with things like lighting, WiFi Thermostats, Speakers, Stereos, Security Systems and such. The google Home app also does work natively on the Pixelbook. When it boils down to it, in looking for a device that is a Notebook, you want to determine how to you want to use. If you're looking for something such as casual games, either a iOS, Android or Chromebook device will fill that role, so longs as you're not looking to play things from something like Steam, or another Desktop PC oriented app. If you're looking for productivity, this can also do that as you can get MS Office on the App Store. Also, you can even do drawing on it and it comes with LightRoom as well. If you go this route, you'll want the pen, and that's another $99 sadly. If none of the above is what you need or fulfills your needs, you will want to look for something with a dedicated Operating System like Windows or macOS. Overall, if you're looking for something that's not more than you need for everyday use, this is a great device, and I'm sure I will enjoy it for years to come, or till the next big thing at least! Oh yeah! Since this does have a glass screen, keep a Microfiber cloth handy, cause it picks up fingerprints like it's going out of style.

[ Preamble ] I feel it’s important to start off with putting this review into perspective. I’m in no way biased against Google. On the contrary, I have a Google Pixel phone which I’m very fond of and which I rated highly in my review of that product. Google services are also heavily ingrained into my daily life, both in desktop and mobile device usage. This is my first experience with Chrome OS. I feel like Chrome OS is only just now becoming worth consideration, with the introduction of Google Assistant and good start at support for Android apps, among other features that Google is slowly pulling over from Android. However, Chrome OS is still missing many important usability and utility features. The Pixelbook also suffers from a lack of features and some design drawbacks on the hardware side. I know Google is very capable of making high quality products that fit their target markets well. However, to me, the Pixelbook seems like an overpriced toy. [ Outer design and featureset ] As has come to be expected from Google hardware, the material selection and production quality is fantastic. With an aluminum body that feels extremely sturdy, glass section behind the display for increased WiFi signal strength, premium rubber [?] wrist pads that also help protect the screen when closed, extremely tight alignment of surfaces and angles, and gentle curves in the right places, impeccable engineering is the first thing seen when unpacking the Pixelbook. The Pixelbook is remarkably thin, but this comes with some pretty severe trade-offs when compared to competing products. While featuring two USB-C ports, it lacks any USB-A port, HDMI port, or SD card slot, which significantly hampers utility. Also noticeably missing are GPS and a cell modem. With even extremely cheap tablets having GPS, and with the older Chromebook Pixel--as well as some other Chromebooks and tablets--having offered a cell modem option, it feels like the Pixelbook doesn’t cater as well as it could to current generations of hyper-connected users demanding these types of products. [ Hardware ] Display: The display is very vibrant, with a great max brightness level that significantly outshines most competing devices I’ve seen. Google intelligently chose a 3:2 aspect ratio which fits well with the implementation of Android app support, many of which are designed with fixed portrait orientation and aspect ratio. Touch responsiveness is decent, but I had trouble at times with accuracy and tap-and-drag gestures, which sometimes required me to resort to using the touchpad for various tasks. Battery: Great battery life, with quick and convenient charging through USB-C ports. Keyboard: The keyboard--in my opinion--is absolutely horrible. The extremely limited key travel (more so than any other keyboard I’ve used) translates to very limited tactile feedback which has a significantly negative impact on typing accuracy (for me, anyway). The consistency of the backlighting is worse than in any other backlit keyboard I’ve seen, to the point that it looks downright trashy. The backlighting seems to have a mind of its own, turning off and on seemingly randomly in various indoor lighting conditions, and with no apparent way of controlling its behavior. While the onscreen keyboard--like on Android--has a ubiquitous voice input option, the physical keyboard has no such key (or even key combo, that I’ve been able to find). This means in many scenarios, I can’t benefit from voice dictation unless I switch to tablet mode, or manually enable the onscreen keyboard, but doing the latter has it pop-up any time a text-input element is given focus (until disabled). I found the lack of ‘home’ and ‘end’ keys to be a significant disadvantage when writing/editing any meaty body of text. The key combos to replicate these functions are Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow and Ctrl + Alt + Down Arrow, respectively, while moving to the beginning and end of the input field are bound to Ctrl + Search + Left Arrow and Ctrl + Search + Right arrow, respectively. Even besides being cumbersome to use and deviating from familiar conventions, the choice of these key combinations downright boggles me. All together, I’ve found this keyboard to be a major impediment to productivity while using the Pixelbook. Camera, microphones, speakers: Decent camera captures better than average color and detail with indoor lighting conditions compared to laptops I’ve owned and used around this price point. The microphones however are rather lackluster, tending to easily pick up annoying background noise and doing a rather poor job of echo/feedback cancellation. Maximum volume of the speakers are better than average, but the quality is nothing ground-breaking, with low and mid frequency ranges being neglected as much as I’ve come to expect in laptop speakers. CPU, memory, storage: The hard stats seem fairly reasonable. While low compared to similarly priced laptops, they should be entirely sufficient for the types of tasks expected from a Chromebook. The major issue I have, however, is that the CPU heats up the aluminum body very quickly while running even a rather simple 3D game, with the passive cooling performing disappointingly in these scenarios. The panel between the keyboard and the display especially becomes very hot to the touch, with heat spreading to a lesser degree to other surfaces. Chrome OS: Despite recent improvements, Chrome OS is still lacking in so many ways, that it looks like a joke compared to the alternatives… even Android. We have access to a single-row ‘shelf’ which we can had shortcuts to, compared to a full desktop on most OSes, or the multiple home screen pages of Android. With Android, we have access to useful widgets we can display on our home screens, where as with Chrome OS… we’re stuck with a simple background picture. While the Chrome browser can add and print to local (USB-connected) printers, it seems such printers are not visible to Android apps. As for a peripheral more complex, such as a scanner… well, that’s just completely out of the question. While Google has a good start on Android app compatibility, it’s far from a solid experience. Some apps crash, some refuse to behave the same way they do on Android, some have display issues, and for many apps, the Google Play store warns of the apps not being ‘optimized’ for Chrome OS. Even in my first hour using the laptop, I had already run into several OS bugs, such as switching to tablet mode and back again resulting in the cursor being stuck upside down (requiring switching back and forth again to fix), and ghost tray icons that remain after unpinning, requiring re-pinning and then again un-pinning the shortcut in question to get rid of it. While the bugs individually were minor, collectively over time they became an annoyance. Unfortunately, the inadequacies of Chrome OS don’t end there. The frustrating thing about it all is that these issues *could* be addressed without compromising the core values of the operating system, if the developers actually cared about utility and productivity. However, it seems to me this isn’t a primary concern of theirs.

Brief review because review below looks too long and you don't want to read it: Buy it and love it. Chrome OS is simple but that is its strength. Laptop is beautiful, small, light and fast. Don't pay full price - buy on sale. Detailed review: After dealing with all the headaches of Windows for forever such as threats of viruses, constant and sometimes long updates, and their decreasingly amount of included useful software with their devices as they switch to subscription-based services such as Office 365 I finally had enough. Plus, I don't have any specific software needs that tie to me Windows. I am not an Apple/Mac fan and have been on board with Google and Android devices since they debuted years ago. Already having Android phones and tablets I was familiar with the software and figured I would finally try it out in a laptop version with Chrome OS. $1000 at full price for this device is a bit excessive but I picked it up on Black Friday for $700 as that is a much more reasonable price and it does not disappoint! This is the smallest, lightest and thinnest laptop I have ever used (and is currently available) which makes it really portable and easy to use anywhere. Despite its small size, it feels very solid and well built and is a beautiful looking machine. The keyboard feels great to type on and the silicone palm rests make typing even more comfortable by not having your wrists sitting on cold and hard plastic or metal. Even the top row of the keyboard has useful keys you'll use all the time such as volume up/down, play/pause, screen brightness up/down, quick switch key to flip between screens/application, etc. I use all of these compared to all the "F" keys at the top of a standard keyboard that I mostly have no use for. Battery life is listed at 10 hours but it really is between 8-9 hours which is fine for myself and I assume most other people as well. Honestly, this length of battery life should be expected considering this has to have a pretty small battery in it to help reduce size and weight to the amazing proportions of this device. If you buy it you might end up in wonder as to just how they managed to fit all the necessary components of a computer in the chassis of this thing. The software is basic and there is no added non-sense you don't want or need which is great. You have access to the Chrome store which most of the stuff on there is junk but you also have access to the Andriod app store which greatly improves the usability of this laptop. Most of the Andriod apps are not yet tailored for Chrome OS so some of them can look odd in their native phone size on the screen but this doesn't bother me. The computer is very fast at processing anything you throw at it due to its 7th gen i5 processor (now a generation behind) but it is still overkill for Chrome and again, I am fine with it as this device will still have plenty of power whenever needed with no worry of slowdown. Another benefit of Chome OS is that like software from Apple, there is virtually no worry about viruses. Chrome also updates itself which is a nice feature not having to deal with manually retrieving software updates. The screen is incredible to look at. Everything from Word/Google Docs, Excel/Google Sheets to websites look sharp and clear. If using this for travel to watch videos, shows, movies, etc. they look fantastic. I could go on forever but overall, this is just a really great laptop that makes me enjoy using a laptop again. Unless you are tied to Apple/Mac or Windows for specific programs and if you are not an Apple/Mac person like me or are just tired of all the faults of Windows and want a laptop and software that work for you when you need it without any hassles then I highly suggest picking this up and trying it for yourself. Just be sure to buy it when it is on sale and don't pay full price as I will admit that while I love this device, the full price of $1000 is asking too much for it.

Initial impressions of this laptop are pretty nice. What might throw off some consumers is the fact this is Chrome OS and not Mac or Windows. There is a small learning curve when using ChromeOS compared to other operating systems however it's nothing to get bent out of shape over. It's basically a larger version of the Pixel phone from Google and, at time, a trimmed down version of an OS compared to other ones. That said, I think this is great laptop either as a secondary/traveling/work laptop or as a normal laptop for light duty users. The appearance of the laptop is quite chic. It's metal and glass giving it a very minimalist look while offering a pretty sturdy frame. It's a 12 inch laptop so, for me, it took a little while getting used to since I prefer more larger sized laptops. Nonetheless, the fit/finish on this laptop is comparable to any high end laptop out on the market now. My only issue with this is that it's not all that easy to lift the screen up. The functionality this laptop provides, again, is comparable to anything out on the market. While the specs on this laptop might not be as alluring as others, it will easily churn through any task with ease. Since everything on this laptop is cloud based, really boils down to how fast your connection is. But I haven't experienced any hiccups with this so far and don't really expect to honestly. The one thing some people might miss are the ports. There aren't any on this laptop save for a power plug and a spare USB-C port. You're not able to hook up any HDMI or monitor to this just to be clear. This laptop is pretty much an all-in-one sort of machine. Battery life seems pretty good. I haven't burned through a battery cycle yet however I figure this should give you, at least, a good 6-7 hours (maybe more) of use. As far as the touchscreen/flip out screen, it's nice but not something I personally use all that much. In cases where I'm watching a movie or streaming something, I'll put it tent mode but that's about it. The touchscreen is quite good so no noticeable lag or anything. In tablet mode, this pretty much just becomes a 12 inch phone for the most part. Overall, I think it's a great laptop for most general uses. It's not a workhorse laptop or a gaming laptop by any means but, for most uses, I think this is great in terms of functionality, size and performance. There is a small learning curve needed with this if you're not familiar with ChromeOS but it's not a big deal IMO.

It is clearly apparent Google wanted to be the leader in the Chromebook market, after all they are all using it’s OS. The first thought after seeing and handling the Google Pixelbook was simply put… WOW. They did not skimp on the hardware with the durable aluminum body, glass back portion to allow for better wifi reception, crystal clear Corning Gorilla glass screen, 7th gen Intel processors, 128GB SSD, 8GB of RAM and options for even better specs in their higher priced models. With all that packed in one device, I was surprised at how lightweight and convenient this device is! My two year old already dropped it on it’s corner the first day of use and as I watched it roll around like a square wheel, I was in terror as it settled flat. To my surprise, not a scratch. I still opted to invest in a body and screen protector because, even with the durable body and screen, I’m not sure I’ll be that lucky next time. One of my favorite things about this Chromebook is the instant tethering that it can do using their phones; it was easy to set up and great for on the go when a wifi is not available. The Pixelbook handles all Google Play apps and games with ease due to the processing speed and RAM. Let me do it more justice, the games look and run amazing! The i5 processor and 8GB RAM model has plenty of horsepower to handle everyday functions. Now for the cons. There are a few shortcomings to this model, such as no back camera for pictures (but who really uses a tablet for pictures?) and no SD card slot to expand memory. However, after using it, I really felt like Google hit the bench mark because those things really aren’t necessary. The memory is more than enough to store many movies, pictures, documents, etc. and you can always get an external USB-C drive or additional cloud storage if you run out. One issue I have been having is some Google Play apps are not compatible, yet, on this device and they will not open or crash therefore I found myself reporting errors to the Play Store in an effort to fix these issues. I also had to find alternatives to some of my work in apps I never previously used since I was used to certain other OS’s that I would now have to pay additional usage fees for if I were to continue to use them on the Google apps. The alternatives are out there and easy to find if you just start to switch everything to Google, which isn’t a bad thing and I have been quite pleased. Everyone knows there is a lot of competition on the market at a much more affordable price range. That being said, you also get what you pay for. The question is, is it worth spending the extra coin to acquire such a machine that serves as the same functionality as the other Chromebooks? The simple answer is, yes… if you can afford to. You will definitely not be disappointed. The Pixelbook is more than I expected and can see myself using this now more than other devices and OS’s. I’m glad Google decided to be more innovative with the look and feel however I’m not sure how much it will catch on with consumers because seeing the price of this Chromebook may turn people off right away so consider it an investment because I’m sure some of the competition’s hardware may last a year or so where this machine should still be at the top of the competition for at least a few years.