Google - Pixelbook Go 13.3" Touch-Screen Chromebook - Intel Core m3 - 8GB Memory - 64GB Solid State Drive - Just Black

The new Pixelbook Go is Google’s latest series of Chromebooks, and it is absolutely fantastic. Apparently, it is intended to be a “scaled down” Pixelbook Chromebook. The Pixelbook Go is available in several configurations including this entry-level model which has an Intel Core m3 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 64GB of SSD storage. The next level model has an Intel Core i5 CPU with either 8GB or 16GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The top tier has an Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. All 3 CPUs are 8th generation. The first two models have Full HD, 1920x1080, 16x9 Aspect Ratio, 13.3” Touchscreen Displays, while the top tier model adds a 4k, Ultra HD Display. The Corning Concore glass touchscreen panels are very reflective, which is very typical of touchscreens and which also obviously readily collect fingerprints. The touchscreen is very responsive and pleasant to use. Inasmuch as Google used Corning Concore glass, it is reasonable to surmise that these are “One Glass Solution” (OGS) screens, which utilize a sheet of high-strength Concore Glass as the top sheet of the display panel, rather than a second sheet of glass being laminated to the top of the panel. This results in a thinner, lighter and more economical display panel, and undoubtedly contributes to the extremely thin, 0.5” thickness profile of the Pixelbook Go. Off-axis angle viewing is very decent, but of course the greater the off-axis angle, the more visibility, contrast and color fidelity deteriorate. Overall, the display genuinely appears to be excellent. It is bright and vivid, with good color rendition and color fidelity, and is very nice to view. Videos and TV streams look great and don’t suffer from buffering or lagging. The clamshell case is very impressive. The painted magnesium alloy case is a very elegant and high-end attribute. It both looks and feels very impressive, and it is reasonable to surmise that it is likely to be very durable. The bottom of the case is scalloped. Perhaps that is for structure, perhaps it is merely aesthetic, but perhaps it might have been designed to serve both as a heat-sink with the additional surface area, as well as providing convection cooling via the scalloped channels. In fact, when the computer is working hard, such as when running multiple video streams, the bottom of the Pixelbook Go, as well as the area above the keyboard get palpably warm. This Pixelbook Go is remarkably lightweight. The specifications claim 2.3lbs (1061g). The size, weight and tough magnesium case really make this easy to move around and easy and convenient to carry and makes it the default travelling device. On initial setup, the Pixelbook Go commenced a lengthy update process which evidently included updating most or all of the apps as well as the device’s firmware (including a notification that the touchpad firmware was being updated). Flashing the firmware is likely what consumed most of the time. As is standard with all Chromebooks, setup is extremely easy, and if you choose to sync devices, all browser shortcuts, passwords, etc. will be automatically imported to this device during the initial setup process. The backlit keyboard has very nice feel and key rebound, and relatively quiet sound. Key travel is short, and the keyboard is compact, necessarily constrained by the dimensions of the case. Typing is very comfortable with this high-quality keyboard, and I find backlighting to be absolutely indispensable, and an absolute necessity. When the Pixelbook Go is sleeping, touching any key or the touchpad awakens the display and backlit keyboard. The touchpad is oversized and responsive, a nice and convenient attribute. Even in this base configuration with the Core m3 CPU and 8GB of RAM, the Pixelbook Go performed very well with many open browser windows and tabs and multiple live-TV streams running simultaneously. I really expected the unit to choke with a far less demanding load on the CPU and video sections. This performance was truly very impressive. This is a very powerful and capable Chromebook. This base, entry-level configuration is not at all inferior or insufficient. In fact, it is genuinely excellent. The battery life on the Pixelbook Go is really great. Google claims up to 12 hours of use, but obviously battery life is extremely dependent on how the computer is being used, and especially how much time the screen is active. I’m finding that all-day use for browsing, email (many), live-streaming news broadcasts, etc. is well within the battery capacity. In fact, during the course of a single day I used the Pixelbook Go extensively, with at least 7 to 10 tabs or browser instances active throughout, the screen/display kept on throughout and including 6.5 hours of live-streaming TV in addition to the foregoing. After 11.5 hours of this very heavy utilization, 11.5 hours of screen on including 6.5 hours of live-streaming broadcast TV, the Pixelbook Go reported 6% remaining battery capacity. If this Pixelbook Go had only typical, intermittent use during the day, and the screen was allowed to turn off and the computer had any time of no activity in which to “sleep”, I am certain that the run-time would have exceeded the claimed 12 hour capacity. In fact, with this very heavy use example, I’m confident that the battery would have kept the Chromebook alive for another 0.5 hours, easily. Demonstrating fantastic battery performance, coupled with the superior portability of the Pixelbook Go, this is obviously the Chromebook to take along when away from home. The camera works well, but is nothing special. It’s fine for video chats (its intended purpose). The audio is stereo (of course) and sounds excellent. The audio quality, fidelity, volume and projection were all very good, and the stereo separation has a nice spatial quality that makes the Pixelbook Go pleasant to listen to. There is a headphone jack and Bluetooth headphones are of course supported. The Wi-Fi performance is also excellent. The Wi-Fi specs include: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2x2 (MIMO), dual-band (2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz), and it utilized the full available bandwidth of the Wi-Fi stream, with its 2x2 Mimo. Whereas almost everything about the hardware platform of the Pixelbook Go appears to be first rate, Google clearly economized on the number of ports provided. There are only two USB-C ports (one on each side) and a headphone jack (3.5mm). Additionally, one of those USB-C jacks must be used for battery charging. There is no SD Card slot and no USB-A ports to accept the ubiquitous USB thumb drives that we all use. At the price levels of these computers, there really should be more connectivity options, inclusive of SD Card acceptance. A perplexing matter is that of the pre-established obsolescence schedule for all Chromebooks and Google Pixel phones. Chromebooks, irrespective of manufacturer, are currently only supported for 6.5 years (thankfully increased from 5 years in 2017) with OS and Security updates (termed the “Auto Update Expiration (AUE) date” by Google). The 6.5 years begins when the particular hardware platform is initially released into the retail channel (not from when the particular model enters the marketplace, nor when the computer is purchased). Pixel phones receive only three years of support. This Pixelbook Go is replacing a less than five year old Acer Chromebook that has already received its “final update notification” from Google. It still operates perfectly well, but without Security updates it is destined for consignment to oblivion. These support policies do not appear to be in the best interests of consumers. Additionally, since most electronics in the US are not recycled (and many components are not recyclable at all), these end of life policies increase the amount of landfill waste and environmental pollution. Overall, the Pixelbook Go is absolutely a first rate, top-of-the-line Chromebook. It is quite powerful and fast. It is compact and light-weight, and epitomizes portability and convenience. The case is elegant and a good measure above typical computers, with its thin profile and sleek magnesium shell. The display is also outstanding, and in addition to being full HD, it is a touch-screen. The battery performance is truly excellent, exceeding expectations. The keyboard sounds and feels great, and is backlit. It does everything very well, and its performance is clearly superior to many other Chromebooks, and certainly far better than one might anticipate from a “base-level” configuration. The Pixelbook Go is fantastic, and a pleasure to use. I am extremely impressed with the Pixelbook Go, and I am genuinely enjoying it. It is a wonderful Chromebook that is worthy of accolades. Of course, I recommend it highly.

Google Pixelbook Go 13.3" Touch-Screen Chromebook (Intel Core m3; 8GB Memory; 64GB Solid State Drive): My first introduction to Chromebooks a few years ago took me by surprise. They were more competent and compatible than I expected. But, those Chromebook versions were not as lightweight and convenient as I was led to believe. I think Google has made a course correction in this version of the Google Pixelbook Go. While remaining competent and very compatible, it also is more convenient and comfortable enough to take everywhere. This particular model Pixelbook Go has a simple, exceptionally sleek look with a “groovy” bottom surface that adds some uniqueness and ease-of-handling. SETUP: I use a stopwatch these days to test setup and App installation. This Google Pixelbook was ready to use in under 5 minutes. I was online, receiving email, selecting a few more Apps to download and seeing if my photos and movies were ready to review. Yes. I was really ready to work. This notebook required an update, but that didn’t take more than a few more minutes with my fast internet connection. The selection of Apps is incredibly large, with so many useful and free. There are two USB-C™⁵ charging and display outputs (2). I had a fairly generic, multi-port dock available which allowed me to use an ethernet connection, and add USB devices or an external monitor or similar peripherals. I don’t concern myself with ports because I’m willing to trade off to get more portability. PERFORMANCE: While I understand that this is the slower of the available Google Pixelbook Go processors, the included 8GB RAM, the 64GB SSD, as well as the remarkably easy and useful free access (15GB) to Google Drive conceals any limitations. Google Apps are often efficient and mostly compatible. The result is a computer that always feels fast and responsive to anything I wanted to do. The screen is bright, with appropriate contrast, and very colorful. The keyboard has a soft feel, but the keys and trackpad are sensitive and responsive. The speakers are face up, alongside of the keyboard, and can get loud for personal listening. That headphone port makes it easy to connect to an external (not included) system, which you’ll want to add for some better bass. I streamed several movies from my GooglePlay Movie “locker”, (Finding Nemo and Jersey Boys) to test black levels, skin tones, and color. This is a very high quality screen with a wide and useful field of view. I don’t just work on the road; I love my movies-on-the-go. At just over 2lbs., the Pixelbook Go is very very easy to manage. It’s also great for working wherever you take it. Students will love it. INTEROPERABILITY: The major rationale for a Chromebook for me is lightweight usefulness. Translation? I absolutely need to exchange data, pictures, and videos with my other devices but I hate traveling with unnecessary weight. I took the easy way out for this first test and sent my new Google Pixelbook a series of attachments: TEXT (RTF), WORD, EXCEL, PDF, and JPG. EVERY other file type was handled easily, with the Chromebook offering at least one App to manage or edit my transferred files. Videos of my grandson, created on a MacBook now played on my Pixelbook. My Word document was opened without hiccup by a Google Doc, and my simple EXCEL file was opened by Google Sheet. Both were ready to edit.. . . on this Chromebook. SUMMARY: The Google Pixelbook Go approach, with portability, comfort, ease of use, simpler programs and dependence on online storage challenges notions that you need to lug a powerful, near-desktop to get work done on the road. Transitioning between my newest MacBook pro with i7 and this Google Pixelbook was problem-free. Speed is NOT an issue. In fact, those instances where I’m sitting and waiting often favored the Pixelbook’s simpler demands. Carrying around the Pixelbook just seemed smart, and looked professional. I can easily recommend this Pixelbook Go.

The Build- Wow! It’s been a minute since I’ve used a Chromebook, a few years back I purchased one for some graduate classes I was taking. This Chromebook feels amazing. Super light, and thin. I’ve been using it for a few days, and I am still pleasantly surprised when I pick it up. The entire frame of the laptops is constructed from magnesium, which is great when you first pickup because it’s nice and cool to the touch. It is easy to open up with one hand, which is a nice bonus. The ridges on the bottom are great as a grip to hold on to, and I think also make it a little easier to keep clean. Seriously, this is super portable; I kept asking my family to pick it up to feel how light it is. The Screen and Sound- Spotify, Youtube, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Apple TV+; these are all the services I have been using since the day I received it. The screen is great, videos look crispy, and the speakers are amazing. Easy to see in well lit areas, and I normally keep the brightness between 50-75%. Speakers are great for streaming music or watching movies/shows. This thing gets very loud, about 50% is way more than enough for me. Music and videos are clear. There’s good separation in highs, mids, and lows. Lows are definitely a little on the weak side, but I think that’s just a sacrifice of the size and weight of the chromebook. Battery- I’m an educator, and I decided to take this with me for a few days instead of my usual device. Used it most of the day, between lessons, and again when I got home for some entertainment and news. Finished the day with just slightly under 40% battery left. I am absolutely comfortable leaving the charger at home for a day of work. Productivity- I was a little worried in transitioning my workflow to ChromeOS. I primarily use Windows 10 or iPadOS for most of my work. I did have a slight adjustment period, but then I realized that most of the work that I do is already being done in a Chrome browser on those other 2 platforms so the transition was minimal. Also, as a huge bonus, all the work that I get done on this in Google Docs, Slides, etc is saved to the Google Drive automatically, and I can retrieve it from pretty much any device (phones, tablets, computers) that are online. If you need to share the file to someone who is not using Google services you can share it with them as an Office file (Word, Excel, etc.) You also have the option of just downloading the Android Office apps from the Google Play Store, or using their online services and using that as well. The apps work very much like their Windows 10 counterparts, and are also able to save to the cloud. Overall, I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in a lightweight, portable device that wants great battery life, a good touch screen, and great sound. It’s become my go to device.

I have used quite a few Chromebooks over the years, and the absolute first thing I noticed about the Chromebook Go was the build. Admittedly, the design is perfect for me. It is simple, clean, sleek and matte black everywhere. It is made of magnesium but is coated in some type of material that gives it both a nice feel as well as look. It has a very solid feel in the hand, yet, it is also very light. In addition, the bottom has a ribbed design that I have never seen on laptop before. It is very practical and also gives you confidence when you have it in your hand and are on the go. I have been taking this everywhere and I barely notice the weight and am impressed with how it is holding up. Boot times are near instant and initial set-up is extremely easy (with your Google account), although you can dig deeper on some settings if you like. Even though I had some minor concerns regarding the Intel Core M3 chip going in, performance has been great. That is the beauty of Chrome OS. It does not need much to excel and I could not be happier. Chrome with a slew of tabs is no issue, and I have been able to nail down all of my work with ease using Google’s Suite of services as well as some Microsoft Office Apps when required. Having access to Play Store Apps on the Chromebook is a fantastic change. While not all apps will work, I love seeing continued improvements to the platform. That said, life is not all Gmail and work. The touchscreen is Full HD 1080p, with great brightness levels, nice details and full, rich and vivid color. The speakers, located on both sides of the keyboard, sound unexpectedly, well, awesome. There is lots of volume, some bass (yes, a little bass), and little to no distortion at high volume. I consume a TON of media, both at home as well as when I am out, and this thing is fantastic. I have regularly been streaming YouTube TV, Netflix and more recently Disney+ and have liked what I have been seeing (and hearing). It is a good media experience. Having a touchscreen is great, but ultimately, you need a keyboard. An OK one will be…just OK. A bad one? It can ruin an entire computer. A good one? It can be a pleasure to use. That is the case here. It is tough to say, but this may be the best keyboard I have ever used. The layout, spacing and travel are all great. It is extremely quiet and the keys just “feel nice.” It is also backlit with minimal to no bleed through. Google nailed it. If you are a writer or do a lot of typing, try to find one and give it a try. The trackpad is much of the same. Nice size, responsive and a good feel, BUT, whoa, the click is loud. Noticeably loud. By no means a deal-breaker but keep it in mind. Lastly, it is a Chromebook. You will be taking it with you. Everywhere. It doesn’t work without power. Google rates the battery for 12 hours of use and while how long your battery lasts depends on so many factors, I can only say battery life has been great. I have been using my machine pretty hard and generally am doing everything I need and want to throughout the day with battery to spare. Again, your use case is probably different than mine, but I feel confident it won’t be an issue for you. In addition, it comes with a 45W USB-C charger that supports Quick Charge. You should get 2 hours of use from a 20-minute charge. In conclusion, I think this is a fantastic machine. It is well-built, lightweight, portable, and performs well. The display and speakers are great for media, battery life is very strong, and the keyboard is among the best I have used. Chrome OS has evolved a lot over the years and continues to do so. If Chrome OS is for you, and I would guess it is for most people, it is hard for me to find a better way to use it than this Chromebook.

I was an early adopter of Chrome OS, having owned a first gen Asus Chromebox for several years now. Until now I had not used a chromebook, and given early looks at the Pixelbook Go I was excited to give it a shot at replacing my current personal device, a Surface Pro 4. Coming from the SP4 (also a Core m3 model), I found the Pixelbook Go to be extremely usable and extraordinarily quick. I was a bit worried when I found that the SSD is eMMC based rather than NVMe like the SP4, but I have not detected any noticeable storage induced lag on this device. First impression upon unboxing is that I love the feel of this Pixelbook Go. The magnesium chassis has a softer feel than I was expecting, sort of a texture thing I guess. It feels extremely light and solid. The ridged texture of the bottom of the laptop is a quirky feature that does make the laptop easier to grip. It's the first thing everyone has commented on when I had the laptop to them. By far my favorite feature of the Pixelbook is the keyboard. This is easily the BEST KEYBOARD I'VE EVER USED ON A LAPTOP. All caps for emphasis - this cannot be understated. I use Cherry MX Blue keyboards whenever possible at a desk, but for a laptop, this keyboard is both substantially quieter and more ... responsive.. than any portable keyboard I've used. The backlighting is fully automated and adjusts to room brightness quickly. Rest of the hardware is all top notch. For a 1080p display in an ultraportable device the screen is excellent quality. Text is sharp, colors look natural. Blacks are not astounding but better than 'acceptable.' The speakers are quite a bit better than I would expect in a device this size. Volume and clarity were enough that my wife asked me to turn it down when I was watching an episode of Jack Ryan at 1/3 volume because it was distracting her. The touchpad is great and I love the Chrome OS gestures. I did not get to experience those when using my Chromebox so this was a nice surprise. I'm not subtracting any stars, but one thing a potential buyer should be aware of, is while the Play Store is available on ChromeOS, some apps simply do not work properly or optimally. Given they are android apps, and not optimzed for Chrome, it shouldn't be surprising. This is mainly the case for video streaming apps - Plex and Prime Video for example. Plex's apps is explicitly not supported on Chrome according to Plex, and 5.1 tracks only play the rear channels instead of down mixing to stereo correctly. Prime Video plays perfectly fine, but the video quality is actually lower through the app than it is using the website. The app does support Casting now, which is awesome and quality through my Chromecast was excellent. Downloading videos directly to the Pixelbook and playing with VLC from the play store worked flawlessly. I'm happy to report that the Play Store versions of Office all work exactly as they do on Android. If you are fully embedded in the MS ecosystem you won't be able to do all of your work on these versions, but they are getting better all the time. They do work sufficiently for pretty much any document viewing I've ever needed to do, and especially word and powerpoiint are very functional compared to their full windows/mac counterparts. Google's Sheets app is superior for spreadsheets than the play store excel app in my experience. Overall I think this is a great device, that takes up even less space in my bag than the SP4. Since it uses USB-C charging, I can now forego carrying an extra charger on trips, since one USB-C charger can handle either my work laptop (a Lenovo Yoga) or the Pixelbook. And in a pinch, I can use the same charger for my GS9+. If you have been leery of trying ChromeOS, take the plunge with the Pixelbook Go. It's been a revelation for me.

The Pixelbook Go first impression was appealing due to its very light weight, feeling of the material was solid, and using keyboard very very smooth. Then, it feel like an Google android phone/tablets but represented in form of notebook, and limit the experience such form factor. The experience from scratch briefly on good things: Setting is straight forward, by providing google account information, connect to wifi, as usual as would with new android phone/tablet. During this process, only issue I observed was setting WiFi. After providing SSID and user/pass, it didn’t connect. After troubleshooting, turn out the option of Name Server for the given WiFI SSID is in “Automatic Name Server” under Name Server category. Although it is expected Automatic would work, some how had to select “Google Name server” option, then was able to connect. So this was the very first pitfall as try to get excited about the new notebook. Once setup, everything else is automatically allowed to experience the google experience, mainly Gmail, G-Suite office application, storing on the cloud, without inconvenience of security and permission as would for all google applications as user allow. Switching in between has been joyful. Using multimedia file, as one would imagine it is highly dependent of Google Play and YouTube for music and/or videos. In this context, quality of sound and video I feel they above average as not being audiophile specialist. Video image quality, the black is acceptably deep dark, and grade of color changing is smooth not being able to notice at grain level. In the attached picture, among other comparison, shows comparing PixelBook Go screen vs my Sony Bravia HD screen playing Maroon 5 song Memory. In which when the video starts, start with dark image as light up slowly lighting up the singer song. Without setting the set of light professionally but with room light off, in the normal use context, Pixelbook Go feels to show better image than the TV. (In both devices video played via streamed YouTube’s Vevo) Then the audio aspect, it deliver surrounding and immersive experience. Didn’t expect that level of sound, again perspective not being audiophile expert, but from average user point. You can feel left and right sounds, and center for voice feels to work seamlessly as for instance give sense of sound effect going away or passing through the voice and give sense of distance. So by watching movie while placing the Pixelbook Go on the lap and sitting on the sofa, the sound effective as directly provoked as described above. On the other hand, for case of playing music, its sound fill the space, but I found its optimal range is between 5ft to 7 ft radius. Beyond it, start to be a noise quality. The keyboard, as briefly mentioned above, it is smooth as type, feels secure each of them as write long documents. One nice touch here is how Google has implemented the backlit. Under dark, it doesn’t show the underneath light as in some notebook would, and only light up while in use. The Google Assistance, baed on the usage appear a shortcut to usual command used for google browser. As command is typed or asked via voice, it search google. It feels premature the technology behind or still as was several years on returning asked response. Although does feel advance understanding voice part. For instance, if ask what via type mode or voice, “what is my pixel book spec”, can’t response and refer to generic google search. Or another case, “what song is playing in my speakers” (wifi connected and its control app installed) Then I liked that it can be charged either left or right side as allow to accommodate better the cable depending not eh place of outlet. And briefly the battery last long enough at least being new. Being used for three days listening music, watching streaming video, and editing documents and images, and still 28% left. The rest: Other aspect of use feels normal, not much to describe as similar of rest of devices and brand on how deliver in the design and form factor around. However, couple of things that didn’t feel right. 1) The large trackpad, as use, the feeling on the surface is ok if not goo enough. But as click does a sound that as much being used become annoying. If there is option to disable the sound, I couldn’t find. But if there isn’t, it is bit annoying. 2) The window of applications cannot be resized. Only browser based applications, mostly Google docs opening within browser. And doesn’t have option or organize in tile mode opened applications. 3) Display cannot be flipped to use as tablet mode. Hence optimal benefit of touch screens fells short. Understandbly this is by design intend and there is Pixelbook, but for the MSRP price point feels bit shortcoming. Conclusion: Pixebook Go is nicely put together all Google in the hardware and software and appeal very good for flexible and mobile work/lifestyle as most of task can be accomplished with it for those that cannot with phone or tablet. It is light, seemingly, solid texture of material. It is for user comfortable of being in the Google data ecosystem with most of experience dependent on Google platform. However, without using Pixelbook Go, close to what attempt pt deliver Google with it can still meet with competitive devices and brands around $500 range. But still it is good alternative. From perspective of design and product, I would rate 4.5, but that is not an available option, rating upward. But not recommended under criteria of price vs uniqueness and compared to if can be done same with competing devices. In the attached collage of photo, packaging and unpacking, display comparison, variety of Pixebook Go from Google.

Take the best features of Chromebooks, wrap them in a premium build with stellar battery life, and outfit them with an extremely good audio and visual experience, and you get a Pixelbook Go. The "Go" in the product name is embodied in excellent battery life and fantastic build quality. On a single charge, you can comfortably use this for half a day or more with no fear of the computer dying on you. What's even better is the deceptively good build. The Pixelbook Go is constructed from a metal frame that gets a textured finish for added grip that feels durable and reliable. One of the biggest drawbacks with Chromebooks has generally been the compromises made on materials to drive costs down. Well, this model cuts in the opposite direction and offers excellent material design for a competitive price. The underside is ribbed to provide for easy transport and to prevent sliding, yet made from durable metal to withstand shocks and occasional drops. This device simply feels comfortable to hold, and is lightweight enough to be eminently transportable. Dropping this in a laptop bag made me think I was carrying a tablet around instead of a computer! The hinge is also satisfyingly strong and will clearly last years of use. The lid, or display half, is similarly solid and doesn't produce any worrisome creaks or flex. Using this outdoors really illustrates how great the display can be. The auto-brightness settings can be extremely aggressive, but with a few presses of the Brightness key you can guarantee legibility in all sunlight conditions. The viewing angles are excellent as well, which gives the Pixelbook Go an advantage over 90 percent of the Chromebooks on the market. What really surprised me was how great the audio experience is. I've been cycling through film trailers to test just how well this little computer can produce audio, and I'm truly amazed. There are two speakers running alongside the keyboard on the Pixelbook Go. To see them, you might not think they'd be that powerful, but they can really reproduce TV-quality sound. I can even pick up stereo mixing as sounds from a Godzilla trailer transit from the right to the left! This is a feature even pricey Windows laptops generally struggle with, so I'm pleasantly surprised. There's also a headphone jack, so commuters or students using this in a library can enjoy the great sound without being a nuisance. They keyboard and track pad are excellent as well. They keys may feel a bit "plastic-y" at first, but you'll change your mind when you start typing with them. I'm actually typing this sentence right now with the Pixelbook Go, and I can testify that the keyboard has excellent responsiveness, the height of the keys provides for great travel, and you can type with a higher degree of precision than you would at first think. The track pad, at first, also seemed to have kind of a squishy quality to it, but I'm now seeing that it's engineered to prevent against accidental presses. For once, the heel of my hand isn't activating a menu option of shutting down a web page! The only negative about the screen is the slightly oily quality it has on close inspection. This, I'm sure, comes from the touch screen capability built into the display (yes, the display is a touch screen). You have to be really close to notice, so this is more of a quibble than a problem, but it's something display perfectionists should be aware of. The software offerings also really show how Chrome OS has matured as a platform, and the integration with Google services makes for a seamless experience for any veteran Android user. A simple click on the Circle icon on the bottom left and you can access your key applications. Access to Google Play apps means users have a surfeit of good programs to choose from, and the ability to use Microsoft programs (I just touched up a resume in Word before writing this) means that work-oriented users won't be disappointed. The on-board integration of Google Assistant, with its own dedicated key, is pretty cool as well. Simply hitting a key and talking to your computer certainly feels futuristic, even if voice assistants in general still have room to develop. Android users envious of Apple's integration of phone and computer services should note that the Pixelbook Go enables the same functionality. Get your texts on your computer, unlock your computer with your phone, and see who's calling from your Pixelbook screen - all pretty awesome. Under the settings menu, there's even an option to run Linux (in beta). This could be a potential game-changer down the road. The thought of doing command line work on a Pixelbook , and working within a Linux IDE, would silence the some of the last complaints from Windows or Apple users. Processing speed and RAM are also more than sufficient. Power users like to scrutinize specs carefully, but even the basic configuration, running a lighter OS as it does, offers stellar performance. No lag, instant web page loads, and the ability to utilize productivity apps equals a highly recommended regular- or business-use machine. In fact, because it's not weighed down by features most people won''t use, performance is guaranteed to remain strong for years to come. Even Apple computers slow down over time. Plus, regular security updates ensure a higher degree of safety than other platforms offer. In short, this is a high-end Chromebook that absolutely will not disappoint you, and is well worth the price. This is not a 2-in-1 design, but for all that's on offer with the Pixelbook Go, you won't care. Strongly recommended for all general users. Movie editors, musicians, and PC gamers might need a different kind of experience, but for the rest of us, this is the machine to get.

I’ve been a Chromebook user since 2012, and I can safely call the Pixelbook Go the best Chromebook I’ve ever used - it may even be the best laptop I’ve ever used, period. The build feels premium all-around - the grippy bottom is a highlight, but the magnesium all around feels great, and it’s incredibly light. The keyboard is quite simply the best keyboard I’ve ever used. If you spent any time with the previous version of the Pixelbook, the keys are exactly like those, but better. The texture is slightly smoother, the keys are quieter, and it’s slightly more comfortable to type on. The trackpad is nice and large, feels smooth, and supports all the Chromebook gestures. I picked up this Chromebook because of the “Go”. My work is taking me off-site more and more lately, and I found myself wanting a laptop that could do everything I needed it to do, and to be able to leave my charger at home. In the week I’ve been using the Go, it’s checking all the boxes. Both my work “stuff” and personal “stuff” live in Google’s world (G Suite, Docs, Sheets, Drive, etc.), and I’ve only bumped into a few things a web version won’t suffice in...and for those, there’s Android and Linux. I’ve got the Audacity and GIMP Linux programs installed for some light audio and photo editing, and a few Android apps (Todoist for to-do lists and Outlook for some calendar notifications). The thing I’ve been most surprised by has been the audio - the Pixelbook Go speakers are stand-outs. Whether I’m listening to Spotify, watching YouTube at night, or streaming TV, I've been impressed. I watched 8 hours of football this Saturday on the Pixelbook Go and never even gave a thought to moving over to the living room TV. In my time with the Pixelbook Go so far, I’ve not run into anything that gives me pause. I am very happy with this device. If you know Chrome OS works for you, I think you will be very happy with it too.