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raqball

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 11, 2016
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I pre-ordered the Google Pixelbook and received it yesterday. It's a convertible 2 in 1 and here are a few initial thoughts on it after one day of use.

The version I got is the i5 / 8GB RAM / 128GB SSD. The price was $999 and here are the basic specs.

Intel Core i5
8GB RAM
128 GB SSD

Display: 12.3-inch, 2400x1600, 235ppi LCD touchscreen
Chassis: Aluminum unibody with 360-degree hinge, in one color, Silver
Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
Weight: 2.4 pounds
Ports: Two USB-C for charging and 4K display support
720p webcam
Battery life of up to 10 hours

The machine is extremely well built. It's sold, beautiful and has no flex whatsoever. I really dig the soft palm rest on each side of the trackpad.

The screen is gorgeous and I am happy they stuck with the 3:2 aspect ratio.

The keyboard is solid and has decent key travel. Less travel than the previous Chromebook Pixels but it's still a nice and comfortable typing experience.

The new keys (app drawer, assistant, hamburger menu) are a welcomed add and I find myself using them quite a bit. The backlighting on the KB is nice with little to no light bleed from the keys.

The trackpad is stellar. It's smooth, responsive and accurate.

Sound from the speakers is okay, not great. Nothing to jump up and down over and nothing to criticize. It's fine for the most part.

Performance is top notch. This thing flat out screams through ChromeOS and does not break a sweat no matter what I've thrown at it so far, which is admittedly limited at this point. The machine is fanless but I've not noticed any heat from it thus far.

Minor bummers are the lack of SD card slot and no USB A. I kinda understand the no USB A since the machine is so thin but it will make us all dependent on dongles for the foreseeable future. The lack of an SD card slot is a bit of a head scratcher though.

I do plan on swapping over to Dev mode and adding Crouton at some point, maybe next week.

Overall, after one day of use, I am happy with the purchase. I do not have the pen as I doubt I'd use it on a consistent basis but I may pick one up at some point.

Photos:

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I don't mind the white palm rests as they match the upper portion of the rear of the machine. I would have preferred a darker color but it does not really bother me that much. The palm rests are a strange soft material that feel awesome when you are resting on them. Hope they don't get dirty over time and if they do, that they can be easily cleaned.

I didn't look at the Galaxy Book. I dig the Google Chromebooks and had the OG LTE version, the LS from 2015 and now this one.

It's screaming fast as expected since it's running ChromeOS. The Google Play store is on it and works fine best I can tell.. I only have a few Play Store apps installed but they are working well.
 
I don't mind the white palm rests as they match the upper portion of the rear of the machine. I would have preferred a darker color but it does not really bother me that much. The palm rests are a strange soft material that feel awesome when you are resting on them. Hope they don't get dirty over time and if they do, that they can be easily cleaned.

I didn't look at the Galaxy Book. I dig the Google Chromebooks and had the OG LTE version, the LS from 2015 and now this one.

It's screaming fast as expected since it's running ChromeOS. The Google Play store is on it and works fine best I can tell.. I only have a few Play Store apps installed but they are working well.
I've never looked as these as an alternative bar a few Android tablets although I have tried a couple of Yoga tablets but the ones running W10 not Android more of an experiment to see how small is practical for me and more recently tried the tiny Lenovo Book with the touch KB

Obviously not my main but I wanted a small foot print device that could just sit in my backpack and not worry about. I found 10" is doable but 12" is comfortable and typically with these small SSD's a SD card slot was comforting addon

Do you intend to install MS Office be interested to know if it feels a bit neutered :D
 
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Do you intend to install MS Office be interested to know if it feels a bit neutered :D

With the Pixelbook you can install the Android apps for Office. I've got them installed but have not really used them enough to say how well they work at this point. I am waiting for Google to release the recovery image before I install Crouton (Linux) on it. Right now there is no recovery image so I don't want to risk a brick with no way to recover.

I'll report back on the MS Office apps after I get some additional use time in with them..
 
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With the Pixelbook you can install the Android apps for Office. I've got them installed but have not really used them enough to say how well they work at this point. I am waiting for Google to release the recovery image before I install Crouton (Linux) on it. Right now there is no recovery image so I don't want to risk a brick with no way to recover.

I'll report back on the MS Office apps after I get some additional use time in with them..
Thanks, obviously I have used them on my Android phone but that's really for viewing attachments more than actual real use as a daily or in anger :D
 
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So I’m getting one of these for Christmas... £899 with a free Google Home is a pretty sweet deal which is better than the £999 on its own!

Also, I’ll be getting money for Christmas off relatives rather than them buy me something I don’t really want or need, so that’ll be going towards it too.

I’ve been pondering whether to go for one of these recently, I currently use a 2016 MacBook (12 inch) which is great but I don’t really need a MacBook. I don’t do photo or video editing, and I use my MacBook mainly as if I would use a tablet. So browsing, YouTube, social media, emailing etc. The Pixelbook seems like a much better fit for those even though the MacBook is more than good enough.

I like the look of the Pixelbook though, along with the simplicity of updating and security. The ability to run Android apps and use a pen with it is also drawing me in too.

If I do get one, I’ll be sure to post back once I’ve received it with some impressions. :)
 
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