The Google Chromebook Pixel, the company’s next-generation laptop, has arrived. It has many characteristics with its forebear, including a strong CPU, luxury design, and an expensive price tag. The Google Pixelbook is similar to the Chromebook Pixel in this regard. The name, on the other hand, has been changed to highlight the fact that this isn’t just an upgraded version of the Pixel, but rather an evolved successor that includes some significant new capabilities.
As is often the case, the main issue is whether any Chromebook is worth £999 in the first place. It may seem like a lot of money to spend on a bare-bones computer, but for some tasks, we believe the Pixelbook may be the ideal laptop. The following are the reasons:
What you need to know about the Google Pixelbook
Designed in aluminum and white polycarbonate, the Pixelbook features a slimline chassis that measures 10.3mm thick and is inspired by the newest Pixel smartphones in terms of aesthetics and functionality. As soon as you open it, you’ll see that it has a 12 display with a native resolution of 2,400 x 1,600 pixels. Because of the 3:2 aspect ratio, there is less time-consuming scrolling up and down than there would be with a normal widescreen display, and the 235ppi pixel density means it is just marginally crisper than one of Apple’s “Retina” screens.
Additionally, it is completely multitouch-enabled. That is hardly a significant upgrade in and of itself; earlier Pixel versions also had touchscreens. However, it is much more helpful today than it was before since the Pixelbook has full access to the Google Play Store, allowing you to download and run Android apps in addition to conventional web-based applications.
It is in this context that the touchscreen shines since these applications are nearly always built with smartphones and tablets in mind. Additionally, you can rotate the screen of your Pixelbook completely around and use it as an enormous Android tablet. The optional £99 Pixelbook Pen can be used to tap, draw, and write right on the screen in any mode, making this a very flexible laptop.
In addition, the internals is much better than any prior Chromebook. The Pixelbook is equipped with a seventh-generation Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor, but it should be noted that they are ultra-low-power versions that are more closely related to previous Core m processors than to high-end laptops CPUs. They may be paired with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of NVMe storage for maximum performance.
There is built-in dual-band 2×2 802.11ac Wi-Fi, as well as Bluetooth 4.2, for establishing connections with the outside world. Physical connection, on the other hand, is limited: you’ll only find two USB 3.1 Type-C ports and a headphone jack on this device.
Price and competition for the Google Pixelbook
As previously said, the Pixelbook is not a cheap computer. It begins at £999 for the entry-level model, which has a Core i5-7Y57 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage space. For an additional £200 you can upgrade to 256GB of storage, and for £1,699 you can have a Core i7-7Y75 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. This model will be available in December, and the Core i7-7Y75 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage will be available in December.
However, despite the hefty price tag, what you get is a laptop with a very unusual mix of skills. If you want to save money, you’ll have to make some sacrifices along the way. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, for example, if you’re only concerned with Android applications, it’s a fantastic Android tablet that can be purchased for about £600 – plus £119 for the optional keyboard cover. Another competitor is Google’s own Pixel C tablet, which can be purchased for less than £500 when the keyboard is included in the price.
It is possible that the HP Chromebook 13 will be a more appealing option if you are more interested in the Chrome OS side of the equation. Even though it has an older Core m3 CPU compared to the Pixelbook, the sleek form and crisp 13.3in display make it just as pleasant to use, and you can pick one up for about £550 on Amazon or eBay. Allow for the Google Play Store will be added shortly as well — but the screen does not support touch, so it will never be a good match for Android applications.
What if all you truly need is a laptop with a modest profile? In such a scenario, the Apple MacBook Pro (12-inch screen) is definitely worth considering. Despite the fact that macOS isn’t nearly as sleek and easy as Chrome OS, it still offers a greater variety of professional applications than Windows and is still a more low-maintenance platform than Windows. The 256GB model costs £1,249, which is comparable to the price of the identical Pixelbook.
Finally, there’s the Dell XPS 13 to consider, which is our top-of-the-line ultraportable Windows laptop. Starting at £1,299 for the entry-level model equipped with an eighth-generation Core i7 processor and 256GB of storage, the MacBook Pro is an excellent value. Even while it isn’t as attractive as the Pixelbook, and the base display is just Full HD, upgrading to the 3,200 x 1,800 touch-enabled model is only £30 more expensive than the standard one. It’s also much more powerful, and you get Windows 10 Home as well, which comes in handy if you need to run any particular applications that aren’t available for Chrome OS or Android.
Google Pixelbook: Ergonomics and performance
Make no mistake about it: when you hold the Pixelbook in your hands, it feels just like a laptop costing a thousand pounds. Built to last, the design incorporates a variety of materials – including strong aluminum for the exterior shell, warm gripping rubber for the wrist rests below the keyboard, and smooth, cold glass for the trackpad – to provide both aesthetic appeal and ergonomic class.
It’s also a pleasure to work with. In spite of the limited travel of the illuminated plastic keys, they have a very positive action and zero give, making this one of the most comfortable laptop keyboards I’ve ever used. Furthermore, since its backlight is connected to the ambient brightness sensor, it is never turned on when it isn’t needed.
The trackpad is equally as comfortable as the mouse. With its reasonable size, scrolling and swiping are both fast and rock-solid experiences. The only thing I’d alter is the fact that physical clicks only register at the bottom border; I personally like Apple’s “click-anywhere” design, which is more intuitive.
The super-sharp screen, on the other hand, can produce a brilliant maximum brightness of 462cd/m2 and a breathtaking contrast ratio of 1,725:1 thanks to its incredible contrast ratio. In addition to looking great, everything feels very responsive due to its lightning-fast internals. When we ran the JetStream JavaScript test on our Core i5 sample system, we received an overall score of 140, which is the best score we’ve ever seen from a Chromebook, and it was almost 10 percent higher than the HP Chromebook 13.
Overall, it’s a laptop that you’ll be pleased to use all day, every day for the foreseeable future. Even better, because of Chrome OS’s minimal power requirements, you won’t even have to plug it in to do this. On a single charge, we were able to enjoy 8 hours and 25 minutes of movie playing, following which it took a little over an hour to completely recharge the device.
Google Pixelbook review: Software
So far, so good, but sooner or later you’ll have to ask yourself if Chrome OS is a good fit for your computing requirements. In the case when you need to use AutoCAD, After Effects, or Visual Studio while traveling, the answer is clearly no. However, you can do much more than you would imagine, particularly now that Android applications have been added to the mix of options.
Notably, if Google Docs isn’t your cup of tea, you can now use the complete mobile version of Microsoft Office 365, which allows you to create and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents in their original formats.
They don’t offer as many features as their desktop equivalents, but they’re still robust enough to make the Pixelbook a realistic daily laptop for the majority of users, and they connect smoothly with cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive to make it even more convenient.
In a similar vein, Adobe’s new Lightroom CC software for Android allows you to edit and process your pictures right on the Pixelbook, but the high-resolution originals are stored in the cloud so that they do not use your precious onboard storage. If there is a catch, it is that you will be required to pay separate software subscriptions for both Microsoft Office and Adobe Lightroom. Aside from that, even though Chrome OS’s offline capabilities are already quite robust, functionality is unavoidably restricted if you are not within range of a WiFi network.
On that point, the Pixelbook is equipped with a number of innovative new Chrome OS capabilities, including the ability to easily connect to Pixel devices. If you find yourself in a situation where there is no Wi-Fi, you can just place one of Google’s own-brand smartphones on the desk next to the Pixelbook, and it will be instantly recognized, allowing you to share the phone’s mobile data connection. Tethering to any phone is possible, of course, and can be accomplished with some little menu navigation, but it is a smart convenience that makes Chrome OS simpler to use.
Another item that’s new in Chrome OS is the redesigned Launcher, which isn’t only for the Pixelbook; it was just pushed out as part of the Chrome OS 61 update, which isn’t unique to the device. When you click or touch on the new Launcher icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen, a tiny tray of recently used applications slides up, allowing you to quickly access frequently used features and functions.
Google pixelbook 12in performance
| CPU | 1.3GHz |
| Max. Clock Speed | 3.9GHz |
| Processor | Intel Core i5 & i7 Dual-Core 7Th Gen |
| Cache | 4MB |
| Ram | 8GB for i5 &16 GB for i7 Processor |
| Rom | 512 GB NVM SSD for i5 & 256 GB for i7 processor |
Google pixelbook 12in Display
| Display | IPS LCD |
| Feature | 72 percent NTSC Colour with corning gorilla glass |
| Display size | 31.2 CM ( 12 Inch ) |
| Display Resolution | 1920*1080 |
| Touch screen | yes it supports multi-touch |
| Design | 360-degree flip |
Google pixelbook 12in Battery
Google pixelbook 12 supports a 41-watt Li-ion cell which long lasts for up to 10 hours on normal usage Also it supports fast charging.
Google pixelbook 12 also have an Ambient light sensor, Hall sensor, magnetometer, Accelerometer
Google pixelbook 12in Price
| Processor | Ram | Rom | Price |
| i5 | 8GB | 256GB | $849 |
| i5 | 16GB | 256GB | $999 |
| i5 | 16GB | 512GB | $1399 |
