The Google Chromebook Pixel is the Big G’s next attempt to conquer the hardware world as well as it’s doing with browsing, mobiles and search. Read on to see if it works as well as a product as it does as a concept.
This new premium laptop runs the Chrome OS, meaning you’re going to need an internet connection to get any use out of it. The concept is to provide open source computing to everyone without having to install or own software. As an idea, it’s a laudable one, but does it work in practice?
The Google Chromebook Pixel is an attractive piece of kit. It’s obvious that a lot of effort went into designing the laptop to appeal to Apple fans. The case is made from smooth aluminium and has a real premium feel. It’s reassuringly solid, with a somewhat boxy shape, but only weighs in at 1.52kg.
The screen is the first thing you will comment on when you open the laptop for the first time. It’s a beautiful 2560 x 1700 screen with 239ppi at 3:2. That’s more than a Mac retina display and it looks it. It is so detailed and so exacting in its reproduction that there is only one word for it – stunning.
The screen is also touchscreen, which adds some freedom and flexibility to how you use it. While you have to reach over the keyboard to get to the screen, this aspect is likely to be a novelty rather than used every day – that said, it’s a nice touch.
The brains behind the beauty is an Intel Core i5-3427U processor mated to 4GB of DDR3 RAM. It also comes with a 32GB SSD drive built in with a further terabyte on Google Drive free for three years.
The only downsides to the Google Chromebook Pixel that we can see are a limited battery life and the fact that prolonged use does make the case hot after a while.
With regards to software, the Google Chrome OS presents you with a simple interface full of Google apps. The OS is fast, especially on this hardware, but limited.
If you use the Chrome browser, that’s pretty much what you get here. All apps included in the Google Chromebook Pixel are browser-based ones, albeit with a little more power. You can use Google Docs, Gmail (to a point), Scratchpad and Calendar offline, but all have limited capability without a connection. This means that wherever you go with the Google Chromebook Pixel, you’re going to need to be connected.
If you already use Google Apps, your Pixel will automatically sync with your login, meaning you can be up and running in minutes. That’s a neat trick, one that saves the inevitable hours configuring any new machine. The downside is that if a program isn’t on Google Apps, you can’t use it on your Pixel.
Overall, the Google Chromebook Pixel is a well built, well specified, great looking laptop. Once they begin selling in numbers and more traditional software becomes available as an app, these will become increasingly relevant. However, heat management, battery life and limited software capability are going to hamper initial uptake.
Jesmond Darmanin is a technology enthusiast who has his own blog at www.itnewsblog.com.