- [Michael] When it launched a decade ago,
the original iPhone was widely criticized by power users.
It cost about as much as the competition,
but it lacked essential features
that had come to define the smartphone.
Nevertheless, the iPhone succeeded,
partly because it was willing
to redefine what it meant to be a smartphone.
The analogy to Google's Pixelbook is imperfect.
This is not the first Chromebook,
nor is the laptop market of today
as ripe for a shake-up as the smartphone world of 2007.
But the Pixelbook does strike me
as the notebook of the future,
in the same way the original iPhone
proved in many ways to be.
I'm Michael Fisher, and I've used the Google Pixelbook
for two weeks.
Join me for the Mr. Mobile review.
(funky smooth music)
If you're not familiar with Chromebooks,
you might not understand the widespread resistance
to the Pixelbook's $1,000 price tag.
I mean after all, this is a stunning piece of hardware,
ultra-slim and super lightweight,
with a hinge that lets it serve as a laptop,
tablet, and all convertible modes in between.
Those fuzzy feelings continue across the keyboard,
which is very comfortable to type on
thanks in large part to the soft-touch silicone palm rests.
At least I think it's silicone.
Whatever it is, it feels great.
The trackpad is also quite good,
and the display is as crisp and colorful
as you could ask for,
with good touch response and only a little hinge wiggle.
The spec sheet packs all the power
you could reasonably expect in a body this slim.
And Google also put lots of thought
into the little details of every day use.
There's a dedicated key for Google Assistant,
which is a nice convenience.
And the same soft-touch material from the palm rests
also finds its way into strips
on the bottom of the casing,
keeping the Pixelbook anchored firmly to a tabletop.
In some ways, the hardware alone justifies the price.
It's the operating system that gives people pause.
Chrome OS is widely known in the education market,
where it's absolutely on fire.
It claimed about 60% of the K through 12 market in 2016,
stealing enough share from Windows
that Microsoft felt compelled to respond
with the Surface laptop,
which retails for about the same price as the Pixelbook.
The key difference is that the Surface laptop
comes with Windows 10,
a much more powerful operating system
that can run almost the full catalog of Windows programs,
a legacy stretching back for decades.
By contrast, Chrome OS until recently
was basically just the Chrome browser,
with very little third-party app support.
That's a big part of why Chromebooks
have historically been so inexpensive, for the most part.
They're widely perceived as less capable.
But here's the thing.
Unless I'm editing video,
I spend almost all of my time on a laptop in Chrome anyway.
And when I do need to use native software these days,
it's usually an app on my smartphone.
That's relevant because the latest version of Chrome OS
lets you run Android apps right on the Pixelbook.
That right there closes a big gap in functionality
and makes this operating system a lot more capable,
for anyone who doesn't really need the power
or compatibility of an older OS.
It's also really fast.
I only have the mid-range trim level
with an Intel Core i5 and eight gigs of RAM,
but not even running more than 15 tabs
and a handful of native apps at the same time
can slow this system down,
at least not to a degree that I detect.
One of my favorite things, weirdly, is the update mechanism.
You see, when Chrome OS needs to update
it doesn't lock you out for 20 minutes to do it.
Instead, it downloads the update in the background
to a dedicated partition.
The first you hear about it
is when it's ready to switch over.
A little window pops up, you tap it,
and a 15-second reboot later you're running the new version.
Oh, and if you carry an Android phone,
you can skip the password when logging in.
Just unlock your phone when you're near the Pixelbook
and it too will unlock.
Most of the time.
Chromebooks are known for good battery life,
and the Pixelbook does pretty well here,
considering its powerful processor and hi-res display.
On average, I managed to get about six hours
of continuous use per charge,
with brightness at about three-quarters
and about 10 Chrome tabs
and three or four Android apps running at any given time.
The charging brick that comes in the box with the Pixelbook
will top it off very rapidly.
And so will a battery pack that offers USB power delivery,
like this one.
Of course, I do have some complaints.
Running Android apps in Chrome OS
is still very much a work in progress.
These apps are not designed to run on a canvas of this size,
and many of them
aren't expecting a physical keyboard either.
So there are bugs and hiccups
that make the whole thing feel a little hacky.
I've also seen Chrome twice just crash to a black screen,
which is pretty jarring.
On the hardware side,
while the Pixelbook is pretty svelte for a laptop,
it's pretty hefty for a tablet.
Also for the price,
Google really could've thrown in a bigger display
instead of these huge bezels.
And it could've included the $100 pen in the box, too.
Speakers get loud enough, but there's no bass to speak of.
You definitely wanna use Bluetooth
or the three-and-a-half millimeter headphone jack.
An irritating trend in 2017
has been the prevalence of technology
that does too little and asks too much from your wallet.
Speaking of someone who grew up with Windows
and then Mac OS,
the Pixelbook does feel like one such overpriced example.
But I'm not the target market.
And if you're still in the habit
of roasting Chrome OS as just a glorified browser,
you aren't either.
The Pixelbook is for people
like the millions of students who this coming spring
will wrap up their early education knowing Chrome OS
better than any other operating system.
Some of those students,
flush with loan money on their way to college,
will want an alternative to a Macbook or Surface
that's built just as well as those.
It's also for people like the developers
building apps for Chrome and Android
and whatever operating system
might come from their eventual convergence.
And it's for people who prefer Chrome OS for other reasons,
and rightly don't feel like they should be confined
to mid-range hardware.
For all these people, the Pixelbook will serve wonderfully.
For everyone else, the more affordable options
aren't going anywhere.
This video was brought to you by Mr. Mobile.
I'm grateful to say that the YouTube channel
is closing in on a half-million subscribers.
But I'm gonna need a few more
if I have to keep buying Pixelbooks for review.
So please, encourage people
to subscribe to TheMrMobile on YouTube.
And for a quicker and sometimes crazier look at mobile tech,
follow me on Instagram at the same handle.
Until next time, thanks for watching.
And stay mobile, my friends.
(gentle smooth music)