The thing could be $500 and my question still would be.....
Isn't a pixel book just a big tablet with a built in keyboard? Like a Chromebook? What's an advantage to having one of those? Serious question, I've never even looked at one let alone tried one in a store. I just know their Chromebooks aren't anything I need.
They are more than a big tablet. It depends on what you need to do on them. If it's typing documents, making presentations, excel spreadsheets, web browsing, content consumption etc then they work perfectly for that. It's when you want to do more intensive tasks like video editing and design work that they don't stand up.
For doing things like typing documents. making presentations and excel spreadsheets they are better than an iPad and because they have a proper physical keyboard.
When I did my nursing degree, I had a Chromebook and a windows laptop. I did the entire degree on my Chromebook. It consisted of writing essays, reading papers and making a few presentations. I didn't need anything more. Google Docs and Drive handled my work flow perfectly.
My first bachelors degree and masters were in biological sciences and I worked in the field for 4 years before retraining as a nurse. In that time I needed a computer with a full OS as chrome OS would not have been able to handle my work flow.
When I return to work from maternity, I will be doing a few courses. Most of the work will entail writing essays and reading research papers, making a few presentations. Again a Chromebook would serve me here. I do have a MBA which would be more than capable.
it all depends on what you need from a computer. They are heavily built around the google suite of Apps, so if your work flow fits into that stream a Chromebook can be your computer. They also now run android apps in addition, so that may increase their productivity.
