And its open and I am typing this from it! Had a hand full of updates already. First impressions when I got the box was the puppy was heavy, but once I got it out of its box my first thought was "Wow this sucker is thinner then I thought!" Right now, I have it sitting in my lap while I kick back and relax since I just got off work.
Have plenty of testing to do, but so far, I was able to rip the box open, plug it in to the wall and power it on. It had a charge but would not boot until I plugged it in. Maybe I didn't hit the power button long enough or something.
Anyway, typing don't feel too bad, I need to get used to a keyboard but so far I can type pretty fast. Keys feel nice. Screen is bright, at just past 50% It is a little pointy in my lap, not too bad. So far, its a really nice device. Intuitive for the 10 minutes or so I have had it on.
Congrats!
Here are some things to consider/explore....
I like my chromebooks to look and feel like more traditional notebooks, these are my "must have" tweaks to accomplish that.... (note, there might be easier/better ways to accomplish this)
* Right-click on every icon in the app launcher and any one that has "open as window" I check that.
This will launch the app in a separate window with no browser controls visible. It's clean and uncluttered, maximizes the available screen space for the app, and looks and feels like a "native" app rather than a just another browser tab.
* install the "open-as-popup" browser extension. Even when all apps have been set to "open as window" any windows opened from that (like launching a Google sheet from within Google Drive) will launch in a browser tab. The "open-as-popup" moves that tab out to its own window.
The nice thing about these tweaks is that they carry over to using the Chrome browser on other platforms. So whether I'm on my Pixelbook, iMac, or Lenovo workstation, I can use Chrome apps in a similar way.
* Office apps... when I need to work with MS Office files with moderate to advanced formatting, I use the web version of MS Office. The Android version is extremely limited.
If you get the Pixel Pen, I recommend the Android notetaking app Squid (it was showcased during the Pixelbook announcement). Squid is free, but there are a few in-app purchases to add additional functionality. They offer a subscription model for it with even more features, but I find the few in-app features to be enough.
If you use Google Keep and will be using the Pixel Pen, I recommend installing the Android version of Keep (rather than the web version). The responsiveness of the Pen in the Android version is near perfect. With the web version, there's a bit of inconsistent performance.
The same is true for OneNote... for pen input, the Android version has the edge, but for keyboard input, the web version has more features.
The web version of iWork works great on the Pixelbook.
I recommend getting a USB-C mini hub. I picked one up that supports a few USB-A ports, HDMI, and SD cards.
Having spent years working with the Microsoft Surface and iPad (Pro and non-Pro) to get a mobile device that can be used as a tablet and notebook that can interact with cross-platform apps and data, I'm finding the Pixelbook to be the best solution so far.
