650 is great. It would have been 700 plus tax on black Friday. You saved 100. I'm going to have to create a saved search on swappa and hunt for one.
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I really like this Pixelbook
- Thread starter Michael Goff
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650 is great. It would have been 700 plus tax on black Friday. You saved 100. I'm going to have to create a saved search on swappa and hunt for one.
Just a quick update as I wanted to settle into the PB before getting into a review or my take on it. So far, despite a few quirks here and there, once my track pad just stopped and I had to reboot, this was from a sleep.
I do have the pen, have not really used it though so may have not been the best idea for a purchase (the Daydream VR was probably a worse purchase BTW, I don't know what to think about that thing, but that is not what this post is about...)
So far, I mostly have used the PB for a larger Twitter and YouTube device with some light Chrome usage. I did download a couple android apps, twitter app, the only reason for this was to share from another app, but perhaps there is a way around it. The twitter app, um, yeah, it don't look right on this thing.
I have done a little bit of typing on the device, and its a nice keyboard, I am not totally sure I would say type a short story or something with this thing however just because how Google Docs work. I am kind of used to Libra office on my little Ubuntu laptop. I just like it better. But Docs will work in a pinch I suppose.
I have yet to drop into developer mode, or enable Linux on this, so that may be good. I have used the Pixel Book almost everyday since I got it, mostly for consumption.
There are times I really wish this was a full operating system however, a laptop. Every so often I pick it up and want to load an image from my camera or something and realize I can't do what I want with it, browse through the PB like I was a file system on a windows machine or something. Also a couple times I thought this might make for a decent "laptop" for light gaming via steam or something... But not a deal breaker at all. I know its not a windows or Linux or Mac. Its Chrome and it seems to do pretty good for some of the stuff I wanted this thing for.
Battery life seems, a bit short. No huge issue. It does charge fast, but I would not leave home with it without a charger.
So, while I was waiting for the Pixel Slate to be released, this entry level Pixel Book went on sale for a good price and am I glad I skipped the Slate?
Yes. So far, I think the PB was a good purchase. I think at the 300 bucks off, if this was the normal price, it probably would have sold better. A 15" version would be nice!
So far, so good!
I do have the pen, have not really used it though so may have not been the best idea for a purchase (the Daydream VR was probably a worse purchase BTW, I don't know what to think about that thing, but that is not what this post is about...)
So far, I mostly have used the PB for a larger Twitter and YouTube device with some light Chrome usage. I did download a couple android apps, twitter app, the only reason for this was to share from another app, but perhaps there is a way around it. The twitter app, um, yeah, it don't look right on this thing.
I have done a little bit of typing on the device, and its a nice keyboard, I am not totally sure I would say type a short story or something with this thing however just because how Google Docs work. I am kind of used to Libra office on my little Ubuntu laptop. I just like it better. But Docs will work in a pinch I suppose.
I have yet to drop into developer mode, or enable Linux on this, so that may be good. I have used the Pixel Book almost everyday since I got it, mostly for consumption.
There are times I really wish this was a full operating system however, a laptop. Every so often I pick it up and want to load an image from my camera or something and realize I can't do what I want with it, browse through the PB like I was a file system on a windows machine or something. Also a couple times I thought this might make for a decent "laptop" for light gaming via steam or something... But not a deal breaker at all. I know its not a windows or Linux or Mac. Its Chrome and it seems to do pretty good for some of the stuff I wanted this thing for.
Battery life seems, a bit short. No huge issue. It does charge fast, but I would not leave home with it without a charger.
So, while I was waiting for the Pixel Slate to be released, this entry level Pixel Book went on sale for a good price and am I glad I skipped the Slate?
Yes. So far, I think the PB was a good purchase. I think at the 300 bucks off, if this was the normal price, it probably would have sold better. A 15" version would be nice!
So far, so good!
Ebay is having some deals on sales I believe. Definitely scope it out. I have had zero problems buying on eBay. It's the selling that's the problem...
Does anyone know why Netflix has Chromebooks as only up to 1080p as per their support page? I know the Pixelbook has a powerful enough processor for HDR.
They’re back down to $749. Not as good as the Black prices, but still not bad.
That's a pretty good price. The thing is, the hardware is great. The OS is improving leaps and bounds all that time.
I sold my Pixelbook last month and picked up an iPP 11”.
I have to say, I was sad to say goodbye to the PB as it has easily been one of my favourite devices.
However, with the added functionality of iBooks on the iPad, I have really found a new use for the iPad that the PB just couldn’t really give me.
I did have the Kindle app on my PB but in tablet mode it was just too big, heavy and unwieldy.
The only one thing I dislike about my iPad is that YouTube won’t go past 1080p which is very annoying. But there we have it.
I’d recommend the PB all day every day though. Especially the the lower cost it was recently of £699. Not sure how much it is now if it’s still the same, but absolute bargain that for build quality and performance alone.
I have to say, I was sad to say goodbye to the PB as it has easily been one of my favourite devices.
However, with the added functionality of iBooks on the iPad, I have really found a new use for the iPad that the PB just couldn’t really give me.
I did have the Kindle app on my PB but in tablet mode it was just too big, heavy and unwieldy.
The only one thing I dislike about my iPad is that YouTube won’t go past 1080p which is very annoying. But there we have it.
I’d recommend the PB all day every day though. Especially the the lower cost it was recently of £699. Not sure how much it is now if it’s still the same, but absolute bargain that for build quality and performance alone.
BREAKING OUT OF THE BROWSER BOX....
One of the great things about Chrome OS is the ease of making a website look and feel like a standalone application. Although many sites also provide standalone apps that present content in a custom way, they often don't provide all of the features available when visiting the website directly. (Facebook is a perfect example)
Here's how I create web apps on my Pixelbook for sites that I regularly visit... (SimpleNote is the example, these steps work for any Chromebook)
STEP 1. Load the site in Chrome
STEP 2. Click on the "hamburger" -> More tools... -> Create Shortcut...
(click on images to enlarge)
at this point, a new icon appears in Shelf...
STEP 3. Right-click on the shortcut -> click on the "twistie" -> select "New Window"
That's it! Click on the icon in the shelf and it'll launch in a separate window.
I find that this helps me to use my Chromebooks as more "traditional" laptops and can easily snap apps into a side-by-side multitasking.
One of the great things about Chrome OS is the ease of making a website look and feel like a standalone application. Although many sites also provide standalone apps that present content in a custom way, they often don't provide all of the features available when visiting the website directly. (Facebook is a perfect example)
Here's how I create web apps on my Pixelbook for sites that I regularly visit... (SimpleNote is the example, these steps work for any Chromebook)
STEP 1. Load the site in Chrome
STEP 2. Click on the "hamburger" -> More tools... -> Create Shortcut...
(click on images to enlarge)
at this point, a new icon appears in Shelf...
STEP 3. Right-click on the shortcut -> click on the "twistie" -> select "New Window"
That's it! Click on the icon in the shelf and it'll launch in a separate window.
I find that this helps me to use my Chromebooks as more "traditional" laptops and can easily snap apps into a side-by-side multitasking.
I wish that Google had a setting to default all shortcuts to "New Window" by default. The first thing that I do whenever I get a new chromebook (almost as soon as I get one, I end up giving it away to someone who needs a computer) is to go through all of the shortcuts, right-click, and set them to "New Window" ("Open as Window" in Chrome OS earlier than version 70)
I also install the Open-as-Popup Chrome extension so that I can switch any existing tab in the browser to be a standalone window without the browser controls.
I've set up shortcuts for the MS Office web apps. The look and feel is that very similar to the desktop versions. I ended up uninstalling the Android versions since they are so severely limited in functionality. I did the same for the web version of iWork... Here's Pages on the web. Whether I need to work with Office, iWork, or Google Docs files, I can easily do it on a chromebook with only the occasional need to do that work on my iMac.
This device is great. The versatility of it. It's a perfect size tablet and has a great keyboard. I use tent view all the time.
Would anyone be interested in shoving windows 10 on this thing? I've thought about it but not so sure. Maybe running a live ISO (like a Linux distro) but full install? Ermm...
I only have the 128 GB model. It's simply not enough space to really run Windows in my experience.Would anyone be interested in shoving windows 10 on this thing? I've thought about it but not so sure. Maybe running a live ISO (like a Linux distro) but full install? Ermm...
I got tired of waiting for Mr Shield to produce a matte screen protector for the PB, so I ended up with the iCarez matte protector. It was extremely easy to apply the protector perfectly. This one is not quite as good (clarity-wise) as Mr Shield's but close enough to be acceptable. It eliminates fingerprint smudges as well as Mr Shield so that is a go.
While I was at it, I decided to add a skin to it.
While I was at it, I decided to add a skin to it.
So far after a couple days the big difference between this and my Chromebook Plus is the keyboard, much more spacious on this and the trackpad is better. Other than that the experience is pretty much the same, this thing is awesome though
Best Buy is selling "certified refurbished" Pixelbooks for $599. For anyone wanting a PB but missed out on the $250-$300 discounts a few weeks and months ago, this is currently the best deal.
I'd really like to know the quality of "refurbished" here. I've had refurbished things that looked brand new. I've also had refurbished things that looked like someone tossed them on some rocks and then ran their Jeep over it.
I agree. I never buy refurbed hardware unless it is for something that I'm just going to tinker around with. Since this is Best Buy through eBay, there's a 14 day policy and 1 yr SquareTrade protection policy is available for $65, for those who don't mind refurbs, this seems like a decent deal.
For those who want to tinker around with Linux apps using a software center, here's a great article:
https://chromeunboxed.com/news/installing-gnome-software-center-chrome-os-linux-crostini
In a nutshell, after activating Linux on your Pixelbook, open a Linux terminal window (the icon will appear when Linux is activated), and enter the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install gnome-software gnome-packagekit
This is what the software center looks like:
This is a nice graphical way to install Linux apps. But not all apps are in the Software Center. I had to install LibreOffice manually, from a Linux terminal window:
sudo apt-get install libreoffice
Here's a screenshot of it in action... (just a quick load of an Excel file in LO)
Performance of LibreOffice is quite stunning. Super quick and responsive. Almost makes me want to wipe the whole PB out and just install my favorite Linux distro on it.... almost.
https://chromeunboxed.com/news/installing-gnome-software-center-chrome-os-linux-crostini
In a nutshell, after activating Linux on your Pixelbook, open a Linux terminal window (the icon will appear when Linux is activated), and enter the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install gnome-software gnome-packagekit
This is what the software center looks like:
This is a nice graphical way to install Linux apps. But not all apps are in the Software Center. I had to install LibreOffice manually, from a Linux terminal window:
sudo apt-get install libreoffice
Here's a screenshot of it in action... (just a quick load of an Excel file in LO)
Performance of LibreOffice is quite stunning. Super quick and responsive. Almost makes me want to wipe the whole PB out and just install my favorite Linux distro on it.... almost.
Since this thread got bumped up, I'm still digging my PB! Though it's not 100 % perfect, there has been a couple times I've ran it into single digits percentage on battery and plugged it in and have it not charge. I'm not sure if it's my PB, wall outlet, power strip, brick or what. It might just be finicky about being plugged in.
Also noted on the bottom pad underneath, there is a bit of yellowing presumably where a couple chips are sitting and warming up.
Don't seem to be a major issue, just cosmetic.
--
I find typing on the device hit or miss, probably more of me then the device since I type mostly by thumb any more.
It's mostly a YouTube screen. I barely use any of the apps or even my pen.
A few videos where the aspect ratio has been changed to 2:1 or 18:9 or whatever almost 50% of the available screen is bezel and black bars
--
Still thinking the PB was a decent purchase for me might be time to try Linux on it.
Also noted on the bottom pad underneath, there is a bit of yellowing presumably where a couple chips are sitting and warming up.
Don't seem to be a major issue, just cosmetic.
--
I find typing on the device hit or miss, probably more of me then the device since I type mostly by thumb any more.
It's mostly a YouTube screen. I barely use any of the apps or even my pen.
A few videos where the aspect ratio has been changed to 2:1 or 18:9 or whatever almost 50% of the available screen is bezel and black bars
--
Still thinking the PB was a decent purchase for me
might be time to try Linux on it.
Sorry to hear that.
Those things don't sound "normal". I use mine heavily daily (including accessing virtual machines) and it rarely gets warm and never has gotten "hot". I don't know if there are any diagnostics available to determine if anything is wrong with it, but it might be worth investigating.If you're using it primarily as a YouTube machine, you might consider selling it (if you got in on one of those sales you shouldn't have any difficulty selling it for what you paid), and getting something like the Amazon Fire HD 10. Because after you side load the Google Services, it makes a GREAT YouTube machine... the screen's aspect ratio is near perfect for that content. the speakers are also quite good.It's mostly a YouTube screen. I barely use any of the apps or even my pen.
A few videos where the aspect ratio has been changed to 2:1 or 18:9 or whatever almost 50% of the available screen is bezel and black bars
Still thinking the PB was a decent purchase for me