The Chromebook Pixel (2015) Review
anandtech.com
anandtech.com
For the general public, I think that the Pixel is just a little too expensive.
1) Set a high standard for build quality and all for all the other Chromebooks.
2) Create a consumer perception that Chromebooks can be high quality devices of substantial value
3) Create a powerful playground for testing with heavy Chrome apps & getting native Android apps to work on ChromeOS and other such features that will come to the cheaper Chromebooks a year later.
All leading to the $300 Chromebooks feeling like high-quality bargains with ever increasing functionality.
Beyond that, the device seems ridiculous unless you put a different OS on, you're either better off with a cheaper Chromebook, or an equally pricy Windows Laptop (e.g. Dell XPS 2015) or Macbook. So I really think the Pixel is more of a strategic asset (see above) than something meant to be a popular revenue generating consumer device in and of itself.
If I could buy the Pixel and have an official way of putting Debian or something on it to make it a proper laptop I probably would buy one. I love the design, the specs are very decent and the display is beautiful.
It's interesting that this is nearly what I've naturally arrived at with my current work MacBook. I got so tired of trying to get various Linux-y things running (and through OS updates) on OS X that I just created a Vagrant box that I can wipe and re-install at my leisure. Now 90% of my actual work is done on a virtual machine.
I'd have to figure out how to get port-forwarding working, and probably a few other things, but I'm willing to bet this new Pixel would make a darn good work machine.
I won't buy a chromebook pixel until I can at least get a decent storage. It doesn't have to be sold with this storage. The motherboard just needs the right tracks to the mini PCIe and mSATA support so that I can do it. Google might have saved 2 cents, but won't be getting a dollar from me and other people from this thread who say "this laptop would be absolutely perfect for me if it had more storage"
So it seems this "review" didn't even attempt to open up the laptop to check out the motherboard. Disappointing.
But if I can use that 64-gigs for OS/Apps, and mount my home directory on an SD card, I'm happy with that solution .. assuming that the SD card slot can hold a very fast SD (128Gigs or so) without physically protruding out of the case. Its not clear to me that this is so .. anyone know?
I actually think that the ability to host a larger SD partition is a good feature - it makes for backups and opsec in ways that my current rMBP, with its soldered-in Flash drive, cannot deliver. So that aspect is kind of intriguing to me ..
64 GB would only work for a computer used almost exclusively for doing things on remote systems (browsing internet, working on remote servers, storing things on external HDs, etc).
If all I was doing is produce Word .docs and a few spreadsheets, I'm sure it'd be fine. But if you're a modern developer in the F/OSS world, 128gigs is barely enough to get rolling ..
* It's difficult to open/service so you can't flip the switch which allows flashing Coreboot that easily
* You can't upgrade it's minimal storage, and there's no LTE
* The keyboard is non-standard: no super key (great for WM) and no dedicated home/end
I'm not too familiar with hardware constraints but I remember when people were comparing microSDs on phones vs built in storage one of the big issues was that the speed on microSDs was way worse.
Especially in the Pixel's case where it is a limited production run to begin with.
That was my main complaint with the original Pixel - I was running Debian on it as my main machine, but after that happening for the 5th time at a conference and having to reinstall...
That's not so much a bug but a known issue. The flag that you set at the command line to enable SeaBIOS is held in RAM. Which means if you lose power, that goes back to default.
To get around this, you need to disable the write-protect screw inside the device. Take a look at https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-f... for instructions on how to do this, and where the screw is.
After that, you can modify the firmware, and update the setting in NVRAM. Take a look at the Arch Chromebook wiki for the commands to use to do what you want. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chrome_OS_devices#Boot_...
But without those things, it's an overpriced netbook with a CPU far too powerful.
> I shouldn't need to mess around with the terminal on what is supposed to
> be a developer's notebook
Still, I might feel your pain. If I have to mess around with crouton to install linux on one of these devices I would not call it a developer's notebook. Which is a pity, given the ThinkPad line is almost dead.
Gazelle Professional: 15.6" matte display 2.8 Ghz quad core i7 16 GB RAM 250 GB SSD Wireless AC Price as configured above: $1477
The Pixel might have it beat in weight and battery life, but that's about it.
My only wish is that the display was slightly wider. Not necessarily 16:9. 3:2 is too much squarish for me :P I do understand vertical scrolling and all but it's just my personal preference, I guess. And also, 128 GB storage would perfect :)
The entire conceit of Chrome OS is that it's sort of a diet computer. It does the basics, and just the basics. Chrome OS will give you internet, basic word processing through Google Docs, video via YouTube, and the rest of Google's web services including a free as in freedom lifetime direct hotlink to the NSA. You can stick in Chrome extensions for added "apps" if you'd like, possibly even a future NSA all inclusive backup app. But you're not going to get any full software here, because Chrome OS isn't compatible with anything outside of itself. And that's been OK, because Chrome OS laptops have been very cheap: a few hundred bucks for the essentials is a good deal. Thirteen hundred dollars for those same essentials is a very, very, hugely, wow-bad deal.
I have an ASUS C200, and because lately I have a need for a word processor and browser on the go, I love it despite its limitations. It's cheap and light and has insanely good battery life with an operating system that stays out of the way. I emphatically don't feel a desire to go out and buy a >$1000 chromebook, though (if I bought the pixel I would probably go and replace the OS with linux, whereas on my C200 I haven't even bothered to install a linux chroot).
This is what made my (free) Cr-48 awesome. Does it make the (expensive) Chromebook Pixel awesome? I don't know.
That's before mentioning proper support for closed-source x86 applications. Most developers target Ubuntu, not ChromeOS.
Of course, the pixel is also just an excuse to push parts and system manufacturers so that high-quality screens, keyboards and touchpads may trickle down into the regular chromebook market.
The Dell XPS 13 is my Linux laptop of the year, assuming they do a proper Sputnik release for it and publish some FOSS drivers. As it is it does not work and where it does its with ugly proprietary hacks, but previous iterations of the line have fixed them and I hope this one does too.
Not everyone needs native software. I work in an office in which over half the employees use Chromebooks because they don't have any requirements beyond web-based applications and the Google ecosystem.
Don't underestimate the value of 'incredibly simple', 'virus-free', and 'always up-to-date'. These factors may be worth much more to another sector of the market than to you.
http://gizmodo.com/5986031/every-reason-not-to-buy-the-googl...