the pixelbook go is super portable it's physically beautiful it feels great to
use and it starts at just 50 more than last year's pixel slate
649 us dollars that might seem steep
for what is still a chromebook but
google might not be completely out of their minds did you know that in 2018
chromebooks had 60 percent market share
in u.s k-12 classrooms i didn't
that was someone falling off their chair because they were so shocked so maybe
chrome os deserves a bit more respect maybe the pixel book go isn't a totally
unnecessary product what's this
the top end model costs fourteen hundred dollars
Corsair's hydrox series of custom cooling components includes water blocks
reservoirs fittings adapters tubing and more check it out at the link in the
video description there is a lot to like here the aesthetics and the industrial
design of this machine are on point the playful rounded edges and even
the pixel book branding above the keyboard are reminiscent of the 2006
macbook but much slimmer and sexier and
the shell is made of what google calls finely painted magnesium which not only
makes the pixel book go crazy light but it also gives it a wonderful matte
finish that makes it look kind of like plastic but but but not in a cheap way
at all if that makes sense the ribs on the bottom give the pixel book an extra
bit of visual flair and also make it easier to grip making it just the kind
of design that makes you want to pick it up and and go
and maybe never come back despite its tiny slim body google was
able to pack a 47 watt hour battery inside which they say will last up to 12
hours of mixed use and in our testing got pretty darn close more like 11 plus
hours of mixed use but that's still more than enough for a
workday and with this kind of build quality i would expect it to stand up
handily to the rigors of daily business use for a device this thin and light the
pixelbook go feels shockingly sturdy and
rigid and the hinge barely wobbles at all even if you are a lap typer so let's
think what else is good uh titan c security chip fast charging oh the
keyboard it's quite similar to the original pixel
books it's led illuminated it's extremely thin while retaining a
distinct tactile bump and google advertised their switches as hush keys
and they're indeed extremely quiet to type on but unlike the horrendous
keyboard folio from the pixel slate they're not mushy at all
now there's still a launcher button in place of the caps log and there's still
no delete key but depending on your preference this may or may not bother
you riley in particular said he found alt backspace super easy to get used to
so overall we both ended up liking the keyboard but not without a couple of
small gripes the track pad is also great
it's large it's made of glass it's very responsive and has a nice satisfying
soft touch feel i dare say it's almost as good as a mac track pad and you know
what even the webcam is good you can just make out the intricate design on
that motherboard water bottle that you could get at lttstore.com
okay so is that enough can we talk about the bad stuff now
all right so the 13-inch 1080p display has touch
it's bright enough for outdoor use but it's got these massive top and bottom
bezels that might contribute to the 2006
macbook vibe if you're into that but definitely look out of place on a modern
device and i don't think i'm the only one who's gonna be a little underwhelmed
by both the specs and the i o you get just a headphone
jack and two usb type-c ports no Thunderbolt 3 and even the thousand
dollar model is equipped with only a core i5 and 128 gigs of local storage
in fairness premium thin and light notebooks like dell's xps series are
priced fairly similar but the xps in particular is a lot
faster and it you know runs Windows now i know i know
comparing chromebooks to Windows books isn't super fair
an 8th gen y series ain't the sharpest crayon in the shed sure but chrome os is
built to run on low spec machines right
well yes but what is fair to ask is
what exactly is it running because the thing is even though chrome
os has indeed come a long way it's got a
proper file manager it's got support for Android apps and it's even got some
limited Linux functionality now baked right in
Windows and macOS still wipe the floor
with it when it comes to support for professional app suites like microsoft
office adobe creative cloud or well just about any app that doesn't run
in a browser i mean even chrome the browser has some shortcomings on a
chromebook for example you can't sign into and then
switch between your personal and your work google accounts without logging out
entirely and then logging back in this might not be applicable to you but it is
a disadvantage for people with personal and work accounts that want to like flip
between them on their lunch break for example now there are workarounds for filling in
some of chrome os's missing functionality the problem is just that
they kind of suck need to use word well
you could just switch to google docs and break the formatting of your documents
or you could use word online and deal with the limited functionality of the
browser-based app want to use photoshop well there are a great number of
simplified versions of the app that you can try
want to play games well that's no problem as long as you like mobile games
and not cool ones like call of duty mobile because setting those up with a
mouse and keyboard is a real hassle so
the question here and its answer is similar to the one we asked in our ipad
pro review can this thing work as your main computer and the answer is
yes
but should it work as your main computer
no and the main reason why still comes down
to price if this thing was running Windows i'd probably be daily driving it
right now like it feels so good
but chrome os is just demonstrably worse as an operating
system than Windows or macOS so because of that buying a chromebook
only makes sense if it's considerably cheaper than a comparable Windows laptop
or a macbook i mean that is assuming that the most important
thing to you in a laptop is functionality in addition to aesthetics
because the pixelbook go is definitely strong in
that latter category it's kind of like a fat useless dog or
cat you know like it's cute but it's a mockery of its wild predator ancestors
you know like yes you are aren't you just so cute go fetch
so even though the pixelbook go represents the cheapest flagship chromebook that
google has ever made i mean even the pixel slate started at 800 bucks once
you factored in a keyboard attachment it's still just
too expensive to be a serious option
or is it okay crazy crazy pitch here guys i think
google keeps making these things knowing that nobody is buying them because they
are playing the ultimate 4d chess long
game here all right the pixel book lineup is for customers
that don't exist yet
but they will in the future once all those kids who have spent their
formative years using cheap plastic chrome os notebooks grow up
enter the business world and then want something familiar but that doesn't
trash their cred when they whip it out in the boardroom
right there that's it
for now though i just can't recommend this thing i mean
i do want to thank google for sending it to us to review them every once in a
while we get accused of being google fanboys and girls
and then you know fortunately along comes something like a pixel book giving
us a great opportunity to prove that no we do not in fact like everything that
google does yet
speaking of yet hifiman and mass drop really are the perfect combination and
their mass drop x hifiman he 4xx planar
magnetic headphones are a great example of how they both listen to the community
they're an open back headphone design with a smooth and engaging sound not to
mention bass that slams they've got a soft touch matte finish that's matte
enough to resist fingerprints even and they include a one year manufacturer
warranty best part they're on sale now for 130 bucks instead of 180
so check it out today join the drop at the link in the video description
man it's just so beautiful isn't it
it's so dumb yes you are
if you guys are looking for something else to watch right now check out our recent video where we built our very own
minecraft server it's not related to this at all but
whatever you're here why not watch that
pixels