The One, Annoying Problem With Google’s Most Expensive Pixel

Chromebook pricing, or specifically Google’s Chromebook pricing, is wildly higher than most of its competition. And, when you look at the PixelBook or Chromebook Pixel before it, it’s hard to fully justify at, or over $1000 for such a simple device.

Is Google’s latest Chromebook offering, the PixelBook (which I’ve spent the last two weeks with), really worth its $1000 price tag? If you run through the design checklist, everything say ‘yes’.

It’s sleekly designed (although the bezels are unforgivably thick for a 2017 device), the keyboard is responsive and comfortable, it’s light, has outstanding battery life and the display is excellent.

But, it’s still a Chromebook. ChromeOS has come leaps and bounds since the early Android-style laptops first started hitting the market. But the reality is that if you’re using the browser version of certain products – outside of Google Drive – the experience is slightly more awkward.

The browser versions of programmes like Slack, for example, don’t have full functionality. Also, if you’re doing anything remotely creative, your options are limited. Adobe’s Chrome extensions/ Android apps aren’t reasonable replacements for anyone doing serious work.

There’s also the issue of Chrome extensions and privacy. Adding multiple ‘free’ extensions to do additional tasks like VPN or basic picture editing software may give the developer access to your browsing history. Security researchers did exactly this in August and managed to see what websites senior judges in Germany were browsing.

You might, at this point, ask why someone would buy a Chromebook if they wanted the dexterity of a Windows or macOS machine. Well Google seems to think they will because the Pixelbook – at $1000+ – puts it squarely in the same bracket as a Surface Pro or Macbook Air – two fully functional laptops. The iPad Pro and to a lesser extent the Surface Laptop suffer from a similar problem. Paired down operating systems with impossibly overpowered hardware that don’t have an obvious category in which you can pigeonhole them.

So, two years on, I’m still as conflicted about the PixelBook as I was the Chromebook Pixel. It’s a near perfectly designed device, that’s great to use, but I wouldn’t pay $1000+ (maybe you’ll get lucky with a Black Friday deal) for half the functionality of a Surface or Macbook.

Jay McGregor is the editor-in-chief of a new documentary publication called Point. He also reports for The Guardian, TechRadar, BBC Radio and others. Follow on YouTube: youtube.com/pointreport

Source by:-forbes