Google Pixelbook review

[Steven Pritchard <steve@silug.org>]

I mentioned at the last SILUG meeting that I was considering getting a
Google Pixelbook.  Right now, Google is running them on sale for $300
off the regular price (through their store at
https://store.google.com/us/config/google_pixelbook plus Best Buy and
whatever models Amazon has left).  I picked up one on Friday, so I've
only had a couple of days with it, but I thought I'd share my first
impressions.  (Long story short, I really like it.  If you've been
considering buying one, do it now.)

First of all, the one negative: The price...  At $699, I really think
that the entry-level model is a good deal compared to the alternatives.
While I'd love to have more storage, I can't see it being worth an extra
$200 to double the storage *and nothing else*.  The high-end model has
*amazing* specs, but the price jumps another $450.  If you have money to
burn though, I don't know that I would try to talk anyone out of buying
it at the sale price.  At the regular prices though...  Ouch.

All that said, I'd put the build quality of this thing up against
anything that *anyone* is making right now.  (If Apple were still
serious about the MacBook line, this is the kind of hardware they should
be building with the functionality that they should have been
championing.)  It's a 2-in-1, and it's the only Chromebook that I found
that actually feels like a laptop when it's in laptop mode *and* feels
like a tablet when you swing the keyboard around.  It's light.  It's not
as thin as the high-end modern tablets, but it's still not terribly
thick.

I was a little worried that the 12.3" screen might be too small (at
least as a laptop), but it seems comfortable so far.  As a tablet, it's
a great size.  Based on my tiny bit of testing of some of the other
alternative 2-in-1 Chromebooks, I think anything larger as a tablet
would get awkward to use pretty quickly.

Oh, back to the price for a second...  I couldn't bring myself to drop
another $99 on the Pixelbook Pen.  Honestly, I don't know what I'd use
it for.  I will, however, be watching for deals on it.  ;-)

So far the keyboard seems very comfortable to type on.  As a bonus, it
is backlit.  The trackpad is really responsive and comfortable to use as
well, but with the touchscreen I'm not 100% sure how much that matters.

I could go on for a while about the hardware, but you almost need to
*feel* the thing to really get a sense of how well the thing is designed
and built.

Let's talk a little about the software...  Honestly originally I was
interested in an Android tablet.  I've had a Chromebook before, and I
liked it, but with the other devices that I have, a Chromebook (from a
couple of years ago) alone seemed redundant and couldn't really
*replace* anything that I was carrying.  Now though, Chromebooks will
run Android apps, and recently Google also added the ability to run
native Linux applications via LXD (https://linuxcontainers.org/lxd, but
Google for "Project Crostini" if you're interested).

Android support just works out of the box.  The Google Play store is
already there.  You just have to start installing apps.  The Linux
support is still technically a beta feature...  You have to check a box
in settings to turn it on.  After that though, the Chrome apps, Android
apps, and random Linux applications all show up in the app list and all
feel completely native.  The first Linux application that you get is a
terminal, and you have to be comfortable in Debian to "apt install"
whatever else you want, but that's not a major problem.  It would be
nice if they dropped something like GNOME Software in the menus though.

Since the Linux container is running under LXD, it looks like it is
pretty easy to install other distribution containers.  I don't know if
the integration will be quite as seamless if I install, for example, a
Fedora container.  I will probably test that at some point though.

I decided to test how native things really were... I installed Steam in
the Linux VM and fired up a game.  Let's just say "Don't do that." The
Linux applications are still running in a VM, and apparently the
graphics stack (through the virtualization layer) isn't built for
gaming.  I haven't tried an Android game out yet, but I'd be willing to
bet that it's a less painful experience.

So as long as I don't want to run Linux games or games under Wine (which
I've never really done on my laptops anyway), and I don't need
significant RAM or storage, I think I'll be able to stop carrying my
other laptops most of the time, and I've gained the ability to run
tablet Android apps.

Back to my earlier crack about Apple...  It seems like they're really
trying to convince the world to forget about Macs and just use an iPad
Pro with a keyboard.  I can't understand why they haven't come at it
from the other angle and made a Mac with a touchscreen that could run
iOS apps.  Even Microsoft has (arguably) a better story here...  One of
the newer Surface devices + WSL (the thing that lets you run Linux on
Windows) would be a compelling single device for people like us if
Windows had a decent mobile app ecosystem like iOS and Android.  (And to
be clear, I'm not trying to be anti-Apple here...  It just feels like a
missed opportunity for them and their customers.)

That's all for now, but I'm sure I'll have more thoughts at upcoming
meetings.  :-)

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