The Google Pixel Book is a Chromebook that offers a unique set of features and capabilities that make it stand out from other devices in its class.

One of the notable features of the Pixel Book is its stylus, which is designed to be precise and accurate. The device comes with an active pen called the "Pixel Pen," which allows users to take handwritten notes and create artwork directly on the screen. According to Google, this feature is as good as a Microsoft Surface Pro line and better than many other competitors in terms of handwriting recognition. This makes it a great option for students, artists, and anyone who needs to take notes by hand.

Another major new feature of the Pixel Book is the inclusion of Google Assistant, which is available on Chromebooks for the first time. Users can summon the assistant through voice command or by pressing a button on the pen, allowing them to search for things by highlighting text. The assistant is quite snappy and good at detecting voice commands in various environments, but it does have some trouble with certain tasks, such as searching through Google Drive files.

One of the limitations of the Pixel Assistant is that it can be buggy at times. During our testing, we encountered issues with the assistant not detecting our voice or working properly, requiring us to reset it to get it working again. Despite this, overall, the assistant is a nice feature to have, and Google needs to iron out some rough edges to make it more reliable.

The Pixel Book also supports Android apps, which is a feature that's not exclusive to Chromebooks but is available on other devices as well. However, Google claims that this particular Chromebook has more stable performance than others. We were able to install and use Android apps without any issues, although we did encounter some minor bugs, such as the Yelp app crashing when browsing through the gallery. The most noticeable issue was with text fields on the touchscreen not working properly at times.

The Pixel Book is available with Intel Core i5 or i7 processors from the M-series lineup, which are designed for thin and lightweight laptops. While these processors may not be as powerful as others, we didn't notice any significant issues with speed during our testing. The device comes standard with 128GB of solid-state storage, which can be upgraded to 512GB if needed, and up to 16GB of RAM.

The battery life of the Pixel Book is 41 watt-hours, which is actually quite small compared to other devices on the market. However, during our testing, we found that the device lasted all day with ease, even running browser-based tests alongside other devices like the Dell XPS 13 and Lenovo Yoga 9i. This suggests that the battery life of the Pixel Book is more than sufficient for most users.

So, is the Pixel Book worth $1,000? From a hardware perspective, it's actually not bad. The device has a good processor, great display, and long battery life, making it an attractive option for those looking for a high-quality Chromebook. However, the downsides, including rough edges with app support for Android and Google Assistant, detract from its overall usability and make it less appealing than other options like the Samsung Chromebook Pro at $550. For Chrome OS purists, however, there's no denying that this is the best Chromebook available.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enChrome OS fans were worried when Google discontinued the Chromebook pixel earlier this year would there be a follow-up well good news there is a follow-up it's right here and it's called the Google pixel book now like its predecessor this is a premium device it's priced at $1000 to start so it is competing with other high-end laptops instead of going for the budget angle which is what most Chromebooks do naturally at that price you have to wonder is it worthwhile to get a Chrome OS device let's take a closer look now the first thing you're gonna notice about the pixel book is that it is incredibly thin it is 0.4 inches and that's been for any laptop but it doesn't quite tell the whole story because as it turns out a lot of that thickness is actually in the display lid if you look at it at John here you can see it's fairly thick relative to the overall chassis that means when you open it it feels even thinner than the specifications say and it's actually quite remarkable now otherwise the overall look of the device is going for synergy with the pixel smartphones that's definitely a big brand for Google now and as you can see you look around this two-in-one it has a very similar look with the two-tone and the use of glass on the lid it's pretty handsome and it's a little unique it looks a little bit different from any other laptops on the market so that's good to see now one minor downside to this design is that glass is slippery and if you happen to be toting around this way you're gonna notice you have a little bit of a hard time keeping a hold of it now it's not that big video because you can always just carry it the other way and or you might just be carrying around when it's open and the interior has a nice rubberized grip Eco diem but the glass can be a little annoying from time to time also connectivity well you get two USB type-c ports along with a headphone jack and you know that doesn't seem like a lot but hey for a thin laptop these days that's pretty much what you're going to get should note that is one more USB type-c port than you'll get with a macbook now as a two-in-one device this can be used as either laptop or a tablet when you use it as a laptop you will find the keyboards actually quite decent even though this is thin there's pretty good key travel here so it feels nice to type on for long periods of time touchpad is pretty good as well it's got a nice glass surface very slick very responsive so really no complaints from that angle now when you fold it over to use it as a tablet it feels pretty decent now at twelve point three inches the screen is definitely large for a tablet so it's gonna feel a little bit unwieldy also you might notice that the edges are kind of sharp it feels like maybe it could be designed a little better to fit in your hand however compared to a lot of to ones that have this design it is lighter than many of them and you can use it for short periods of time without much discomfort or if you want you can also just sort of prop it up like this to hold itself a lot now one other thing worth mentioning is that in both laptop and tablet use you'll notice the display is great it's a three by two form factor display so it's a little bit more square than most displays gives it a little more useful space in that twelve point three inches it's also very bright it has a good pixel density and it has a great colors so in general if you're watching videos looking at photos they're all grew in a really pop now one of the major new features of the pixel book is the active stylus pin support is definitely central to this it's not something that was available on the previous Google made Chromebook the stylus is $100 so it is an add-on you don't get it by default and wow it looks it looks very nice from afar it's a bit chunky it really feels more like a marker than a pen so it can be kind of uncomfortable to use if you're trying to do a lot of handwriting it seems more suited for highlighting another minor quibble with the pen is that there's no place to play it doesn't insert into the laptop it doesn't attach the side of it anywhere it's also very round it's perfectly round so if you put it on to a surface and it's it's a little bit tilted in anyway it's probably gonna roll off so it can be a bit tricky to keep track of it however when you actually do use the pin it feels pretty nice you can use Google keep and a variety of other apps to do some writing and you can just see that the the latency on it is great it actually puts down ink the moment you touch the pin to the touch screen it's every bit as good in that regard as Microsoft Surface pro line and better than a lot of other competitors so if you're gonna be doing a lot of handwritten notes this is a pretty good option now aside from the pin the other major new feature is Google Assistant which is available for the first time in a Chromebook it can be summoned through voice command or by pressing a button on the pin and if you do that you can actually search for things by highlighting them which is kind of handy if you're curious about what definition of a word or something of that nature a google assistant is quite snappy and it's pretty good at detecting your voice in a variety of environments and it can do a lot of the basic stuff you expect like find local movie times or take some notes for you it does have some trouble in some other areas for instance it never seemed to picked up on things that are in our Google Drive so you might expect if you ask it the search your Google Documents for its whatever specific thing a grocery list may be something you're working on yesterday it would bring that up but it doesn't actually or all it did was it brought up a link to Google Docs which wasn't the most useful thing the other thing about the assistant is that it can be a little buggy we definitely had some issues with it not detecting our voice from time to time and the sense that it wasn't so much not detecting the voice it just wasn't working then and we had to go back and reset it so that was a little troublesome overall I definitely you know it's a nice feature to have but right now there's some rough edges there they need to be ironed out now the pixel book also has support for Android apps this is not a feature that's new and exclusive to the pixel book we saw it previously on samsung's chromebook pro and plus and other Chromebooks have the feature now too but Google says with this particular Chromebook it should be a little more stable than with some it's more specifically designed for it we definitely had no trouble getting an Android apps installed on the device and all of them works quite well we did see little bugs here and there though the main thing you'll notice sometimes when you try to use a text field with the touchscreen maybe it doesn't work properly we also had a couple that crashed for instance the Yelp app always crashed when we were browsing through the gallery otherwise apps like this Netflix app in games like asphalt 7 those worked with no problem so Android app support does add some value to the device and it does provide software that you otherwise couldn't use with Chrome OS this don't expect it to work perfectly a hundred percent of the time now the pixel book is available with Intel Core and processors of core i5 or i7 variety the m-series is more efficient than other core processors it's targeted at really thin laptops that means it's sips less power but it's not quite as powerful however on Chrome OS device we didn't really notice any issue as far as the speed at all and we did have the i5 model not the more powerful and more expensive I seven so I don't think that most users are gonna have any problem with the speed of the device it also has 128 gigabyte solid state drive standard and that's upgradeable to 512 gigabytes if you'd like and you get a gigabytes of standard RAM up to 16 gigabytes upgradable overall and it's top-tier form it's a very powerful Chromebook probably overkill for what most people need now the battery is 41 watt hours which is actually kind of small I'll be paying attention to that on tech specs you might see like for instance the Dell XPS 13 that's got a 60 watt hour battery the Lenovo yoga 9 20 has a 70 watt hour battery almost twice the size however we didn't have any problems battery life on this device we couldn't run all the same tests because Chrome OS doesn't run the same software as Windows however we could run browser-based tests and we found that it was right and League with those mentioned devices and you can expect it the last a fool workday with ease so is the pixel book worth $1,000 well from a hardware perspective it's actually not bad it has a good processor it has a great display has a very long battery of life all that looks really good the downside is that it has a few rough edges with app support for Android with the assistant and with the pen and these detract from it and make it a little bit harder to use than it really should be if you're interested in Chrome OS primarily because of the value you probably want to look at something like the Samsung Chromebook pro which is $550 and has many of the same features however if you are a Chrome OS purist there's no denying this is the Chromebook for youChrome OS fans were worried when Google discontinued the Chromebook pixel earlier this year would there be a follow-up well good news there is a follow-up it's right here and it's called the Google pixel book now like its predecessor this is a premium device it's priced at $1000 to start so it is competing with other high-end laptops instead of going for the budget angle which is what most Chromebooks do naturally at that price you have to wonder is it worthwhile to get a Chrome OS device let's take a closer look now the first thing you're gonna notice about the pixel book is that it is incredibly thin it is 0.4 inches and that's been for any laptop but it doesn't quite tell the whole story because as it turns out a lot of that thickness is actually in the display lid if you look at it at John here you can see it's fairly thick relative to the overall chassis that means when you open it it feels even thinner than the specifications say and it's actually quite remarkable now otherwise the overall look of the device is going for synergy with the pixel smartphones that's definitely a big brand for Google now and as you can see you look around this two-in-one it has a very similar look with the two-tone and the use of glass on the lid it's pretty handsome and it's a little unique it looks a little bit different from any other laptops on the market so that's good to see now one minor downside to this design is that glass is slippery and if you happen to be toting around this way you're gonna notice you have a little bit of a hard time keeping a hold of it now it's not that big video because you can always just carry it the other way and or you might just be carrying around when it's open and the interior has a nice rubberized grip Eco diem but the glass can be a little annoying from time to time also connectivity well you get two USB type-c ports along with a headphone jack and you know that doesn't seem like a lot but hey for a thin laptop these days that's pretty much what you're going to get should note that is one more USB type-c port than you'll get with a macbook now as a two-in-one device this can be used as either laptop or a tablet when you use it as a laptop you will find the keyboards actually quite decent even though this is thin there's pretty good key travel here so it feels nice to type on for long periods of time touchpad is pretty good as well it's got a nice glass surface very slick very responsive so really no complaints from that angle now when you fold it over to use it as a tablet it feels pretty decent now at twelve point three inches the screen is definitely large for a tablet so it's gonna feel a little bit unwieldy also you might notice that the edges are kind of sharp it feels like maybe it could be designed a little better to fit in your hand however compared to a lot of to ones that have this design it is lighter than many of them and you can use it for short periods of time without much discomfort or if you want you can also just sort of prop it up like this to hold itself a lot now one other thing worth mentioning is that in both laptop and tablet use you'll notice the display is great it's a three by two form factor display so it's a little bit more square than most displays gives it a little more useful space in that twelve point three inches it's also very bright it has a good pixel density and it has a great colors so in general if you're watching videos looking at photos they're all grew in a really pop now one of the major new features of the pixel book is the active stylus pin support is definitely central to this it's not something that was available on the previous Google made Chromebook the stylus is $100 so it is an add-on you don't get it by default and wow it looks it looks very nice from afar it's a bit chunky it really feels more like a marker than a pen so it can be kind of uncomfortable to use if you're trying to do a lot of handwriting it seems more suited for highlighting another minor quibble with the pen is that there's no place to play it doesn't insert into the laptop it doesn't attach the side of it anywhere it's also very round it's perfectly round so if you put it on to a surface and it's it's a little bit tilted in anyway it's probably gonna roll off so it can be a bit tricky to keep track of it however when you actually do use the pin it feels pretty nice you can use Google keep and a variety of other apps to do some writing and you can just see that the the latency on it is great it actually puts down ink the moment you touch the pin to the touch screen it's every bit as good in that regard as Microsoft Surface pro line and better than a lot of other competitors so if you're gonna be doing a lot of handwritten notes this is a pretty good option now aside from the pin the other major new feature is Google Assistant which is available for the first time in a Chromebook it can be summoned through voice command or by pressing a button on the pin and if you do that you can actually search for things by highlighting them which is kind of handy if you're curious about what definition of a word or something of that nature a google assistant is quite snappy and it's pretty good at detecting your voice in a variety of environments and it can do a lot of the basic stuff you expect like find local movie times or take some notes for you it does have some trouble in some other areas for instance it never seemed to picked up on things that are in our Google Drive so you might expect if you ask it the search your Google Documents for its whatever specific thing a grocery list may be something you're working on yesterday it would bring that up but it doesn't actually or all it did was it brought up a link to Google Docs which wasn't the most useful thing the other thing about the assistant is that it can be a little buggy we definitely had some issues with it not detecting our voice from time to time and the sense that it wasn't so much not detecting the voice it just wasn't working then and we had to go back and reset it so that was a little troublesome overall I definitely you know it's a nice feature to have but right now there's some rough edges there they need to be ironed out now the pixel book also has support for Android apps this is not a feature that's new and exclusive to the pixel book we saw it previously on samsung's chromebook pro and plus and other Chromebooks have the feature now too but Google says with this particular Chromebook it should be a little more stable than with some it's more specifically designed for it we definitely had no trouble getting an Android apps installed on the device and all of them works quite well we did see little bugs here and there though the main thing you'll notice sometimes when you try to use a text field with the touchscreen maybe it doesn't work properly we also had a couple that crashed for instance the Yelp app always crashed when we were browsing through the gallery otherwise apps like this Netflix app in games like asphalt 7 those worked with no problem so Android app support does add some value to the device and it does provide software that you otherwise couldn't use with Chrome OS this don't expect it to work perfectly a hundred percent of the time now the pixel book is available with Intel Core and processors of core i5 or i7 variety the m-series is more efficient than other core processors it's targeted at really thin laptops that means it's sips less power but it's not quite as powerful however on Chrome OS device we didn't really notice any issue as far as the speed at all and we did have the i5 model not the more powerful and more expensive I seven so I don't think that most users are gonna have any problem with the speed of the device it also has 128 gigabyte solid state drive standard and that's upgradeable to 512 gigabytes if you'd like and you get a gigabytes of standard RAM up to 16 gigabytes upgradable overall and it's top-tier form it's a very powerful Chromebook probably overkill for what most people need now the battery is 41 watt hours which is actually kind of small I'll be paying attention to that on tech specs you might see like for instance the Dell XPS 13 that's got a 60 watt hour battery the Lenovo yoga 9 20 has a 70 watt hour battery almost twice the size however we didn't have any problems battery life on this device we couldn't run all the same tests because Chrome OS doesn't run the same software as Windows however we could run browser-based tests and we found that it was right and League with those mentioned devices and you can expect it the last a fool workday with ease so is the pixel book worth $1,000 well from a hardware perspective it's actually not bad it has a good processor it has a great display has a very long battery of life all that looks really good the downside is that it has a few rough edges with app support for Android with the assistant and with the pen and these detract from it and make it a little bit harder to use than it really should be if you're interested in Chrome OS primarily because of the value you probably want to look at something like the Samsung Chromebook pro which is $550 and has many of the same features however if you are a Chrome OS purist there's no denying this is the Chromebook for you\n"