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| Pixelbook Go. Showing it next to an Apple keyboard and trackpad to give some sense of scale. |
Since I spend my working day, on computers, having a good, responsive machines if a high priority.
A high battery life is also very important, especially if you are you doing 18 hours of travel, such as a trip from the East Coast to Guam. That made the Pixelbook Go a very attractive machine.
I've been a big fan of Chrome operating system. When it was first introduce, bought one of the first chromebooks, an Samsung unit. It simplicity, fast boot up, was fresh air. No worries about viruses, and the machine is easy to reset.
For a long time, Chromebooks were still stuff to use because the applications weren't there.
The pros:
Stellar piece of hardware. Incredibly solid.
Keyboard is as wonderful as all the reviewers have claimed. Best I've ever used.
Speakers are exceptional.
Fast charging works as advertised.
The M3 is very fast and responsive. After using it, really can't see a reason for buying the i5.
Battery life is exceptional. No reason to doubt the 12 hour claim.
Screen is bright. Very good glass. Sensitive to glare, but not an issue for me at least.
Touchpad seems great. And touch screen is very responsive.
The cons:
This is a big con for me. I am use to working on machines with higher resolution, such as Apple iMac, Microsoft Surface, Samsung CB Plus V1. All of them have a higher resolution than the Go's 1920 x 1080. This lower resolution has the letters, the blacks, look a little tad bleached and soft to me.
Minor thing: The unit seems to have trouble with the battery level reading.
Neutral:
I bought the Go knowing it's a clamshell. That's not a problem for me. No pen support, again no problem. Prefer an iPad for tablet use.
Summary
The Go would have been perfect if it had a higher resolution. Truly perfect. I'm not going to return it, although I'm tempted, because it will have value as a travel machine. But it's not going to be my main machine by a long shot.
I knew the resolution might be an issue but not as much as one.
The high-end model with the 4K resolution is retailing for $1,400 -- that's more than double the cost of the M3 at $650. Can't justify it.
Conclusion:
If you are use to working on machines with a higher resolution than the Go, you may not be crazy about the Go or anything less than its 4K model. It feels like a step back.
I'm a little disappointed with Google here. They could have done a little better. It should have had a 2400 by 1600 option, instead of nothing but 1920 x 1080 or 4K. I imagine they made that tradeoff to maximize battery life because they are selling this as a "Go" machine. But still, considering all the excellent work that Google did on hardware, it just seems like a pretty big trade-off. Nonetheless, I really need a machine with long battery life for travel. Every other laptop I've owned -- no matter what the manufacturer claims -- seems to rarely make it past 5/6 hours. I am so sick of trying to find outlets in airports. The Go does deliver in that respect.
So maybe that's the trade-off (long battery life vs. resolution) that Google had to make to get the price it wanted on the base model. Maybe in its next iteration of the Go (two years from now?) it will be able to give the resolution a bump? Let's hope so, because otherwise, it's a darn good machine.
