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Owner of a last-gen Pixel here. I don't see myself upgrading any time soon, but as far as refreshes go, this one seems to address most of my complaints, namely:

Owner of a last-gen Pixel here. I don't see myself upgrading any time soon, but as far as refreshes go, this one seems to address most of my complaints, namely: - More RAM - Better battery life / charge time - USB-C ports Here's what I'm not sure if it will fix: - Overheating (original Pixel gets HOT on the top-left corner where I'm guessing the CPU resides) - OpenVPN support (ChromeOS does not support simply loading a .ovpn profile--I have to do some hacking from the command-line to get it to work) - Longer warranty (1-year limited is all that is provided with the previous model--and since these are directly from Google, you can't get an extended warranty through the retailer) - Weight (Love the metal slate look, could be lighter, however; based on the specs it seems like not so much) And finally, the things that Google will never fix, and you should simply be aware of ChromeOS's limitations: - Lack of apps I will say, however, that in the past year, Crouton, which allows you to sideload a linux partition onto the device, has come a long way, to the point that you can actually have an Ubuntu chroot running in a tab inside ChromeOS as though it were just another window/app. It has proved incredibly useful for running things like Sublime or Eclipse without having to do the complete environment-shift that was required some time ago. Price is still a little high, however. I feel like those looking for a high-quality Linux laptop could probably get an Acer Aspire for cheaper.

aceperry 12y ago
I have 4 chromebooks, the original pilot program, 1st Gen Samsung, Acer c720, and the Pixel. Totally love the pixel, pilot book and Acer, hate the 1st gen. AdmiralAsshat's criticisms are valid about the pixel but it works well for me since it has a lot more memory than the other chromebooks. Crouton linux makes even the smaller chromebooks quite useable for most situations. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding which chromebook to use. Mostly it's come down to the Acer for travel, and the Pixel for home. The Pixel has poor battery life compared to the other chromebooks though, but glad to hear that's been taken care of.
ortusdux 12y ago
I always recommend getting a warranty through your insurance company. My wife got a surface pro, and in her hands I give it a 2 year half-life. We got a personal articles policy on it that is about 45$ a year, and it covers any situation except terrorism or government/cdc seizure. Those policies are a good read. Squaretrade was over 100$ a year and did not cover theft etc. Oh and no deductible. She broke the 60$ charger a few weeks ago and got a new one fully covered.
- bduerst 12y ago
  I cannot endorse this more - I bought an additional 3 yr everything-covered warranty on an Elitebook, and it ended up saving me $1100 in repairs to the laptop. Even Squaretrade warranties are better than nothing.
  - jeena 12y ago
    Perhaps I am just lucky but I out of principle never buy any insurance if it is not required by law. If something breaks I either try to fix it myself or buy a new one. I never calculated it but I don't feel that I miss out or pay more in the long run. Quite the opposite, I have almost no running expenses and can invest the money others pay the insurence companies into new stuff. The only exception of that rule are insurances which cover stuff I might accidentally do to other people.
    - xur17 12y ago
      I use a similar approach. The insurance companies are in business to make money, so (on average) they don't sell policies that lose them money. I buy insurance if either: 1. I believe I'm significantly more likely to break the item then their estimates (ex: you use your phone at your construction job, and are significantly more likely to break it). 2. It's enough money that it would cause significant problems for me (home insurance, renters insurance, etc). Otherwise, I figure I am 'self-insuring', and will come out ahead over the long term.
      - somerandomness 12y ago
        > The insurance companies are in business to make money, so (on average) they don't sell policies that lose them money. Not necessarily. Insurance companies on average lose money from policies and make it up by investing the float. Think of the money they lose on policies as the "interest" that you get paid for lending them your premiums.
    - grecy 12y ago
      > Perhaps I am just lucky but I out of principle never buy any insurance if it is not required by law. If something breaks I either try to fix it myself or buy a new one. Insurance companies know the odds better than us, they set the premiums, and they still manage to make a profit every year (billions of dollars in lots of cases) It glaringly obvious that "on average" the average person should not get insurance when not required, because otherwise you're just paying for the profit of said insurance company.
primigenus 12y ago
Why do you say Google will "never fix" the "lack of apps"? What do you call adding support for running Android apps? Clearly they are working on addressing this, even if they're not there yet.
- nsxwolf 12y ago
  That's what you want to run on your laptop? Android apps?
  - pg_is_a_butt 12y ago
    yeah... good point. why would people want to run software on their laptop. #IDIOT
  - mdaniel 12y ago
    IMHO, these chromebooks are not laptops - they are large screen tablets with the bluetooth keyboard attached to them. So the idea, and if I recall correctly, proof of concept, of ChromeOS running Android apps isn't a large stretch. edit: I just watched the promotional video, and I was right about their interest in ChromeOS running Android apps, I was just wrong about its maturity level. The video states that ChromeOS runs "select" Android apps.
  - amaks 12y ago
    Think of them as Chrome OS version of "Modern apps".
  - MarkMc 12y ago
    You sound surprised. Are web apps better than Android apps?
    - cwyers 12y ago
      I think on a computer with a Core i5 and 8gb of RAM, choosing between web apps and Android apps is kind of a false choice. Windows or Linux both offer you far more applications that are built to take advantage of that form factor.
kissickas 12y ago
Google will never fix the lack of apps? I thought they were making progress towards enabling most Android apps to function in ChromeOS?
- jethro_tell 12y ago
  I think that is here now.
mkozlows 12y ago
Computer World says it no longer gets hot, and the fans are quieter: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2895014/new-chromebook-pixel.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2895014/new-chromebook-...
X-combinator 12y ago
Engadget says it's STILL impractical - http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/11/chromebook-pixel-review-2015/ http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/11/chromebook-pixel-review-2...
- krasin 12y ago
  It depends on the user. The first-gen Pixel is my only laptop for the last 2 years.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - interpol_p 12y ago
    Out of curiosity, is it also your only computer? (Aside from a phone / tablet)
    - krasin 12y ago
      I have a bunch of ARM boards around, as well as, a headless x86 server for personal media archive, plus some number of rented virtual servers in the cloud. Basically, Chromebook is a terminal + a browser for me.
  - arthurcolle 12y ago
    How do you do development?
    - krasin 12y ago
      SSH + emacs on the remote part. For embedded programming, where I need to run a programmer to flash a microcontroller, I use an ARM board as a host.
- shirro 12y ago
  I managed to work on a Chromebook for a few months. I was doing a mixture of web frontend (Angular) and Go based backend. I was using terminal for most things tmux, shell, vim, git, ssh which is how I work on my MBP anyway. Postman for api testing and I found some chrome apps for screenshots and other little things. It was all quite good. The only apps I really missed were Inkscape and Gimp and I could run those under Crouton if needed but my Chromebook was a bit memory constrained. I guess Skype was a bit of an issue as well. In the end I stopped because the hardware had reliability issues and the screen wasn't all that great. I could see myself working on a Pixel fulltime.
rcraft 12y ago
I purchase all expensive electronics on my AMEX card. They offer an additional year on all manufacturers warranty at no additional cost, along with 90 day purchase protection for any accidental damage. Its fantastic. Visa Signature offers similar coverage, however making a claim with Visa vs Amex is a much bigger headache. I've submitted multiple warranty and purchase protection claims with AMEX and its about the easiest process imaginable. Highly recommended.
- jonnynezbo 12y ago
  Just to clarify: does it extend an Apple warranty from 1 to 2 years?
  - sithu 12y ago
    Yes, if you purchase the item using the card. It's an extended warranty. Quote from benefits section of the gold card: Extended Warranty can extend the terms of the original manufacturer's warranty on warranties of five years or less. We match the length of the original warranty if the original manufacturer’s warranty is less than one year, and we provide one additional year if the original manufacturer’s warranty is between one year and five years. Shipping and handling costs for the purchase will not be refunded. Certain purchases are not covered, e.g. items with physical damage, damage as a result of natural disaster, software, motorized devices and vehicles and their parts. Other important exclusions apply. You will only be covered up to the amount charged on your eligible Card; coverage is limited up to a maximum of USD $10,000 per occurrence; not to exceed USD $50,000 per Card Member account per calendar year. You may be required to send the purchased item to us, in which case we will reimburse you for shipping cost. This product is in excess of other warranty plans that you have in place for the eligible item.
  - madeofpalk 12y ago
    Just to be clear - it doesn't actually extend _Apple's_ warranty, Amex provide their own warranty on top.
- GigabyteCoin 12y ago
  I feel obligated to mention, that although I was happy with my AMEX card while I had it... When I lost some physical copies of my statements that I required for tax purposes, I called up AMEX and asked them to send me copies. They did so, at the cost of $10 per month. I paid $120 for them to print out about 40 sheets of paper and mail them to me snail mail. I did the same with my Visa that I had at the same time, and they only charged me $2 per month. Still abhorrently expensive for paper transcripts imho, but 5x cheaper than AMEX on that respect.
jedc 12y ago
I know a beta tester of the new Pixel, and the battery life of 12 hours is absolutely for real. I've been pretty impressed from the bit of it I've seen.
tbrock 12y ago
No UBS-C port was one of your complaints? I didn't even know it existed until two days ago!
- Intermernet 12y ago
  USB-C has been "a standard" since August last year [1]. The new MacBook and, now this Chromebook, are amongst the first devices to support it. This is actually pretty quick adoption of a new port standard. I think the industry is really going to get behind USB-C as it has almost all of the advantages of the competition, and is a compatible upgrade path for older peripherals. Thus we only need one port to support the new devices, as well as the old. [1]: http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/ http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/
jcoffland 12y ago
Or you can get an Apple notebook and install Linux. Apple makes really solid gear. This is a clear imitation.
- lmm 12y ago
  How much does Apple charge for something with similar weight/size and the same screen resolution?
  - Kurtz79 12y ago
    Comparing similar models at exactly the same price, similar weight and form factor (top of the line Pixel vs. base Macbook Pro 13), information taken from Apple Store and Ars review of the Pixel: The Pixel has: Better processor (i7 2.6Ghz vs i5 2.7Ghz) Slightly better resolution (2560×1700 vs 2560x1600) Double the RAM (16GB vs 8GB) The Macbook has: Double the SSD storage (128 GB vs 64 GB) Better integrated GPU (Iris Pro 6100 vs HD5500) So I would say there is no clear-cut winner. Regardless what people thinks, the base specs for the Pros are quite fair for the price. EDIT: I was forgetting that the Pixel has a touchscreen display, somehting that Apple doesn't offer at all, at the moment.
    - CardenB 12y ago
      Also you wouldn't need to use crouton for Linux on a MacBook.mOS X would offer a better applications and offline support.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - mekpro 12y ago
      MacBook had much faster Processor, Chromebook Pixel use UltraLow Voltage CPU which tends to have much lower TDP and much less sustained clock. In this case 2.2GHz for Chromebook vs 2.7Ghz for MacBook.
      - Kurtz79 12y ago
sspiff 12y ago
About your Acer Aspire remark: I've had some bad times with Acer in the past, and I bought a new one in January. Pretty good specs, low price, clean design, but very, very plasticky. Wouldn't call that a high quality alternative.

aceperry 12y ago

I have 4 chromebooks, the original pilot program, 1st Gen Samsung, Acer c720, and the Pixel. Totally love the pixel, pilot book and Acer, hate the 1st gen. AdmiralAsshat's criticisms are valid about the pixel but it works well for me since it has a lot more memory than the other chromebooks. Crouton linux makes even the smaller chromebooks quite useable for most situations. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding which chromebook to use. Mostly it's come down to the Acer for travel, and the Pixel for home. The Pixel has poor battery life compared to the other chromebooks though, but glad to hear that's been taken care of.

ortusdux 12y ago

I always recommend getting a warranty through your insurance company. My wife got a surface pro, and in her hands I give it a 2 year half-life. We got a personal articles policy on it that is about 45$ a year, and it covers any situation except terrorism or government/cdc seizure. Those policies are a good read. Squaretrade was over 100$ a year and did not cover theft etc. Oh and no deductible. She broke the 60$ charger a few weeks ago and got a new one fully covered.

bduerst 12y ago
I cannot endorse this more - I bought an additional 3 yr everything-covered warranty on an Elitebook, and it ended up saving me $1100 in repairs to the laptop. Even Squaretrade warranties are better than nothing.
- jeena 12y ago
  Perhaps I am just lucky but I out of principle never buy any insurance if it is not required by law. If something breaks I either try to fix it myself or buy a new one. I never calculated it but I don't feel that I miss out or pay more in the long run. Quite the opposite, I have almost no running expenses and can invest the money others pay the insurence companies into new stuff. The only exception of that rule are insurances which cover stuff I might accidentally do to other people.
  - xur17 12y ago
    I use a similar approach. The insurance companies are in business to make money, so (on average) they don't sell policies that lose them money. I buy insurance if either: 1. I believe I'm significantly more likely to break the item then their estimates (ex: you use your phone at your construction job, and are significantly more likely to break it). 2. It's enough money that it would cause significant problems for me (home insurance, renters insurance, etc). Otherwise, I figure I am 'self-insuring', and will come out ahead over the long term.
    - somerandomness 12y ago
      > The insurance companies are in business to make money, so (on average) they don't sell policies that lose them money. Not necessarily. Insurance companies on average lose money from policies and make it up by investing the float. Think of the money they lose on policies as the "interest" that you get paid for lending them your premiums.
  - grecy 12y ago
    > Perhaps I am just lucky but I out of principle never buy any insurance if it is not required by law. If something breaks I either try to fix it myself or buy a new one. Insurance companies know the odds better than us, they set the premiums, and they still manage to make a profit every year (billions of dollars in lots of cases) It glaringly obvious that "on average" the average person should not get insurance when not required, because otherwise you're just paying for the profit of said insurance company.

primigenus 12y ago

Why do you say Google will "never fix" the "lack of apps"? What do you call adding support for running Android apps? Clearly they are working on addressing this, even if they're not there yet.

nsxwolf 12y ago
That's what you want to run on your laptop? Android apps?
- pg_is_a_butt 12y ago
  yeah... good point. why would people want to run software on their laptop. #IDIOT
- mdaniel 12y ago
  IMHO, these chromebooks are not laptops - they are large screen tablets with the bluetooth keyboard attached to them. So the idea, and if I recall correctly, proof of concept, of ChromeOS running Android apps isn't a large stretch. edit: I just watched the promotional video, and I was right about their interest in ChromeOS running Android apps, I was just wrong about its maturity level. The video states that ChromeOS runs "select" Android apps.
- amaks 12y ago
  Think of them as Chrome OS version of "Modern apps".
- MarkMc 12y ago
  You sound surprised. Are web apps better than Android apps?
  - cwyers 12y ago
    I think on a computer with a Core i5 and 8gb of RAM, choosing between web apps and Android apps is kind of a false choice. Windows or Linux both offer you far more applications that are built to take advantage of that form factor.

kissickas 12y ago

Google will never fix the lack of apps? I thought they were making progress towards enabling most Android apps to function in ChromeOS?

jethro_tell 12y ago
I think that is here now.

mkozlows 12y ago

Computer World says it no longer gets hot, and the fans are quieter: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2895014/new-chromebook-pixel.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2895014/new-chromebook-...

X-combinator 12y ago

Engadget says it's STILL impractical - http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/11/chromebook-pixel-review-2015/ http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/11/chromebook-pixel-review-2...

krasin 12y ago
It depends on the user. The first-gen Pixel is my only laptop for the last 2 years.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- interpol_p 12y ago
  Out of curiosity, is it also your only computer? (Aside from a phone / tablet)
  - krasin 12y ago
    I have a bunch of ARM boards around, as well as, a headless x86 server for personal media archive, plus some number of rented virtual servers in the cloud. Basically, Chromebook is a terminal + a browser for me.
- arthurcolle 12y ago
  How do you do development?
  - krasin 12y ago
    SSH + emacs on the remote part. For embedded programming, where I need to run a programmer to flash a microcontroller, I use an ARM board as a host.
shirro 12y ago
I managed to work on a Chromebook for a few months. I was doing a mixture of web frontend (Angular) and Go based backend. I was using terminal for most things tmux, shell, vim, git, ssh which is how I work on my MBP anyway. Postman for api testing and I found some chrome apps for screenshots and other little things. It was all quite good. The only apps I really missed were Inkscape and Gimp and I could run those under Crouton if needed but my Chromebook was a bit memory constrained. I guess Skype was a bit of an issue as well. In the end I stopped because the hardware had reliability issues and the screen wasn't all that great. I could see myself working on a Pixel fulltime.

rcraft 12y ago

I purchase all expensive electronics on my AMEX card. They offer an additional year on all manufacturers warranty at no additional cost, along with 90 day purchase protection for any accidental damage. Its fantastic. Visa Signature offers similar coverage, however making a claim with Visa vs Amex is a much bigger headache. I've submitted multiple warranty and purchase protection claims with AMEX and its about the easiest process imaginable. Highly recommended.

jonnynezbo 12y ago
Just to clarify: does it extend an Apple warranty from 1 to 2 years?
- sithu 12y ago
  Yes, if you purchase the item using the card. It's an extended warranty. Quote from benefits section of the gold card: Extended Warranty can extend the terms of the original manufacturer's warranty on warranties of five years or less. We match the length of the original warranty if the original manufacturer’s warranty is less than one year, and we provide one additional year if the original manufacturer’s warranty is between one year and five years. Shipping and handling costs for the purchase will not be refunded. Certain purchases are not covered, e.g. items with physical damage, damage as a result of natural disaster, software, motorized devices and vehicles and their parts. Other important exclusions apply. You will only be covered up to the amount charged on your eligible Card; coverage is limited up to a maximum of USD $10,000 per occurrence; not to exceed USD $50,000 per Card Member account per calendar year. You may be required to send the purchased item to us, in which case we will reimburse you for shipping cost. This product is in excess of other warranty plans that you have in place for the eligible item.
- madeofpalk 12y ago
  Just to be clear - it doesn't actually extend _Apple's_ warranty, Amex provide their own warranty on top.
GigabyteCoin 12y ago
I feel obligated to mention, that although I was happy with my AMEX card while I had it... When I lost some physical copies of my statements that I required for tax purposes, I called up AMEX and asked them to send me copies. They did so, at the cost of $10 per month. I paid $120 for them to print out about 40 sheets of paper and mail them to me snail mail. I did the same with my Visa that I had at the same time, and they only charged me $2 per month. Still abhorrently expensive for paper transcripts imho, but 5x cheaper than AMEX on that respect.

jedc 12y ago

I know a beta tester of the new Pixel, and the battery life of 12 hours is absolutely for real. I've been pretty impressed from the bit of it I've seen.

tbrock 12y ago

No UBS-C port was one of your complaints? I didn't even know it existed until two days ago!

Intermernet 12y ago
USB-C has been "a standard" since August last year [1]. The new MacBook and, now this Chromebook, are amongst the first devices to support it. This is actually pretty quick adoption of a new port standard. I think the industry is really going to get behind USB-C as it has almost all of the advantages of the competition, and is a compatible upgrade path for older peripherals. Thus we only need one port to support the new devices, as well as the old. [1]: http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/ http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/

jcoffland 12y ago

Or you can get an Apple notebook and install Linux. Apple makes really solid gear. This is a clear imitation.

lmm 12y ago
How much does Apple charge for something with similar weight/size and the same screen resolution?
- Kurtz79 12y ago
  Comparing similar models at exactly the same price, similar weight and form factor (top of the line Pixel vs. base Macbook Pro 13), information taken from Apple Store and Ars review of the Pixel: The Pixel has: Better processor (i7 2.6Ghz vs i5 2.7Ghz) Slightly better resolution (2560×1700 vs 2560x1600) Double the RAM (16GB vs 8GB) The Macbook has: Double the SSD storage (128 GB vs 64 GB) Better integrated GPU (Iris Pro 6100 vs HD5500) So I would say there is no clear-cut winner. Regardless what people thinks, the base specs for the Pros are quite fair for the price. EDIT: I was forgetting that the Pixel has a touchscreen display, somehting that Apple doesn't offer at all, at the moment.
  - CardenB 12y ago
    Also you wouldn't need to use crouton for Linux on a MacBook.mOS X would offer a better applications and offline support.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - mekpro 12y ago
    MacBook had much faster Processor, Chromebook Pixel use UltraLow Voltage CPU which tends to have much lower TDP and much less sustained clock. In this case 2.2GHz for Chromebook vs 2.7Ghz for MacBook.
    - Kurtz79 12y ago

sspiff 12y ago

About your Acer Aspire remark: I've had some bad times with Acer in the past, and I bought a new one in January. Pretty good specs, low price, clean design, but very, very plasticky. Wouldn't call that a high quality alternative.