Want a Chromebook Pixel by Asus with Yota 4G embedded?
So it turned out that the past six months, my main computer was the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 . So, ChromeOS was not new to me. (I wonder to whom of the users it may even seem new, difficult or incomprehensible?) When the Chromebook Pixel was officially introduced, I even wrote a skeptical column in Gazeta.ru that despite the absolute suitability of ChromeOS for everyday work in urban environments, where otherwise, you can always connect to the network - the money that Google requested for Pixel ($ 1300), a laptop on ChromeOS, in principle, can not be worth it. And so, the premium Chromebook got to Moscow and was at my disposal for a week. To my complete surprise, on a machine with an adequate, and partly flagship, ChromeOS made a very strong impression on me and pushed me to a few, perhaps, controversial, but not interesting conclusions, which, in fact, I want to share for discussion.
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In principle, quite a lot has been said and written about the Chromebook Pixel, the configuration of its stuffing is known, so I think you can omit the bare listing of gigabytes, gigahertz and pixels. I had a model without LTE and, accordingly, with 32 GB of built-in flash memory, but this does not really matter, since the Varizon-based LTE in Moscow would still not work.
But do not say about the impression of design and ergonomic characteristics, I probably can not. The device seems to be a futuristic monolith, forgotten in a hurry by aliens who have flown away from Earth. But the matter is not even in those associations that are caused by a rigorous, chopped design. The point is the strength and reliability of the whole structure. I don’t know what would have happened with the Chromebook Pixel if KAMAZ had moved it, but there’s a feeling that nothing would have happened. The protruding hinge, which unites the display and main, keyboard halves, is incredibly durable.
By the way, constructively, the Chromebook Pixel reminded me of the Nokia BookLet 3G model: the same strict rectangular shapes, the same circular hinge protruding on the back side, the same aspect ratio of the display 3: 2.
The Chromebook Pixel case consists of three forms extruded from solid sheets of anodized aluminum: one sheet covers the back and sides of the touchscreen display (about it is separate below), the other, in which the holes for the keys and touchpad are cut, are the main part and the side. faces with connectors, and the third is a bottom removable cover - the screws are located under the four small rubber feet, spaced at the corners of this bottom cover.
Despite the fact that the design of the Chromebook Pixel is pronounced rectangular rather than wedge-shaped, the aluminum case evokes an association with the MacBookAir, and due to this association, the absence of any logo on the top cover draws attention. Instead of a logo, there is a strip of LEDs that flicker in blue when the Chromebook Pixel is open and running, and when you close or open the leg of your laptop, it lights up for a moment with a proprietary rainbow that personifies the Chrome logo. However, Chrome itself is present on the case in two places: above the keyboard and on the hinge that unites the display and main parts of the Chromebook Pixel.
On the side faces, as it usually is, there are connectors: 3.5 mm dual microphone and headphone jack, 2 x USB 2.0 (this is surprising why not USB 3.0, because this is the flagship model, but I will try to answer this question later) , the display port, which is due to the recent premiere of Chromecast, is not very clear why you need a fingertip connector for the power adapter (it would be better if there was a magnetic contact). On the right side, a card reader connector for SD cards, if there is only 32 GB of internal flash memory, this card reader is definitely needed. The LTE version has a micro-sim card slot next to the card reader.
The half of the Chromebook Pixel is perfectly balanced, it opens the laptop with one hand without any need to hold the case with the second hand. Moreover, it happens in a much more self-evident and confident way than in Macbooks and other ultrabooks. The notch intended for the thumb, which should cling to the lid in order to open the laptop, is intelligible and deep, you will not break your nails about it.
Although, of course, a different blonde looks Chromebook Pixel seems too brutal and masculine. But for my taste, it's not about sex differences and the Chromebook Pixel is really very strict, beautiful and ergonomic. The huge glass touchpad feels like the finest silk on the fingertips, which is why it is not so easy to break away from it. Remarkably, the touchpad control has changed relative to the same Samsung Chromebook Series 5 model. In the Chromebook Pixel, the pages scroll the same way as in the MacBooks (the page scrolls up as two fingers slide along the touchpad to itself, and while in Samsung Chromebook Series 5 everything is left just like in Ultrabooks on Windows: in order to scroll the page up, you need to drag the touchpad with two fingers to yourself, and to go upward, to the top of the page, from yourself.
The ability to customize the touchpad control in ChromeOS is missing, so those who switch to the Chromebook Pixel with Windows will have to break the movement stereotypes. All this is done, I think, not by chance. Thus, the developers of the device, as it were, are invited to transfer (at least partially) first of all laptop users from Apple to the Chromebook Pixel. Ways to switch keyboard layouts are also friendly to MacBook users: the layout is switched with the Ctrl + space combination, which is very similar to the keyboard layout switching in MacOS with correction for the command keys in ChromeOS. However, users who are accustomed to the keyboard combination for switching keyboard layouts in Windows are not deprived here: Ctrl + Alt in ChromeOS also changes the layout.
Another nuance: a new functionality has appeared in the Chromebook Pixel, - when a horizontal swipe on the touchpad with three or four fingers, the browser tabs opened in the active window are scrolled. Something like this was very lacking, and it was not enough for Samsung Chromebook Series 5. Why the same functionality did not appear on this Samsung Chromebook, I will not say, perhaps this is due to some hard-core restrictions.
The Chromebook Pixel keyboard looks very simple (of course, insular), but it is very convenient: the keys themselves are large (it seems a little more than the MacBook), the distance between them is enough to not miss with a half-blind typing. The keystroke, though short, is clear and resilient. The backlight is regulated only automatically by the built-in light sensor, but, on the other hand, it didn’t require any adjustment for a week of use. The backlight is not strong, but soft, sufficiently illuminating the letters engraved on the keys and nothing more.
For me personally, such a keyboard is ideal for printing. Next I would put only a keyboard with a Dell XPS 13, a Lenovo ThinkPad and a MacBookPro. The arrow keys, as in the MacBook, are allocated in a separate block, which is very convenient. Maybe for some, the first time will be to miss the separate PageUP and Page Down keys, as well as Home and End, however they are replaced by keyboard shortcuts, which I easily learned from Samsung Chromebook Series 5. Down the page in the browser is scrolled by pressing the space bar, or if this is the page with the text you are editing and the “space” is used for another purpose, use the Alt + down or up arrow keys. As for the replacement of Home and End, I personally used the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + arrows to navigate through the words and did not feel any discomfort from the lack of the Home and End keys removed.
In short, for the keyboard, touchpad and case, I would put a confident Chromebook Pixel 5+ on a five-point scale. And a Chromebook Pixel display with a diagonal of 12.85 inches and a resolution of 2560x1700 deserves no less an assessment, which (if we count dots per inch) even slightly more than the MacBookPro Retina 13. I did not make any special measurements of brightness, or comparative tests with Retina so I’ll say this: Linus Torvalds knowingly chose Chromebook Pixel for themselves . The display is really great: crisp, with delicate colors, great visibility both in sunlight and practically all viewing angles. I’ve read that, say, the Chromebook Pixel, due to the aspect ratio of the display, is not very convenient for watching movies, mostly oriented on screens with a 16: 9 aspect ratio. I can not confirm. Let the picture take up not all the space, even if there are black lines below and over the frame on the Chromebook Pixel screen - watching movies on this display is a great pleasure. Even movies viewed from VKontakte at a resolution of 360p look great on a Chromebook Pixel display. 38Mp Chromebook Pixel display photo can be viewed here.
But, not only is the Chromebook Pixel display with its current flagship resolution, it’s also touch-sensitive! The truth with this sensation came out bad luck. Whether so conceived, or touch control in ChromeOS is still in its infancy, but it’s impossible to scale the pages with Jobs' gesture in the browser. So, in fact, sensory character is used only for scrolling and navigation, which, on the other hand, is also not very small and, in certain positions, very relevant and convenient.
However, the main thing that pleasantly surprised me in the Chromebook Pixel is not the display, about the quality of which I heard, but the sound. Even before full-time contact, I had the occasion to read that the speakers in the Chromebook Pixel are located under the keyboard and, they say, this somehow influences the sound very well. But after reading, I did not attach much importance to this. And just starting to watch the movie felt the difference. First, the sound is very loud, enough to arrange a home disco or watch a movie with a comfortable, ala-cinema loudness. And secondly, with all the volume, the sound does not lose quality. It cannot be said that, for example, there are too many high frequencies in this sound, or too many low frequencies. Everything is normal and sufficient. In short, considering the quality of the display and the quality of the speakers, the Chromebook Pixel is an absolutely multimedia notebook, from which you can comfortably listen to music online without connecting external speakers. This is certainly a very important advantage of the model.
According to its concept, the Chromebook is a laptop from the future, by and large not very much from the distant future, and in some cities it is already coming. Moscow to such cities in principle can be attributed. The essence of the idea of ​​Chromebook and ChromeOS, on which it works, is that the user does not store his data on the drive of the device itself, but stores it in the cloud, or in various Internet resources. In part, this is how it happens, because our photos, which are especially valuable for a long time, are on Instagram, Flickr or on other hosts, the video is on YouTube, if you don’t want to show it, then it is stored only for you. And so on. Personally, I have been using GoogleDocs online text editor for at least three years and for everyday tasks I don’t feel any need for traditional Microsoft Word.
Moreover, using GoogleDocs, for example, to write notes and other short texts is much more convenient, because it is possible to send the editor not the text of the note itself, but only a link to it, and before he read it, edit it. The editor also has a number of advantages that are convenient for the author: he can make his notes and the author will see them as soon as he enters the same text, or he can see them in real time. The same applies to Excel tables, presentations and other documents. In a world in which one user uses several devices, it is indeed much more convenient to store all data in the cloud service and access it from absolutely any device.
In this regard, of course, it is impossible not to mention the weighty bonus pie that gives Google to all Chromebook Pixel customers: 1 TB of free space in the GoogleDrive cloud storage for three years. It is really a lot and very convenient. However, there are other, in fact no worse, cloud storage. For example, Box.com this spring distributed 50 GB for free to anyone who registered an account on a resource. I will not go into detail in this topic, but with 1TB of space on GoogleDrive, there is definitely enough space for all user data (we take the average advanced user). And then regardless of whether you want to access your data from a smartphone or tablet, they will always be at your fingertips.
But cloud storage of user data is only one part of the concept of a laptop cloud (but not transcendental) future Chromebook. In ChromeOS, the attitude towards the programs and applications that we used to install on our computers, tablets and smartphones has been fundamentally revised. In ChromeOS, in fact (de facto, it’s not quite so, and I’ll stop here just a little bit), there’s just one program: the Chrome browser. All other programs and applications you need are just customized bookmarks for pages of various web services, with which you can write and edit text or music, edit a video or edit a photo.
Why is all this necessary and is it worth it? - you ask. To answer this question, it is worth remembering about security. ChromeOS has it all right. The fact is that by installing programs and applications on our computer or laptop with Windows, we invade the operating system itself, which is fraught with consequences: firstly, the system itself is clogged, and secondly, there is the possibility of malware penetration along with any package Some programs, we downloaded from the Internet. In the case of ChromeOS installation of programs and applications does not occur. The operating system, like a monolith, is closed and impenetrable , and the functions of the applications are entrusted to the web services that open in the browser. Well, on the basis of the browser, you can develop essentially any functionality, including corporate. So, running a little ahead, I’ll say that ChromeOS, in my opinion, has a very big future, including in the corporate market, where, it would seem, Windows positions are unshakable.
I think many of us have noticed that the browser has become the most used program on their computer. This trend is built into the principle in a Chromebook. However, do not assume that you can work on a Chromebook only when connected to the network. This is a common opinion that does not correspond to reality. I wrote in detail about this in my note for Gazeta.ru , and therefore I will not repeat. Just add that on Pixel offline features are incomparable with what Samsung Chromebook Series 5 can do offline. For example, Pixel seamlessly plays Full-HD video, so you can burn an SD movie card to 64GB, insert it into a card reader and watch yourself On the health of these films on a great display and with a wonderful sound. The same goes for listening to music. Naturally, the file manager also works in ChromeOS without a network connection - I don’t even know for whom I wrote this last sentence.
Of course, web services are not yet at such a level of development to completely replace some programs. Not only that, I’m sure that for professionals, the Chromebook will never replace a desktop computer with Windows or MacOS. But under my segment of small laptops or ultrabooks, both under Windows and MacOS, in my opinion, there is a time bomb called ChromeOS. Because in the laptop carried with us, we really do not need much, except for the browser. Mobile platforms with their browsers and applications still do not completely replace the desktop browser, and the presence of a full-fledged physical keyboard is sometimes necessary for work. Chromebook provides exactly this functionality. So, in essence, Pixel is a much more relevant and adequate product than the MacBookAir, and even significantly surpasses it in several criteria: display and case strength, for example. Personally for myself, I would love to have a desktop computer, or an iMac and Chromebook Pixel as a wearable laptop. And I don’t need any full-fledged OS on my laptop, - from the experience of semi-annual use of the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 and the weekly Chromebook Pixel, I can say this with absolute certainty.
For the week of using Pixel, I only once turned to a stationary, as it were, full-fledged computer, in order to help me with a series of photos and videos. In principle, I could do the same thing in the YouTube video editor , but for the tasks before me there was enough functionality in it.
I was able to search for some other browser-based video editor and found a WeVideo service designed for editing user data placed on various online resources: photos and videos. Here it is the beginning of the author’s, and more precisely, user’s Internet cinematography, I thought, but I didn’t understand the service more closely , it would hardly have turned out to be better than the programs I use: Conopus Edius , Resolume Avenue , Photodex Producer ( however, there was a web service in which I have yet to figure out, although at first glance, the functionality of the offline program is still more extensive).
Thus, we can say that the Chromebook Pixel at the moment is hardly suitable for those who are at least semi-professional engaged in photography, design, video or music. Although, in the add-ons and add-ons store, I discovered the Audiotool service, which impressed me with the interface. How functional it is, I won’t say either, I didn’t have time to figure it out. As for the photo, in addition to Chrome’s built-in viewer and photo editor, the store found the advanced Pixlr Editor .
In all other respects, Pixel did not remind me that this is a laptop on ChromeOS, since for the rest of the tasks I would most likely use online services in the browser. In particular, Google Docs for me has long been the main text editor, almost completely replacing Microsoft Word. Yes, recently, Microsoft has actively taken up the development of its own online services Skydrive and Office365, but I somehow got used to Google and see no particular need to switch to Microsoft services, although I use them from time to time in parallel.
Anyway, the fact that the main program of the majority of average users has been a browser two or three years ago is a fait accompli. In this sense, Google has absolutely correctly guessed the trend of the development of everyday, everyday computer use, bringing the interface of the operating system to perfect simplicity. In fact, the browser is all that a regular user needs. And taking into account the number of different devices simultaneously used by one person, it will be necessary to keep the main data array in the cloud, from where this data will be available from any device.
A Chromebook is the epitome of just such a user experience. Only problem was that initially, Google positioned notebooks on ChromeOS as low-end products on a lightweight (lame) operating system. This was due to the release by different manufacturers of several models of Chromebooks with netbook stuffing. I don’t know if conscious cunning was behind this, or Google really didn’t immediately realize that ChromeOS had few chances on weak hardware, but I saw the real potential and future of this OS in the performance of Pixel.
The unconditional advantages of ChromeOS include its simplicity and clarity. In fact, Google in ChromeOS did the same thing as Apple in iOS, by entering a single button. Only Google’s is the only button, a shortcut to the Chrome browser. But Microsoft, with its Windows8, went, on the contrary, along the path of complicating the user interface, and the logic of this complication, for my taste, is lame in both legs. However, it’s probably fair to note that I’ve hardly used Windows8 yet. Next week, they promised to give some kind of device from HP to use, so we'll see. Although, from what I know, I would like to try Windows8 on two Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga and Dell XPS 12 devices
The unconditional disadvantages of the Chromebook Pixel include its price. The version (without LTE) that I had was worth $ 1,300. Perhaps the stuffing Pixel, taking into account the display, excellent speakers, an aluminum case, 1 TB in GoogleDrive, etc., is really worth it. However, in this case, from the very beginning, it was stated that the Chromebook is in its concept a budget device. Well, is the concept revised? - I do not think. In my opinion, Pixel is essentially a serial engineering development, released into commercial testing. Actually, Google did the same with its glasses. At the same time, Google has experience in the production of low-end devices, an example of that Nexus 7 by Asus. So it is possible that in a year we will see the same Pixel, but already at a price of 600-700 dollars, that is, for the amount that the flagship smartphone costs.With this pricing policy, Chromebooks in cities can really push out ultrabooks and eyry.
In this regard, it is interesting that almost all major laptop manufacturers have already released a model of the Chromebook: Acer, Samsung, Lenovo, HP, but for some reason, Asus hasn’t yet a single model of the Chromebook. Could this be the reason why Asus has just released a massive Pixel? Ideally, this massive Pixel, like Nokia BookLet, should become an operator model and be released with a built-in communication adapter of a specific LTE operator. Returning to the price, I would assume that if you were in Moscow’s Chromebook Pixel by Asus with Yota 4G stores for the same $ 1300, you’d have a completely successful model. I’m not excluding, by the way, that something is planned, because all the background information about the Chromebook is diligently translated into Russian. Yes, and Yota it would help - so we can assume that the promotional effect of such a product would be not weak.And $ 1,300, this is actually not such an utterly big money.
I think the fact that the Chromebook Pixel is actually an engineering model, and not massively commercial, is caused by the presence of USB 2.0 ports, as well as the port display (since Chromecast and Chromebook are parallel, but they did two different teams). But all this stuff, which are eliminated in a year, is not difficult. As additions, I would like to see in the Chromebook Pixel NFC and wireless charging, floor mats for which (and then tabletops) will become a common and popular accessory.
By the way, with regards to the battery life of Pixel. Slowly enough, the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 netbook has a yes, and there is one indisputable advantage: the battery life, which can easily be 8-9 hours, but less than 6 hours was not under any load. In Pixel (in which the iron will be more powerful) it is 4-5 hours. That, on the one hand, may seem small, but on the other, Pixel is a product for obviously not very busy people. This is a product for people who, firstly, want to stand out from the total mass of the Yablovo, and secondly, they really do not need anything except a browser, and they need a laptop to go to the cafe with him, and the rest - sit in a chair or lie with him on the couch. Well, and at the same time almost 60 thousand, which Pixel costs in Moscow, for them is not very big money.
As for the not so powerful Chromebooks, the same Samsung Chromebook Series 5, then this, in my opinion, is very convenient machines for parents and grandparents, or vice versa, for teenagers. Everything in these machines is simple - I, for example, did not have long to explain to my mom how to use Samsung Chromebook Series 5.
Well, and completing this review, I suggest watching the 50-minute podcast on the Chromebook Pixel me , as well as the video illustrating the work in ChromeOS .
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Design, ergonomics, hardware component
In principle, quite a lot has been said and written about the Chromebook Pixel, the configuration of its stuffing is known, so I think you can omit the bare listing of gigabytes, gigahertz and pixels. I had a model without LTE and, accordingly, with 32 GB of built-in flash memory, but this does not really matter, since the Varizon-based LTE in Moscow would still not work.
But do not say about the impression of design and ergonomic characteristics, I probably can not. The device seems to be a futuristic monolith, forgotten in a hurry by aliens who have flown away from Earth. But the matter is not even in those associations that are caused by a rigorous, chopped design. The point is the strength and reliability of the whole structure. I don’t know what would have happened with the Chromebook Pixel if KAMAZ had moved it, but there’s a feeling that nothing would have happened. The protruding hinge, which unites the display and main, keyboard halves, is incredibly durable.
By the way, constructively, the Chromebook Pixel reminded me of the Nokia BookLet 3G model: the same strict rectangular shapes, the same circular hinge protruding on the back side, the same aspect ratio of the display 3: 2.
The Chromebook Pixel case consists of three forms extruded from solid sheets of anodized aluminum: one sheet covers the back and sides of the touchscreen display (about it is separate below), the other, in which the holes for the keys and touchpad are cut, are the main part and the side. faces with connectors, and the third is a bottom removable cover - the screws are located under the four small rubber feet, spaced at the corners of this bottom cover.
Despite the fact that the design of the Chromebook Pixel is pronounced rectangular rather than wedge-shaped, the aluminum case evokes an association with the MacBookAir, and due to this association, the absence of any logo on the top cover draws attention. Instead of a logo, there is a strip of LEDs that flicker in blue when the Chromebook Pixel is open and running, and when you close or open the leg of your laptop, it lights up for a moment with a proprietary rainbow that personifies the Chrome logo. However, Chrome itself is present on the case in two places: above the keyboard and on the hinge that unites the display and main parts of the Chromebook Pixel.
On the side faces, as it usually is, there are connectors: 3.5 mm dual microphone and headphone jack, 2 x USB 2.0 (this is surprising why not USB 3.0, because this is the flagship model, but I will try to answer this question later) , the display port, which is due to the recent premiere of Chromecast, is not very clear why you need a fingertip connector for the power adapter (it would be better if there was a magnetic contact). On the right side, a card reader connector for SD cards, if there is only 32 GB of internal flash memory, this card reader is definitely needed. The LTE version has a micro-sim card slot next to the card reader.
The half of the Chromebook Pixel is perfectly balanced, it opens the laptop with one hand without any need to hold the case with the second hand. Moreover, it happens in a much more self-evident and confident way than in Macbooks and other ultrabooks. The notch intended for the thumb, which should cling to the lid in order to open the laptop, is intelligible and deep, you will not break your nails about it.
Although, of course, a different blonde looks Chromebook Pixel seems too brutal and masculine. But for my taste, it's not about sex differences and the Chromebook Pixel is really very strict, beautiful and ergonomic. The huge glass touchpad feels like the finest silk on the fingertips, which is why it is not so easy to break away from it. Remarkably, the touchpad control has changed relative to the same Samsung Chromebook Series 5 model. In the Chromebook Pixel, the pages scroll the same way as in the MacBooks (the page scrolls up as two fingers slide along the touchpad to itself, and while in Samsung Chromebook Series 5 everything is left just like in Ultrabooks on Windows: in order to scroll the page up, you need to drag the touchpad with two fingers to yourself, and to go upward, to the top of the page, from yourself.
The ability to customize the touchpad control in ChromeOS is missing, so those who switch to the Chromebook Pixel with Windows will have to break the movement stereotypes. All this is done, I think, not by chance. Thus, the developers of the device, as it were, are invited to transfer (at least partially) first of all laptop users from Apple to the Chromebook Pixel. Ways to switch keyboard layouts are also friendly to MacBook users: the layout is switched with the Ctrl + space combination, which is very similar to the keyboard layout switching in MacOS with correction for the command keys in ChromeOS. However, users who are accustomed to the keyboard combination for switching keyboard layouts in Windows are not deprived here: Ctrl + Alt in ChromeOS also changes the layout.
Another nuance: a new functionality has appeared in the Chromebook Pixel, - when a horizontal swipe on the touchpad with three or four fingers, the browser tabs opened in the active window are scrolled. Something like this was very lacking, and it was not enough for Samsung Chromebook Series 5. Why the same functionality did not appear on this Samsung Chromebook, I will not say, perhaps this is due to some hard-core restrictions.
The Chromebook Pixel keyboard looks very simple (of course, insular), but it is very convenient: the keys themselves are large (it seems a little more than the MacBook), the distance between them is enough to not miss with a half-blind typing. The keystroke, though short, is clear and resilient. The backlight is regulated only automatically by the built-in light sensor, but, on the other hand, it didn’t require any adjustment for a week of use. The backlight is not strong, but soft, sufficiently illuminating the letters engraved on the keys and nothing more.
For me personally, such a keyboard is ideal for printing. Next I would put only a keyboard with a Dell XPS 13, a Lenovo ThinkPad and a MacBookPro. The arrow keys, as in the MacBook, are allocated in a separate block, which is very convenient. Maybe for some, the first time will be to miss the separate PageUP and Page Down keys, as well as Home and End, however they are replaced by keyboard shortcuts, which I easily learned from Samsung Chromebook Series 5. Down the page in the browser is scrolled by pressing the space bar, or if this is the page with the text you are editing and the “space” is used for another purpose, use the Alt + down or up arrow keys. As for the replacement of Home and End, I personally used the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + arrows to navigate through the words and did not feel any discomfort from the lack of the Home and End keys removed.
In short, for the keyboard, touchpad and case, I would put a confident Chromebook Pixel 5+ on a five-point scale. And a Chromebook Pixel display with a diagonal of 12.85 inches and a resolution of 2560x1700 deserves no less an assessment, which (if we count dots per inch) even slightly more than the MacBookPro Retina 13. I did not make any special measurements of brightness, or comparative tests with Retina so I’ll say this: Linus Torvalds knowingly chose Chromebook Pixel for themselves . The display is really great: crisp, with delicate colors, great visibility both in sunlight and practically all viewing angles. I’ve read that, say, the Chromebook Pixel, due to the aspect ratio of the display, is not very convenient for watching movies, mostly oriented on screens with a 16: 9 aspect ratio. I can not confirm. Let the picture take up not all the space, even if there are black lines below and over the frame on the Chromebook Pixel screen - watching movies on this display is a great pleasure. Even movies viewed from VKontakte at a resolution of 360p look great on a Chromebook Pixel display. 38Mp Chromebook Pixel display photo can be viewed here.
But, not only is the Chromebook Pixel display with its current flagship resolution, it’s also touch-sensitive! The truth with this sensation came out bad luck. Whether so conceived, or touch control in ChromeOS is still in its infancy, but it’s impossible to scale the pages with Jobs' gesture in the browser. So, in fact, sensory character is used only for scrolling and navigation, which, on the other hand, is also not very small and, in certain positions, very relevant and convenient.
However, the main thing that pleasantly surprised me in the Chromebook Pixel is not the display, about the quality of which I heard, but the sound. Even before full-time contact, I had the occasion to read that the speakers in the Chromebook Pixel are located under the keyboard and, they say, this somehow influences the sound very well. But after reading, I did not attach much importance to this. And just starting to watch the movie felt the difference. First, the sound is very loud, enough to arrange a home disco or watch a movie with a comfortable, ala-cinema loudness. And secondly, with all the volume, the sound does not lose quality. It cannot be said that, for example, there are too many high frequencies in this sound, or too many low frequencies. Everything is normal and sufficient. In short, considering the quality of the display and the quality of the speakers, the Chromebook Pixel is an absolutely multimedia notebook, from which you can comfortably listen to music online without connecting external speakers. This is certainly a very important advantage of the model.
Concept and implementation
According to its concept, the Chromebook is a laptop from the future, by and large not very much from the distant future, and in some cities it is already coming. Moscow to such cities in principle can be attributed. The essence of the idea of ​​Chromebook and ChromeOS, on which it works, is that the user does not store his data on the drive of the device itself, but stores it in the cloud, or in various Internet resources. In part, this is how it happens, because our photos, which are especially valuable for a long time, are on Instagram, Flickr or on other hosts, the video is on YouTube, if you don’t want to show it, then it is stored only for you. And so on. Personally, I have been using GoogleDocs online text editor for at least three years and for everyday tasks I don’t feel any need for traditional Microsoft Word.
Moreover, using GoogleDocs, for example, to write notes and other short texts is much more convenient, because it is possible to send the editor not the text of the note itself, but only a link to it, and before he read it, edit it. The editor also has a number of advantages that are convenient for the author: he can make his notes and the author will see them as soon as he enters the same text, or he can see them in real time. The same applies to Excel tables, presentations and other documents. In a world in which one user uses several devices, it is indeed much more convenient to store all data in the cloud service and access it from absolutely any device.
In this regard, of course, it is impossible not to mention the weighty bonus pie that gives Google to all Chromebook Pixel customers: 1 TB of free space in the GoogleDrive cloud storage for three years. It is really a lot and very convenient. However, there are other, in fact no worse, cloud storage. For example, Box.com this spring distributed 50 GB for free to anyone who registered an account on a resource. I will not go into detail in this topic, but with 1TB of space on GoogleDrive, there is definitely enough space for all user data (we take the average advanced user). And then regardless of whether you want to access your data from a smartphone or tablet, they will always be at your fingertips.
But cloud storage of user data is only one part of the concept of a laptop cloud (but not transcendental) future Chromebook. In ChromeOS, the attitude towards the programs and applications that we used to install on our computers, tablets and smartphones has been fundamentally revised. In ChromeOS, in fact (de facto, it’s not quite so, and I’ll stop here just a little bit), there’s just one program: the Chrome browser. All other programs and applications you need are just customized bookmarks for pages of various web services, with which you can write and edit text or music, edit a video or edit a photo.
Why is all this necessary and is it worth it? - you ask. To answer this question, it is worth remembering about security. ChromeOS has it all right. The fact is that by installing programs and applications on our computer or laptop with Windows, we invade the operating system itself, which is fraught with consequences: firstly, the system itself is clogged, and secondly, there is the possibility of malware penetration along with any package Some programs, we downloaded from the Internet. In the case of ChromeOS installation of programs and applications does not occur. The operating system, like a monolith, is closed and impenetrable , and the functions of the applications are entrusted to the web services that open in the browser. Well, on the basis of the browser, you can develop essentially any functionality, including corporate. So, running a little ahead, I’ll say that ChromeOS, in my opinion, has a very big future, including in the corporate market, where, it would seem, Windows positions are unshakable.
I think many of us have noticed that the browser has become the most used program on their computer. This trend is built into the principle in a Chromebook. However, do not assume that you can work on a Chromebook only when connected to the network. This is a common opinion that does not correspond to reality. I wrote in detail about this in my note for Gazeta.ru , and therefore I will not repeat. Just add that on Pixel offline features are incomparable with what Samsung Chromebook Series 5 can do offline. For example, Pixel seamlessly plays Full-HD video, so you can burn an SD movie card to 64GB, insert it into a card reader and watch yourself On the health of these films on a great display and with a wonderful sound. The same goes for listening to music. Naturally, the file manager also works in ChromeOS without a network connection - I don’t even know for whom I wrote this last sentence.
Thoughts about the future
Of course, web services are not yet at such a level of development to completely replace some programs. Not only that, I’m sure that for professionals, the Chromebook will never replace a desktop computer with Windows or MacOS. But under my segment of small laptops or ultrabooks, both under Windows and MacOS, in my opinion, there is a time bomb called ChromeOS. Because in the laptop carried with us, we really do not need much, except for the browser. Mobile platforms with their browsers and applications still do not completely replace the desktop browser, and the presence of a full-fledged physical keyboard is sometimes necessary for work. Chromebook provides exactly this functionality. So, in essence, Pixel is a much more relevant and adequate product than the MacBookAir, and even significantly surpasses it in several criteria: display and case strength, for example. Personally for myself, I would love to have a desktop computer, or an iMac and Chromebook Pixel as a wearable laptop. And I don’t need any full-fledged OS on my laptop, - from the experience of semi-annual use of the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 and the weekly Chromebook Pixel, I can say this with absolute certainty.
For the week of using Pixel, I only once turned to a stationary, as it were, full-fledged computer, in order to help me with a series of photos and videos. In principle, I could do the same thing in the YouTube video editor , but for the tasks before me there was enough functionality in it.
I was able to search for some other browser-based video editor and found a WeVideo service designed for editing user data placed on various online resources: photos and videos. Here it is the beginning of the author’s, and more precisely, user’s Internet cinematography, I thought, but I didn’t understand the service more closely , it would hardly have turned out to be better than the programs I use: Conopus Edius , Resolume Avenue , Photodex Producer ( however, there was a web service in which I have yet to figure out, although at first glance, the functionality of the offline program is still more extensive).
Thus, we can say that the Chromebook Pixel at the moment is hardly suitable for those who are at least semi-professional engaged in photography, design, video or music. Although, in the add-ons and add-ons store, I discovered the Audiotool service, which impressed me with the interface. How functional it is, I won’t say either, I didn’t have time to figure it out. As for the photo, in addition to Chrome’s built-in viewer and photo editor, the store found the advanced Pixlr Editor .
In all other respects, Pixel did not remind me that this is a laptop on ChromeOS, since for the rest of the tasks I would most likely use online services in the browser. In particular, Google Docs for me has long been the main text editor, almost completely replacing Microsoft Word. Yes, recently, Microsoft has actively taken up the development of its own online services Skydrive and Office365, but I somehow got used to Google and see no particular need to switch to Microsoft services, although I use them from time to time in parallel.
Anyway, the fact that the main program of the majority of average users has been a browser two or three years ago is a fait accompli. In this sense, Google has absolutely correctly guessed the trend of the development of everyday, everyday computer use, bringing the interface of the operating system to perfect simplicity. In fact, the browser is all that a regular user needs. And taking into account the number of different devices simultaneously used by one person, it will be necessary to keep the main data array in the cloud, from where this data will be available from any device.
A Chromebook is the epitome of just such a user experience. Only problem was that initially, Google positioned notebooks on ChromeOS as low-end products on a lightweight (lame) operating system. This was due to the release by different manufacturers of several models of Chromebooks with netbook stuffing. I don’t know if conscious cunning was behind this, or Google really didn’t immediately realize that ChromeOS had few chances on weak hardware, but I saw the real potential and future of this OS in the performance of Pixel.
The unconditional advantages of ChromeOS include its simplicity and clarity. In fact, Google in ChromeOS did the same thing as Apple in iOS, by entering a single button. Only Google’s is the only button, a shortcut to the Chrome browser. But Microsoft, with its Windows8, went, on the contrary, along the path of complicating the user interface, and the logic of this complication, for my taste, is lame in both legs. However, it’s probably fair to note that I’ve hardly used Windows8 yet. Next week, they promised to give some kind of device from HP to use, so we'll see. Although, from what I know, I would like to try Windows8 on two Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga and Dell XPS 12 devices
The unconditional disadvantages of the Chromebook Pixel include its price. The version (without LTE) that I had was worth $ 1,300. Perhaps the stuffing Pixel, taking into account the display, excellent speakers, an aluminum case, 1 TB in GoogleDrive, etc., is really worth it. However, in this case, from the very beginning, it was stated that the Chromebook is in its concept a budget device. Well, is the concept revised? - I do not think. In my opinion, Pixel is essentially a serial engineering development, released into commercial testing. Actually, Google did the same with its glasses. At the same time, Google has experience in the production of low-end devices, an example of that Nexus 7 by Asus. So it is possible that in a year we will see the same Pixel, but already at a price of 600-700 dollars, that is, for the amount that the flagship smartphone costs.With this pricing policy, Chromebooks in cities can really push out ultrabooks and eyry.
In this regard, it is interesting that almost all major laptop manufacturers have already released a model of the Chromebook: Acer, Samsung, Lenovo, HP, but for some reason, Asus hasn’t yet a single model of the Chromebook. Could this be the reason why Asus has just released a massive Pixel? Ideally, this massive Pixel, like Nokia BookLet, should become an operator model and be released with a built-in communication adapter of a specific LTE operator. Returning to the price, I would assume that if you were in Moscow’s Chromebook Pixel by Asus with Yota 4G stores for the same $ 1300, you’d have a completely successful model. I’m not excluding, by the way, that something is planned, because all the background information about the Chromebook is diligently translated into Russian. Yes, and Yota it would help - so we can assume that the promotional effect of such a product would be not weak.And $ 1,300, this is actually not such an utterly big money.
I think the fact that the Chromebook Pixel is actually an engineering model, and not massively commercial, is caused by the presence of USB 2.0 ports, as well as the port display (since Chromecast and Chromebook are parallel, but they did two different teams). But all this stuff, which are eliminated in a year, is not difficult. As additions, I would like to see in the Chromebook Pixel NFC and wireless charging, floor mats for which (and then tabletops) will become a common and popular accessory.
By the way, with regards to the battery life of Pixel. Slowly enough, the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 netbook has a yes, and there is one indisputable advantage: the battery life, which can easily be 8-9 hours, but less than 6 hours was not under any load. In Pixel (in which the iron will be more powerful) it is 4-5 hours. That, on the one hand, may seem small, but on the other, Pixel is a product for obviously not very busy people. This is a product for people who, firstly, want to stand out from the total mass of the Yablovo, and secondly, they really do not need anything except a browser, and they need a laptop to go to the cafe with him, and the rest - sit in a chair or lie with him on the couch. Well, and at the same time almost 60 thousand, which Pixel costs in Moscow, for them is not very big money.
As for the not so powerful Chromebooks, the same Samsung Chromebook Series 5, then this, in my opinion, is very convenient machines for parents and grandparents, or vice versa, for teenagers. Everything in these machines is simple - I, for example, did not have long to explain to my mom how to use Samsung Chromebook Series 5.
Well, and completing this review, I suggest watching the 50-minute podcast on the Chromebook Pixel me , as well as the video illustrating the work in ChromeOS .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/188272/
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