TOTW: The Chromebook Pixel

It’s an ever-raging battle between top class rivals: Google vs. Apple.  The iPhone and the Nexus 4; the iPad mini and the Nexus 7; the iPad and the Nexus 10; and the MacBook Air and the new ChromeBook Pixel. All of these products are signs of their rivalry, with each pair being almost exactly the same in size and shape. This TOTW will be focusing on the not-so well known ChromeBook Pixel, Google’s new rival with Apple’s MacBook Air.

The ChromeBook Pixel, named after it’s astounding 4.3 million pixel screen, is Google’s latest, slickest, and frankly best-built laptop yet. Unfortunately, nothing can be perfect. In fact, the cons for the ChromeBook are disappointing and may be dealbreakers for some people. But, I’ll get to that later.

Hardware-wise, the ChromeBook Pixel is an absolute beauty. It has an amazing screen, as I mentioned before, and has the most pixels for a laptop in the world. It is elegantly designed, with a backlit keyboard, trackpad and touchscreen. Sadly, Google didn’t fully capitalize on the touchscreen, by limiting the actions you can use.  Still, you can swipe to go back in history while you are browsing, pinch to navigate Google Maps, and do other things of that sort.

Here comes the bombs. The dealbreakers. The do or die decision-makers. The first blow is… the bootlocked bootloader. Yes, just like Windows 8, the Chrome OS is bootlocked, which means you can’t load many “lifestyle” apps like Skype.  Google is trying to lead you to exclusively use Google’s alternative products, like Google Drive, Google Play, Google Music, Google Maps, Google Hangouts on Google +(instead of Skype), Google Translate, YouTube (which, in case you didn’t realize, Google owns), Google SketchUp, Google Books, Google Calendar, Google Earth and much much more.  As you can see, you won’t be completely limited, but if you like apps like Pages, Microsoft Word, or other things Google hasn’t replaced, the ChromeBook Pixel may not be for you.

The second blow is the price. This is a $1,300 laptop built for a minimalist (in relative terms). Google does have a lot to offer, but with the price tab their putting on it, you would think you would get a little more freedom. You could easily get a Macbook Air for $1,000, and use Google product along with the apps you get in the app store. And personally, I think the Macbook Air looks great as well. Overall, the ChromeBook Pixel looks fantastic, and if you are open-minded about your choice of apps, and willing to swallow the cost, the ChromeBook could be for you. Otherwise, a Macbook Air might just out-sprint the ChromeBook Pixel to the finish.