In the harsh cold light of the morning, I’m turning back to Google’s Pixelbook and addressing some feedback and some day two awkwardness.
The feedback to my first hands-on article about the Google Pixelbook was predictably all over the map. But I was very happy with the quality of that feedback.
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That is, it was interesting to watch readers provide answers to some of the questions that doubters (or even haters) asked. Accurate answers. Non-emotional answers. In many cases, I’d read a comment, formulate a response, and then find out someone else had already handled it. That’s good stuff. That’s the way this should work.
Looking at a few general themes, I can see that price is the major barrier for many, and that the combination of a high price and Chrome OS, which many see as inadequate, makes this device a non-starter. That’s understandable. No product is perfect for everyone. But I see Pixelbook as part of a continuum, much like Surface is on the Windows PC side of the fence. It’s aspirational for both customers and partners.
As you would expect from the more technically-inclined readers of a tech blog, there were a lot of very specific complaints; having access to certain features in Excel, and the like. I get that.
But we all need to step outside of our very specific ways of doing things and understand that “good enough” really is good enough for most people. A Chromebook, whether it’s expensive or not, may seem like a waste of money to you. But the complexity and ongoing costs of Windows seem like a waste of time and money to a very big audience as well. And the software a Chromebook runs, including Google’s productivity suite, is good enough for many. Including many educational institutions, by the way. An entire generation of users will know nothing else. This is one of those things that’s happening no matter whether we like it, or agree with it.
Anyway. Kudos to everyone who chimed in. This is the kind of discussion or debate that is worth having, whether it happens in person—which is always better—or virtually.
Since posting that first impressions article, I’ve continued to use the Pixelbook, as possible, throughout the day. I’m not switching to Chrome OS or anything like that, nor will I engage in the standard “blogger tries something else and you’re not going to believe what happens next” type of thing that is far too common these days. But I do have some observations. And as we move forward, many of those observations will, by necessity, involve how well I can adapt myself to some of the (often) weird differences between this device and the Windows PCs with which I am more comfortable and familiar.
Put simply, it’s awkward.
I try to preach about being open to change—hell, I did so as recently a few paragraphs ago—but the truth is, change is hard. It’s hard because familiar is always easier than unfamiliar. And it’s not clear that some new way of doing things is better. It may just be different. It may very much be worse.
Here’s an example.
With Chrome OS, you get very seamless access to Google Drive, Google’s cloud-based storage service, and you get limited access to local files on the device. That is Chrome OS includes a Files app which works like File Explorer in Windows at a high level. But the system basically assumes that you’re using Google Drive for everything.
This gets weird in a few ways. The Pixelbook comes with at least 128 GB of storage, which is monumental compared to the 16 or 32 GB that is more typical on most Chromebooks. But the system isn’t really tailored to use that storage efficiently: That Files app does provide access to Audio and Videos folders, for example, but not Documents or Music. Regardless, it doesn’t offer to make such locations the default for anything. And, of course, most apps—whether they’re web-based or Android apps—kind of do their own thing. There’s no real sense that you’d ever want to know where things are stored.
And I don’t want to use Google Drive. I want to use OneDrive. You can access OneDrive from the Files app by installing what I’ll call an extension (it’s officially supported). But you can’t sync anything. You can just browse your storage, and when you double-click any file, it opens, slowly, from the Internet.
That’s better than nothing. But apps can’t really use it. For example, I use a web-based photo editing app called Pixlr, and it’s surprisingly full-featured (to anyone still surprised to discover that web apps can be awesome, I guess). But when I try to access a OneDrive-based photo from this app, the File Open dialog (not its real name) doesn’t show thumbnails. And you can’t even open a photo/image file. So … It’s a non-starter. And one form of struggle for me, specifically, and perhaps for many coming from the Microsoft world.)
Another major weirdness will impact anyone using a Pixelbook or other modern Chromebook: There are often both Android and Chrome OS versions of apps, and knowing which to use is confusing and unclear. The problem here, really, is that the onus is on the user: You have to do the work of finding the app(s) in either or both of the available stores (and/or the web), trying both app types, and keeping up on changes to either app that may put a different version over the top in the future. That’s crazy.
And I don’t see a solution here. For Microsoft’s productivity apps, for example, I’ve been trying both, and keeping the one I prefer more (say, OneNote for Android instead of OneNote Online) and removing the other. For other apps, it varies: I sort of like having the smartphone version of a music app—Spotify, Google Play Music, whatever—floating around in a little window, because that’s sort of a secondary/background activity. It’s just something you have to deal with on a case-by-base basis.
Finally, I didn’t really get into this in the first article, but anytime I look at a product like this, I view it from two perspectives: How well it would meet the needs of a wider, more general audience. And how well it might meet my own needs.
So, does this thing meet my needs?
No, not really. I would personally prefer a bigger display, though I understand how that would make the device less usable in tablet mode. But then I find that tablet mode is thick and heavy, and less elegant than just using a separate device (iPad Pro, phablet) for reading or whatever.
Some might believe that I stick with Windows simply because of my Microsoft focus or whatever. That’s not the case: I actually prefer Windows generally, and Windows 10 specifically, over any other personal computing platform. And I try them all, regularly. If money was no object, I would currently choose a Mac over any Chromebook, but that could change as Android app integration becomes more seamless; certainly, the Pixelbook is an impressive laptop. But I would, and do, choose Windows over either regardless. It’s just a personal preference.
But I get it. I get why some people would want a Pixelbook. And I certainly get why many people are fans of Chromebook more generally. This is a viable alternative for Windows or the Mac, and it will only grow in popularity and usage. And I’ll keep testing it, of course, as I’ve been doing for years. It doesn’t pay to be close-minded about this or anything else. Google is getting a lot right with Pixelbook, and with Chrome OS and Chromebook. And even if you are doubter, you should be impressed by how quickly this system is maturing.
Anyway, thanks for the discussion.
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#214854"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a></blockquote><p>Not really Paul. </p><p><br></p><p>That copy of Windows 10 S can be upgraded (for free right now) for a small cost, $49? and then you get the whole world of Win32.</p><p><br></p><p>Can ChromeOS but upgraded to enable it to run Adobe CC, Quickbooks, AutoCad, Avid, Win32 MS Office…etc?</p><p><br></p><p>That Surface Laptop with the free upgrade to Pro, until the end of the year just became 100x more useful.</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#214887"><em>In reply to Adzprazolam:</em></a></blockquote><p>Lol, 98% of Chromebooks run on junk hardware that is $300 or less. Have you ever used a Chromebook that most of the public schools hand out to kids? I would rather use pencil and paper.</p><p><br></p><p>A $300 Windows laptop can run Chrome just as well as Chromebook. Plus you can probably run a few thousand Win32 apps as well. Probably not screaming fast and probably not half a dozen at one time….but you can.</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#214915"><em>In reply to RocklandUSA:</em></a></blockquote><p>I have used both Crossover and Wine on both Linux and macOS. While both can run most Windows apps on Linux/Mac the experience is far from optimal. Apps are laggy or not all features work or some apps do not even run. You spend a lot of time trying to tweak apps to run under those emulation modes. Also newer versions of apps don't become compatible for a while, so you end up having to run older versions that have been tweaked to work over the years.</p><p><br></p><p>On my Mac I have vmware fusion which I used to use for Visio for my network diagrams but I have since completely moved to OmniGraffle and I can't remember the last time I fired up the Windows VM. Virtual solutions IMHO opinion work much better than emulation like Crossover. Can you hack a chrome book to run VMware workstation for Linux? Not that Chromebook tend to have a lot of hardware resources.</p>
Bats
<p>I have said this time and time again….it's not about the operating system. It's the always about the apps. The OS is irrelevant. As long as people can effectively can perform their real work, it doesn't matter. </p><p><br></p><p>Change is not hard. Once someone commits to change, then change is done. Perfect example is the THURROTT family who moved from one town to another. They made the change and they seem fine with it. Chrome OS is easy to make the change too. The Crux of the experience is the Chrome browser. If you can operate chrome browser or any browser, you can operate Chrome OS. </p><p><br></p><p>AS FOR WINDOWS….it's too complicated. </p>
jbuccola
<p>The holy trinity of personal computing is ecosystem-device-apps, where ecosystem implies 1st party cloud services native to the device.</p><p><br></p><p>It is becoming increasingly clear that non-native cloud services on a device are just inferior experiences, even if the service itself is better. Less so for apps.</p><p><br></p><p>The problem seems to be that the line between apps and ecosystem is blurring quickly, and the ecosystem/device maker draws bright lines around what works natively well with the device vs. an ‘alien’ app. </p><p><br></p><p>This dynamic drives me crazy, whether its Pixelbook’s lack of true OneDrive integration, Siri only working with Apple Music, CarPlay only using Apple Maps, etc.</p><p><br></p><p>Is it worth having better service / in-app experiences or a more seamless overall experience?</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#214841"><em>In reply to jbuccola:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I don't think what you want will ever happen. Companies will focus on maximizing their profits and to be as open as you and many others would like goes against them maximizing their profits.</p><p><br></p><p>Google never ported a single app to Windows Phone. They only port them to iOS because of its popularity which equals massive info grab for them.</p><p><br></p><p>Apple won't allow Google Maps in Car Play. They will never port iMessage to Android either.</p><p><br></p><p>I have found that over time it is best to stick to one vendor as much as possible to maximize the experience. For each person the "experience" might mean something different. I tried really hard to be a Microsoft only ecosystem person. Microsoft killed off to many things for that to happen, phone, band, music services etc.</p><p><br></p><p>For me Apple, at a cost, provides the best ecosystem. The very tight integration between Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch,iCloud etc is better than the rest. Lots and lots of little things that just work well together. Example go to a new place and jump on the wifi, typing in the password to say your Mac. If your iPhone and Mac are tied to the same iCloud account, the iPhone will get jump on the Wifi network automatically. Simple thing, but just one of many things that make the ecosystem so good on Apple.</p><p><br></p><p>Even then I still use MS-Office and Onedrive. I have iCloud Drive as well but Pages, Sheets etc are a joke compared to basically anything else, and sharing with iCloud while much improved still is lacking compared to Google Drive and One Drive. </p>
Bats
<blockquote><a href="#214870"><em>In reply to conan007:</em></a></blockquote><p>No it's not. For the average thurrott.com user it's easy breezy. However, for a regular person it's not simple. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
Bats
<p>About sometime ago, I was at my local Best Buy just browsing to see and play around with some cool tech. When I saw the Pixelbook, I played around with it. One of the things I noticed was how well Chrome functioned on it. It was so smooth, fast, and buttery, I believe that it would be very accurate to say that Chrome web browser on ChromeOS (Pixelbook) is far better than Microsoft Edge on Windows 10. </p><p><br></p><p>A few things:</p><p><br></p><p>Paul's Experience with running a Onedrive App from the Chromebook and it being slow,….the problem is the app. Like I stated many times on this website, all my personal data I keep with Google. All my work data, I keep with MSFT via Onedrive. Running Word Online from Internet Explorer (on Windows 7) is far slower to boot up than Google Docs on Google Drive. Far, far slower. It's just not Word, but also Excel, Powerpoint, etc..</p><p><br></p><p>Chromebooks are like Desktop PCs at work. Rather than being connected to the local LAN, your being connected to the global LAN, the internet. Chromebooks are optimal when used with Google services: Gmail, Calendar, Web, Youtube. The best example I could give to illustrate the greatness Chromebook's simplicity is to describe how my 70 year old mother and 10 year old niece use it. My mother is a leader for her Church group and she organizes a lot of events. One of the things I trained her to do, is to send Calendar Invites to all the people in her "group" simply by creating an event and sharing it to the group through Google Calendar. In her Gmail Contacts, she created a "group" of the people that are in her group. All she had to do in Google Calendar was find her Group and simple share it to that one entry that contained 125 names. PEOPLE….for all those who use Outlook (like me) on a daily basis, does that function sound familiar? Of course it does, it should. My mother also creates documents using Google Docs, which is a word processor, that is about the features of Word, through extensions, but surpasses Word in simplicity. There is just so much "richness" contained in the Google ecosystem, it's not even funny. Microsoft is not even close.</p><p><br></p><p>Someone earlier tried to say how great Windows with Citrix is. LOL….I was like "are you serious?" Windows 10 + Citrix equals SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. LOL…why use a computer to use another computer just to run the software you need? Why do that, when you can do the same exact thing online. The web is where everything should be heading. Web Apps are the clearly the future, as well as the present. I hate to say this, because I know I am right regarding, but web apps can destroy Windows. The premise of Microsoft Windows is that in order for a document or anything to be created, one has to obtain the software, install it on the PC, and run it from there. Web Apps require no installation, just a browser, login, and password. If that's all it needs, then one can just use a Chromebook or a very simple Linux distro. Seriously….who wants to complicate their life with Windows and their licensing agreements and all the malware and ransom ware. This is why Chrome OS went from nothing to the #2 Operating System in the world. </p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#214875"><em>In repurly to Bats:</em></a></blockquote><p>I do get the simple aspect of Google Doc's. </p><p><br></p><p>I belong to a some different groups, church, kids sports, couple of clubs and basically all of them use Gmail/Free Google Docs to organize events and such. It does not really amount to much actual use of those products. Mostly email and then a few posted docs's for information or sheets for signup stuff. It is basically disposable. No actual cost was spent so it is a good option. None of this, that I know of, is done from a Chromebook. It all done via Windows/Mac computers and mobile devices (email).</p><p><br></p><p>If it was to cost anything then I suspect that no one would actually use it unless it was the cheapest option and by a long shot.</p><p><br></p><p>This statement…</p><p><br></p><p>"This is why Chrome OS went from nothing to the #2 Operating System in the world."</p><p><br></p><p>How do you figure that? I call BS. Chrome OS does not even register on Netmarketshare unless it is lumped in with Linux, and that is at 3% behind macOS and and 87% behind Windows.</p>
skane2600
<p>I believe the intersection of users who have modest needs for a computer and users who are willing to spend a premium for a computer is quite small. </p>