Google Pixelbook (i5, 8 GB RAM, 128GB) (GA00122-US)

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Alvaro - Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2018

Great chromebook, not for everyone.

The item is a fantastic product and the most premium chromebook you can buy. However, I would say that unless you specifically want the pixel pen or the google assistant feature, you can get other chromebooks costing $400-500 and pretty much have the same experience. However, since I love having the best and am huge fan of chromebooks, I would definitely buy again. It's thin, fast, beautiful, and feels great in your hands. The pen is useful although not absolutely necessary. It's worth it if you get it cheaper than full price. Again, the selling point (in comparison to other chromebooks) is the pixel pen & google assistant feature. (Update April 1) So I was accidentally messing with the Chromebook and cracked the screen. And I researched it and found that they have a fixing program through uBreakiFix, I took it to the to the store and for $480 they will fix the screen. Actually what they do is they send the laptop back to Google and Google sends you a brand new laptop. Obviously although this is quite expensive, this is an amazing feature because you get a completely new pixelbook which actually includes a new charger. I was very pleased with this program they overnight shipped it and I have a brand new pixelbook. I'm very impressed with Google on this.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Jesse Stevenson - Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2017

Best laptop of the year!

I recently chose to switch from Windows to Chrome OS. I purchased the Samsung Chromebook Pro back in May of 2017. I liked it quite a bit, however I was not impressed with the keyboard. I decided to upgrade to the Pixelbook, even though it took some convincing on my part because the $1,000 price tag seemed extremely high. I have to be honest, I have not regretted the purchase for even one second. This is, by far, the greatest laptop I have ever owned. The design is flawless, the silicone palm rests are a fantastic detail, and there is nothing you can throw at this machine that will slow it down. It is a productivity monster. Within 15 to 20 seconds of turning the laptop on, I am online and working. There is no slow boot up, no annoying updates, and no expensive antivirus program necessary. Plus, productivity software comes free. No need to purchase a separate program like Microsoft Office Student or anything. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides come free with my Google account and provide everything I need. If anyone out there is on the fence about buying this, let me make your decision easier: You will absolutely love this laptop, and if you already use Google apps, or you are considering switching to Chrome OS, I promise that you will not regret this purchase at all. Thank you, Google, for making the best laptop of the year and one of the best laptops ever made. Update, 2/8/18: Well, it has been nearly four months, and I am still loving my Pixelbook. It has become my one and only daily driver, and I have sold my old Windows desktop PC. I keep discovering more and more things that I can do with this awesome laptop. Below is a pic from Starbucks last night, as I chatted with a friend on Google Hangouts, worked on a spreadsheet for work, edited an audio file, and listened to a YouTube video. I have fully converted to Chrome OS, and I foresee my Pixelbook being my one and only computer for a long time to come. Absolutely buy the Pixelbook if you are in the market and have the funds available. Once you realize that you can do absolutely everything you need to do on one, you will never use any other type of computer. Edit Tuesday, 8/21/18: Business trip, and as you can see in the picture, I have my Google Pixelbook with me as always! It has been nearly a year since I took the "Pixelbook Plunge", and I could not be happier with my decision. The Pixelbook has inspired me to completely embrace Google's vision of the cloud method of personal and business computing. and my only regret is that I did not do it sooner. And now that the Pixelbook is discounted down to $749 and the pen is down to $82, there could not be a better time to get yours. Buy the Pixelbook, you won't regret it!

2.0 out of 5 stars

By AmazonCustomer - Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2018

A thorough disappointment

I purchased the entry level Pixelbook for a family member who like me is a longtime Android and Google user. ( i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) After a few frustrating hours, we decided to return it. I don’t write many reviews, and usually none this long, but this experience was so maddening I wanted to share it for other potential buyers. tl;dr The Pixelbook is far too limited to be called a true laptop; its not even as capable as a current Android smartphone. It seems like an expensive toy designed to promote Google Assistant. Here's a detailed list issues we found through basic everyday use in the first 2 hours. - Google "apps" in the taskbar -Sheets, Gmail, - aren't "apps". They're links to browser plugins. So after you just signed into the laptop, you open the Gmail "app" and get prompted to sign in again. This is a worse user experience then a phone. - The ability to install Apps from the Play Store is a big selling point. So you can install the Gmail Android app to keep a persistent login. But guess what? There are no system sounds installed, so you don’t get notifications, which is the next problem... - Notifications are useless. There is a counter in the bottom tray but there is no visual popup or sound to alert you like Windows 10 Android or iOS or any consumer electronic OS made in the past 25 years. When you get an email you don't know until you open the "app" in the browser. - Checking the interwebs we found a "workaround" to install an Android app with its own sounds built in. Or copy your own sounds from another device into the Notifications folder. That leads to t he next problem, local File Management . - The native File Manager hides most files from you. You can't access the Notification folder to import sounds from a USB stick. Nor can you easily create a new folder, drag and drop files, or do other core tasks any laptop should provide. You have to download a 3rd party file explorer from the Store to do that. We went through all this and still the system didn't recognize added sounds. Notifications foiled again! - Back to the file system. It seems Google expects you to sync everything to My Drive. But on a laptop don't most people have some sensitive files they store locally only? Good luck doing this with the built in File Manager. - Likewise, you can't open password protected MS Office files in Google apps. Its not supported. I found a very crass comment on support forums saying "Drive is password protected, why would you need to protect individual files?" Missing the point totally…. - No worry though you can install the free Android Excel app and open password protected files just like on your phone right? Wrong. Microsoft requires an O365 subscription to use their apps on the Pixelbook or any device with screen over 10". So something you can do or free on any Android phone costs you $10/mo on the $1000 and up Pixelbook. Foiled yet again - Maybe you heard Chrome OS can run Linux apps in Developer mode. Not for the average user, but your desperate now. While great, you can install LibreOffice the opensource MS Office alternative. Except you need to know how to use the Linux terminal to do it. Even if you do Linux apps are run in a secure container. You can't access your folder structure, you have to copy files you want to work with to a Linux only folder then move them back later. Another half-baked idea not ready for prime time. - More on running Android Apps. Chrome OS is not the same as Android OS. Under the hood ,the latest Chrome OS 71 is still using the out of support Android version 7.1.2 which no longer gets security updates as of Nov 5, 2018. So the brand new device you just bought is already unpatched! Google brags how secure the device is which makes this even harder to stomach. - And last, even something as simple as playing music didn’t work right. I loaded a few albums from a USB stick. The stock barebones music player and Play Music apps couldn’t display the .JPG albumart. GMMP Android player from the store could. These are the same albumart files that work on Android phones for years... All of this is what two reasonably tech savvy users uncovered in just a few hours with the Pixelbook. As longtime Android users we know its not unusual for Google products to get released in a nascent state then be refined over time. But this product has been on the market for a year already and it still feels like its barely a Beta version. I can't believe they make a $2000 i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, 512 SSD version for something with so many issues which can only run browser and Android apps. I can not recommend the Pixelbook to anyone at any price.