Retro toys, a tech review...

Yep, that's right, this is an actual tech review, kind of. It's really a retro-tech review. I do very few tech reviews and they are far between. Sometimes they are about software, and sometimes they are about hardware. Most of the time they are about super cool pens. This one happens to be about one of the most controversial pieces of tech in the internet-o-sphere: The dreaded Chromebook... Before you come at me with your pitchforks and torches, let me state my case. And in this case, this review should have been done 4 years ago, minimum. This is old tech, at least in the digital world, this review is your grandfather, yelling at you to "get of his lawn". I mean the product was from more than 5 years ago. 

I have talked about chromebooks before, the goods, the bads, and the weirds. Before you guys put the noose over my head and kick the stump, I will reiterate that Chromebooks aren't for everyone. Mostly students, although I would have hated to have one of these as a student. I think the only reason they  are used as such is because they are inexpensive, well most of them are, and that's what I want to revisit today. I am writer, a minimalist, a tech-nudist, and a Chromebook is about as naked as you can get. Which is why a lot of people don't like them.

Let me start off, and this is a full disclosure, I use a Samsung for most of my art. There is a free program, an android app called "Krita" (major shout out to those guys). It worked great on my Samsung Tablet, but that thing is dated, and I didn't just want to take it out back and put it out of its misery without having a viable backup device. I don't feel to bad about this, me and that Samsung have had a good run, but it just can't cut it any more. But what to do? Do I buy another Samsung Tablet? I love Samsung, but some of their recent choices have left me to scratch my head. So now what?

Well I didn't want to spend the arm, the leg, and give my first-born to a tech firm. But I really wanted that premium experience on the DL, and the short on cash. In other words I didn't want to spend above 5 "Benjies" on this thing. 

First off, there are plenty of tablets that run android apps, plenty of Samsung-spawn that come with dowry. But I swerved. I got this inkling there was something from my past that would fit the bill. Like an old "X" that still wanted me. Something so premium that I never even dreamed of buying it when it was a thing, back in 2018-2019.

That's right, the "Google Pixelbook", the $1600.00 techno-wonder from the colorful kingdom of "Goog'lay". You know, the one no one bought because of Chrome OS. Well, times have changed, and all those "Christmas presents" are being unloaded because they were never used. Oh, and there was another "mistake" that so many people decided to buy and then immediately regret... Same company, different tech- "The Pixel Slate"... Did someone just throw up their mouth? 

All jokes aside, I got both of these for under $300.00 USD. I do not feel ripped off in any way. I got an i7 with 16 gigs of ram and 512 gigs of SSD storage. And it runs like "Usain Bolt". I got the M3 version of the Google Slate with 8 gigs of RAM and 64 gigs of storage, and it does as good, if not better than the i7 at times. Let break this down, you know the drill, back to back, 20 paces, then turn and shoot. It's a tech-off.

First, the pros, because lets face it, there is one very large inescapable con, that we all want to talk about... we'll get to that. Let's start with the pixel book, then we'll date The Slate as a side piece.

The pixelbook pros: There are a lot. I am not surprised this laptop didn't take off, $1600.00 is a bit much to pay for it. But man, for around $150.00, I am in love. There is no stuttering in this machine, it just works, and works well. The pixelbook can do three modes: Laptop, tent, and tablet. Laptop is awesome, no one uses tent mode, and tablet is also awesome. If tent mode meant something to me, I might talk about it. I am sure it's awesome if there is a use case for it. In laptop mode, the rundown is as follows: The screen is good, 2400X1600, 3:2 aspect ratio. Not the brightest with a nit output of 400. It has great viewing angles, and great clarity- don't even think about comparing it with the Macbook's screen- there's not much that beats that out. These all remain the same for tent and tablet mode, however, the layout changes to meet your needs. Still the full OS, just presented to be more convenient for the mode it's in.

Next, the hardware, there's not much I can say, it's all gravy- runs like a charm. It's older, but its the best that 2018 has to offer, still way usable for the person that doesn't need to game. Like I said, I got the i7 version of this... A seventh gen i7, old AF, but more experienced than most other chromebooks on the market even today in the 2024 pre-apocalyptic Trumpian dystopia. The kind of age and experience that makes us all "hot for teach". Side note, this thing can easily run Win 11, if you know how to install it. It's a process, and it takes some tech knowledge, but it's a great windows machine if you manage to pull it off. 

Sound on this beast is just okay from the speakers, however, it's great with headphones. It is what it is. Connectivity has been good with my home network, I use "Starlink" and I don't have a top of the line wi-fi router, being that I live damn near off the grid. As a writer, there are two things that make this more bangable than anything else- the keyboard and trackpad. This keyboard  is amazing. The perfect amount of travel, the best tactile feeling, and the perfect size and layout. Oh, yeah, bonus! The keyboard is back lit. The track pad is as nice as the keyboard, it's glass, and soooo buttery. 

There are some other things to note here, first, I get 6 hours out of this device with regular usage. It's supposed to be 10+ hours minimum, I never expected this, so my expectations were right where they were supposed to be. 6 hours isn't bad at all. Another great thing about this device is the weight- it's around 2.4 lbs. Perfect for the guy or gal on the go. And it is a slim machine too, around 10.3 mm thick. This thing is on par with the build quality of the Macbook Air. It has no fans, it's silent. and the body is aluminum with glass accents.

Now, what about that Google Slate thingy? 

The Slate... I didn't expect to like it as much as I do. I do most of my art on a tablet, and one of the reasons I chose a Samsung, was that some of them come with stylists that are actually really good for art. It's one of the reasons I wanted to stay with them. It just so happens that both my Slate and the Pixelbook came with the "Digital pen". It's the google pen to be exact, first gen, and it works pretty okay. It's not the best I have ever used, but it's light years from the worst. When The Slate came out, they were $100.00 USD. I would call that way too much, for that kind of price I would expect "Apple Pencil" type quality. 

The Slate was billed as google's attempt to get in the melee as a serious competitor for the Apple Ipad Pro. Yeah right, there's not much that can compete with that thing, however, The Slate is in it's own class, unlike the Ipad, this does not have the chopped version of the OS on it. It has ChromeOS on it... And that's where I lose most people. Outside of that, the build is actually premium, dark, midnight blue, anodized aluminum. Gorilla glass, volume rockers, the works. Did I mention, this thing has a finger print ID button the power on/off function doubles for security, and it works great. 

The Slate is a lot of real estate for work, its 12.3 inches at 3000x2000 resolution, 337 nits (which is okay, but could be better), and it has some great viewing angles. For some people this thing might be a little too big, and it might be a little too heavy at 1.6 lbs. Because I have big hands and am used to lugging around big things, this didn't bother me one bit. The Slate usually comes with a magnetic cover and a keyboard, I didn't get that so I cant review it. I have heard that it's not as good as the Pixelbook keyboard, I would believe that, because not much out there is. One thing I will note about the Slate is that the speakers are really good, in fact, they are terrific, like I am not kidding, these things are apple quality.  

Now, the thing that brought you to the gate with the pitchforks. ChromeOS. There I said said it. ChromeOS is the reason these things didn't do well out of the gate, and the reason google couldn't sell them for $1600.00. For that kind of cash, anyone could get a MacBook Pro, Microsoft Surface, or any number of windows laptops/tablets/convertibles. 

ChromeOS is just not what people want, and there's no way around that. It's come a long way, it's cornered the education markets, it's held its ground, but lets face it- it's a blind prize fighter swinging as much as it can trying to hit something.  

With the introduction of Android apps, it got to stay afloat. Now, I can use Linux apps on it. Soon... who knows? The problem is it's just not a complete OS, especially when you try to do things like editing videos or animations. Create music or use most of your favorite programs. For me, this was very obvious, before I even started using the Pixelbook, no Scrivener. I use that program a lot, it's okay because I still have both my lenovo, and my Macbook Air and they both have it installed. In this modern world, people want to use things like Protools, adobe products, and, of course, Microsoft office. These do not come native to a chromebook and never will. ChromeOS has only one option, come up with it's own software in an already established market, I doubt that's going to happen. 

There is one other con to both these devices, for me it's not a con, but for most people it most likely will be. The lack of I/O. There's really not much to choose from, and you better unzip and pull your dongle out because old USB isn't native to either of these devices. On the slate, you have 2 USB C ports, that is all. Now wait a min, 2 ports on a tablet? Both charge the device? If this thing ran IOS most of you would have two of them. But, it's also supposed to double as a laptop, so there's that. On the Pixelbook you get almost the same thing- 2 USB C ports, but also, whats this? You get your headphone jack back. All those old headphones you have that aren't bluetooth, you can use them with this and the sound is as good as the headphones will allow.

So, to sum up, at under $300.00 for both these devices, I feel I got a steal. I hope you all got some insight from this, and maybe some of you will discover something new. 

Cheers!