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I have have an old Acer 11" Chromebook that i bought 3-4 years ago, but the thing is starting to crap out. It also tends to be slow with video and the screen sucks. It used to not work with my office's Citrix server, but for some reason it does not. I don't know if that was Google or my office making an upgrade, but because of this Chromebooks have become 10x more useful to me. I have also long ago made the decision to buy movies and what not in Google's ecosystem, and I like their offline functionality for long flights, etc. The Chrome movies app used to be horrendous, but they really fixed it up a lot. I want a new Chromebook with a decent size & sharp screen, touch sceen, convertible and good performance. I have been strongly considering the pixelbook, but I haven't been able to mess around with it because it is only offered online. Anyone have any experience or heard good things about the Pixelbook? One of the things I always loved about Chromebooks was that they were so cheap. My current one was like $200. I travel a lot, so if I lose or break it, I wouldn't lose much sleep. However, it seems they they are becoming more mainstream and feature heavy and I am considering getting a premium one (such as the pixelbook). I just don't know if is "there" yet. The early versions of offline docs, apps, etc, were extremely buggy.
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Nov 7, 2017 05:18
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 01:38 |
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Atomizer posted:Since you mentioned wanting to do both dev stuff and leisure activity, I'd lean you towards one of the "mid-range" convertibles in the 2nd post. If you're going to be spending a lot of time with a machine it should be halfway decent. The vast majority of CBs have 4 GB of RAM, which is fine if you're using upwards of a dozen or so tabs and I don't think the other uses you mentioned are any more demanding than that. What complicates matters is that you're outside the US and have a somewhat low budget, so actually finding devices that are available for you to purchase is going to be a challenge. Can you link that C5FK model so I can look at it? I'm not sure that's an actual official Acer model. Err, yes. It works now. This essentially gives me a portal to my office windows machine with a full suite of engineering software. Aside from that, I don't really have any Windows specific programs that I use anymore. I am a bit of a Google whore, so all my docs, photos, calendar, contacts, movies, mail, etc. are all on Google cloud apps. That's why I really love the Chromebooks, it does everything I need very well.
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Nov 7, 2017 16:53
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You can just read any review; the consensus is that the hardware is excellent, it's simply expensive and you have to be able to work within the limitations of ChromeOS.
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Does anyone think Google with drop the price of the Pixelbook for Black Friday or the holidays?
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Nov 14, 2017 00:23
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So I am continually torn between the Samsung Chromebook Pro and the Google Pixelbook. Part of me wants the added computing power and backlit keyboard, but my rational half is saying I really don't need all of that for an extra $500. I also like the compactness of the Samsung. The pixelboox is bigger and have squared off corners, which makes it harder to quickly throw in a backpack or something. Similarly, I always liked the cheap cost of chromebooks given that I travel a lot with it, etc. If I lose it, it is not the end of the world compared to a $1500 Surface or something. That being said, the Pixelbook is really nicely built, and has the horsepower. I have an older chromebook and I feel it gets laggy if I have 4-5 tabs open, especially if there are lots of video ads. I want to avoid that.
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Dec 6, 2017 17:29
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Atomizer posted:Edit: $100 off the base Pixelbook on Amazon, which brings it down to $900 and I guess it qualifies for that $50 GC too! Been waiting for this, and I think I will pull the trigger on it next week.
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Dec 18, 2017 05:10
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I finally pulled the trigger on the Pixelbook after having a crappy $250 Acer Chromebook for the last three years or so. This thing is amazing. The keyboard is so much nicer to type on, the track pad extremely well tuned, and the screen is a marvel to look at. Even the apps are tons better. I used to use the google movies chrome app and it would always have errors with downloaded movies, etc. This thing works like a charm. I was a little apprehensive about spending so much for a Chromebook, but in reality I will probably get more use out of the Chrome environment than the Windows one since I use Google's suite of apps almost exclusively. It was $900 from Best Buy, plus a free Google Home (~$129 value), plus six months of free netflix (~$75 value), plus two years of 100GB Drive storage ($40 value). The Netflix and Drive promotions saved me money I would have otherwise spent, and I gave the Google Home as a give to someone who wanted one, since I already have it. All told, it was only ~$150 more than the Samsung Pro, and I think you get so much more from the Pixelbook.
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Dec 21, 2017 04:54
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Atomizer posted:I was at the Google Store, had the i7 Pixelbook in my cart, and I couldn't pull the trigger. I want and am sure I'd love one, but can't justify the cost considering every other CB I have. I don't think you really need the i7; the i5 works great, and I haven't experienced a single instance of wanting more power. On another note: the keyboard and trackpad on this thing is probably the best I have ever used on a laptop. My only complaint is that the battery has been somewhat lackluster. I only get 4-5 hours of use while browsing and less with watching videos. Is there a brightness setting I am missing?
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Dec 26, 2017 17:40
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So my Pixelbook kept showing max 4-5 hours of battery. However, I recently reset it and now get 10-12 estimated. I guess it just took time to calibrate the battery estimation?
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Jan 2, 2018 19:32
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Isn't Amazon in some big tiff with Google over streaming services? Its probably not related, but with all the petty poo poo they have been going back and forth with I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it was. I also get stuttering streaming performance on the Amazon Video app. Netflix and just about everything else works fine. The only exception is the Google Play Movies app which for some reason was not letting me stream Sunday night. I kept getting an error saying "An error has occurred, if this continues try resetting your Chromebook". It has worked fine in the past, so it might have been the Google servers going wonky that night. I could still stream perfectly over the Google Play website though...
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Jan 30, 2018 17:11
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So apparently the Android app for Google Play movies is not working on my Pixelbook. It will start, but it won't play movies, giving me an error as previously described. In addition, other Android environment apps are working extremely slowly, specifically Citrix Receiver. This is odd because they previously worked perfectly when I bought the thing 3-4 weeks ago. My best guess is that the latest patch addressed the Intel meltdown issues, but is having compatibility issues with the port of the Android environment. Google support was typically not helpful and kept bouncing me back and forth between Pixelbook support and App support. Either way I downloaded the Chrome app for Citrix and Google Movies and it works perfectly. I would even say I prefer to the Chrome OS version because it runs natively and call scroll with the arrow keys (a key annoyance of running Android apps on a chromebook). The Chrome OS version also only shows the content you have bought, which is nice. The Android version would make me skim through every season of a TV show to find the episodes I previously purchases. For a show like Top Gear with 22 seasons, this became a headache when I wanted to find something. It is kind of annoying that Google's own apps are not working on its own laptop, but I think I am used to it after using their hardware and software for so long. I have turned off the Google play / Android environment in the meantime to keep everything simple as I don't really use other Android apps.
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Feb 1, 2018 02:19
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Uncle Lizard posted:Strangely enough, I just tried the Google play movies app on my Samsung Chromebook plus and it works perfectly fine. That's bullshit to spend 3 times the price with worse functionality. Hopefully they get it fixed for you. Unfortunately it has been doing it for about a week since I first noticed it. Like I said, the incident actually made me go download the Chrome OS version which I like better. However it is annoying that it isn't working to begin with, as you indicated.
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Feb 1, 2018 14:43
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I have had my pixelbook for about six months now. So far it has been a great device for browsing, videos and the majority of what I use it for (including Citrix VPN). However I must say that the port of Android apps to the ChromeOS environment is loving garbage. I primarily use Google's own apps (Google Play Music, Movies, etc) and they constantly crash. Right now I can't even get into Google Play Store; the default app. Most frustratingly, apps that have content download for offline viewing (Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Google Play Movies) are super flaky. Sometimes they works, sometimes they completely don't. Sometimes they are laggy, of bad quality, etc. I travel a lot, so having movies to watch on the plane is a nice thing to have. Nothing like coming back from London on a seven hour flight to realize that none of your downloaded movies don't actually work. I now use the ChromeOS app for Google Movies because it is a little more reliable, if not as flashy. I just set up a iPad that I got for my mom, and I am seriously considering going to the dark side to get a reliable experience with this poo poo. I don't know why Google sucks with user experiences; it is why Apple keeps trouncing them in these markets.
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May 12, 2018 22:34
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 01:38 |
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lelandjs posted:Dumb question I suppose but have you tried power washing? Multiple times; along with disabling the play store, re-enabling it, reinstalling the app, etc. I also want to note that it is every android app that is crapping out, and has been afflicting me almost exclusively after one of their updates. On an aside, it is kind of annoying that the only support help that Google can provide for such issues is "completely reset your device, settings and apps and hope it works again". Powerwashing has been the only substantive suggestion that Google support staff has been able to give me after multiple inquiries to them. Google has always been much more of a beta test atmosphere with their services, but if they are going to start offering (and charging prices for) Apple-esque experiences, they need to get their poo poo together with it. Cheesemaster200 fucked around with this message at 05:13 on May 13, 2018 |
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May 13, 2018 05:04
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