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I remember it like it was yesterday, watching Google announced the pixel book on stage at the second ever October hardware event they hosted in San Francisco
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It was a crowning achievement in my eyes, seeing a Chromebook up on stage right alongside new pixel hardware
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And even though it took a lot of the tech media a bit of time to come around to the brilliance that still is the pixel book, I was mesmerized right away
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I knew it was an important piece of hardware and that it would shape the future of Chromebooks in significant ways
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And it did that. There's no question about it. And much of the Chromebook and Chromebook Plus
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landscape we have today is thanks in no small part to the impact of this exceptional Chromebook
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But what about seven years later? Does a device that was so amazing in 2017 still hold its luster
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so many years after its launch? Let's talk about it. Well, I won't bury the lead on this one. It totally does. Using the pixel book, not even the highest
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and version of it in 24 is still fantastic. It's not perfect, but still awesome. And we'll get into
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all of that. But with this video, I don't really need to tell you whether or not to go buy one
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I mean, that time frame has long since passed at this point. Instead, I simply want to shine a
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light on perhaps the most iconic, influential Chromebook ever made and see if it still holds up
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so many years after it arrived And that conversation absolutely must start with the build quality We talked about this a ton on our channel and on the website but few Chromebooks ever reach the lofty standards that Google made hardware reaches The ones that have are on a short list that include devices like the original
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Chromebook pixels, pixel book, pixel slate, pixel book, Samsung's original Galaxy Chromebook and
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HP's Dragonfly Pro Chromebook. And I'd still say the pixel book is number one among them all. We'll
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talk about performance and all that stuff in a second, but I can't overstate the ingenuity that
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went into the pixel books design from the way it feels to the way it looks this device is an anomaly
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among not just chromebooks but laptops in general i hadn't held one in quite some time so when this
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loner was given back to me a couple weeks ago i was once again just struck by how well made this
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chrome book put it this way google could swap the internals of the pixel book shrink the screen
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bezels a little bit and launch this chrome book today and it would still look iconic amazing and unique
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Nothing has been made to look like the pixel book since it launched, and I'm not sure anything ever will
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The glass accents on the lid that perfectly matched the palm rest and the rubber feet
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and the thoughtfulness of the overall aesthetic, the rigidity, the absurd thinness of it all
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still takes me by surprise when I picked this Chromebook up. It's phenomenal
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It was in 2017, and it still is today. It also purpose built to be a convertible with the squared off sides matching up perfectly as it converts into tablet mode and those expertly built hinges also allowing for a one lift of the lid that just honestly defies physics I still don know how they pulled that off
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And the rigidity of the frame allows for minimal travel on the keyboard that still somehow feels fantastic
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and a glass trackpad that to this day is still one of my favorites for its smoothness
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its precision, and its clickiness. Both are just an absolute joy to use
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But there are issues too. The silicon palm rest, for example, in the feet
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are clearly no longer white. That's a consequence Google surely saw coming, right
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And the bezels around the screen feel kind of silly these days, and I'd wager something like the 13.5-inch screen we have in devices like the Acer
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Chromebook Spin 513 would sit in this frame much nicer than the existing 12.3-inch screen we have right now
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and still give you some room to hold on to it around the edges when it's in tablet mode
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But none of that's really a deal breaker. The screen is bright, very color-accurate, so there's not much to complain about there
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But the 720P camera above it? Terrible. Absolutely terrible. But it was made three years before the pandemic, though
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So what are you going to do? But all the lovely design, aesthetics, look, and feel don't mean really that much
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if the device is slow as dirt these days. But thankfully, the 7th gen, yes, 7th Gen, Intel Core I5 inside, is still really solid
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And with 8 gigs of RAM alongside it, you can really be productive. I noticed a hiccup here and there but overall the Pixelbook performance hasn been an issue with a quad HD screen attached with my monitor on the desk When I moving between a bunch of windows and a lot of virtual desks yes I can see a stutter here
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and there, but most times I don't really think about the speed at all. And apart from the very
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Spartan port selection, I have no issues whatsoever in using this Chromebook pretty much full-time
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There's nothing holding me back from doing my standard work, and on the plus side, I get to
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tow to run a piece of hardware that somehow, despite being seven years old, feels like it's
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from the future in some aspects. Google truly outdid themselves with this device
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and while I get it, why they aren't building Chromebooks any longer
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it still makes me a little bit sad about that whole situation when I use the pixel book
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It's just so good and so nice to use that I just, I wonder what it would be like if we had four or five iterations of it by this point
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I suppose we'll never know, but it's still fun to be able to pick up a device
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that started an entire movement and not just look at it, but actually be able to use it
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It's a testament to how long-lasting and awesome Chromebooks are. And I'd bet in a few years as the pixel book turns 10
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a similar test will be able to be run with similar results. It's just that good
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But guys, that's it for this one. If you enjoyed this video, give us a thumbs up
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