Using a Pixelbook in 2024: is it still just as amazing? [VIDEO]

I remember it like it was yesterday: watching Google announce the Pixelbook on stage at the 2nd-ever October hardware event they hosted in San Fransisco. It was a crowning achievement in my eyes, seeing a Chromebook up on stage right alongside the new Pixel hardware. And, even though it took a lot of the tech media a bit of time to come around on the brilliance that still is the Pixelbook, I was mesmerized right away. I knew it was an important piece of hardware and that it would shape future Chromebooks in significant ways.

It did that – there’s no question about it – and much of the Chromebook and Chromebook Plus landscape we have today is thanks in no small part to the impact of this exceptional Chromebook. But what about 7 years later? Does a device that was so amazing in 2017 still hold its luster so many years after its launch?

I won’t bury the lede on this one: it totally does. Using the Pixelbook – not even the highest end version – in 2024 is still a fantastic experience. It’s not perfect, but it is most definitely still awesome. We’ll get into all of that, but with this post and video, I don’t really need to tell you whether or not to buy one: that time frame has long since passed at this point. Instead, I simply want to shine a light on perhaps the most iconic, influential Chromebook ever made and see if it still holds up so many years after it arrived.

Timeless approach to hardware

And that conversation absolutely must start with the build quality. We’ve talked about this a ton on our YouTube channel and on this website over the years, but few Chromebooks ever reach the lofty standards that Google-made hardware reaches. The ones that have are on a short list that includes the Chromebook Pixels, the Pixelbook, Pixel Slate, Pixelbook Go, Samsung’s original Galaxy Chromebook and HP’s Dragonfly Pro Chromebook; and I’d still say the Pixelbook is still #1 among them all.

We’ll talk about performance and stuff in a second, but I cannot overstate the ingenuity that went into the Pixelbook’s design. From the way it feels to the way it looks, this device is an anomaly among not just Chromebooks, but laptops in general. I hadn’t held one in quite some time, so when this loaner was given to me a couple weeks ago, I was once again struck by how well-made this Chromebook is.

Put it this way: Google could swap the internals in the Pixelbook, shrink the screen bezels a bit, and launch this Chromebook today and it would still look iconic, amazing, and unique. Nothing has been made to look like the Pixelbook since it launched, and I’m not sure anything ever will. The glass accents on the lid that perfectly match the palmrests and rubber feet speak to the thoughtfulness of the overall aesthetic, and the rigidity and absurd thinness still take me by surprise when I pick this Chromebook up. It’s phenomenal. It was in 2017 and it still is today.

It’s also purpose-built to be a convertible, with the squared-off sides matching up perfectly as it converts to tablet mode and those expertly-built hinges also allowing for a one-finger lift of the lid that defies physics. I still don’t know how they pulled that off. And the rigidity of the frame allows for a minimal travel keyboard that still feels fantastic and a glass trackpad that to this day is still one of my favorites for its smoothness, precision and clickiness. Both are a joy to use.

Nothing is perfect

But there are issues, too. The silicon palm rests and feet are clearly no longer white: a consequence Google surely saw coming, right? And the bezels around the screen feel pretty silly these days. I’d wager a the same 13.5-inch screen we have in 3:2 devices like the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 would sit in this frame a lot better than the existing 12.3-inch version we have while still giving you a bit of room to hold on around the edges. It’s a tad goofy looking, but it’s not a deal breaker at all since the screen is bright and very color accurate, not really giving me too much to complain about here. Oh, and the 720p camera is just terrible. It was made 3 years before the pandemic, though, so what are you gonna do?

7-year-old performance

But all the lovely design, aesthetics, look and feel don’t mean much if the device is slow as dirt these days. Thankfully, the 7th-gen (yes, 7th-gen) Intel Core i5 inside is still really solid, and with 8GB of RAM alongside it, you can be very productive. I notice a hiccup here and there, but overall the Pixelbook’s performance hasn’t been an issue. With a QHD screen attached, when I’m moving between a bunch of windows and virtual desks, I can see a stutter from time to time, but I mostly don’t even think about the speed at all.

And apart from the very Spartan port selection, I have no issues whatsoever in using this Chromebook pretty much full time. There’s nothing holding me back from doing my standard work, and on the plus side, I get to tote around a piece of hardware that somehow – despite being 7 years old – feels like it is from the future in some aspects.

Google truly outdid themselves with this device, and while I understand the reason they aren’t building Chromebooks any longer, it still makes me a bit sad about that whole situation when I use the Pixelbook. It’s just so good and so nice to use that I sometimes wonder what it would be like if we had 4 or 5 iterations of it by this point. I suppose we’ll never know, but it’s still fun to be able to pick up a device that started a movement and not just look at it, but actually use it. It’s a testament to how long-lasting and awesome Chromebooks are, and I’d bet in a few years as the Pixelbook turns 10, a similar test will be able to be run with similar results. It’s just that good.