3 reasons why you shouldn’t buy Google’s Chromebook Pixel

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Features, Google, PC / Laptop

Today Google announced the Chromebook Pixel, an often-leaked touchscreen notebook computer that runs Chrome OS and is optimized for web browsing and cloud storage. The problem is that there is nothing that really sets the Chromebook Pixel apart from just about any other notebook computer to make it a compelling buy. In fact, it looks like a pretty stupid buy.

PRICE
Let's talk about the price of the Pixel for a moment. You can buy a fantastic Windows 8 PC or MacBook Air for the same price, both of which would blow away the Pixel in terms of usability. The Chromebook requires you to be connected to the Internet to be useful in any way, since it relies on cloud-based apps. A Mac or PC allows you to actually install apps on them, which you can launch when you are away from Wi-Fi, and get work done in.

DISPLAY
How about that display? 3x2 is a rectangle that's almost a square. Google says this makes the Pixel optimized for web browsing, but we all know that people consume a bunch of different types of content on the Internet, including videos. Expect a bunch of letterboxing when wanting to watch videos in full screen on the Pixel.

STORAGE
The storage capacities also leave us scratching our heads. We get that the Chromebook is a computer means to be paired with the cloud, so a bunch of local storage isn't necessary. That's fine--but charging $1,299 for is, is not fine. It's ridiculous. Same goes for $1,449 for the LTE model, which gives the user a whopping 100 MB of data each month, enough to maybe do email and not much else.

The Chromebook Pixel is a horrible value, and we'd recommend buying just about any other PC or Mac at the same price. You'll always end up with a better overall purchase, and a computer that can do everything that the Pixel can do, plus a lot more. But, hey, if you wanna throw your money away, you can pre-order the Chromebook Pixel right now.