Pixelbook returned: not compelling and 2-in-1 laptops are silly. TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018
I bought a Pixelbook again because it was $300 off. I haven't returned it yet. Unlike pretty much all reviewers I'm not all that impressed. I don't understand the fascination with the screen shaped like a 1955 TV, not like an HDTV and almost all PCs this millennium. Functionally, it does what my seven year old Toshiba Chromebook does. I've been using Chromebooks almost exclusively for several years. I like them a lot. And I never longed for Android apps on a Chromebook.
Apps are those crummy little computer programs that run on mobile phones. Why the heck would I want to run them on a computer?
I first got a Chromebook because I realized that 99% of the time I was in the browser, the Chrome browser. What was universally criticized as a weakness was actually the strength of the Chromebook: it was simple, secure and worked well for 99% of the stuff I was doing, which included using Google Docs online.
Every review for years had the same moronic criticism: you couldn't run Adobe Photoshop. Who the heck gave a rat's ass about that? I don't know anyone personally who runs stupid Photoshop.
The Microsoft Windows operating system runs computer programs, not crappy little apps. Chrome OS does not run computer programs and that's been acceptable all along.
Now Chrome OS can run Android apps in all their non glory. Watch a video review and see if they actually show the environment for launching these apps. Or if they show anything more than some moronic game designed to entertain some moron running it on his phone.
Which brings us to the stupidity of the 2 in 1 device, which flips and converts a laptop into a really heavy and unwieldy tablet. Does it also suddenly switch to Android so that you can run those crummy little apps properly? No.
This is why we still need Android tablets, which have been declared dead by people in the know. No, not overpriced iPads, which now seem less overpriced compared to other overpriced closed, proprietary Apple devices. We need Android tablets, which also run those crappy little phone apps. With a relatively small, light tablet we can relax and do some simple stuff that does not require a computer.
So far what I've seen of Android apps on the Pixelbook is not pretty but pretty much a mess. I've closed and removed some apps and returned to the browser version of their function. I wonder if the entire app environment can be removed.
P.S. The Pixelbook backlit keyboard:
Why doesn't it default to backlit?
Why doesn't it explicitly indicate how to turn on/off the keyboard light?
Why doesn't the system remember your backlit setting?
Why are the letters on the keys noticeably smaller than on a regular keyboard?
Why can't I see many of the backlit keys without shading the light with my hand?
