My dream computer is somewhere between a Pixel Slate and iPad Pro
My dream computer is somewhere between a Pixel Slate and iPad Pro
2018-12-28
I think I finally found my dream
computer the only problem is that it
lives between two different devices the
Apple iPad pro and the Google pixels
slate the Apple iPad pro has always been
a tablet that I've liked going to for
its fast processing and it's library of
apps but it lacks certain things those
certain things happen to be on the
Google pixel slate
however the pixel slate is also not
necessarily the tablet computer that I'm
looking for sure there's a Microsoft
Surface but I think these both carry it
forward they both cost about a thousand
dollars when you add up all the
accessories one of my favorite things
about the Google pixel slate that's also
true of Chromebooks and that supports
trackpads the thing you can't do on an
iPad pro the trackpad plus the keyboard
means that you could type on this you
can also move a cursor around you can do
things for editing it also supports
Bluetooth mice so you could do this and
you compare and look at that you can
actually use this Microsoft Surface
Mouse you could highlight you can have
second click you could use the scroll
wheel this is sort of stuff that's not a
magic trick but you can't do it on an
iPad and you really should and it's
really nice to have it and stated here
it makes it feel a lot more like a
computer the other thing you can do in a
pixel slate that feels like other
Chromebooks is you can have multiple
windows there's no restriction to how
you drag around windows and apps which
feels again like a regular desktop but
also the browser feels like a real
computer browser in the sense that it
supports a whole lot of tabs
it supports extensions and chrome feels
the way they don't work on a laptop or
regular Windows or Mac computer it also
works with most apps and tools I would
expect it to you work within a web
browser including Google's suite of apps
no surprise because the Chromebook is
made by Google but Google Apps Drive
Gmail being able to use them in a
browser is the way you would normally
use them on an iPad pro you'd have to
download the app separately and
interconnect them
and apps you know there are a lot more
apps than you might think on the pixel
slave because it taps it a lot of apps
on Android not everything can be
downloaded but a whole lot can and it
really feels like a pretty decent
collection that's on tap that and chrome
ones that work in browser ones that are
standalone that work on the built-in
storage so pretty good app library and
another thing I really like is multiple
users sign in now this is again not new
but the ability to sign into different
accounts like a lab account and a
personal account that's easy on a pixel
slate and it means that when you log in
all of your apps and all of your
settings are all ready for you to use
that's not the case on an iPad it's
something that I really appreciate here
and makes devices like Chromebooks
really good to use in schools what don't
I like about the pixel slate well a lot
of it has to do with its size and price
it's heavy and even though it's really
pretty compact it still doesn't feel
like a great one-hand device and similar
to the 12 point 9 inch iPad pro I don't
feel like I'm gonna want to use this on
the go all the time without a protective
case or on a desk now the price $5.99
for the starting price of this with 32
gigs of storage is not awful but when
you factor in all the accessories you'd
want like the keyboard which is $200 or
the pixel book 10 which is $100 you're
getting really close to a thousand and
the version I reviewed this is a
thousand dollar configuration with 128
gigs of storage so you can be even
paying a lot more that's kind of like
the iPad pro and I don't want to pay
that sort of price for a Chromebook and
it didn't really feel all that fun and
maybe that's because I use an iPad a lot
and I use a lot of iOS apps
there are certainly other apps to play
with on this but it does feel a little
more like a work device than something
though being all around fun device and I
feel like game performance on this so
far at performance that are Android
based it's not quite as smooth or as
nice as you get on an iPad and for this
price I would expect it to be
now if you're looking for something
that's like the Google pixel sleep it
costs a lot less the HP Chromebook x2 is
the way to go it comes with a keyboard
it's also a Chromebook and it's also
detachable cost a lot less than this one
I really like the direction of the
pixels light is going in but I don't
think the price and its current
performance match up to what you would
want but maybe in 2019 we'll see a lot
more affordable options and hopefully
some of those trackpad and browser
things end up on the iPad pro as well
please
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