The Chromebook Pixel Review
by Jason Inofuentes on May 31, 2013 8:00 AM ESTDisplay
Matching the fit and finish of the body is the Pixel’s display. The popularity of larger “retina” displays has left us with something of a glut of HiDPI content to ogle. It’s something quite odd to sit quite so close to a notebook screen and be entirely unable to discern any individual pixels. Users of the rMBP may be used to this experience, but for me it was a treat to spend so much time with such a nice display after a few years with my 13” MBP. Pixel density isn’t everything, though; what we’re really looking at is an arrangement of colors and so color accuracy is our new obsession. Our displays guru, Chris Heinonen, has updated our workflow for evaluating displays and the results are nothing short of incredible. Here he’ll explain what’s changed and what you’re looking at; let us know what you think and please do click on the images to get a good look at them in full-size.
Starting with this review, we're introducing the Color Comparator tool from CalMAN, which they just introduced into version 5.1 of their software. Most often in reviews you will see the DeltaE value for colors that we are sampling, which provides a numerical idea of how far off from ideal a sample is. Anything below 1 you can't see when they are side-by-side, and anything below 3 you can't see while in motion. While this is a very useful tool to see how accurate a color is, it doesn't provide someone with a visual idea of the error.
The color comparator tool shows the ideal colors right next to the actual colors, so you can see where the errors are. Even with an uncalibrated display you can get a good idea of the amount of error that is present. Of course, the more accurate your display is, the more accurate the differences will appear to be, but it still provides a more real-world example. It also lets you possibly compare two displays where the dE values might be 0.7 and 1.0 and see if you can actually tell a difference, or if you are splitting hairs at that point. More information can be found on this tool here http://store.spectracal.com/colorcomparator but hopefully this proves useful to our readers.
Color gamut
Saturations
GMB
| Chromebook Pixel |
13-inch rMBP (uncalibrated) |
|
| CCT Avg | 6442 | 6632 |
| Grayscale Avg | 7.132 | 1.7825 |
| Gamut Avg | 6.8234 | n/a |
| Saturations Avg | 7.0927 | 2.1663 |
| GMB Avg | 5.7664 | 2.4521 |
There's no denying that the 13-inch rMBP has a great panel and the dE values are in the realm of undetectable in motion, and nearly undetectable in static images. The intention here is to calibrate it for color accuracy, so that image professionals can get to work as soon as they open the box. The Pixel... doesn’t hit quite so solidly. From our chat with Caesar, we know that Google’s target was a warmer display than the rMBP, and so the CCT coming it at just under the ideal at 6500k makes sense. The dE figures, though show that while the average is closer to ideal, the individual colors miss in a more noticeable way. In this case, most of the colors are rather undersaturated, a contrast to Apple’s slight oversaturation. The result isn’t exactly unappealing, it’s just not accurate. In use some vibrant colors appear more vivid against the desaturated representations of other colors. This inaccuracy does cost the Pixel when looked at by the discerning eye of a professional; most users, though, aren't likely to spare a second thought on it.
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Spoony - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
No way. It must render the page at 1280x800, scale it up, then over the top draw native text. There is simply no way Jason wouldn't have complained bitterly if all of the text was jaggy.lmcd - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
You realize that text is always available at high DPI as they're usually scalable vectors, right? But regardless of rendered size they're the same size, right?Oh. Yeah, don't forget that!
tuxRoller - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
Always love hearing what will never be the case for things that don't involve tautologies:)Selden - Saturday, June 1, 2013 - link
Text is razor sharp.jeffkro - Monday, June 3, 2013 - link
You miss the point of the OS, its a no fuss more secure OS. Sure you can do more with windows but for some people its to complicated. I also don't like the idea of some hacker in Russia hacking into windows and getting all my banking info.Selden - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
@JDG1980 : No, you get razor-sharp text, as shown in a screenshot. I just went through cataract surgery, and I have been able to go down a few points in text sizes, and 10-20% on screen magnification with the Pixel, also lower brightness, which increases battery life.cjb110 - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
One thing they should port is their new Android Studio!lmcd - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
Well, that's dependent on the moment on their work with NaCl. Hopefully PNaCl final comes out soon (with the performance promised). That, and I hope Dart turns out. Dart + PNaCl looks promising enough to deliver an Android Studio experience.shompa - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
I try to think of one single reason to buy Chromebook instead of a rMBP (beside the stupid "I hate Apple").Apple have an OS that is designed for retina displays. Apple have solved the issue with non native resolution by render the original screen at 4 times its pixel count and downscale it make it look good on a 2880x1440 screen.
Why have tons of specs when it cant be used? And 4 gig memory?
I hope that Google releases an Android version of Chroomebook. The same day Android can/is preinstalled on PCs, thats the same day that MSFT for the first time have had competition. Something that all consumers would win by.
mavere - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
I think they should have went with a slightly slower, cheaper Intel chip and spent that extra money on more RAM. It seems like the software offers the expectation of multitasking that the hardware fails to meet.The Chromebook design screams "I do one thing but I do it well". Uhh not at 4GB RAM, you don't.