The Chromebook Pixel (2015) Review
by Brandon Chester on March 16, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Chrome OS
- Chromebook
- Chromebook Pixel
Battery Life
One area where Google claims to have made large improvements over the original Pixel is battery life. The 2013 version of the Pixel would typically manage six or seven hours of battery life, which was decent but not outstanding at the time. Given that the Pixel did not run much more than a web browser, it was actually somewhat disappointing to see it falling behind other laptops like the 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display which was substantially more powerful and capable. Google claims that the new Chromebook Pixel will achieve up to twelve hours of battery life, which is quite a lofty goal considering it is around twice the battery life of the original. Given that the new Pixel has the same 59 Wh battery as its predecessor, all of the battery life improvements have to come from reduced component power usage and software optimizations.
The two main areas where power usage has been reduced are the CPU and the display. The CPU is one of Intel's new Broadwell-U processors, built on their 14nm manufacturing process. While it is faster than the Ivy Bridge Core i5 used in the original Pixel, it has significantly reduced power usage due to architectural improvements and the move from a 22nm to a 14nm fabrication process. The display is similar to the original, but Google is now using Content Adaptive Backlight Control (CABC) to manage backlight brightness based on the display's Average Picture Level (APL), as well as Panel Self Refresh (PSR). It should be noted that although PSR is a display feature, it's actually a method of reducing CPU/GPU and display bus power usage, not LCD panel power usage.
To see if Google achieved their goal of a twelve hour battery life, I have run the Pixel through our standard web browsing test as well as our H.264 video playback test.
In our WiFi web browsing test, the Pixel is only two minutes short of Google's up to twelve hours rating, and with that battery life it sits well above all the other tablets and Chromebooks. In our video playback test it still performs very well with 9.77 hours, but it doesn't end up lasting quite as long as some of the most recent tablets. Regardless, the battery life in both scenarios is an absolutely massive improvement over the original Pixel, with almost two times the battery life during web browsing and over three times the battery life when playing back videos.
Charge Time
As mentioned earlier, the new Chromebook Pixel uses USB Type-C for charging. Since the Pixel has a Type-C port on each side, you can charge it from both the left and the right. While this doesn't sound like a big deal, it can be the difference between charging and not charging in situations where you're far from an outlet. It is also just a great connector in general, and the fact that it is just USB means that you can use a USB Type-A to Type-C cable to charge off of any existing USB port, with the caveat that it's going to charge slower. Google includes a 60W USB Type-C charger with the Pixel, and offers a Type-A to Type-C cable for $12.99.
The Pixel does exceptionally well in our charge time test, reaching a full charge nearly an hour quicker than the XPS 13 which was previously the quickest to charge. The quick charging combined with the extremely long battery life should ensure that Pixel users are never stuck tethered to a power outlet.
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some_guy - Saturday, April 11, 2015 - link
There are built in shortcuts for these keys along with a bunch of other shortcuts. ( Page up is Alt up arrow )https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/18310...
My question is that if I were to install Linux, will the shortcuts also be there or will I have to do them myself somehow or search for something on the Internet. Thanks.
djscrew - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
How come nearly every Chrome laptop is hideous.zodiacfml - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
Too expensive. How much is the Yoga 3?cjb110 - Tuesday, March 17, 2015 - link
Is that battery charge test right? Seems a massive increase with no apparent reason that covers it, the components could only do so much. Kudos to Google if it is true, butl_d_allan - Tuesday, March 17, 2015 - link
Did I miss comments and evaluation about on-board storage? The SSD looks rather wimpy, but I didn't notice any numbers, charts, wordage one way or the other.Or is that considered irrelevant to a ChromeBook?
eanazag - Tuesday, March 17, 2015 - link
This is a laptop for Google employees.shm224 - Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - link
I still don't get why "browser/js engine" benchmarks are showing here as "CPU performance." I think Ho has once explained that that is purely for comparing the performance within the same product line, but I don't see any previous iterations (of Chromebooks) listed here. To the contrary, the web/js benchmarks are compared against the latest competing products as if they are at all relevant to CPU performance. I think the web/js benchmarks somewhat relevant here because everything on Chromebooks runs on Google's Chrome browser, but Anandtech still continues to use the same methodology to evaluate smartphones for instance where web browsing no longer represents much of smartphone usage.ntd11 - Friday, March 20, 2015 - link
How many here have tried a Chromebook for more than a few hours? I'm talking about logging in remotely and doing work from the comfort of a couch. Maybe its because I've been doing that sort of work since... 1992, back when the only computers that could do real work were called 'supercomputers' built up some habits. (Anyone else remember 'Xwindows?').After two years using a Chromebook I wanted something much better. For a year I haven't picked up my tablet. I either used my large smartphone, the Chromebook, or I wanted a multi-monitor workstation with the ergo keyboard/mouse, and enough RAM to actually do simulations.
I'm not the developer. But I look at it this way, everyone I've loaned my now obsolete Chromebook has bought one. Look at the benchmarks. If you log into a web page to work remotely, this is the machine. I used to have 20+ tabs open on a really low end Chromebook that would make a decent windows machine beg for mercy.
Take a minute to realize why the growing Chromebook community is excited about this laptop. I bet I'm the only one here actually posting from a Chromebook pixel. I came to read the review from a 'non-Chromebook fan site.'
Is it a great value? Well, so-so. But I wanted the long battery life. I like to wander to the back yard and work for hours. Then I wander into a quiet room and watch a movie. So nice to not worry about a power cord. The only downside is I find printing from a Chromebook not worth the hassle. I send documents to my windows machine and print from there. But look at the benchmarks. As a web browsing machine... this is fast.
Note: I do remote engineering. Not development for iPhones, Android, or Chromebooks. I use high end software that someone else has developed to simulate complex physics. This is now the Chromebook everyone can say 'that is too expensive' and buy one half (or less) the price. But
I find windows machines slow too much with age. My old Chromebook never did. Apple machines slow with every OS upgrade. It is preference.
HanTorso - Thursday, April 9, 2015 - link
I feel this would be great if it just had at least a 256gb ssd. I would install Linux on it, and maybe use the Chrome OS just for simple things. The most important element is the 3:2 aspect ratio, which makes it superior to any non-Apple laptop display. The price is still too expensive though, because except for the screen, it doesn''t seem to have any advantage over an Apple laptop of the same price.dodysw - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
Brandon, according to https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/61645... the Chromebook Pixel 2015 battery capacity is 72Wh, not 59Wh as specified in your article.