The Chromebook Pixel (2015) Review
by Brandon Chester on March 16, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Chrome OS
- Chromebook
- Chromebook Pixel
CPU Performance
Chrome OS is extremely lightweight, which makes sense for an operating system that has to run on processors that range from Intel's Core i7 at the high end, to Intel Atom and ARM processors at the low end. Most devices running Chrome OS are closer to that lower end, and that coupled with the web application nature of Chrome OS doesn't make it a large target for benchmark developers. The situation is arguably even worse than mobile benchmarking since the only benchmarks a device can be tested in are web benchmarks, but we have to work with what we have. The new Chromebook Pixel is powered by Intel's Core i5-5200U processor, which is one of Intel's new Broadwell-U parts.
| Additional Performance Results | ||||
| Acer C720 | Acer CB13 | Toshiba Chromebook 2 | Chromebook Pixel (2015) | |
| CrXPRT | 96 | 55 | 61 | 161 |
| Spacerocks (WebGL - FPS) | 18 | 30 | 11 | 45 |
The CPU performance of the original Pixel could be described as completely overkill for running Chrome OS, and the same is true for this year's iteration. The Pixel gives you whats is undoubtedly the smoothest and fastest Google Chrome experience available. While I find the performance of an Intel i5 to be unnecessary to do something as simple as run Chrome and web apps, it definitely comes in handy if you're running some other version of Linux overtop of Chrome OS.
WiFi Performance
The 2013 Chromebook Pixel had dual spatial stream 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0. In early 2013, this was fairly common among laptops, although 802.11ac adoption on high end laptops began not long after. The 2015 Chromebook Pixel uses Intel's Intel 7260 WiFi + BT 4.0 module, with 2x2 802.11ac support. This brings the max theoretical WiFi speed up to 866Mbps, a substantial improvement over the 300Mbps max on the 2013 model. Real world performance will almost always be lower than theoretical maximums, and to test WiFi performance I've used iPerf to get an idea of what the maximum throughput is on the Pixel.
In most of our tests I've compared the Pixel to other Chromebooks, tablets, and smartphones. This is mostly due to the previously mentioned benchmarking limitations on Chrome OS. To keep consistent with this, and to avoid making unfair comparisons to laptops which aren't tested using iPerf, I've just run the Pixel through our smartphone/tablet WiFi benchmark. This still gives an idea of how fast the Pixel is, without comparing it to other laptops that were not tested in the exact same manner.
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peterfares - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
What Microsoft needs to do with the Surface is release another, larger keyboard for it that has a laptop-style hinge.chlamchowder - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
It's called 'Surface' for a reason. A larger, hinged keyboard would kind of defeat the design concept.Also, Galaxy S6 running Windows 10....someone needs to port Prime95 to ARM. I want to know if it has overheating problems.
fokka - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
it would still be detatchable and nobody would be forced to buy it, but to me a proper keyboard-base would make the surface much more buyable, than having to deal with that flimsy type cover and that awkward kickstand, which is simply a lesser workaround to a normal screen hinge.retrospooty - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
"32GB on a laptop this expensive is just..................offensive"- Any Chromebook this expensive is just..................offensive".
fokka - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
a surface laptop you say? you've got my attention!edhburns - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
Every review of the Pixel gets the exact same comments. It's like the same people just follow reviews of this device for the express purpose of saying that it is not an option for them. Spoiler! This device is not for you. And I don't say that like the Apple people do. The Pixel is a limited production device that is produced primarily for Google Chrome OS developers. Everyone knows that this is too expensive for the average consumer. Even Google knows this. Very few of these devices will ever be made and the vast majority (~80%) will end up in the hands of Google employees.Flunk - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
There are very few people who it is an option for. You need to both own a real computer in addition to this and want to fork out $999 for another, toy computer.edhburns - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
As I said in my comment, this is not for normal people. It is for developers who work for Google or the very small subsection of a subsection of linux users who want a very well built laptop to run a linux build and don't mind the small storage cap.melgross - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
Bah! This is not for developers.This is to establish Chrome as a high end computing OS, something that no one yet believes (for good reason). Like it or not, for something to succeed and be profitable, there needs to be a more expensive device out there. Keeping Chrome at the $/50 and below level isn't goi g to do that. It's just another race to the bottom, and that's how people will look at it; something to buy if you don't want to buy a slightly more expensive Windows device, or an even more expensive OS X device.
So people will look at these (Google hopes), and think of them as genuine competition to Windows and OS X, which it's really not.
Hanoveur - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
Then you have people who don't use Chrome OS who think they know everything about Chrome OS. This was a machine given to people at the Google's developers conference. They made them available for sale on their web site. Do you see any keynotes or major ad campaigns trying to sell these? Would you have known about it if it wasn't for this review or other reviews on the web? I think the tech journalists are making more of a deal about this machine than Google is.BAH! lol.
BTW: I'm writing this on a Chromebook. I don't need an entire Windows installation to cruise the internet. That's like buying an entire car just because you needed a spare tire. If I need access to a PC, I just RDP to my machine upstairs. That's very rare though.