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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
123 Comments
View All Comments
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.