The relationship between Chrome OS and Android has always been muddy at best and it’s nice to have a bit of clarity. As a result, there’s a brand new launcher interface to access these apps. Perhaps the best feature of the Pixelbook is its total support of Android apps and the Google Play Store. What else would we have liked to have seen? Well, for the price, we would’ve liked a biometric login option like a fingerprint reader.

Fast charging is supported, so just 15 minutes hooked up to a power outlet gets you up to two hours of use. There are two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports but you need to expect fewer ports from premium computing devices now. There is a 3.5mm wired jack as you’d expect, plus Bluetooth. The display is great for media, but as with many other ultraportable notebooks the sound is poor and tinny, so you will need a pair of decent headphones. At 235 pixels-per-inch (ppi), 400 nits of brightness and super colours reproduction, we reckon the display is equivalent to the 227-ppi 13-inch MacBook Pro. The 3:2 display is a fine screen and is excellent for touch. While many push the idea of ubiquitous connectivity, the reality is somewhat different and it’s important for laptops to be able to stand alone. Local storage is essential for so many things and is key for work offline, of course. The storage is a lot more extensive on Chromebooks these days, largely because Google realised that it couldn’t get away with pushing everybody towards cloud storage.

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