The Chromebook Pixel is Google’s vision of what a computer should be like – with a high-resolution screen, excellent battery life and solid aluminium body, with apps and data stored in the cloud.

But the Pixel is a contradiction – at £799 it’s an expensive machine that uses an operating system designed for cheap computers.

Aluminium, glass and glowing strips

The aluminium body feels solid, with no give anywhere giving you the confidence that it’s built to last. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Most Chromebooks cost under £250 and are made from cheaper materials and with low-end specifications.

The Pixel is machined from high-grade matt aluminium similar to high-end ultrabooks, and using high-end components. The design is understated and minimal, with squared edges and subtle branding.

A single light-up strip in the lid indicates whether the computer is on. Double-tap it with the lid closed and it’ll show you the current battery level.

Open, it looks like any other high-end laptop, with a full-sized backlit chiclet keyboard that’s well-made with good responsive keys, a smooth glass multi-touch trackpad and a black glass touchscreen.

It has speakers hidden under the keyboard that distort at maximum volume, but are quite loud and clear.

The trackpad and keyboard match those priced at around £1,000. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The screen is excellent, with deep blacks and accurate colours. It is also higher-resolution than most other laptops, rivalling Apple’s retina displays and Dell’s new Ultrasharp QHD+ in pixel density, which makes text, objects and images pin-sharp and very easy to read.

In common with Apple’s retina displays and modern smartphones and tablets, the Pixel defaults to a resolution that isn’t the maximum the screen can display, making objects on the screen tiny, but one that uses the extra pixels to render the objects in higher clarity with sharper edges referred to as a “HiDPI”.

At 1.5Kg the Pixel is light enough to stuff into a backpack and is lighter than a 1.58Kg 13in MacBook Pro, but heavier than Dell’s 1.26Kg XPS 13 and Apple’s 0.92Kg MacBook. It’s also 15.3mm thick, which is thinner than both the 18mm thick 13in MacBook Pro and the 20mm thick Dell XPS 13. Apple’s super-thin 13.1mm-thick MacBook has it beat, however.

Specifications

Screen: 12.85in 2560 x 1700 resolution (239 pixels per inch)



12.85in 2560 x 1700 resolution (239 pixels per inch) Processor: 2.2GHz Intel Core i5



2.2GHz Intel Core i5 RAM: 8GB



8GB Storage: 32GB, SD card reader



32GB, SD card reader Connectivity: Wi-Fi (802.11ac), Bluetooth 4.0, USB3.0, USB type C



Wi-Fi (802.11ac), Bluetooth 4.0, USB3.0, USB type C Camera: 720p wide angle web cam



720p wide angle web cam Dimensions: 297.7 x 224.6 x 15.3mm



297.7 x 224.6 x 15.3mm Weight: 1.5Kg



Over 12 hours per charge

Chrome is stamped on the machine just above the keyboard and on the hinge on the back. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The outside of the Pixel is more premium than any other Chromebook, but so are the components on the inside, which could be described as overkill for something that’s designed to live in the cloud and uses an operating system that’s basically just a web browser.

The 2.2GHz Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM make everything super smooth. Web pages load noticeably faster on the Pixel than most other computers I’ve tested, while apps from the Chrome store are snappy and responsive.

Chrome OS doesn’t have any demanding apps, so it’s difficult to see why it needs to be quite so powerful. The touchscreen is also accurate and responsive, and comes in handy for pinch to zoom gestures, scrolling and simple taps.

The Pixel has two USB C ports, two USB 3.0 ports, an SD card reader and a headphones port. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The Pixel is well equipped with ports and connectivity. The usual suspects of Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11ac are present, as are two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card reader. It also has two USB type-C ports, one either side of the machine. They’re used for charging as well as multiple inputs and outputs including connecting to external displays. A USB C to HDMI or DisplayPort adapter will be required, however.

One of the criticisms of the previous generation of Pixel released in 2013 was poor battery life. The new 2015 Pixel has almost everything roundly trounced. It’s rated for 12-hours per charge, but I easily saw 13 hours plus in general usage.

Charging via USB C and the very Apple-like charger is easy and fast, with a full charge taking about two hours or up to two hours battery life after charging for about 15 minutes. The Pixel can be charged from either USB C port, which is very handy.

The touch-sensitive strip on the lid lights up to show current battery level. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The only thing Google skimped on for the Pixel was storage, fitting only 32GB of flash. Google intends for everything but a few local files to be stored in the cloud and gives users 1TB of space on Google Drive for three years with every Pixel purchase.

Considering there are no real applications to download and Google Music stores it all in the cloud, 32GB will be enough for most. More can be added via the SD card slot or a USB flash drive if needed.

Chrome, with a few Android apps

Chrome OS is essentially an operating system built around a browser, but it can also run a limited selection of Android apps. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The Pixel runs Google’s Chrome OS, which is essentially a whole computer based around the company’s Chrome browser. That generally limits the functionality to only things that can be done with a web browser, which people stuck using traditional computers might be surprised to find out is most things.

Office duties, emailing, messaging, image editing, streaming music and video can all be done through the browser. The only thing I’ve struggled to do with the Pixel is edit video, but even some things can be done with a few web apps.

Chrome OS can also run a selection of Android apps, which helps expand what can be done. Evernote and Wunderlist are a few of my favourites. But Chrome OS cannot run applications such as Apple’s iTunes or Adobe’s Photoshop.

Generally speaking, Chrome OS can do 95% of what people need to do with a computer, easily and efficiently 95% of the time. The trouble comes when you need to do something it can’t that a regular PC or Apple laptop could.

It is possible to install Linux on the Pixel, and the majority of developers who own one will likely do that, which opens up a whole other application ecosystem.

USB C is the new smaller, reversible USB port that’s got support from the whole computer industry and is likely to appear on all new machines in the near future. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Price

The Google Chromebook Pixel costs £799. A more powerful version with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD costs £999. For comparison, Dell’s XPS 13 with a similar display costs £1,099 and Apple’s 13in MacBook Pro costs £999.

Verdict

The Google Chromebook Pixel 2015 is undoubtedly the best Chrome OS computer. It’s also a very good laptop, competing on hardware terms with the very best of them.

But while Chrome OS is very capable most of the time, and makes for an excellent second computer for browsing the web and other light duties, it can’t run traditional Windows or OS X apps. That 5% of the time when a full application like iTunes is needed, or some video needs editing, or an image needs heavy editing in a powerful piece of software such as Photoshop, that’s where Chrome OS falls down.

For £800 the Pixel is overkill as a Chromebook, but it is a fantastic Chromebook and if that’s what’s required, then the Pixel is perfect. For most people, that £800 is better spent on a PC or Mac laptop.

Pros: fast, aluminium body, fantastic high resolution screen, 12+ hours battery, USB C, zero maintenance required Cons: Chrome OS still limited for some things, three to four times the price of other Chromebooks, very little local storage

The Pixel is thinner and lighter than most of the competition, despite its blocky design. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

LIVE on #Periscope: Chromebook Pixel 2015 - hands on - ask us questions! https://t.co/uXr3Q1ceSq — Guardian Tech (@guardiantech) April 13, 2015

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