As a professional, is a Pixelbook the right choice?

[Byrese]

I'm a professional in the education and religious arena and I'm looking into Chromebooks.I'm pretty adept tech wise and know what I'm getting myself into hardware and OS wise.

Most of what I do is word processing (Word or Docs), signing docs, taking notes, as well as other programs via Chrome. A good keyboard is therefore REALLY important to me though I think I'll miss the true tablet form factor, as I've been using a Surface Pro 4 for the last several years. I've seen the HP Chromebook x2 but have my concerns about the typing experience and movement during laptop mode.

Is this good choice or would something like a Samsung Chromebook Pro be better?

 

[Nauga]

Depends on the kind of word processing you do. I'm in education as well, but I'm still tied to PCs because I need frequent access to Adobe CC. I also force technical writing students to do a lot of formatting in Word docs, and online options like Google Docs and Office 365 still seem limited & unfinished compared to a local installation of MS Office.

I've never used a Surface Pro, but the Pixelbook's keyboard is one of its best features as long as you're comfortable with the form factor of (for me) a small laptop. I'd hesitate to call any chromebook a good replacement for a Surface Pro because much of what happens on a chromebook still has to default to what can happen in a browser window, Android apps or no Android apps.

Since you already work a lot in Chrome, though, it sounds like you're a perfect candidate for at least trying a highend chromebook. The new HP Chromebook may be your best bet if you really like to work in tablet mode.

 

[Byrese]

Depends on the kind of word processing you do. I'm in education as well, but I'm still tied to PCs because I need frequent access to Adobe CC. I also force technical writing students to do a lot of formatting in Word docs, and online options like Google Docs and Office 365 still seem limited & unfinished compared to a local installation of MS Office.

I've never used a Surface Pro, but the Pixelbook's keyboard is one of its best features as long as you're comfortable with the form factor of (for me) a small laptop. I'd hesitate to call any chromebook a good replacement for a Surface Pro because much of what happens on a chromebook still has to default to what can happen in a browser window, Android apps or no Android apps.

Since you already work a lot in Chrome, though, it sounds like you're a perfect candidate for at least trying a highend chromebook. The new HP Chromebook may be your best bet if you really like to work in tablet mode.

Thanks for the feedback. There Dadeland I couldn't pass up so I went ahead and bought it. I should be fine. The only thing that could be an issue, though I doubt it, is commenting on papers I need to grade. I haven't tried that feature on the web version of Word or on Docs. But now that I think about it, I pretty sure it has to be there. I'll look at it today.

 

[Nauga]

I haven't tried that feature on the web version of Word or on Docs. But now that I think about it, I pretty sure it has to be there. I'll look at it today.

Neither have I, so I'd like to hear what you find. I've been meaning to try making comments with the pen and an amenable PDF app, but since I don't have anything to grade at the moment, I keep putting that off.

 

[Byrese]

Neither have I, so I'd like to hear what you find. I've been meaning to try making comments with the pen and an amenable PDF app, but since I don't have anything to grade at the moment, I keep putting that off.

Funny....i just got a paper from a student ya...i checked and it's in there both with Online Word and Docs so we should be fine. Actually my university already uses Google education/classroom stuff!

 

[mlee1999]

I have honestly only used my Pixelbook for general websurfing, Google docs, Netflix and a few Android apps. All seem to fulfill my needs now but this is intriguing.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2018/04/google-alt-os-chrome-os-and-windows/

Being able to run Windows on it would be cool.

 

[mclarryjr]

I have honestly only used my Pixelbook for general websurfing, Google docs, Netflix and a few Android apps. All seem to fulfill my needs now but this is intriguing.

Google’s ‘AltOS’ Could Let Users Toggle Between Chrome OS And Windows

Being able to run Windows on it would be cool.

Try using a remote desktop application like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.rdc.android.

I use that to acess my work pc from my Pixelbook and it works great. I know it's not the same as running windows buy it's really close.

 

[mlee1999]

Try using a remote desktop application like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.rdc.android.

I use that to acess my work pc from my Pixelbook and it works great. I know it's not the same as running windows buy it's really close.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Byrese]

I got it! I got these whole bundle on a STEAL! Feels like Christmas! []

 

[mlee1999]

I got it! I got these whole bundle on a STEAL! Feels like Christmas! []
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Wow, congrats.

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

I got it! I got these whole bundle on a STEAL! Feels like Christmas! []
//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180620/37b3ff1e1841e7887bd264d0348986a3.jpg

That's awesome! Hope you enjoy it. I'm super jealous!

 

[Nauga]

I got it! I got these whole bundle on a STEAL! Feels like Christmas! []

Cool, you got extra pen tips. Is that squarish thing with the blue edge something, or is it just an anti-theft tag?

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

Cool, you got extra pen tips. Is that squarish thing with the blue edge something, or is it just an anti-theft tag?

Looks like an attachment to hold the pen.

 

[Byrese]

Looks like an attachment to hold the pen.

Yeo

 

[Byrese]

Cool, you got extra pen tips. Is that squarish thing with the blue edge something, or is it just an anti-theft tag?

It's the pen holder.

 

[Nauga]

It's the pen holder.

Oh, so that's the thing that Google claimed they were gonna send me two weeks ago. How about that.

 

[Byrese]

Neither have I, so I'd like to hear what you find. I've been meaning to try making comments with the pen and an amenable PDF app, but since I don't have anything to grade at the moment, I keep putting that off.

This device is awesome but starting to rethink if it's good for me. Editing this paper was brutal. Docs didn't get the formatting right (when I transferred his Word doc to Google Docs). Then I switched to Word Mobile but couldn't see the footnotes section there (Word online is a joke too). I eventually had to use my work PC which I hardly ever have, to do the work. I might be able to do a work around but I think I need full Windows/Office.

 

[Nauga]

This device is awesome but starting to rethink if it's good for me. Editing this paper was brutal.

That's pretty much what I was afraid of with both Android and online versions of any office suite application. Once Linux apps become available in the stable channel--which I think developers are guestimating to happen before the end of the year, maybe as early as Sept-Oct--Libre Office could be an option. That's assuming that by "Linux app" people mean any app that's designed to run on any Linux distribution. But I know bupkus about Linux apps.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

Thanks for the feedback. There Dadeland I couldn't pass up so I went ahead and bought it. I should be fine. The only thing that could be an issue, though I doubt it, is commenting on papers I need to grade. I haven't tried that feature on the web version of Word or on Docs. But now that I think about it, I pretty sure it has to be there. I'll look at it today.

Remember you can install the Android Word app, which is a bit more functional than the web version, IIRC.