Google Pixel Slate is a brilliant answer from Chrome OS to the iPad

Chromebooks are not supposed to be very expensive. This is a big reason why we love them! They are always good enough, and they are always cheap – think less than $ 1000. But the Pixel Slate, which contains the latest version of Chrome OS, is an almost perfect case for a more expensive chromebook.

This tablet, which turns into a laptop with the addition of an accessory from $ 160 to $ 200 US, starts at $ 600 and often works as well as laptop or tablet that gives the impression that it is almost always worth the price.

Editor's Note: There is still no confirmation that Australia will get the Google Pixel Slate. So we kept the US prices.

Which is not normally the case! Google has the bad habit of making devices running Chrome OS too expensive for what you get. The price of Chrome OS devices such as the Pixelbook (which was launched at $ 1,000) and the previous Pixel Chromebooks was particularly disproportionate. In the past, we liked Chrome OS devices because they are very good computers at very low prices. Spending more for a Chromebook, even fantastic, like the Pixelbook, makes no sense.

What has changed with the Pixel Slate, is Chrome OS itself. It's so good that it resists iOS well and, to a lesser extent, Windows. Slowly but surely, Chrome OS is becoming an operating system worthy of the expensive devices that Google makes for it, even though $ 1,000 is still too much money for a Chromebook.

That's why I should note that the Pixel Slate unit I studied is the i5 first-generation i5 version at $ 1,000 with 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. At $ 1,000 ( 1,382 USD), I do not think Pixel Slate is worth it. For most people, the $ US800 version with a m3 processor, 8 GB of RAM and a 64 GB SSD or the even cheaper version of US $ 700 with an Intel Celeron processor, 8 GB of RAM and a 64 GB SSD deserve to be examined.

Indeed, the competitors of the Pixel Slate are not other Chrome OS devices like the Pixelbook or the very affordable Samsung Chromebook Plus v2, but tablets aspiring to notebooks like the iPad Pro and 2 tablets in 1 like the Microsoft Surface Pro. from $ 800 ($ 1,229 in Australia) and $ 900 ($ 1,349 in Australia) respectively. Like these devices, the Pixel Slate is sold as a tablet, with a keyboard case available for extra charge. Like these devices, it's not so great to use it on your lap. (There is an optional $ US160 keyboard accessory that improves lap performance over the official US $ 200 keyboard case, and simply uses Bluetooth instead of the Pixel Slate's magnetic keyboard connector.) Also, as with these devices, you must remember that the actual cost is US $ 150 to US $ 200 more if you want to tap this damn thing.

The rounded keys of Pixel Slate have been Google. They are surprisingly nice, but not as good as the old SA profile keys they are designed to be imitated.

Photo: Alex Cranz, Gizmodo

Plus, the keyboard cover takes up LOTS of space on a desk or on the knees, thanks to its ridiculous hinge. Look at all this excess fabric!

Photo: Alex Cranz, Gizmodo

The case uses this magnetic connector which is perfect.

Photo: Alex Cranz, Gizmodo

It is therefore very confusing that the alternative keyboard cover, which is much better on your lap, uses Bluetooth.

But here's what distinguishes the slate from the iPad Pro and the Surface Pro: it really works like a tablet or a laptop. The other two do not! The iPad Pro is a perfect tablet, but its keyboard case and focus on touch input make it a miserable substitute for a laptop, and the Surface Pro is a very cool device like laptop, but Windows continues to be quite abominable when used in the touch mode only used by the tablet. The Pixel Slate, for its part, goes so easily from tablet to laptop mouse mode that you will wonder how it took so long to get there.

I've used the device for hours as a tablet. As soon as I returned the keyboard, the operating system went smoothly to touch mode with all my Android and Chrome OS apps available in one click. As soon as the keyboard was put back under my fingers, the Pixel Slate returned to portable mode, to return to the more traditional Chrome OS layout for the mouse and keyboard. And unlike Windows devices, the transition has never been missed. And I really tried to ruin everything!

But the Pixel Slate simply switched between the two modes, and it did so well that I found myself interacting differently with the Pixel Slate and using the touch mode even when the mouse was available. Generally, when I'm in Laptop mode on a device, my fingers rarely touch the display; they stay on the keyboard and on the trackpad. On the Pixel Slate, I did not think about it twice before quickly typing on the display to open an application or swipe to access the application drawer or the notification panel. The integration of touch and mouse inputs seems natural thanks to the way Chrome OS keeps icons wide and user-friendly, even in mouse mode: a Windows 10 touch design should consider copying.

Which is quite impressive when you see how literally the glbad is slipping on the Pixel Slate. Its 12.3-inch screen has a resolution of 3000 x 2000 pixels and a resolution of 293ppi, more pixels per inch than the newest iPad Pro (11-inch and 12.9-inch models have a resolution of 264ppi ) or the 12.3-inch Surface Pro (267ppi). The screen is gorgeous, but the glbad Google chose to save is amazingly slippery, the keyboard case slipping against it when it's closed and my fingers and the Pixelbook pen $ US100 slipping over a little too quickly. Surface and iPad both opt for a slightly more textured glbad. Your pen or finger does not feel like skating.

In terms of performance, Pixel Slate is doing well. More processor-intensive software than you can find on Surface Pro is not available – nor is the full version of Photoshop that we use to test the speed of storage on a laptop. But it's good because these applications are not available on the iPad Pro either. What is available, is WebXPRT 2015, a synthetic reference that runs the device through a series of tasks commonly performed in web browsers, such as resizing images and spreadsheet work. It scored 485 points, which corresponds to other devices equipped with Intel chips of 8th generation, a little higher than the 453 Pixelbook and far ahead of the 381 of the iPad Pro.

Anecdotally, the Pixel Slate was more than fast. It can run multiple tabs and stream a video on my TV without ever really slowing down. Like a good tablet, it works simply. The battery life is solid too. The Slate Pixel that we tested lasted 10 hours and 48 minutes for broadcasting a YouTube video at a set brightness of 200 nits. It's still under the iPad Pro, which lasted 12 hours and 37 minutes of exception, but it is much better than the Pixelbook (8:53) or our previous favorite Chrome OS device, the Samsung Chromebook Plus v2 (7:42).

So, would I recommend it on the iPad Pro? For many people yes! Especially if you plan to buy the iPad Pro, which starts at $ 800 for an 11-inch model and $ 1,000 for a 12.9-inch device. The Pixel Slate starts at US $ 600 and goes much more easily between laptop and tablet modes. It's an inexpensive tablet that doubles up nicely with a powerful device – though I suggest you spend at least US $ 100 more to go from 4GB RAM to 8GB. Pixel Slate does the job well. A tablet that Apple should take note of. And if you are a Surface Pro acolyte who is not indebted to Windows, then the Slate is also worth seeing.

For people who just want a good Chrome OS device and want to spend a little more than the $ US500 needed for the Samsung Chromebook Plus … things are a bit more complicated. Pixel Slate may be great, but it's still a tablet! This makes no sense for laptop enthusiasts, especially as the price of the Pixelbook last year has dropped and starts at only $ 700. The life of the battery is not as good, but the Pixelbook is certainly a higher quality device for working on a laptop, and much cheaper by taking into account the cost of a keyboard case for the Pixel Slate. But the Pixel Slate was not designed to be a laptop. It was designed to be a 2 in 1 that works best as a tablet and, in this respect, it does its job very well. If you want a tablet and you do not want to take care of Apple, that's it: Pixel Slate is for you.

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• The battery life and performance are reasonable.

• But the changes made to Chrome OS and the smooth transition from tablet mode to laptop mode are much more enjoyable.

• However, both keyboard cases are expensive and sufficient, one is not good for the tour and the other requires a Bluetooth connection.

• Starting at US $ 600, Pixel Slate is a good deal compared to the iPad Pro.