 Yep, that's me. I bet you're wondering how I ended up in this situation. Well, let's just say the world is a tough place for a tablet trying to be a laptop. I'd explain why but I think the better person to tell that story is the guy that just threw me away. Until at least I landed on something soft. Believe it or not, this is only the third Chrome OS powered Pixel device that Google has released. Like I know, right? So first we had the Chromebook Pixel way back in 2013. It looked very similar to a MacBook and it was positioned as a high-end option for Google's Chrome OS, which until then was a fixture on $150 laptops and not much else. It was supposed to lead the way forward, clearing a path for Chromebooks to become a real alternative to Windows PCs and Macs. But while Chrome OS did continue to develop, that vision never really came to fruition and we wouldn't see Chrome OS on another Pixel device until a whopping four years later with 2017's Pixel Book. Now our verdict on that device was about the same as the original Chromebook Pixel. Pretty good hardware, bad software, and too expensive. Not to be deterred by its past failures though, Google has now added the Pixel Slate to the lineup, seemingly thinking that maybe Chrome OS with its ability to natively run Android apps would work better as a tablet that could also be used as a laptop than as a laptop that can run tablet apps. And well, actually they are partially correct. As a tablet, the Pixel Slate is surprisingly pretty great. The 3000 by 2000 resolution LCD display is bright and decently color accurate. It's thin, it's light, and the dual front-facing speakers are, simply put, incredible. Like there's way more lows and mids than you'd expect to hear from a mobile device. Seriously, these speakers are sick. And it's got some other features that are notably absent from the iPad Pro that really hurt Apple's case for the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement. One, the Pixel Slate has mouse support. Kind of a big deal, Apple. Two, USB type C ports. That is to say it has two USB type C ports, not that USB type C ports are point number two. Well, I mean it is that too. Anyway, anyway, both of them can be used for charging, which opens up the accessory possibilities a fair bit. Three, it has support for external storage. External storage, like come on, let's get a round of applause here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And four, you can set the screen at more than two angles. Nice. But comparing devices based on their specs and features won't get us the whole story here. So we need to dive a little bit deeper, starting with pricing. Some of the loadouts of the Pixel Slate look pretty decent until you look closely here and realize that you're paying a thousand US dollars for a device with a mere 128 gigs of storage. That's kind of rough. With that said, at least the IO is decent and the 48 watt hour battery had no problem lasting all day with pretty heavy use. Making the real question here, would I want to use this thing all day? If the answer were going to be yes, I would start by attaching the $200 Pixel Slate keyboard and then drowning my regret in its sort of rubbery felt material. Like, I don't know how to put this other than that this thing is just plain not good enough for the price. The palm rest for the keyboard is plastic and it attaches to the back of the slate with magnets, but the magnets slip when you're trying to maneuver the thing, making it feel just like kind of cheap in the hand as you're carrying it around, like it moves around. And even though once you've got it set up, the angle can be adjusted quite a bit with the magnets locking it in place across this whole range of motion. The keyboard is just a downer. It's mushy with no real tactile feel, the round kind of weird feeling keycaps wiggle without actually activating and the hinge, well, it's less of a hinge so much as it's like kind of a flap of material, making it a hassle to use the Pixel Slate when it's in your lap. Now the trackpad is better. It feels nice and smooth and the multi-touch gestures work well, but unfortunately it almost single-handedly defeats what was left of the Pixel Slate's lap usability as slightly flexing the keyboard will click the trackpad, discovering which was probably the single most WTF moment during the creation of this review for those of you who are wondering, making this whole situation even more confusing is the fact that the Google store lists the bridge G type wireless keyboard, which is more of a traditional plastic laptop keyboard on the Google store for $40 less than the slate keyboard and reviews of the bridge keyboard almost unanimously recommended over the slate keyboard. But anyway, anyway, anyway, it's a tablet, right? So let's change gears here and talk about touch input. Like what about the available $100 pixel book pen? Yeah, it's, it's mostly cool. It's powered by a single quadruple a battery and using it right after reviewing the iPad pro with the Apple pencil did not do this any favors. It has a slightly larger diameter, so it felt kind of, you know, novelty sized in the hand. And Google says that the pen has virtually no lag, but I don't know, I must just have like super amazing eyes because I can pretty clearly see the stroke trailing behind the pen tip here. And you guys probably can too. Like it is not like the Apple pencils. I mean, some of this probably feels like nitpicking, but to the kinds of people who use styluses or the style, I styluses, it's actually really important that it feel natural. Now remember, I said that the Apple pencil experience was the most compelling reason to consider the iPad pro as a laptop replacement. So the thing is, is that given that this is a similarly priced solution, why settle then for anything but the best stylus experience? Another issue is that there is no way to attach the pen to the tablet. Like you can put it in this little groove, but I mean, calling that a stylus resting point is kind of like saying that this car has 10 cup holders in it. In my opinion, they should have just used that space to allow the keyboard to snap up at an angle on the screen like the surface keyboard. So that's the hardware all wrapped up. How about the software? How about the software? Ah, yes. Chrome OS. It has certainly made progress over the years. We're at the point now where with the combined power of Chrome extensions and Android apps, you can actually do a ton of desktop type stuff, including file management, connecting external displays, and of course, using the full desktop version of the Chrome browser. In fairness to Google, it is definitely more of a desktop operating system than iOS is. The question though is, is it just as much of a full desktop OS as Windows or Mac OS? And the answer is no, no, no. What kind of stupid question is that? Of course not. Android apps sometimes adjust well to being used in a desktop environment, but at other times they act exactly like they do on your phone, which can be pretty disappointing. Like it just doesn't seem right that I had an easier time using Microsoft Word on an iPad than I did on Chrome OS. I just used Google Docs. Hey, who said that? I'll use whatever word processor I want. Now, to be fair, Google doesn't seem to be making the same replace your computer argument that Apple is with the iPad Pro, opting for more of a work and play message. But my question in response to that is who exactly is working and playing with this? The technology is cool. And I understand that the engineers that are behind products like this are trying new and cool things. And that's important. Like they might be thinking, well, we have Android tablets or iOS tablets for that matter. And we also have laptops. Wouldn't it be cool to combine these things to blur the lines? And the answer is yes, it is cool when it works well. But when it doesn't, well, the customer is just going to find themselves mad that they're a beta tester for a concept device that they paid just as much for as they would have paid for something that is frankly more polished. Maybe the problem here is that I'm just jaded. I mean, when you review as many tech products as I do, it becomes easy to see the flaws. And after using device after device after device, oftentimes at the end of the day, I just want something that just works well and does what I expect it to in an emergency. If I've got to throw together a couple of video clips, having some options for video editing program, I mean, the things available with up to a core i7, like I should be able to do real work on it if it comes to that. And it falls flat. And maybe that attitude sometimes prevents me from recognizing the fact that the things I hold in my hand on your screen are the results of weeks, months, and even years of work by talented engineers and designers. Like they're out there trying to create something that could be the future of computing. I just feel like right now for my money, I'm better off with the present of computing rather than a promise of what's to come. The iPad Pro, that has its own niche, but like, how about this for a general purpose, two in one, a reasonable price, sturdy build quality, a headphone jack, maybe a desktop OS, a really good pen. Maybe if we had something like, oh right, the Surface Pro, we have that. And yeah, the Surface Pro isn't perfect either, but what it is is a heck of a lot better than this. So maybe in another four years, Google. So that's what happened. I guess this is my home now. Oh wait, maybe he's coming back for me. He's got hope that the issues can be fixed with updates. No, he's grabbing his water bottle. So thanks for watching guys. If this video sucked, you know what to do. But if it was awesome, get subscribed, hit that like button or check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured in the video description. Also down there is our merch store, which has cool shirts like the one I'm wearing and our community forum, which you should totally join. The fact that it like slips off like that so easily, it's just frigging annoying. This flappy doodle here is just not good enough.