Google Chromebook Pixel 2 review round up: gorgeous, powerful, but still just Chrome

Google's vision of a cloud-computing future has another champion, the 800 Chromebook Pixel 2, with a high resolution screen and solid aluminium body

Google has launched a new premium Chromebook - the Pixel 2. It is faster than its predecessor and has a high resolution screen but it raises the question: does anyone really want to pay 800 for a glorified web browser.

Google's Chromebooks are designed to be a fast, cheap, portal to the internet costing under 250 and providing a browsing experience far better than similarly priced PCs. They are essentially a computer that's just a web browser, capable of doing anything you can through the browser but not much more.

In addition to being sharp, the Pixel's display boasts rich colours and wide viewing angles, even despite the touchscreen's glossy finish. The visibility is so good, in fact, that when my seatmate on a recent flight asked me to open the window shade, I could make out the contents of the screen, even with sunlight streaming in next to me.

About the battery life: it's out-of-this-world good. The last Pixel was a disappointment in that regard, and most other Chromebooks are serviceable, but not stupendous. Google rates this Pixel as good for 12 hours, and in our own battery test, it clocked in at 14.

The limitations are the opposite of the new MacBook: there's plenty of processing power inside the Pixel, but there are some software limitations. Forget video editing or anything resembling heavy-duty gaming, for instance; there just aren't apps for those things on Chrome OS. For the basic tasks and mundanities we all slog through each day, though, Chrome OS is now more than enough. The biggest downside at this point is the local storage. Google really, really wants you to use Drive, so it gives you 1TB of online storage but only 32GB of hard drive space. You'll fill that with photos and torrented copies of The Hobbit movies way too quickly.

The standard Pixel 2 has lots of muscle, but there's an even stronger kid on the block. If you really want to be the biggest Chromebook on the block, Google actually makes a Chromebook Pixel 2 LS version. Google says the "LS" stands for "ludicrous speed," and that version packs an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Why would you ever need that kind of power on a Chromebook, which runs and stores most everything in the cloud? I'm sure a developer somewhere will figure it out.

The new Chromebook Pixel is an improvement over its predecessor in every important way-it's the best kind of upgrade, the kind that keeps what worked about the previous model and upgrades everything else.

It's still the same kind of computer the first Pixel was, though. Its quality is excellent, but its operating system combined with its price makes it a nonsensical purchase for most people.