Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsBest tablet, 2in1, Chromebook, Ultrabook whatever... Best of the portables!
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2019
I'm very glad I didn't listen to tech reviewers. None of the complaints exists. It's the best by a long way. iPad is nothing.
I was concern about weight and size for tablet use but holding it on hand is comfortable.
It has two USB Type-C ports. So I can charge it from both sides of the tablet. You can plug lots of USB device and it will work. External storage, printer, modem, input devices... and external display. It won't just reflect the screen like iPad. You can use it as a separate monitor and it will match the resolution, even 4K.
I was using Ubuntu before. Yes, I ditched my laptop as a web developer thanks to Chrome OS's Linux app support. Having both Linux and Android apps on the same OS is incredible. Even without GPU support (for now) Linux apps works fine. I've Gimp for professional photo editing, Inkscape for illustration and Sublime Text for coding. When GPU support arrives for Linux apps, it will probably possible to edit videos, play Steam games.
Android apps also work fine. Many games run smooth. But of course, since that big screen is new for the Android world, many apps look bad on fullscreen. I experienced app crashes a few times, a few apps didn't launch at all but these are the minority. I hope app developers give more importance on big screens and x86 processors.
I also impressed Google Assistant on this device. It's so fast that sometimes I find it easier to launch apps, websites with the Assistant especially if I don't have the keyboard attached. I also find very useful to find documents in Drive. But unfortunately, it opens it on Chrome instead of the Files app so, I can't open the file with a different app by this way.
I also like the performance of Chrome OS. It is so fast, even with the Android and Linux apps are working. Apps launch instantly, multitasking is great. I never shut down my device but it boots up in 5 seconds. Some UI animations are not 60 fps :) but this never affects the interaction time. Usability is fast. I hope animations will be smoother with updates but not a big deal for me, it's not a game.
The settings of Chrome OS over-simplified. You can't customise things much. There isn't an option to set a screen off timer. However, some missing settings can be changed with extensions and Chrome flags.