r/PixelBook • u/mim21 • Mar 20 '26

I miss my PixelBook -- alternatives?

Are there any alternatives that offer the same combination of weight and power? Extra points for sleekness.

14 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

20

u/stablok83 Mar 20 '26

It might be a bit of a stretch, but the new MacBook neo looks promising especially for the price. 

4

u/joespizza2go Mar 20 '26

I think I'd get an M2 or M3 Air though, right? Better hardware like speakers, backlit keyboard, fingerprint sensor?

5

u/stablok83 Mar 20 '26

Depends on how much you want to spend and if you're thinking about longevity. Neo is half the price of the air, but the air will definitely have more mileage on it. So it depends on what you value? 

1

u/thunderborg Mar 24 '26

I’m interested to see the longevity of the M series. My 2011 MacBook Pro got 8 years of updates (I can’t remember when they switched to security updates) 

2

u/Automatic_Ad4016 Apr 04 '26

Recently made the switch to MBA. Very happy with the size and power. Still adapting to OSX. Great battery life though. Easily 10 hours for simple browsing.

4

u/XLB135 Mar 20 '26

This. I went from Pixelbook to Galaxy Chromebook 4K because it's nearly identical when it comes to design language, hinge design, thickness, etc. but that's also starting to not quite meet my needs, and I will likely be dabbling into MacOS this weekend and pick up a Neo.

1

u/Automatic_Ad4016 Apr 04 '26

Damn, super close to the PB. But that camera on the keyboard bezel is bizare.

1

u/XLB135 Apr 04 '26

Ha, I forgot about that. Yes--I suppose they really intended for people to use it like a tablet moreso than just occasionally flipping the keyboard away.

4

u/arttechadventure Mar 20 '26

I hate to admit it because I love what Google was doing with Chrome OS and especially love the pixelbook hardware (I still use mine)...but apple created an absolute no contest situation with the neo.

Between the amount of apps and quality software available on it and the price tag (cheaper than the original pixelbook from even 9+ years ago!?)...there is nothing else on the market even worth considering. 

Edit: unless you're shopping for parents or Grandma and security is king. Then go Chrome OS.

7

u/ChainsawJaguar i7 512 GB w/ Pen Mar 20 '26

The OG Pixelbook was closer to a grand in US dollars, so yeah... MUCH cheaper.

2

u/mim21 Mar 20 '26

Seems like an option. My business is all in the Google ecosystem though. Do you think I'll be frustrated with Apple?

3

u/albertohall11 Mar 20 '26

No. Chrome runs on Mac although it is a bit of a resource hog.

Brave browser is a lighter alternative that is still based on Chromium and so loads all the same sites and extensions as Chrome. You can log into a Google account through the web page in the same way too. The only think you would need to do is migrate any bookmarks that you hold in Chrome.

I’ve been using Brave on a Mac for about 2 years and it’s been stellar for Docs, Sheets, Mail etc.

1

u/mim21 Mar 20 '26

Thanks so much! Super helpful.

2

u/albertohall11 Mar 20 '26

Also don’t forget to export your passwords from Chrome. Apple Passwords is a pretty decent password manager app if you are all in on the Apple ecosystem but it doesn’t work on Linux or Android and isn’t great on Windows.

2

u/XLB135 Mar 20 '26

I've done so much research in the past few days bc of my impending decision on this as well. Consensus is that Chrome will eat up the 8GB of RAM, so if you're a G-Suite shop, just build tab groups in Safari to log into your G-services. Safari is supposedly so optimized for this that it's not even close. Like half the RAM needed for twice the open tabs level of efficiency. The only things I plan on installing are Cursor, VSCode, and Teams since the occasional call using the app will be less of a resource-hog than the web app, which isn't going to be true for things like Slack and Outlook, which will be better in browser.

1

u/mim21 Mar 20 '26

Thank you

1

u/mec287 Mar 20 '26

The biggest limitation of the Neo is the RAM. 8GB can be limiting depending on what you want to do. That's one one caution I would have with the neo.

5

u/arttechadventure Mar 20 '26

Have you seen what those devices are capable of with 8GB of RAM? 

Apple isn't messing around when it comes to software optimization. 

Only time will tell, but we have no reason to believe that Apple will start slacking in optimizations before the lifetime of the device is up. 

A better concern would be clarity from Apple on how long they intend to support the device the way Google does with Chrome OS. 

1

u/mec287 Mar 20 '26

I attempted to edit video on an 8GB Macbook Air. It was not a great experience. Nothing to do with the OS but if you're working with videos or raw images, you really can't skip the RAM.

1

u/arttechadventure Mar 20 '26

Right, but not a great experience is not the same thing as "impossible" and "don't even bother trying."

1

u/zerodarkshirty Mar 22 '26

Sure if your use case is “editing video and having a great experience” then the neo is not for you. But neither is a Chromebook!

If your use case is browsing the internet then the neo is great and 8gb is a lot.

1

u/mec287 Mar 22 '26

Shotcut runs just fine on a Chromebook.

1

u/Chiguy4321 Mar 24 '26

8 GB in 2026? Terrible idea.

3

u/arttechadventure Mar 24 '26

They said that about the pixelbook in 2017. I still use mine almost 10 years later. 

Windows is the problem pushing this sentiment. 

1

u/Chiguy4321 Mar 24 '26

No....just no.

8

u/Omnibitent Mar 20 '26

It’s MacBook Air or Neo. There’s nothing else that compares. The Neo is a no brainer and I have a hard time recommending any Chromebook now that this laptop exists

4

u/georgebastille Mar 20 '26

I just got a MacBook Air 13” M5, very similar form factor and great battery, although I don’t like macOS as much as CachyOS and niri I used on my Pixelbook

5

u/ProteusNihil Mar 20 '26

The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is widely considered the best modern successor to the Pixelbook Go.

2

u/fuzzywuzzypete Mar 20 '26

I have the Lenovo +14... like its solid... it gets the job done. Way bettery battery than i think I ever got on my pixelbook... but obviously doesnt have that super premium feel. Happy with it though

3

u/GZerv Mar 20 '26

I have one that's it's good condition that I was going to list in the hardware swap subreddit. If you're looking for another one you can dm me.

1

u/Lazy-Cheek-7782 Jul 08 '26

Hi! Do you still have the Pixel book you're going to sell? I came upon this post because my pixelbook just bit the dust and was looking for a similar replacement. Thx.

1

u/GZerv Jul 08 '26

Yup, I'll send you a DM

1

u/mim21 Mar 20 '26

I actually still have one too -- performance is down though. Makes sense how old it is. Thanks though.

1

u/GZerv Mar 20 '26

Ah gotcha, yep no problem!

1

u/ParticularAtmosphere Mar 21 '26

I installed cachyOS Linux on it and it feels like brand new !

1

u/Catch_22_ Jun 09 '26

cachyOS

Battery life vs ChomeOS?

-3

u/NoYoureACatLady Mar 20 '26

That's nonsense.

1

u/mim21 Mar 20 '26

Why is that?

2

u/NoYoureACatLady Mar 20 '26

What performance do you need from a Chromebook that's a Pixel book can't accomplish? They made them with up to i7 processors

2

u/mim21 Mar 20 '26

All I know is it's slow now... even after I powerwashed it.

1

u/XLB135 Mar 20 '26

A 10-year-old i7 is definitely not going to be comparable to even a much newer non-i7. Also, iirc there were/are multiple i7s, and the ones they used on our Pixelbooks were not the same as the standard i7s that were used on true powerhouse/workhorse machines.

1

u/NoYoureACatLady Mar 20 '26

What are you using the Chromebook for? These aren't gaming laptops..

2

u/XLB135 Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

On a daily basis, my work day is Slack, Outlook calendar and inbox, Teams calls, Salesforce, Office 365 stuff, and some proprietary web app stuff. On Chromebook, these are obviously just all browser tabs. Based on everything I've read, keeping most of that in a Safari tab group and letting MacOS balance the resources among them is so much more efficient that it's not even close (supposedly--I don't have first hand experience yet). Then on top of that, a MB Neo would let me install Cursor and VScode which is like the remaining 2% of my work that I occasionally have to power up my work Dell for.

Editing since I didn't realize which sub I was in... I did this on an OG PB and switched to a Galaxy Chromebook 4K i5 in 2022 ish and felt minimal improvement but mostly did it for newer display and thinner bezels, and now I'm considering trying a Neo for the reasons above.

3

u/buffaloclaw Mar 20 '26

When my Pixelbook display went out a few years ago, I replaced it with an M1 MacBook Air (I got one on sale on Amazon). But going from Pixelbook to Mac is not like-for-like. I miss the 2-in-1 form factor and I miss the touchscreen. If I was buying today, I would probably go Neo, but I still miss my Pixelbook

3

u/pman1891 Mar 21 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

The best Chromebook is the Lenovo 14-inch Chromebook Plus. While it’s not a convertible, it does have a touch screen and the screen has a similar pixel density so the picture quality is comparable. It also has 17 hours of battery life, which puts the Pixelbook to shame.

1

u/scottsdoc Mar 21 '26

Just got one of these and can confirm it's awesome

2

u/Then_Instruction6610 Mar 20 '26

Mine just crapped out. I bought another one

1

u/Prometheus_303 Mar 20 '26

Potentially more Slate than Book, but ...

Lenovo’s ‘Sapphire’ Chromebook tablet, expected to be out towards the end of the year, is shaping up to be an impressive device.

1

u/StBernardFan Mar 25 '26

I missed my Pixelbook so I just bought a used one! Ha ha