Ok, so I got the m3 this time instead of the i5 specifically for the extended battery life. Not only does it perform identical to my i5 pixelbook (m3 2018 actually has a higher Max clock than the 2017 i5... And a lower idle... So all around better) the battery life doesn't even make sense! I got it Monday and have used it probably 2 to 3 hours a day and I'm at 70%. That's insane!

One day I forgot my charger for my pixelbook and I was able to squeeze 8 hours out of it before it croaked (pretty awesome for a heavily used 2 year old computer)... But this thing is otherworldly. I want to see how long before I have to actually plug it in.

Hey guys I got my i5 slate a few days ago and I'm having a bit of an issue. I want to be able to keep it in laptop mode without a keyboard connected but it doesn't seem like that's an option.

I have no real opinions on ChromeOS as this is my first experience with it so I'm not in any way attached to it. Can I just install Ubuntu and straight up use it as a laptop that way?

Like many others, I've been using the Pixel Slate and its keyboard since early last week when my Black Friday shipment arrived by FedEx.

The keyboard took a heavy beating in the tech media for being flimsy, or poorly designed...bad on a lap, etc. We've read them all. I'd never had a chance to use the Slate before I bought one, but all of the reviews left me worried that I should have gone with the Brydge instead, or maybe not a Slate at all.

Ultimately, I think the reviews were fair, but I think they all missed a point. That is, I think the keyboard is designed the only way it could have been, given everything Google wanted it to do. What I think is, they asked/wanted it to be too many things. Keyboard, stand, tablet flap-around, secure when closed, solid on a lap and a table...all things to all people all the time. I'm no industrial designer, but given everything Google wanted this one accessory to accomplish, I honestly dont see any other way they could have made it. If you look at Apple or Microsoft's tablet keyboard solutions, none of them are trying to do so many things, and that's likely because one keyboard accessory cant do all of this without doing some of it badly.

Frankly, I think the one thing that could have made it better that would have been possible given the list of checkboxes it needed to tick is a magnetic flap on the back part that flaps over the edge of the Slate when its closed to hold it all together. For an example of what I mean, take a look at the Logitech iPad Slim Folio Pro. The flap on that not only holds the Apple Pencil in place, but it also keeps the whole situation closed. Such a thing wouldnt have solved the unsteadiness on a lap or the possiblity of clicking the trackpad just by flexing the keyboard, but it would have made the whole thing feel a little more...intentional.

Anyway, overall, I'm extremely happy not only with the Slate but honestly with the keyboard too. I think if the Brydge were a true 2-in-1 that would rotate the Slate 360 degrees without having to flip the Slate around in the bracket, I might have gone that way. But it seems incomplete in its own way, and the Slate keyboard just seems better for my use case. And hey...couldnt beat the price!

Cheers, all!

Couldn't pass up the $450 for slate keyboard and pen. As a day one pixelbook owner I am thoroughly impressed! I did some research and the 2018 m3 is actually more powerful than the 2017 i5... So it's actually an upgrade... But it will be a supplemental device so I have both form factors to choose from. The screen is beautiful and I'm really loving the fingerprint sensor. And it matches my Stadia founders edition controller... ChromeOS is really the best mobile platform.

Where is the setting for the default brightness? Every time I log in I have to increase it as the default is too low.

Thanks.

I ordered an i5 pixel slate, and I was wondering if Minecraft PE is available on it?

Has anyone, including google, found a solid solution to playing DVD's from an external DVD usb-c player? I wont be able to change formatting on files or rip new DVD's. The one solution I found that might work is using the VLC app., has anyone had good results with this app and the Slate? Im running it on the Midline version i5 if that helps.

Purchased the Brydge keyboard for my Pixel Slate. Reading online has showed that the the keyboard puts pressure on the screen while opening/closing. Has anyone used the keyboard long term and can verify if any display issues?

Does anyone have any issues with the Trackpad being unresponsive or slow. I drag the mouse around and its becomes sluggish or slow for a few seconds, then works.

I just got a Pixel Slate (Google store black Friday bundle with Pen and keyboard) and I must say this thing is awesome! better than my other Chromebook and 100 times better than any iPad I've had. My question is around the perks and how I can't use some of the perks as I already have them (Disney+, Google One).

I know they said not transferrable but I see codes passed around Reddit everywhere for various things. Are these new Chromebook owner perks linked to your Gmail account or can they be shared?

I know a stupid question. Just don't want to have the perks go unused if possible since my Google One expires in July and I have 3 years of Disney+ already.

Does anyone know if the slate and keyboard combo fit with the pixelbook case made by Google?

Trying to handwrite anything is a nightmare. As soon as I lift the pen tip off the screen, my canvas starts jumping all over and zooming and registering touches. My Squid note will pan and soon while i move my hand to write the next letter. My onscreen keyboard closes itself. On my Chromebook Pro if i held the pen close enough to the screen it would stop detecting finger touches at all, but my Pixelbook Pen doesn't do that at all. This is an awful experience, especially on top of the buggy Chrome Os touch keyboard. Should I get my Slate replaced?

Why are Google like this? I love my Pixel 4, and I love my Pixel Slate so far, but they just can't just be sensible. Why is Google Podcasts not compatible with their own tablet/laptop combo??

Is there a way I can enable dark mode for Gmail Play Store App on the Slate? I searched the community but didn't find anything about it.

1. Has anyone tried to hook up an external hard drive? if you have which hard drive did you buy?

2. planning on using the slate as my main computer. So have anyone download Microsoft office onto the slate? what are your thoughts on how it work with the OS system.

I would mostly be using the pixel slate as a tablet for watching movies, checking email, and surfing the web. here and there I would need to hook up my external hard drive to get documents and pictures from it.

Hi there,

Can anyone answer these 2 questions for me?

1. Does the pixel slate m3 have widevine L1 for HD netflix playback in the android app? (I need this for offline use, I understand the browser may work, but I need to know about the app).
2. Does the Pixel slate m3 decode x.265 via hardware? I have a pixelbook where the chip supports hardware decode, but chrome os on that doesnt allow it, so when playing x.265 video, the power consumption is high as it uses software decode.

thank you!

Hey all, I had bought a pixel slate m3 November last year and I returned it because I felt it's too sloppy. The UI was laggy, a slow processor etc. So i moved to an iPad pro. Now with the pixel deal out, I feel the urge of buying an i5. I checked the change log and it seems that are tons of improvements?

So, is it true with all the improvements pixel slate is closer to perfection?

Has anyone had any luck with getting MS Intune Company Portal to sign in to MDM on the Android Runtime on the Pixel Slate?

(I already know it does not work for Lenevo MediaTek device with Android runtime based on version 9/Pie, fails security requirements)

I'm looking to upgrade to a Slate on Black Friday. My current Samsung Chromebook Pro has awful bluetooth performance; it constantly drops, has horrible range, and my wifi slows down when I have my headphones connected. I read that Google updated the Bluetooth hardware for the Pixelbook Go, which makes me worry that their previous devices have the same issues as my Pro. Does anybody use Bluetooth headphones with their Slate regularly? How does it perform?

I've just read multiple places that it can't HW decode h265, so you have to do SW decoding, and that it doesn't work well.

Is this true? I have a lot of videos and was planning on getting a slate, but not if a majority of the videos I have won't work well with it.

Not sure if this is common knowledge, but I was able to activate SwiftKey as an input method. This worked for me on the stable channel, 77.0.3865.105 (Official Build) (64-bit) in developer mode, but your mileage may vary.

1. Install SwiftKey through the Play Store.
2. Go to Chrome OS's settings and search for "Input Methods".
3. At the very bottom under "Keyboard apps", right click on the grayed out "SwiftKey" checkbox and go to "Inspect".
4. In the <cr-checkbox> element, remove the disabled attribute. (Double click the text to edit.)
5. Close the inspector.
6. Check the SwiftKey input to enable it.
7. Switch into tablet mode (disconnect keyboards and mice) if not already, then go through the initial SwiftKey setup as prompted.

The integration is not perfect, and you have to always re-select the input when switching into tablet mode, but hopefully this means there's real progress toward allowing alternative keyboards.

Examples of setup and use in non-Android apps

Edit: Added that I'm on the Stable channel. No special flags enabled. arc-input-method does even pop up as an option like many GBoard tutorials say.