76 PCWorld DECEMBER 2019REVIEWS GOOGLE PIXELBOOK GO
noticed a slight warmth in the upper
underside of the keyboard tray, near the
hinge, but nothing that made me want to
move it to a tabletop.DISPLAY: NICE RESOLUTION,
TOLERABLE ASPECT RATIO
The 13.3-inch, 1920x1080 Full HD display
available on all but the highest-end Pixelbook
Go is a welcome upgrade from the 1366x768
HD screens we see on too many other
Chromebooks. Images and text look crisp,
and colors look good (the display has a
72-percent NTSC color gamut rating).
This resolution is also pretty easy on battery
life. Of course, you’ll use more juice if you
crank the brightness all the way up—we
measured a hearty 391 nits at the center of thescreen, a good range for working
outside. We used the Pixelbook
Go with the display set at about
200 nits, which is comfortably
bright for indoor use.
The wide, 16:9 aspect ratio
may frustrate some users, as it’s
better for watching movies than
scrolling documents or
spreadsheets. Google said users
wanted this aspect ratio so they
could view two documents side
by side—fair enough. However,
Google also told me that this size
and aspect ratio of display was
readily available in quantity,
helping with the overall cost of the Pixelbook
Go.KEYBOARD AND TOUCHPAD
Google didn’t have to try too hard to make a
better keyboard for Chromebooks. Most of
the ones I’ve tried in low-end models have
such harsh travel that it feels like I’m typing on
rocks. The ones in the midrange
Chromebooks are generally better.
The Hush Keys on the Pixelbook Go are
indeed very quiet. Their 19mm of travel isn’t
much, but it’s gentle as it hits bottom. I wish
the keys had a bit of a dimple to help with
typing accuracy, but that’s a low priority if
you’re trying to save money on the design.
I view touchpads as a necessary compromise
in laptops, less easy than a mouse. The large,Google designed the ribbed texture on the back of Pixelbook
Go to make the laptop easier to grip.