The Google Pixel Slate m3 is a difficult tablet to evaluate. It’s the first tablet in Google’s series of high-end Chrome OS devices. It is intended to compete with high-end devices like as the iPad Pro and the Surface Pro. The specifications of the Pixel Slate are impressive on paper: it has a stunning OLED screen, a speedy Intel i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, a nearly bezel-less design, and four speakers tuned by AKG to produce exceptional sound quality whether you’re watching a movie or listening to music.
Hardware
Information About My Computer’s Graphics, Processor, and Memory
The Google Pixel Slate m3’s magnesium chassis is both slim and luxuriously finished. When in laptop mode, the 8MP camera on the back faces you, and the bezels are made of metal. The specifications are top-notch, including up to 512GB of SSD storage space, 16GB of RAM, and your choice of an Intel Core m3-7Y30 or Core i5-7Y54 CPU. It also boasts a fingerprint sensor, twin stereo speakers, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, an NFC chip, and four microphones for out-of-the-way voice commands.
Software for Android Devices
Apps that run on Android cannot be found in the app drawer of a Chrome OS device, such as the Pixel Slate m3, until they have been downloaded from the Google Play Store. The vast majority of users’ needs may be met here (our evaluation unit had no problems running any apps). There is also a dedicated tab in the Chrome Web Store for searching for Chrome-only apps. Don’t bother asking whether iOS app support is available. The Pixel Slate cannot run any iOS apps.
Our Favorites
- Attractive and contemporary style
- Powerful
- Extensive screen
- Top-notch vocalists
- Long-lasting batteries
The Pixelbook Pen Is a Handy Device Type with your Google Pen and Keyboard
Both are excellent and come standard on every Google Pixel Slate m3. Apple’s Smart Keyboard has been around for a long time because of the importance of text input to the company. While Android Pie’s on-screen keyboard is much improved, it still can’t compare to the speed and precision of a dedicated hardware keyboard. When it comes to touch typing, this is particularly true; I was able to attain rates of up to 80 words per minute on my old MacBook Air, which is plainly impossible to do with a portable virtual keyboard.
The Slate m3 has an LCD screen measuring 12.3 inches. It comes in two different resolutions: a standard version with 3,000 by 2,000 pixels (293 PPI) and a high-resolution larger version with 3,180 by 1,800 pixels (189 PPI) (260 PPI). Google Pixel Slate m3 claims you may request a taller model when purchasing if you know in advance that you will need it; in the case of our review device, this latter configuration provided us less than 1 millimeter of additional space between its chin and its keyboard.
Since releasing the first Pixel laptop late last year, Google’s hardware design hasn’t altered much. The new model is essentially indistinguishable from its predecessor other than having fewer bezels and a better screen. This isn’t strictly a drawback since we still think Google’s designs are top-notch even after all this time. Despite being smaller than most 13-inch laptops on the market today, the new 12.3-inch 3000 x 2000 (293 PPI) touchscreen is especially remarkable due to its lower side bezels, which provide the impression of more space than a 13-inch display.
Google’s Pixel Slate m3 has a 12.3-inch screen with a resolution of 3000 by 2000 pixels. The frame rate is 60 hertz and has a high dynamic range and color gamut support (P3). In addition, the viewing angles are excellent. You may use all of your phone’s display without having to worry about the notch interfering with your apps. You can move windows anywhere you wish by grabbing their tabs, and if they are too big, you can divide them in two vertically or horizontally, just as on desktop Chrome.
Tablets with Intel Core m3 processors costing over $600 are slower than many Windows laptops that cost much less. According to a performance test conducted by CNET, Google’s Chrome OS gadget is around 20% slower than comparable leading 2-in-1s with low-power Y series CPUs. Not only that, but unlike macOS and Windows, Chrome OS lacks proper multitasking support. And what is the result? Most of your 2-in-1 power lies untapped since you can’t run several apps simultaneously. Sometimes, even if I’m merely typing in Word while watching Netflix in another window, neither one will answer until I adjust my concentration.
The audio quality is excellent, with lots of loudness.
Audio produced by the Slate m3 is surprisingly high quality for a tablet. In terms of media playback and gaming, it’s more than competent. It’s not terrible for music listening; the mids and highs are rather good, but the bass is a tad on the weak side. The sound is quite lovely for built-in speakers. However, it does have a somewhat tinny tone if I listen carefully.
A lightning-fast network
This slate established a secure wireless and Bluetooth connection quickly and reliably. There were no lapses in the transmission that I could detect. A ChromeOS device’s strong performance is crucial because the OS relies on an online connection.
Energy Retained in a Battery
Because Chrome OS is designed to be used with the cloud and the rest of Google’s ecosystem, it shouldn’t be a surprise that devices like the Google Pixel Slate m3 have less battery life than rival tablets like the iPad Pro and other Chromebooks. The battery life is on par with comparable high-end tablets, lasting 8 hours with mixed usage and 5 hours when watching the video. Even so, you should anticipate anything from 4-5 hours of battery life if you’re using it for higher workloads, including working with Office files or presentations. Not horrible; however, more power users should probably pack a charger just in case.
Camera
This slate has consistently invested in software, an area in which it has shown great success in recent years. Google’s Pixel phones have the greatest camera technology ever implemented into a mobile device. The Pixels’ superior work comes from their extensive use of computational photography, a technique that combines several pictures into one. Now you can use this technique on your tablet camera, as Google claims to employ all four cameras simultaneously to allow for post-capture broken blur. We don’t know how effective it will be in practice, but we applaud Google for taking a risk.
Bottom Line
If you’re set on ChromeOS, the Google Pixel Slate m3 is a great tablet, but I wished for more advanced features. It’s expensive for a ChromeOS tablet, and its hefty weight and easily scratched shell detract from the experience.
