Google’s latest Chromebook seems worth the higher price

Our 4-year-old Acer 14 Chromebook started freezing on us, so we shelled out for a new one.

A Chromebook is a laptop using Google’s operating system, Chrome OS. The best thing about it is its ability to fix itself when you reboot, so it doesn’t slow down over time. The freezing we experienced on the Acer 14 was the first problem we’d had in four years.

The old Chromebook cost $274. The new one, the Pixelbook Go from Google, costs $649. Before taking the plunge, we asked: “What do you get for an extra $375?”

Number one is reliability:

Our Acer should have lasted longer than four years. It was Joy’s favorite machine until it started freezing up on her. We’ve had good results with our other Google devices, so we decided to go with the latest version of their Chromebook.

The negative side is you can’t install programs, only Android apps. Almost everything you work on exists outside your laptop, somewhere in the refrigerated dungeons of Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent. In other words, the cloud. Everything you download is encrypted, and getting started requires a password, so if you lose your laptop, no one can get at your stuff.

We use the free Google Docs, Google Slides and Google Sheets instead of installing Word, PowerPoint and Excel. But we also use the free versions of those programs on the Microsoft site, Office.com. If you like Photoshop, you can substitute the free Photoshop Express and Photoshop Mix from the Google Play Store. If someone sends you an MP4 file (an audio or video file), drag it into the browser window in Chrome to play it. In short, all the software you need is free when you get a Chromebook.

The first thing we noticed about the Pixelbook Go is how light it is — 2.3 pounds, compared with 3.4 pounds for our old Chromebook. The second thing we noticed is the back-lit keyboard, which