[mgmueller]

Just got mine!
It was sent on Monday from San Francisco.
Did get it on Friday.

Pictures attached.
The seller got it as a gift on Google's developer congress.
You see it on the package: "For Development Purposes Only!".
No problem for me, I knew that before.
And so far, all units I've seen in eBay and the likes had been the same.
I didn't find a way to buy directly from Google either.

The box hadn't been sealed.
The seller told me, that's the way Google has handed them out.
But the Chromebook itself still is in its original shrink-wrap.
Again: As expected and fine by me.
I wouldn't have wanted it without shrinkwrap, though...

Impressions:
As I had hoped for: Not too bulky and extremely "valuable".
I'd say, it's in the same class as Microsoft Surface Pro.

No surprises, when booting for the very first time:
Connecting to the web is the very first action and is core.
It's downloading an update now. 8 minutes left...

The display, as advertised, is great.
I only see the download window and parts of the desktop background.
But of course it blows my MacBook Air with it's meager 1366 x 768 out of the water.
Design-wise I'd say it's great, but no "revolution" compared to my MacBook Air.
No fan noise so far, but I'm only downloading the update now of course.

Not that easy:
I have MAC address filtering on my router.
I know: Many consider it a stupid and easy crackable kind of protection.
Anyway...
How do I find the MAC address of my Chromebook Pixel? Hmmm...
I found it: In the lower right corner, similar to Windows desktop, there's the symbol for WiFi. Here one finds "i" for info. Mac address and further details can be checked from there.

Just briefly checked "Plants vs. Zombies".
Wow! The speakers are really powerful. From the sporadic sound effects and the simple background music I can't really tell about the quality. But nothing to lament so far.
Touch screen is working fine in "Plants vs. Zombies".
I've read different reviews. Some claiming "single touch only", others praising the multi touch. I expect the latter, but I'll check.
Edit: After having set the respective flag, I can pinch and zoom in the browser. So it can't be single touch. Whether it's 5 or 10 touches...

The fan is relatively loud now.
I'm only browsing the web, but I clearly can hear it.
Surface Pro is quieter, MacBook Air as well. I'll track that.

Checked the highly recommended flags (some kind of special settings).
Important: Activate "pinch & zoom", else it's not present in the browser. Strange for a touch-enabled device. Working fine now, after setting the flag.

My verdict for now:
Great!
Exactly as expected/hoped for.
It definitely will be my main unit for surfing the web.
Yes, it's not much different from using Chrome on Surface Pro, for example.
Chromebook Pixel starts in less than 10 seconds, but Surface Pro is almost as fast.
Maybe, when I have to travel light, I'll choose Surface Pro as my multi-purpose unit.
But when I freely can choose at home, on the couch, Chromebook Pixel looks and feels great.
I have a touch screen, but I have a full blown keyboard as well. And (one of) the best display around.

Only potential issue I have to track: Fan noise.
Maybe it's just because of the bad circulation now. I've put it directly on the couch. I'll check the fan noise, when putting it on a flat surface.

Just redeemed my free 1TB Google Drive.
Didn't work at first: "Your device is not eligible...".
For whatever reason, suddenly it did work.
Not essential for me, but for free of course I gladly take 1TB...

Wow!!!
The introduction offers "take your display for a test drive".
It's the demo "Timescapes".
Slow/motion and time-lapse cinematography.
What a test drive this is!
Speakers hidden below the keyboard, but surpsisingly powerful and clear!
And the colors - just great.
Absolutely nothing to complain.

The fan more or less is constantly on.
Not loud, but without any additional sounds you hear it.
Even without load.
Not annoying, but strange though.
MacBook Air or Surface Pro sometimes get louder than what I hear now on Chromebook Pixel.
But they can be entirely quiet as well, whereas Chromebook Pixel seems to have the fan constantly on.
EDIT: The fan is not constantly on. Chromebook Pixel sits next to me, while typing this on my MacBook Air. No load = no fan noise. The fan starts rather quickly, but not without any load at all.

What's pretty obvious:
Google -what a surprise- seems smarter/more experienced re. advertising/marketing.
When using Surface Pro for the first time, you struggle a bit (where/how can I search for apps in the store?). You go through the help sites and eventually you find it all. And then Surface Pro respectively Windows 8 are a pleasant surprise.
Google, for starters, has prepared kind of a "beginner's portal" (last 2 pictures). Here you find impressive demos and tips.
No biggy, after 1 or 2 hours of testing it won't matter anymore. But it's a different approach and makes for quite a difference in the first 20 minutes or so.

Again: Imagine the branding of Apple, the marketing of Google and the software capabilities of Microsoft, bundled in a single product...

Interesting:
As so often, I did a hard reset after some time.
I didn't find a way to get rid of the 2nd user account I had activated.
I didn't have to repeat the update after the hard reset.
Most units you really reset to the stone ages. Here obviously the update is flashed and conserved. Nice!

There doesn't seem to be any auto-brightness, just 16 manual steps.
The display is phantastic inside the house. Outside, in direct sunlight the usual of course - but I've seen worse.

I have no idea, how (or whether at all?) I could use my surfstick.
But my MiFi is working fine of course.

EDIT:
Only a snapshot of course after just 1 day of usage.
But so far, battery duration seems to be ca. 4 hours under full load.
Full charge takes ca. 3 hours.

Just briefly testet an MP4 file: Tintin.
The display is great of course.
But the real surprise are the speakers: Very crisp and extremely powerful. I've got the volume around 25% and it's perfectly adequate for a movie.
I have to directly compare. But I'd say, for movies superior to all my tablets.
Nice: It remembers where I stopped the movie. I miss that on most tablets.

What's a bit weak (OS, not hardware): No Google Earth and no Picasa or Panoramio webapp from Google. At least Google Earth I'd really expect.