Google Chromebook Pixel Verdict

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The nice man in the video has no idea what he has just done. Google has pitched their Chromebook Pixel against Apple's MacBook Air and iPad. Now Jonathan Ive is paid lots of money for a good reason. Because he is one of the few designers who uses common sense to design products. The person who has designed the Chromebook Pixel does not have common sense.

Now the Chromebook is not a bad product. It's just that it has so many flaws that it renders itself obsolete. The Chromebook Pixel has one of the best displays ever fitted to a laptop. The 12.8" screen is also touch sensitive, so you can operate it both via touch and the trackpad. Yes, the body of the laptop is made of plastic, and it is thick and the protruding hinge on the back isn't something you'll want to look at but it is light. It has a fast i5 processor, and decent amount of RAM. It also has a terabyte of online storage which is really very nice. But Google has affixed a price tag of $1,200 on it. And that changes everything.

The Chromebook Pixel doesn't have an operating system. It uses a Linux based OS called Chrome OS which is heavily dependant on web apps. It is basically consists of Google Chrome, the web browser, and web apps you can download from the Chrome Web Store. So in essence, the Chromebook Pixel is actually a very expensive web browser. And here lies the problem. If Google had given it Windows 8, or even Ubuntu, the price could still be justified. But if you just want to surf the web, why not use an iPad? An iPad is for $500, and the iPad Mini $330. The iPad is one of the most complete devices you can buy. With every developer on the planet flocking to code apps for the Apple ecosystem, buying an iPad is a no-brainer if you just want something to surf the web with, or read magazines, or indulge in a bit of gaming. Even if you attach a bluetooth keyboard, it's still a cheaper and more practical option than the Chromebook Pixel. It really is hard to make a case for the Chromebook Pixel.

Even if you pitch the Chromebook Pixel against the more expensive MacBook Air, it'll still end in a bloodbath. The MacBook Air with Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, is a powerful little thing. The beautiful hardware, and that sensational trackpad, all for $999 makes it a bargain compared to the Chromebook Pixel.

Apple did not fit a touch screen to the Air for a good reason. They found that users did not want to touch the vertical screen as it simply wasn't a comfortable posture. It wasn't natural or intuitive. Also, the hardware for it would complicate production, and would jack up the prices. It just does not make sense to put a touchscreen in a laptop.

It's hard to believe that the company which came up with Google Glass tries to crash Apple's party with the Chromebook Pixel. Although the Google Glass will also retail for about $1,500 it is brilliantly thought out product which will probably become commonplace in a few years time. 

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MacBook Pro 13" Mid 2012 i7 Review

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MacBook Pro 13" i7

First off, the biggest flaw with this laptop is the name. The official name for this laptop is "MacBook Pro 13" Mid 2012 i7". This is because Apple launches a new MacBook every Tuesday or something. So it has to have a different name corresponding to the launch date to differentiate from it's predecessors. It's a bit like the Porsche 911. Just like the 911, the MacBook evolves generation by generation, never radically changing its design. And just like the 911, the MacBook has around billion variations. So it's a nightmare to pinpoint the version you actually want. Spell something wrong, or say some words in the wrong order, and you get a completely different laptop. However, Porsche figured it out. By giving codenames like '991', and '997', generations can be differentiated. And with names like Turbo, Carrera, and so on, models can be differentiated. The MacBook Pro 13" series has 3 models. 1 retina display equipped model, and 2 non retina ones. The one I will be reviewing is the non retina display one. The non retina display model has 2 variations. On standard configuration, one has 4GB RAM, Intel 2.5 GHz i5 processor, and other one has 8GB RAM, and Intel 2.9GHz i7 processor. Now to simplify the naming, Apple should have taken Prosche's lead and called the i5 model, "Standard", and the i7 model "TURBO V RACING ROCKET FAST TURBO!!!!!!". Because the i7 model is really fast. In a hypothetical laptop drag race, it will do quite well.

[Now before I continue, if you just want to know whether you should buy this laptop, the answer is, yes. Don't hesitate. Go right now and buy it.]

It has a 750 GB hard drive, and although it nice to have a big hard drive, I'd rather opt for the optional smaller capacity flash drive. I didn't opt for the flash drive, because Apple took all my money away after I bought the laptop. Apple will not let you exchange your hard drive for a flash drive either, which is a bit unfair. But even without the flash drive, it is very fast. The processor is impressive(2.9GHz Intel Core i7), and at the time of launch, this has the fastest dual-core processor. In the world. Well, atleast according to GeekBench. I ran a few GeekBench tests, and this is what happened.

32 bit result
64 bit result

It's good isn't it? If you don't understand what these numbers mean, join the club. All I know is, bigger the number, the better. What it actually means is that I never struggle to run any application or game. This will run anything you throw at it. The 8GB RAM which comes as standard helps as well. Call of Duty: Black Ops, AutoCAD, Formula 1 2012, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Creative Studio, Aperture, this will handle it all with ease. Although you might want to upgrade to a quad-core Retina Display equipped 15" MacBook Pro if you actually are a pro user who depends on your laptop to earn money. But for about 80% of users, it'll do just fine. If you upgrade to a flash drive, it'll be even better. The 13" MacBook Pro with the Retina Display is much thinner and lighter, has that fantastic display(It really does make a difference) and comes standard with a 128GB flash drive. However, it has the slower i5 processor, and you can't upgrade the RAM after buying it, as the RAM cards are soldered on to the motherboard. And it is pricier by around $200. Regular pro users need not apply. This is for MacBook Air users who want something faster. So common sense dictates that you should buy the faster non Retina display version, and upgrade to the flash drive and 16GB RAM in a few years to essentially give a new lease of life to what might be a relatively slow laptop in the near future. So this laptop will last you for quite a long time. I think it will last for 5-6 years, which is impressive considering the fact that newer and faster laptops are being launched every 6 months or so.

This is a workhorse 

The webcam is pretty good, the speakers are decent as well, and the build quality is superb. The battery indicator lights, and the sleep light. will never cease to fascinate you. The keyboard is brilliant, but the backlit keyboard is something I have never actually used as I never really have any use for it. But the backlit keyboard has 16 brightness settings. Which is excessive considering the fact that you either want the light on or off. 2 settings would do just fine. The light sensor adjusts the brightness of the screen and keyboard according to the brightness of the surroundings, which works very well. These small touches all add up to your daily experience of using the laptop. You will not able to use normal computers after using the MacBook Pro. It's just not possible. What actually sealed the deal for me was the trackpad. The glass trackpad might actually be best thing about any MacBook. The person who made it deserves a Nobel Award. He really does deserve it. Unlike the president of a certain country. Ahem. The trackpad connects you, the user to the laptop. It is the most important part of the laptop interface. The multi touch gestures, the inertial scrolling, the feel and touch of the thing, it is simply superb. Why haven't other companies figured it out yet? A bad trackpad, is a bad laptop. And why are some trackpads offset to the left side of the laptop? Isn't it a bit racist against the left-handed people? Can I sue?

The magical trackpad

It's all good news till now, and it doesn't stop. The hardware is impressive. But there are other laptops out there with much more powerful setups at a lower price. But what other manufacturers haven't figured out yet, is that the operating system has to be perfectly calibrated with the hardware. A Windows user expects issues with the hardware and software right after opening a brand new laptop. A typical Macintosh user doesn't even know hardware and software compatibility issues exist. The operating system that come standard is Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Now 10.6 Snow Leopard is still better than Windows 8. And that is old now. 10.7 Lion was a disaster, and is Apple's Windows Vista moment. But just like Windows 7, 10.8 Mountain Lion(ML) irons out all problems and is the best operating system by a light year. It is intuitive, smooth, helpful, and comes pre-loaded with some stunning wallpapers. The notification bar with Facebook and Twitter integration is a neat touch, along with the iOS design elements that are now implemented in the Mail, Notes, and other Apple applications. 10.8 ML takes the trackpad multi touch to a whole new level, but because it is so intuitive, even a novice user can easily get to grips with it. As you use the MacBook Pro day in, day out, you begin to realize that this unity of hardware and software is incredibly important, and you take joy in the fact that everything simply works.

Mission Control

The only issues I face are really very minor and trivial. When you boot up, it's a bit slow and behaves as if it's hungover. But within a minute or so, it's back upto speed. I suspect this is because it's not using all RAM available at one go. I think it only uses 4GB initially, and only starts using the rest if it really needs it. Even the processor is a little lazy initially. With the hard disk drive, the boot up time is around 40 seconds or so. The solid state drive takes less than 10 seconds to boot up. If you keep your Mac switched on continuously for a few days, and only let it sleep, strange glitches begin to occur. Sometimes Mission Control doesn't work, or the ability to drag specific Finder windows stops working. It starts acting like an annoyed computer fed up with the user for not getting enough sleep. It does have a lot of character, Mountain Lion. The App Store is brilliant, and has better applications than Windows can ever dream of. There's nothing to worry about.


One of the best and most characterful laptops ever. This is a masterpiece.

UPDATE: Apple cuts 13" Retina Display MacBook Pro price by $200. It's still not worth it though.

Official Stats

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Formula 1 Jerez Test Roundup

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Formula 1 started 2013 with the first test in Jerez. With limited testing, every testing session is vitally important, and teams have to make use of every test opportunity they can get. Although it is impossible to judge how the teams have improved over the winter in a test, everyone still tries to make some sense of the lap times. Ferrari set the fastest lap time on soft tyres in Jerez, and Red Bull set the fastest time on the hards. This is the only important fact of the whole test session. Ferrari has recovered, and their car is  not a catastrophic disaster as it was last year, and Red Bull is still very fast.

Romain Grosjean in the Lotus

Jerez has an extremely abrasive track surface, so the long runs on a heavy fuel load also do not have relevance whatsoever. The soft tyres barely last for 5-6 laps. So tyre data collection was corrupted somewhat. The other headline facts of the test are,

• Marussia, under technical director Pat Symonds now has KERS and the Coanda exhaust system.
• Caterham is trying to wing this year, and is going to divert all its resources to 2014. They probably want to simply finish in the points this year and keep ahead of Marussia.
• Torro Rosso looks quick, and this improvement is due to their new technical director James Key. Also, the Torro Rosso is called STR8, funnily enough. Torro Rosso might switch to Renault engines in 2014 so that they can use Red Bull mechanicals in the future.
• Sauber has made their smaller sidepods work, and hasn't had any cooling issues. Smaller sidepods mean less drag, so Sauber has had to package their internals very well. Yet. The real test is Barcelona, where the cars will really be driven in anger. But Sauber looks fast as well, and with Nico Hulkenberg at the wheel, they will challenge for podiums and wins.
• Williams ran their 2012 car, so no one knows how fast their 2013 car is. But Valtteri Bottas, another Kimi Raikkonen, had his first taste of how the team works in race simulations.
• Force India looks strong as well, and they have yet to confirm their second driver. It's definitely Jules Bianchi.
• Mercedes had bad time at Jerez. Rosberg had an electrical problem on the first day, and within 15 laps, the Merc was on fire. They had to fix a fundamental electrical design problem, and missed the entire first day of running. The second day, Hamilton binned the car at the fastest part of the track as his rear brakes failed on his 16th lap. Hamilton managed to slow down the car slightly by locking up his fronts, but still smashed the front wing and nose after crossing the gravel trap. And so another day wasted. Meanwhile in the pits, everyone at McLaren were rolling on the floor and laughing. But no one noticed them, as everyone else in the pit lane was also laughing quite a lot. Mercedes recovered on the third and fourth day of the test, clocking on an average of 145 laps each day. Thats a lot compared to other teams who barely did a 100 or so laps. Mercedes also realized that when Hamilton drove hard, the car took quite a beating. When he drove into the pits after along stint, the brakes were smoking, the engine was complaining, and so on. 
• Ferrari has a good car, and Massa and Pedro de la Rosa drove it in Jerez. Interestingly Alonso did not opt for the Jerez test. As Massa completed lap after lap of aero test, engine test, and other such tests, he could not work on setup. When Alonso drives the car in Barcelona, the cars will be ready to use and Alonso can start work on setup right away, and won't have to do the boring work of checking all the systems and collecting data. Jerez is not a track that has similar characteristics to any of those on the calendar, so it's not ideal to setup a car, or even train on. So Alonso has cleverly opted to only run at Barcelona
• Lotus, under technical director James Allison also has a very fast car. Romain and Kimi, both seemed happy with it. Although they didn't run their passive DRS in Jerez, the car was relatively reliable as well. All teams will bring their final updates and new parts in Barcelona, so Barcelona will be a real test to gauge the speed of the cars.
• McLaren has a very fast car, and Jenson set the most important lap time of the test. He set a very fast lap time on a relatively green track, on the first day on hard tyres. So the McLaren is quick as it was last year.
• Red Bull was running different array of tests throughout the session, and so neither Vettel nor Webber pushed the car hard. But they are definitely quick, and more importantly, very consistent. Their longer runs were the most consistent of any team. So they remain favourites.

Only at Barcelona will we know how fast the cars actually are, and how they have coped with the new faster wearing Pirelli tyres.

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Formula 1 2013 Season Predictions

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Lotus E21

2013 will be one the most competitive years in the history of Formula 1, no question about it. The best part is that 6 or 7 teams will be fighting for podiums, and perhaps even wins. What makes 2013 also unique is that it will be an end of an era, the V8 era, forever. With 2014 switching back to Turbo V6's, and bigger electrical energy recovery systems, 2013 will be a tricky year. All teams need to direct a majority of their resources toward 2014, to ensure that they remain competitive. So most of the updates and development of the car will take place quite rapidly towards the beginning of the year, and will tail off midway, and most teams will shift almost all resources to develop the 2014 car.


The 2014 car is so different from the previous cars that the team have to design the cars from scratch. The cars will bear almost no family resemblance to the current cars. It is a huge change. So 2013, with the newPirelli tyres which promises more tyre wear and faster lap times make this one the most challenging seasons in Formula 1 history. Changing the regulations dramatically might actually ruin the racing and we might see only the top teams dominate. The resources required for 2014 are too much for smaller teams to handle. As a result, Timo Glock was fired so that Marussia could get a pay driver just to survive. So only the bigger teams will be competitive in 2013 and in 2014 as well, as they can afford to develop both cars at the same time. I don't think this massive change is a good idea, as it will ruin the competitive racing we've seen lately. If the FIA had proceeded stepwise, they could've have made it work, but then again, the FIA had to do something to justify Formula 1 in current climate of Global Warming, and with various conference being held around the world to save the environment.

McLaren MP4 28

The 2013 season will be a difficult season to predict. Caterham and Marussia will barely have an impact on the proceedings of the race, and are simply trying to survive 2013 for a competitive car in 2014. Sauber and Williams might try to score a few points this year so that they get sponsorship and prize money to help develop the 2014 car, so I expect them to be very competitive this year. Torro Rosso will continue to be average this season, and will finish just ahead of Caterham and Marussia in the contractors standings. They will serve as training program for future Red Bull drivers, and Jean Eric Vergne will probably get Mark Webber's seat in 2014. Force India might surprise everyone and be challenging for podiums this year with Paul Di Resta committed to put in a good performance to impress the bigger teams and will have a good year. Mercedes will have an average year as well, but with Lewis Hamilton committed to prove to everyone that he made a right choice, they might just win a few races, and a handful of podiums.

Force India at Silverstone

Lotus will be a very competitive team. The have a lot of potential. James Allison's car and with a fast and consistent Raikkonen along with Grosjean who is looking to prove his worth adds up to a team which will probably finish in the top 3, with Raikkonen in the mix for the drivers championship. The problem Lotus faces is that, in this hyper competitive top 4 teams of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull, they cannot make a single mistake. Red Bull, and McLaren will have the fastest cars from the word go, and Ferrari will be up there as well, with Fernando Alonso as motivated and consistently quick as ever. It will be brutal in the fight for wins between the top 4 teams, and the championship will be won by the team which keeps developing till the very end. It will be very very exciting to see what happens and the fans will have fun.

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Red Bull RB9 Launch; Passive DRS

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Red Bull 2013

This is the launch Formula 1 has been waiting for. What sort of speed machine has Adrian Newey and his merry men designed and built this year? The Red Bull livery is already part of Formula 1 folklore, and you just know that the blue and red colours are now part of history. So looking at the car evokes a similar sort of reaction to what you would experience if you pre-2008 Ferraris. The feeling of domination. For 2013, the already iconic red and blue colours are now mixed with a snazzy purple courtesy of their new title sponsor, Infinity. It looks simply fantastic and now definitely looks very different from a Torro Rosso.

Now the important technical bit.
Adrian Newey has evolved the 2012 car due to the stable regulations, and therefore it looks a lot like the 2012 model. The step nose is retained, although they have inserted a tiny vanity panel to smoothen the airflow, I suspect. He also hinted that the passive Double DRS system would be on the list of updates that would lavished on the 2013 car this year, although he did doubt their ability to give a massive laptime advantage, and eventually their ability to get points. The problem with the passive DRS is that it works like a loosely connected switch. The passive DRS system, also called 'The Device' by Lotus, is designed to stall the rear wing on the straights by activating an aero ‘switch’ when a certain speed is hit. This diverts the airflow and stalls the rear wing, cutting drag. The problem is ensuring that the switch activates and de-activates at the same speed, something that has proved tricky to achieve.

Pat Symond's take,

"It’s not yet in the public domain, but I suspect it relies on a cleverly designed nozzle capturing an air flow and forcing it to go supersonic, switching a fluidic device that diverts air to the lower surface of the wing. While it is extremely intricate it is by no means fanciful, since it is merely a logical extension of the lessons learned from the F-duct of 2011. It was the drivers who pushed for DRS to be limited in qualifying as they found it too difficult to manage. It is they who will now have to handle a system that will be anything but predictable as small changes to the system, such as air pressure or temperature, will greatly alter the speed at which drag (and downforce) reduction occurs and which will be totally out of their control."

So it is a tricky system to set up, and this why I predict only the very best engineers will persevere with this system. 2013 is a tricky year to plot. Any advantage gained in the beginning of the year will make development easier for 2014. I suspect only Red Bull and Lotus, who have the best aerodynamicists in business, will try to implement it. Lotus did have a headstart developing the 'Device', but Adrian Newey was busy working on the exhaust all this time, so Red Bull will have a fantastic downforce system at the back end of the car. I also suspect that Adrian has doubts over the legality of Lotus's 'Device', and he'll only start work if the FIA approve of the system. 2013 might just be the year when James Allison of Lotus ends the Red Bull domination. We'll just have to wait and see.

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Sauber C32-Ferrari Launch

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Sauber C32-Ferrari

Sauber's online launch was quite a surprise. First off, the colour scheme looks superb, and it is one the best looking cars in 2013. As it says on the tin, the Sauber uses Ferrari engines. Now Nico Hulkenberg might have signed up for Sauber so that he might get noticed by Ferrari, and could potentially replace Massa in 2014.

Sauber has made quite a few changes to the new car.

Sauber has tweaked the car a bit, and it looks quite a lot different from the 2012 model. They've done a halfway job on the step nose. They've used a smaller vanity panel, so a small step can still be seen. They claim that it gives a slight aero advantage, so it's an interesting route they have taken. Another odd feature of the C32 is that it has tiny sidepods. The openings are extremely small compared to a Ferrari, Lotus, or the McLaren ones. Another interesting step taken by Sauber. It'll be interesting to see how fast will the Sauber be, and whether they have taken the right gamble. They haven't opted for the passive double DRS, so till now, only Lotus has a DDRS system in place. The double DRS system is a gamble, as it is quite tricky to setup and fine tune it. So it's not exactly a foolproof mechanism, and might actually lead to further problems.

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Bruno Senna to Force India?

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A screenshot of Paul Di Resta's Twitter feed shows that he welcomed Bruno Senna to Force India. The tweet was deleted minutes later. However, one smart Twitter user, @nismoroger took a screenshot, and if Force India did indeed hire Bruno Senna, it would've been a catastrophic decision. Bruno Senna was a fast driver. Until his mother forbade him to continue his racing career in his formative years of karting. after the deaths of both his uncle, Ayrton and his father. He started racing again at the age of 20. So missed on the crucial time to hone his skills, and thus lost his speed. So Bruno Senna could've been a world champion by now, matching Ayrton Senna for speed and maturity. But unfortunately, he missed out. So hiring Jules Bianchi, or even Adrian Sutil, both of which are fast drivers makes sense, and at the launch of VJM06, Force India claimed that they would make their driver decision on the basis of a long term strategy, so I think they did actually hire Bianchi.

UPDATE: Bruno Senna signed for Le Mans and World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin. So obviously, this screenshot is either a photoshop or a misjudgement by Paul Di Resta.

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Ferrari and Force India Connections

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Ferrari F138

VJM06

Ferrari and Force India both launched their 2013 cars today, and there is a unique link between the two teams. Ferrari is pushing Force India to give Jules Bianchi the second race seat alongside Di Resta, and if Force India oblige, they might just get a good deal from Ferrari if they decide to switch to Ferrari engines in 2014. Jules Bianchi is a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, so quite naturally, Ferrari will want Bianchi to get some vital F1 experience before he probably replaces Massa in 2014. Force India hasn't revealed the identity of the second driver yet, so it remains to be seen what will happen. But I think Force India might opt for either Jules Bianchi or Adrian Sutil.

Luiz Razia has apparently signed up for Marussia, replacing Timo Glock who left via mutual consent, as, to put it bluntly, Marussia is barely able to make ends meet and they desperately need paying drivers.
Force India should retain Mercedes power for 2014, as Mercedes, who now have their own team, and who have also committed most of their resources for 2014, will probably have a better engine.

Another unique similarity between Force India and Ferrari is that both teams have opted to cover the step noses for their 2013 cars.

The Ferrari F138 retains its unique pull rod suspension, which I suspect all teams will switch to 2014, and just like the new VJM06, most of the work done on the car is under the skin, the teams have mostly pushed to optimise and perfect the parts used in 2012.

However there is a clear trend emerging in the 4 cars that have been launched in 2013 till now. All cars have tight and narrow rear end as the teams try to optimise the air flow and try to create more downforce because the exhaust blown diffusers were banned in 2012. Red Bull was one of the first teams to feature this unique design feature in 2012, as they had to compensate for the lack of downforce at the back. Their car was designed to be heavily dependent on the exhaust blown diffusers, so they had to move fast to compensate for the loss of downforce.

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