The difference was the Surface RT was a totally new device and OS to me - whereas the Pixel is just continuing where I left off with my Samsung S7 (and other Chromebooks before that). Most of what I do is in Chrome, and Chromebooks (and several Chromeboxes) fulfill most of my needs.

Of course, there are still plenty of limitations, and Google will need to work hard to make ChromeOS a viable alternative to my day to day laptop.