I have the Pixel 2015 with 16GB, and run Archlinux on it. It's awesome. There were some of the normal Linux hiccups early on (sound/trackpad had some issues) but they seem to have been completely ironed out now. It's a fantastic machine. I wish they'd make a 15" version!
Nice! I'm running Arch only--ChromeOS seemed nice, but with storage at such a premium I'd rather just open up Chrome instead of having to partition the tiny drive. :)
I have a 128GB USB drive (a SanDisk Ultra Fit) that stays in the machine permanently, mounted to ~/ext, for anything non-dev-related. This has worked out fine for me--haven't ever really come close to filling up my drive, with the exception of a couple times when unused docker images built up over time. Definitely wouldn't recommend it if you're going to use the machine for photo backups or something, but as a secondary machine (I use a desktop 40% of the time) it's never really been an issue.
I've just purchased one, and to go along with it, I ordered a 128GB SD card and a 64GB USB C pen drive, bringing the total capacity to 256GB. The removable storage obviously won't be as fast, but I believe I can keep my daily work stuff and OS entirely on the SSD, and use the other storage for more extraneous things.
Obviously a 128GB SSD would've been preferable, but I think this strategy will work out.
I have the lower-ram pixel experience and it has been awesome. Not having to deal with an OS desktop has been the icing on the cake. Digging through folders two times to copy something is not something I miss.
Is there really nobody that went for the 16GB RAM version who can speak about the experience?