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| Chromebook 2 Samsung |
Chromebooks
will not at all be for everyone, but assuming you're game, the 13-inch Samsung
Chromebook 2 is the one we advise. Its sharp display, stylish design, long
battery life and comfy keyboard make its value the premium over competing
models.
Hardware Analysis.
Offered
in gray only on the 13-inch model actually gives the device a premium feel.
That's partially because of the similarity to real leather, but there's
something else at work, also: The textured material does a good job masking
fingerprints. Scratches, as well. still at the present that I've been using it
a week, the machine still looks fresh. Not bad for a laptop that only costs $320.
Of
course, your view might change one time you flip the machine over. Whereas the
cover has been done up to look like a car seat, the bottom is made of plain
gray plastic. Not that there's anything wrong with that; plenty of pricier PCs
are made of this stuff. It's now that the pleather and plastic look mismatched,
particularly since the base is more prone to picking up finger grease. Oh well.
Not a big deal -- it's not like you have to look at the base that often, right?
Lift
the lid and the Chromebook 2 looks
like other recent Samsung laptops -- save for the Chrome OS hotkeys, of
course.In-hand, the Chromebook 2 is regarding as weighty as a 13-inch
Ultrabook, which is to say it weighs around three pounds (3.06, to be precise).
As a bonus, it's noticeably thinner and lighter than the Toshiba CB30
Chromebook, one of the only other 13-inch Chrome OS devices obtainable right
now. That guy comes in at 3.3 pounds and 0.8 inch thick, compared with 0.65
inch for Samsung's model.
Either
version you catch the 11- or 13-incher -- the choice of ports will be the same.
On board, there are two USB connections (one 3.0, the other 2.0), a full-sized
HDMI socket, a headphone jack, a usual lock slot and a microSD reader to
complement the industry-standard 16GB of storage. Like all Chromebooks, this
one comes with 100GB of Google Drive space, so maybe local storage will be a
doubtful point. That said, the microSD slot thing is a bit of a shame, because
it means you can't put in the full-sized memory card you might be using in your
standalone camera.
Display of Chromebook 2
I've
got a few good news and shocking news. On one hand, the Samsung Chromebook 2
has a full HD, 1,920 x 1,080 display, making it sharper than the majority other
Chrome OS devices .
The difficulty
is that while the pixel count has better, the quality of the screen still has a
ways to go. The LED panel doesn't make apply of any wide-angle viewing
technology, which means you'll have to cheat with the screen position to get
the white balance right. tip the display forward even a little and the colors
will start to wash out, making on-screen text harder to read.
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| Display of Chromebook 2 |
Top performance and battery timing
It as
well seems that by using an ARM-based mobile processor, Samsung was able to take
out some genuine battery time gains. beneath perfect situation, the company promises 8.5 hours for the 13-inch model,
and eight hours for the 11-incher. still with steady video playback and the
brightness set to a moderately high 10 out of 16 bars, I still managed eight
hours and 22 minutes of runtime. Not bad -- not bad for a Chromebook, and not
bad for a equally priced Windows laptop, also.
Buying options
With
the adding of the new Chromebook 2 line, Samsung at the present has three
Chromebooks for sale: the new 11- and 13-inch models, beside with the last-gen
model, which also has an 11-inch screen. All in all, the two Chromebook 2
models have additional in common than not. Both use the similar octa-core chip,
4GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage and the same port selection. Both have a
leather-like back, though the 11-inch version is sold in black and white,
whereas the 13-inch model is only presented in gray. The biggest dissimilarity
aside from size -- is screen excellence: The 11-inch version has 1,366 x 768
resolution, while the bigger one goes up to 1,920 x 1,080. Accordingly, the
11-inch one starts at $320, while the 13-inch version retails for $400.
Chromebooks
still aren't for everyone: There will forever be people who require stronger
performance. Who want full offline access. Who want to install Skype. If that's
you, no Chromebook will do, even if it is wrapped in fake leather
