If you’re still unfamiliar with Chromebooks and Google’s Chrome OS, here’s the deal: it’s not a full-fledged OS like Windows and OS X, but rather a platform that functions entirely inside Google’s Chrome web browser, and mostly serves to connect you to web-related services. If you don’t have an online connection, the Chromebook is effectively useless. If you want to know more about Chrome OS, check out our posts here and here.
Samsung Chromebook
Price: $US500 (as tested)
Screen:12.1-inch, 1200×800 SuperBright Display
Weight: 1.49kg
Processor: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 Processor
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 16GB SSD
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, 3G (GSM+CDMA), SD, USB
Thickness: 0.79 inches
Battery Life: 8.5 Hours
Pluses: The simplicity of the Samsung Chromebook is undeniably attractive. It’s made for the internet and little else. Those familiar with the intricacies of the Chrome browser, and current web trends, will pick up the Chromebook and have little trouble adjusting. Also, the battery lasts forever. Use it all day. No problem. Use it at night and fall asleep with it not plugged in. Even less of a problem. But there are some tradeoffs for that battery life.
Minuses: Chrome OS is still a work in progress that’s far from finished. Chrome “apps” are still glorified web pages. The hardware isn’t powerful enough to handle the more exciting aspects of the web. The CR-48 struggled with flash video, and despite the dual-core processor, the Samsung Chromebook does as well. Standard definition video functions well enough, but when you start watching HD quality web videos, you’ll notice choppiness. Same goes for 3D web games. It also isn’t small or light enough to justify such baseline performance. The trackpad is improved from the CR-48, but it’s still skittish. The screen has a bluish tint that just feels off, even if you haven’t been staring at another screen immediately before. And while an aesthetic upgrade from the CR-48 while open, the glossy white outer shell is borderline tacky.
The idea behind the Chromebook is one looking towards the future. But for the time being, it’s not a fully realised idea. Yeah, you can browse the web pages and fire off emails on the Chromebook just fine. But at $US500, you can just get a tablet for the same price that does all the same things… and so much more.
poltak
Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 4:35 PMAnyone know as to why a computer running a fairly “naked” Linux OS needs this much RAM? I feel like I’m missing something, with the whole “netbooks coming pre-installed with Windows 7 Starter on 1GB RAM”-thing and then this…
The only thing I could think of is if they don’t ship with pre-partitioned swap space (or a swap file) on the disk, then they *might* really need that 2GB of RAM… but from my vast Linux experience, it doesn’t seem likely.
I mean, I’m running a 32bit GNOME 3 desktop on a netbook with 2GB of RAM and no swap partition/file, with /tmp always mounted to RAM, and it almost always stays below 50% of RAM usage even while running multiple apps… including Chrome…
I dunno if I’m over-thinking this, but shipping with 2GB of RAM really seems like a sneaky way to impress the non-Linux using masses and, in-turn, bump up the price of these. Not very nice :\
(Please correct me if I’m missing something obvious here :P )
John
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 7:52 AMThe Samsung Chromebook does not have HDMI. It has Mini-VGA.
Gabriel
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 10:17 AMScrew buying a new laptop for this. The best use of this Chome OS would be to dual boot it with your existing Windows 7 laptop to provide “instant-on” functionality. Switch back into Windows when you need more features than a web browser. I do this with Splashtop atm
Gabriel
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 10:18 AM*Providing there was support for your laptops hardware i guess