Experts Hands on Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 Reviews: Look, Performance, and Buying Guide

At CES 2020, Samsung lastly launched a Chromebook that was worthy of its Galaxy identify. The unique Samsung Galaxy Chromebook was an AMOLED-equipped magnificence, making a Chromebook right into a luxurious product. Nevertheless, due to its luxurious standing, it was priced method too excessive to be price a suggestion to anybody aside from avid Galaxy followers.

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 at CES 2021, nevertheless, bucks this pattern by bringing every thing that made the unique nice, however bringing the worth down and battery power up, by going with a QLED panel as an alternative of AMOLED, and limiting the processor to a Core i3.

That feels like Samsung has crippled its flagship processor within the identify of attainability, however actually these cuts make the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 shine in its new worth class, quite than how the primary Samsung Galaxy Chromebook felt method out of its league final 12 months.

Price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is coming Q1 2021 and can begin at $549, which is far cheaper than the unique Samsung Galaxy Chromebook, which launched final 12 months at $999.

The place the unique Galaxy Chromebook was a tough promote at that price ticket, particularly if you took the very brief battery life into consideration, this one is rather more approachable.

That beginning worth will internet you a really Chromebook-y configuration of an Intel Celeron 5205U, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage. That does not appear to be loads, however bear in mind that Chromebooks do not actually need a Core i7 to get the job completed. For those who do need extra horsepower, you’ll be able to bump that worth as much as $699 to get a Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 with a 10th-gen Intel Core i3, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

At $699 on the top-end, the worth of the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 has fully shifted, and is now within the working for one of many finest Chromebooks, however we’ll have to attend till we get it in-house for a full evaluate earlier than we truly make that choice.

Design

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 largely retains the identical design as the unique – and that’s the very best reward we can provide it. Whereas the primary Samsung Galaxy Chromebook was extraordinarily costly, we thought it was an absolute work of art, and that actually hasn’t modified.

The aluminum chassis has a stunning purple colorway, which shall be instantly hanging everytime you whip it out of your bag at your native espresso store – after we’re truly in a position to sit in native espresso retailers once more, anyway.

Laptops have a bent to all go together with a grey shade choice within the identify of professionalism, a transfer that is largely overrated and needs to finish. There is nonetheless a silver colorway obtainable, due to course there is, however when such a hanging purple laptop computer is obtainable, we do not know why anybody would decide the version that appears to be like like each different boring laptop computer on the market.

There are just a few modifications right here, although. The most important of those is the shift away from the 4K AMOLED show within the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook to a 13.3-inch FHD QLED panel, which we’re instructed is impressed by Samsung’s TVs.

Certain, that’s a much decrease decision than we received final 12 months, however we’re speaking a couple of 13.3-inch show. At this display screen measurement, 4K is completely unnecessary, and simply serves to empty battery sooner within the name of a fancier spec sheet.

To our eyes, the Galaxy Chromebook 2’s show is nonetheless among the finest Chromebook shows we have ever seen. And whereas we do not have stats on how vibrant or shade correct the display screen truly is, it is greater than vibrant and colourful sufficient to devour all of your favourite media on. The very fact that such a stunning QLED panel is included in a Chromebook that is this reasonably priced is a triumph for Samsung.

And, on the finish of the day, in case you’re searching for a laptop computer that has a show match for content creation, you in all probability should not be taking a look at a Chromebook both method.

The keyboard feels a lot the identical because it did last 12 months, which is to say it is extraordinarily snug to kind on. Spacing is on point and whereas the journey is not too deep, bottoming out does not really feel too horrible.

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is nonetheless a 2-in-1, which suggests it will nonetheless have the ability to flip right into a pill if you want it to, which makes it a lot extra compelling of a media consumption gadget. Sadly, Samsung is not together with a pen with the Galaxy Chromebook 2, although it is possible for you to to purchase it individually.

So far as ports go, you are still getting two USB-C ports and a microSD card reader. We might like to see a USB-A port, however such is the way in which laptops have been going for some time.

Performance

We have been in a position to go hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 outfitted with an Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Now, whereas we weren’t in a position to run strong benchmarks on it – such that benchmarks are even in a position to be run on a Chromebook – it was greater than responsive sufficient to get the job completed.

Nevertheless, that’s not the place Samsung is actually claiming to have made enormous enhancements, anyway.

With the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2, Samsung is claiming as much as 14 hours of battery life on a single cost, which is an enormous enchancment over the unique laptop computer. In keeping with our sister web site LaptopMag, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook solely lasted 5 hours and 56 minutes.

If Samsung’s battery life claims are correct – which stays to be seen – the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 will final almost thrice as lengthy, which can see it  up there with current Chromebooks just like the Google Pixelbook Go.

Early verdict

Similar to the primary one, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is one of the vital lovely Chromebooks we have ever seen. But that was all the time going to occur.

What makes the sequel so significantly better than the unique is that Samsung did not really feel the necessity to stuff it so filled with high-end options and {hardware} that it now not made sense as a Chromebook.

With the lower cost and longer battery life, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 has an opportunity to develop into among the finest Chromebooks on the market today, and we stay up for getting it in-house to see everything it might probably do.