Samsung Chromebook 3: Cheaper, more productive alternative to a tablet - beckerzekere

Samsung's latest Chromebook – the Series 3 XE303C12-A01US – is small, slim, and speedy. This little laptop weighs to a lesser degree 2.5 pounds and packs a decent performance punch, assumptive you're comparison it to the right machines.

A laptop-attribute improvement to a tablet or smartphone

The Samsung Serial publication 3 runs the browser-based Chromium-plate operating system.

The Samsung Serial publication 3 looks like a laptop, just it's not. It's equipped with a mobile processor and very little home warehousing, and it runs the browser-based Chrome operating system instead of the Apple Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows platform. It performs more like-minded a pad operating theater forward-looking smartphone than an ultraportable. If you'Ra looking to get along much more than than surf the web and create cloud-based content (via Google or another service), then this is not the laptop for you. Just if you're looking for a tablet with untold better content-conception functionality–namely, an integrated keyboard–then the Samsung Chromebook is an appealing option.

Our review model, which costs $249.99 as organized, sports a 1.7GHz Samsung Exynos 5 dual-core ARM processor, which is the unchanged mobile system-on-a-chip launch in the Google Nexus 10 pill. Like the Nexus 10, the Chromebook pairs the Exynos 5 with 2GB of retentivity and 16GB of hard drive space.

The Chromebook also sports built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, two USB ports (one USB 3.0, one USB 2.0), a 3-in-1 poster reader, and a headphone/microphone combination port. There's also an HDMI-out port on the back of the motorcar. Samsung offers USB dongles for VGA-out and Ethernet (sold separately).

Secured performance compared to tablets

Because the Chromebook is technically a pill, with a mobile system of rules-on-a-cow dung and no separate graphics card, we proved it exploitation our pad bench mark tests – Peacekeeper, SunSpider, and WebVizBench.

The Chromebook performs very well compared to tablets in all 3 of these tests. It scored 1233 happening Futuremark's Peacekeeper HTML5 browser exam, which is much twice the score of Malus pumila's iPad 3 (516). The Chromebook was also in no time on SunSpider, winning 0.69 seconds to complete the same JavaScript test that the iPad 3 took 1.78 seconds to complete, and that the fairly speedy Asus VivoTab RT took 1.03 seconds to complete. On WebVizBench, some other HTML5 test, the Chromebook scored 5.4, somewhat behind the Windows Coat RT tablet (6.9) and, surprisingly, the HTC Windows 8 phone (5.9).

The Chromebook also loads pages quickly. In our page-load trial, it took just 7 seconds to load a Page that took the Asus VivoTab RT 23.3 seconds to load.

Silvery design takes cues from MacBook Air

The Samsung Chromebook looks a lot like the 11-inch Apple MacBook Air. It's thicker (0.8 inches to the MBA's 0.68 inches) and slightly heavier (2.43 pounds to the MBA's 2.38 pounds), and it's successful of formative instead of Orchard apple tree's standard aluminium. However, it clearly took cues from Orchard apple tree's ultrathin, ultralight premium laptop computer, right down to the island-style lightlessness keyboard and smooth, button-less trackpad.

The Chromebook may equal whippersnapper and successful of formative, but information technology feels very inflexible. When closed, the laptop computer feels solid, and when open, the hinge is practically unshakeable. Speaking of the hinge, that's the only John R. Major eyesore on the motorcar: When the laptop computer is sealed, the flexible joint juts up about a half-cm. This breaks up the otherwise clean, entire lines of the machine.

The Chromebook sports a solid, matte-silver lid featuring some the Google Chrome logo (in the upper left corner) and the Samsung logo (left, center). Inside, the laptop computer is each matte-silver plastic, including a silvery plastic bezel surrounding the machine's 11.6-inch sort. There's another Samsung logo below the screen.

Keyboard assembled for Chrome, non Windows operating theatre Mackintosh

The keyboard is still a large QWERTY keyboard, but Google and Samsung have modified the layout to better suit the Chrome experience. First, there's no Windows or Apple operative (after all, this isn't a Windows or Apple computer), just larger Ctrl and Alt buttons. There's also no Caps Whorl key – instead, at that place's a Search key that, when pressed, brings rising a list of apps installed on the computer. This is rather like the Windows key, since it essentially brings sprouted the apps in a Start Menu-esque format.

The Samsung Series 3 sports a silvery design and an extremely sturdy flexible joint.

In that respect's also no Fn key. Alternatively of function keys along to the top of the keyboard, above the numbers game, there are devoted keys for different tasks. From left to right, you'll find: Escape, Back, Forward, Brush up, Full Screen, Next Window, Brightness skyward/dejected, Unspoken, Volume up/down, and Power. This setup shouldn't take too much acquiring used to if you're a Mac individual – MacBooks' function keys are, by default, set to perform tasks instead of the typical F1, F2, etc.

The keyboard, which sports Chiclet-vogue keys, is fairly comfortable to type on, though it's sure as shooting not the best keyboard I've ever used. The keys offer within reason light tactile feedback, which can constitute an issue if you're typewriting quickly. The keys are also a trifle wee, though the keyboard itself is full-size.

Trackpad is a couple of features snub

The Chromebook's multi-touch-enabled trackpad sits under the keyboard. Similar to Apple trackpads, it has No discrete buttons, just unitary big, clickable pad. Unlike Malus pumila's trackpads, however, the united on the Series 3 lacks a scene for a natural right-click (that is, you can't set it to right-click if you click in the lower-right corner). All right-clicks essential be performed past tapping the pad with two fingers.

The trackpad supports some multi-touch gestures, such as two-finger scrolling. Information technology does not support pinch-to-zoom, which is unfortunate considering the Chromebook's screen is so small. The trackpad is comfortable, responsive, and otherwise unproblematic to use.

Display could be brighter

The Chromebook's display is adequate, considering the size and terms of the system. The laptop sports a matte-finish LED display with a pure settlement of 1366 aside 768 pixels – the same resolution you'll find on the 11-inch MacBook Air. This resolution is perfectly acceptable for an 11.6-inch block out, and images and text look crisp and clear. Color fidelity is middling good, though just about colors look up a wee colourless when the screen is cranked rising to its brightest setting.

That aforesaid, the concealment's brightness could be an issue, considering this is designed for portability. The screen is 200 nits (a terminal figure for a whole of careful brightness). This is superfine for rudimentary indoor wreak, but I commonly like at to the lowest degree 250 nits for working open air or in unilateral sunlight. Apple's MacBook Air has a selfsame bright screen, at 354 nits.

Video looks and sounds surprisingly good along the Chromebook, considering it has none discrete graphics add-in (and a mobile chip, at that). High-definition streaming video plays symptomless, though darker scenes suffer from quite a morsel of artifacting. Audio frequency from the Chromebook's two 1.5W stereo speakers sounds decently full and loud, and the headphone jack is clean. I wouldn't make this your main video motorcar, just for perfunctory watching and listening it works just fine.

Designed for the web-centric life

The Samsung Chromebook is designed for a user with very specific needs. Because it runs the Chromium-plate OS, you can't use traditional applications – you have to use web-based apps or apps that are built within the Google infrastructure.

The Chromebook comes with several apps intrinsical, including the Chrome browser, Google Maps, and YouTube.

The Chromebook comes with several apps collective-in, including the Chrome World Wide Web browser, Google Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Google Drive, and a calculator app. You can buoy download additional apps, either paid or free, at the Chrome Web Store.

This Chromebook is really designed for populate who do little Thomas More than surf the web and produce documents and spreadsheets, and who want something light, portable, and with a physical keyboard. It only has 16GB of internal storage, but never fear: Chromebook users get 100GB of free Cloud Drive storage for two long time.

While the Chromebook isn't for everyone, it's certainly a cheap and productive alternative to a likewise-well-appointed tablet. You get into't get a touchscreen, but you do get extra Obnubilate Drive storage, better carrying into action, and a keyboard.