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Samsung’s
Chromebook:
a $345 webbased notebook
With the price of notebook and tablet computers continuing to fall,
we thought it worth a look at one of the cheapest notebooks on the
market – the Samsung Chromebook. Can a computer that retails for
less than $350 really be much more than a toy? Ross Tester had a bit
longer to play with one than first envisaged . . .
J
ust a few hours after obtaining a
Samsung Chromebook for review,
I was forced to spend a totally
unplanned week in hospital. No, the
Samsung didn’t cause it – but that
“break”(!) gave me the opportunity to
have a really good look at this intriguing
machine – and also highlighted its very
best and very worst features.
First, the best:
The Samsung Chromebook is small,
low cost and very light. It features a nice
clear 293mm or 11.6-inch (diagonal)
screen and quite a reasonable tactile-key
keyboard with standard key spacing
and layout (q-p spacing ~185mm) along
with a sensitive trackpad.
We mentioned small and light: it
weighs in at just over 1.1kg and overall
(closed) it’s just 17mm thick.
One of its greatest claims to fame
is that it boots in just a few seconds –
even from power-on it’s only about ten
seconds and restoring from “sleep”, is
much less than that. Turning off is even
quicker – no waiting around here!
76 Silicon Chip
And a feature that doesn’t normally
rate much of a mention, is that (so far)
the Chromebook is virus free – not only
due to the machine’s inbuilt security
but because the malcontents of this
At a glance . . .
• 295mm (11.6in) displa
y (1366x768)
• Overall size 289.6 x 208
.5 x 16.8mm
• 17mm thin when closed
• 1.1kg weight
• Over 6.5 hours of batter
y life
• Samsung Exynos 5250
1.7MHz dualcore processor with 1MB
L2 cache)
• 2GB DDR3L 800MHz sys
tem memory
• 16GB solid state drive
• 100GB Google Drive clo
ud storage*
• Built-in dual-band Wi-Fi
(802.11a/b/g/n)
• VGA camera & internal
microphone
• 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0
ports
• HDMI port
• Bluetooth 3.0™ compat
ible
*free for two years
world haven’t thought it worth their
while to start demonstrating their own
inadequacies on it.
Now the worst:
Hospitals are not known for their
computer-friendliness, at least as far
as patients go. While the Samsung
certainly found WiFi (and lots of it), all
were encrypted so none was available
for patient use (I asked!).
And without internet access, the
Samsung Chromebook is, for all practical purposes, a 1.1kg paperweight.
Now that is by design, because the
Chromebook is specifically intended
as a “cloud-based” computer.
Perhaps a word of explanation is in
order: the computer you are probably
used to stores most of its data internally,
normally on a large hard disk drive.
Cloud-based computers, on the other
hand, don’t have this “luxury” – they
rely on an internet connection to store
data “in the cloud”. That’s just a buzzword for saying “somewhere else”
– probably on a giant bank of terabyte
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hard disk drives, equally probably not
even in your country. By and large, you
don’t even know it’s happening.
But the operative words here are
“rely on an internet connection.”
Sure, I could have tethered my mobile phone to the computer and gained
net access that way but it was much
more convenient to use the Samsung
Note 3G tablet that my partner had
most thoughtfully given me for my
“holiday”!
But back to the Chromebook. With
only (relatively) limited internal storage (it doesn’t even have a hard disk
drive as such but instead sports a 16GB
solid-state-drive) it is quite limited on
what you can do without resorting to
that internet connection.
From its look and feel, it’s fairly obvious that the Chromebook is aimed at
the internet-user and the entertainment
market, although there are more and
more “serious” Chrome applications
emerging for it.
Incidentally, every Chromebook
comes with 100GB of cloud-based storage (called Google Drive) which you
can use for two years free of charge.
After that, or if you’re a data hog, it
will cost you.
We’re not sure how much that will
be because the sales rep we talked
to couldn’t even get an answer from
Samsung. But typical public cloud
storage costs between $10 and $25 per
gigabyte per month so we’d use these
rates as a yardstick.
Who is it intended for?
A replacement for your desktop (or
even notebook) computer it is not – and
despite some of the marketing hype,
we believe was never intended to be. It
really is a second (or third) computer.
But there is already quite a large
range of productivity apps available;
eg, you can easily do the “big four”
office-type tasks – writing/editing,
database, spreadsheet and some DTP;
even limited graphics and photo applications – and many more besides.
And, of course, it is absolutely perfect for browsing web pages, emailing
and other internet-type applications. It
should be very good for gaming but we
have some reservations there, which
we’ll look at shortly.
But you won’t be able to run your
familiar “office” applications, such
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It has a near-standard full-size “QWERTY” keyboard, but the normal “F” keys
along the top line are replaced with more internet-specific keys. But where are
the caps lock and delete keys? Everyone is used to having them available!
as Microsoft Word, etc, because the
Chromebook does not operate under
the Windows system, nor even under
Android – its operating system is
Google Chrome, which (like Android)
is based on a Linux platform.
Neither will you be able to run programs such as Skype nor iTunes, for
example (but there are many Google
Chrome equivalents/alternatives).
However, we would anticipate there
will be many more “serious” apps (as
distinct from games) in the future.
Incidentally, the “Google Docs”
word processing application reads
and writes Word-compatible files, so
you can use the Chromebook for office
tasks and retain some compatibility.
So is Chromebook another
Android?
Let’s get rid of this common misconception (and often-asked question)
early: can you run Android apps on the
Chromebook?
The answer is, unfortunately, no.
Admittedly, most Chrome apps have
the same “look and feel” as Android
apps but it’s been a common “beef”
on the forums and in the press that
Google didn’t incorporate any Android
compatibility.
The reason for this negativity?
There are many thousands of Google
Chrome apps (which you access from
the Chrome webstore) but there are
millions of Android apps which people
would like to have. Sorry!
So will this limit the Chromebook
market? We believe so.
The hardware
We’ve already mentioned the light
weight – so the Chromebook will be
very popular with students (who almost
universally these days have school/college/uni WiFi) but can also take notes
etc, and perhaps store them internally.
The light weight comes from a fairly
“plasticy” feeling case.
It’s powered by a 1.7GHz Samsung
Exynos 5 dual-core CPU which has a
1MB cache. There is 2GB of system
memory. We’ve also mentioned the
16GB SSD which, even after taking out
the space required for the operating
system, graphics drivers and sundry
“unseen” overheads, is argued can
store a reasonable amount of material
on-board. Just don’t try a lot of material
or really large files!
So perhaps we were being harsh
when we called it a paperweight if it
didn’t have net access.
Speaking of the net, it will automatically seek any available WiFi connection (802.11a/b/g/n) and give you the
usual options for logging on (including
password if required).
The integrated graphics powers the
1366 x 768 pixel LED display, and as we
mentioned earlier, it’s clear and crisp.
Viewing angle is passable, if not brilliant and while Google claim it can play
1080p video, it cannot display full HD.
There’s a 0.3MP web camera (ie, it
faces the user) but it can’t run the most
popular personal communication tool,
Skype. Battery life is claimed to be
about 6.5-7 hours and we more-or-less
confirmed this.
The keyboard doesn’t have the familiar “F” keys above the numerics;
instead it has a dozen “web-enabled”
keys, again pointing to the intended
use of the computer.
August 2013 77
Shown here about 2/3 life size, the rear panel of the Samsung Chromebook sports a blanked-off socket for (as yet
unavailable) 3G, a USB3.0 socket, a USB2.0 socket, HDMI output and DC power/charging socket & LED.
As far as expansion and peripherals
goes, there’s not much available. On
the review model, there was a single
SD/SDHC/SDXC card reader, one
USB3.0 port and one USB2.0 port,
an HDMI display output and a headphone/microphone combo 3.5mm
socket.
One thing I did find a bit disconcerting was that a standard SD card
pokes out the side by about 5-6mm or
so – just enough to snag on something.
You really have to remove the SD card
when not in use.
There are two tiny bottom-mounted
speakers but they certainly aren’t what
you’d describe as hifi (in fact, not even
fi!) – especially when sitting with the
computer on your lap. You’d be much
better off using external speakers or
earphones.
And that’s about it.
Of course, any printing you want
to do will have to be either via WiFi
or via the USB port; then again, most
printers these days are USB devices.
It is our understanding that none
of the internals can be changed or
upgraded – you’ve got what you’ve got!
When you turn it on . . .
It’s already loaded with several
“helpful” Google apps, such as search,
Gmail, YouTube and the like, so you
can start playing (literally!) immediately.
If you’re coming straight out of a
Windows/PC background, Google
Chrome has a bit of a learning curve; if
you’re already familiar with Android,
you’re most of the way there already.
If you don’t find the app that you
want already installed, it’s not difficult
at all to log onto the Google Webstore
and search for what you require. You’ll
almost certainly end up spending a lot
of time here to see just what is available! But that’s typical of Android/
Apple/Windows users as well.
In use
What can I say? It did what it was
supposed to do, providing it wasn’t
overtaxed. Opening multiple browser
windows (yeah, I know, it’s not a Windows machine!) caused it to become
a bit sluggish. At times it had trouble
keeping up with a video or song – even
with a rock-solid WiFi connection
linked to a cable modem.
I mentioned reservations about
gaming earlier on – it is for this apparent sluggishness that I have these
thoughts. But I must admit, I am not a
“serious” gamer and therefore did not
try it out on any games which might
give it (or me!) a headache!
However, for its intended use – a
net-based browser and light-weight
productivity machine – it was more
than adequate, for most of the time
I used it.
Free updates – automatically
Apart from dowloading apps, the
maintenance and chores of a typical
Windows or even Apple computer are
gone – Samsung has an update (apparently every six weeks) that happens
when you next turn the machine on.
And they’re not like Microsoft’s infamous Tuesday updates – come back
The only other connectors are on the left side: a combo
earphone/microphone socket and an SD-card slot. It
worries us a little that the card protrudes so far out, though.
78 Silicon Chip
when you’ve made a cup of coffee or
built the Pyramids, whichever is the
sooner. You aren’t even aware that
updates are happening.
Let’s cut to the chase!
So would I recommend the Samsung
Chromebook? Yes I would, in fact
very much so – as long as you kept in
mind that it is NOT a replacement for
your “normal” computer. (Especially)
used as a web browser (and especially
given its lightning boot-up), with some
“productivity” tasks thrown in, it really comes into its own. For the price,
it’s a bargain!
Nearly forgot: there’s some subtle
but really annoying differences between the Chromebook’s keyboard and
the one you’ve been used to. Like no
caps lock! (Perhaps there’s a way to
achieve that but I didn’t quite get to
it). And no delete key.
Splitting hairs? Maybe. But it makes
the difference between a glowing report and a nearly-glowing report.
The price
We’ve said it all before . . .
RRP of the Samsung Chromebook in
Australia is $345.00, available from a
limited number of retailers (eg, Harvey
Norman and JB Hifi in Sydney). At first
glance, that seems like a pretty good
deal for a computer – until, once again,
you compare it with the US price:
$US249, which at the time of writing
was about $AU260.
Australians, once again, are being
used by computer hardware and software suppliers as bunnies.
Underneath you’ll find the two stereo “speakers”. They’re
supposedly rated at 1.5W each . . . but hifi they most
definitely aren’t. Headphones or speakers sound good!
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