[chevelle]

This is a short review of Samsung's Chromebook featuring Chrome OS by Google that i have been owning for sometime.

Specs:
Exynos 5250 Processor
11.6" LED (200 Nit)
1366x768
2 GB DDR3 RAM
16GB SSD
OS: Google Chrome

First of all. I don't think this is a proper replacement to a full blown laptop having a Windows or Mac OS.

There are somethings that this can't do but whatever it does, it is really good at that. If you are planning to play games, look elsewhere. If you want 1080p HD, look at Chrome Pixel by Google.

I was able to start, configure and use this chromebook in less than 30 seconds. It is light, cheap, good fit and finish and quite small so very easy to carry. Mine is a wifi only model. Wifi + 3G is available for a little bit more.

So here are a few positives and negatives.

+ light
+ good battery life (7 hrs)
+ matte screen
+ fast boot up
+ simple to use
+ great keyboard. (needs a little getting used to)
+ good trackpad
+ Price, Price and Price ($200 gets a usable laptop)
+ Bluetooth
+ Fanless
+ 100GB Google Drive
+ Impressive Build Quality
+ HDMI
+ SD Card Reader
+ Processor is good so far
+ Very secured.
+ Productive.

- Screen colors are average
- Brightness is not very good
- Non upgrade-able battery
- Non upgrade-able RAM
- Non upgrade-able SSD
- No Ethernet port
- Doesn't play some codecs.
- SD Protrudes a cm or so.
- No Right Click
- Takes time to learn keys

Overall, i would say, if you spend most of your time online, sharing docs, video/audio, social networking and stuff, this will be perfect. It is easy to carry anywhere without breaking the back.

I may have forgot some things, please pardon me. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I will be happy to answer them.

Overall, a brilliant concept by Google. Hope it finds more traction, more competitors and hopefully more new features to explore. I am loving it so far.

A few photos to give you idea of how small and thin it is. It weighs just 2.4 pound.

[ahmad.007]

Very nice review. One question, how is the interface? More like Windows or Android?

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by ahmad.007

Very nice review. One question, how is the interface? More like Windows or Android?

Well, mix of android and windows. And it is very simple.

On the left side corner, there is a row of icons like Chrome, Youtube and stuff. It expands to show other apps too. Most of it is launched in Chrome OS. So it is more like Chrome Add-ons.

On the right, you get battery life, profile pic and connectivity options along with time.

That's it. Everything else is in Chrome Web Browser.

Very minimalistic. Very fast, very straight forward. That is why its easy to use. Any old or child can use it as there is no learning curve.

Hope this helps.

[ahmad.007]

Originally Posted by chevelle

Well, mix of android and windows. And it is very simple.

On the left side corner, there is a row of icons like Chrome, Youtube and stuff. It expands to show other apps too. Most of it is launched in Chrome OS. So it is more like Chrome Add-ons.

On the right, you get battery life, profile pic and connectivity options along with time.

That's it. Everything else is in Chrome Web Browser.

Very minimalistic. Very fast, very straight forward. That is why its easy to use. Any old or child can use it as there is no learning curve.

Hope this helps.

Nice, thanks, that should be quite fast and simple.
Lets hope, app market for chrome os grows big and people can finally start looking beyond windows. I would definitely go for one if and when it comes to India. I don't know if it is available here, got to check out the market.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by ahmad.007

Nice, thanks, that should be quite fast and simple.
Lets hope, app market for chrome os grows big and people can finally start looking beyond windows. I would definitely go for one if and when it comes to India. I don't know if it is available here, got to check out the market.

I did find a few useful apps to use. Hopefully it will expand. Its new so it will take time. Even Win 8 store is still not at par and not as developed like app store or google play which is expected considering this is entirely new segment and doesn't generate numbers like PC or Mobile or Tablet.

Lets give it some time and we should have a few well develop apps for Chrome OS.

As for India availability. I found a couple of links. Not sure if its true but its on junglee.com which i think is owned by amazon.

http://www.junglee.com/Samsung-XE303...726920-6779038

http://www.junglee.com/Samsung-Serie.../dp/B0067U9VUC

It is priced around 21k rs, which makes it almost double the price. Not worth it at that price. If you can get it around 12k-15k, absolutely worth it.

[ahmad.007]

Originally Posted by chevelle

I did find a few useful apps to use. Hopefully it will expand. Its new so it will take time. Even Win 8 store is still not at par and not as developed like app store or google play which is expected considering this is entirely new segment and doesn't generate numbers like PC or Mobile or Tablet.

Lets give it some time and we should have a few well develop apps for Chrome OS.

As for India availability. I found a couple of links. Not sure if its true but its on junglee.com which i think is owned by amazon.

http://www.junglee.com/Samsung-XE303...726920-6779038

http://www.junglee.com/Samsung-Serie.../dp/B0067U9VUC

It is priced around 21k rs, which makes it almost double the price. Not worth it at that price. If you can get it around 12k-15k, absolutely worth it.

Yea, at 21k its a miss.
I think I will have to wait for sometime to get competetive prices as more and more chromebooks enter the market. Rightnow, the market is overflowing with android tablets and smartphones. One can get a good tab for 5-8k, and a netbook for 12-16k, so the Chromebook does not justify the price right now with low Hdd and un-intel processor which a netbook can provide.