Over the past couple of years I’ve been collecting a lot of chromebooks. As of the 13th of Feb, I now own 6, mostly Acer and Samsung devices. As much as I love the concept of a low cost, ultra portable and secure thin client with excellent battery life & then leveraging Citrix for my enterprise apps, it always felt like there was something missing. Some of the common complaints were display resolution, build quality, lack of offline access and lack of a good touch screen model under $500.
Needless to say I was extremely intrigued when Samsung announced the 12 inch Chromebook Plus and the price point. I pre-ordered the device and got mine earlier this week. My experience so far has been terrific. Lets look into why I feel this device is close to perfect.
Design
The Samsung Chromebook Pro is a 12.3-inch laptop that also converts into a tablet. It is powered by an OP1 Hexa-core (Dual A72, Quad A53) ARM processor with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It comes with two USB Type-C ports and a microSD slot. It has various display modes, very similar to the Lenovo Yoga. It has a full metal design that weighs just 2.4 pounds. It comes with a stylus that pops out of the right side of the system, letting you take notes with Google Keep and other apps and smart enough to recognize characters, allowing you to search through your handwritten notes afterwords.
Display Resolution
Resolution has been one of my biggest gripes with chromebooks so far. And boy does this device address that issue. The Chromebook pro comes with a quad HD (2400 x 1600) pixel screen made with Gorilla Glass 3. with a 3:2 aspect ratio. The high resolution means my Citrix VDI instance looks absolutely spectacular on this device. Lots of real estate too!
Battery Time
Based on my testing so far, the battery time of the Chromebook Plus is on par every other chromebook I own. I’m getting approximately 9-10 hrs. Keep in mind that the resolution for this device is also one of the best. So that the battery time extremely impressive.
Android Apps!
This to me is a GAME CHANGER!! As you know, Google announced support for Android apps on chromebooks last yr. The challenge was that just a handful of devices were actually supported, and even among the ones where it was supported there was only one that had a touch screen. Personally I believe Android app support is pointless if there is no touch screen. Thankfully the Chromebook plus does have one! The combination of android app support, great resolution and touch screen makes it the perfect device. I now have a number of key productivity apps, many of which I can use offline. Some of my favorites so far are Citrix Secure Mail, Secure Web, Sharefile (Enterprise File Share and Sync), Slack and Skype for Business to name a few.
Touch Screen
The touch screen is extremely responsive. No lags whatsoever. Works great in tablet mode. Also great when using Android apps. All chromebooks moving forward need to be touch enabled IMHO. You cannot effectively use Android apps without touch!
Stylus!
The Chromebook Plus comes with a pressure sensitive stylus that is on par with others like the Surfacebook. Is it perfect? No. But its quite good. I can totally see myself using this device to do a white board or sketch a design while I am at customers. Very handy!!
Final Thoughts
Today was my first day out on the road with just the chromebook pro. I honestly did not miss my XPS 13. I accessed my Citrix VDI instance the entire time and the experience has never been this good on any of the other chromebooks I own. I also used a number of android apps including Skype for Business, Sharefile, Secure Web and others. The combination of VDI, chrome browser and native mobile apps is quite amazing. I used the the system for around 5 hrs and did not run into any issues during that time.
At $449, this device is a steal! If you are looking for a chromebook today, this should be in the list of favs! If I were to change one thing, I would add more memory to this device. Android apps can eat up memory fast!
Kudos to Samsung for a job well done!