Samsung Chromebook. Buy it.

[TuxDave]

I knew about Netflix and Skype problems. But we don't use either so it's non-issue with us. If it's fixed, great. If not, fine too.

This Chromebook is what I always wanted Netbook to be. Sadly I never found the perfect Netbook. Til now. I own two Netbooks. I had one POS Acer that died within the first year. I never even bothered with fixing it under warranty since it was a piece of shIt. I replaced it with Asus and while it was better than Acer, it wasn't much better. All Netbooks I tried were slow and unresponsive even for basic tasks and web browsing. But I dealt with it since the Netbook I really wanted, Macbook Air was $1100. I always felt Macbook Air was the perfect Netbook for browsing the web, checking email, and light document work. And the form factor was just about perfect. Chromebook is all that plus it's even better than Macbook Air since it doesn't even have fan and has the option of 3G radio. I absolutely love the silence and how the notebook barely gets warm. Lack of any moving parts like hard drive means I don't have to worry about durability and hard drive dying. Everything is instant, fast, and responsive. Full desktop web browsing, speed, and keyboard is great. Battery life is awesome and I can use it basically all day. It is Macbook Air for people who only wanted it for web, email, documents, pictures, and other light tasks. I wasn't willing to pay $1100 for just for that use but $250 Macbook Air is perfect. And I don't even have to deal with the heat and fan like I would on the Air.

People have different needs and Chromebook isn't for everyone. But for someone looking for specialized Macbook Air, there's not a better machine especially for the price.

I share your disappointment with Netbooks and that's why it makes me skeptical of the Chromebook. Technically it ran WinXP fine, but it was just sooooo noticeably sluggish. Surfing around was ok, some webpages caused it to stutter. It was a miserable experience. The Chromebook has improved (although as Anand posted in his review, sluggishness does come up), it's still limited mainly because of its OS. I don't really know what Google is trying to do with pushing Android and now pushing Chrome OS. As you mentioned, crucial apps like Skype or Netflix isn't even available. So again, so surfing and email is better, but still you can't depend on it. At least for the Android and iOS devices, they have a huge app library to make up for the fact that it's a non-Windows OS and so you can't install whatever or run anything. I don't really get what Chrome OS has going for it. $250 is relatively cheap, but $250 is still large enough to spend it wisely.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

You realize you're arguing against an irrational Samsung-hater, right? But yeah, this:



A Chromebook with i3 would be $400, require active cooling, a heavier/shorter-lived battery, and totally defeat the purpose.

Now wishing for a Chromebook with quad A15... more realistic.

take the 550 chromebook with the celeron in it and replace it with an i3 and that would be the perfect chromebook

 

[Red Storm]

take the 550 chromebook with the celeron in it and replace it with an i3 and that would be the perfect chromebook

Nope. Now that we have fanless Chromebooks that's what I want going forward. I love that my tablets don't have or need active cooling, and I would expect the same out of my Chromebook.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Nope. Now that we have fanless Chromebooks that's what I want going forward. I love that my tablets don't have or need active cooling, and I would expect the same out of my Chromebook.

theres a huge performance difference between an arm and even a celeron chromebook. this $250 one is just too slow, you dont get a real, smooth desktop browsing experience. the samsung celeron one comes close. arm chips would have to be at least twice as fast in my opinion

 

[Red Storm]

theres a huge performance difference between an arm and even a celeron chromebook. this $250 one is just too slow, you dont get a real, smooth desktop browsing experience. the samsung celeron one comes close. arm chips would have to be at least twice as fast in my opinion

If more people agreed with you the Celeron model would be the one that's sold out and not the ARM version.

None of the Best Buy's in my area have it in stock, while quite a few don't even sell it to begin with.

 

[s44]

Laptop fan noise has been the worst thing about computing for years. Good riddance!

 

[Eug]

My Acer netbook is fine now... but that's because I put an SSD in it, and because it has a Core 2 class CPU. See sign. I also bought it on closeout, which made the price netbook-class.

My main issue with Chromebooks isn't that they aren't productivity notebooks. My main issue is that they're even more gimped than Android devices. Android would run just as fast on Chromebook hardware but wouldn't have as many software limitations.

 

[Eug]

BTW, I guess I should also point out that Chrome OS is designed specifically so that it can't acquire the features that give Android its advantages over Chrome OS.

To a limited extent, Apple already tried this with the iPhone. Remember that 3rd party iPhone apps were supposed to be web apps only. Then the developers freaked so Apple released an SDK so developers could develop proper native apps.

Chrome OS has actually been around for many years but it still seems like it's stuck in first gear. In contrast Android has grown by leaps and bounds during that time period.

 

[s44]

I don't think it's part of some grand strategy -- just two different parts of Google not talking to each other. I do think when desktop Chrome is integrated into Android (a generation or two from now in SOC power perhaps?) we might then see a merge on the Chromebook side.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more XDA activity in porting JB to the Samsung Chromebook.

 

[lopri]

I was set to get one for my mom, but when I learned that my mom's favorite card game requires Active-X plugin (which means IE..) I had no choice but to drop it. It was OOS by that time, anyway. I also had my eye on this for myself (this one is x86), but it seems like there is a quality control issue there with sound and/or USB. In anycase that thing is also OOS. One dude has them at Amazon but he jacked the price up. Google raised the price, too, if I remember correctly. That thing was <$300 when I first saw it.

A Q: Is it a correct assumption that what works in Chrome browser on x86 system works on Chrome OS, regardless of underlying architectures (ARM or x86)? I think that is what Google aims towards the end (i.e. platform-agnostic user experience), but I want to know where it is as of now.

 

[sciwizam]

A Q: Is it a correct assumption that what works in Chrome browser on x86 system works on Chrome OS, regardless of underlying architectures (ARM or x86)? I think that is what Google aims towards the end (i.e. platform-agnostic user experience), but I want to know where it is as of now.

There are some apps/games that use NaCl which I believe hasn't been ported to ARM yet (Why Netflix doesn't work now, though Google says they have a fix weeks ago).

 

[Bateluer]

I've been mulling buying one of these for a while now, was having difficulty rationalizing it between my ultrabook and tablets. And it always seemed to be OOS at my local stores. But, it just came in stock at the BB down the street, so I ordered one for store pickup tomorrow. Need a new toy to play with to hold me over until whatever new gadgets from MWC actually ship.

 

[Red Storm]

I've been mulling buying one of these for a while now, was having difficulty rationalizing it between my ultrabook and tablets. And it always seemed to be OOS at my local stores. But, it just came in stock at the BB down the street, so I ordered one for store pickup tomorrow. Need a new toy to play with to hold me over until whatever new gadgets from MWC actually ship.

Heh, same here. Ordered it just now. Looking forward to having a fanless, cheap, secure web browsing machine.

 

[EvilYoda]

I've been eyeing one for the longest time (also to hold me over to the next wave of laptops) but am I correct when I say that the ARM-based Series 3 Samsung Chromebook cannot play back 720p MKV files?

All this thing would be for is light document duty, web surfing, email, chat, facebook, and watching TV episodes on the road.

If it can, I'll pick one up immediately.

 

[Aristotelian]

I tested one of these units and found it to be particularly slow whenever I tried to combine 'basic multimedia' with whatever else I was doing. Say, I was working on a number of Google documents, and wanted to open Youtube in a tab to view a cooking demo or a trailer: the system crawled, and sometimes I'd get that 'oops out of memory' or something error whereby I'd have to close all tabs down.

 

[you2]

I keep having hope on a nice 13/14 inch unit. HP released one yesterday but it like sucks in the spec department: 4.5lbs; 4 hours of battery life. I'm looking for something like asus 32xa or airbook; basically a media device for $400-$500 price point with 7+hrs battery life and sub 3lbs. I have to say the Asus has the best sceen I've seen in a long time.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

ARM15 is the real deal and Chromebook is badass. I don't understand how people can say it's slow. If Chromebook is slow, so are MacBook Air and iPad. For normal browsing and document work, you won't be able to tell you're using ARM rather than Intel chip.

Google and Samsung. I'm super impressed. Desktop Chrome browser rule. For most normal households, I think Chromebook is the perfect laptop. It is exactly what I thought it was. Macbook Air for Google users for $250.

imma big fan of chromebooks, but not the arm or atom versions. i wish they would come out with an i3 one. arm is slow, its way too slow, most people cant tolerate the limited number of pages it can handle or their pokey loading.

i think this year chrome books will become much more popular. ive noticed that all the librarys have them for checkout now and hp just released an intel one that ill probably get. the old samsung celeron one was almost a perfect design, but too aspensive

 

[OBLAMA2009]

If more people agreed with you the Celeron model would be the one that's sold out and not the ARM version.

None of the Best Buy's in my area have it in stock, while quite a few don't even sell it to begin with.

the arm one only sell becuz itz durt cheep. if they sold the celeron one for 250 it would be sold out everywhere too. people would pick that over the arm one, comfortable performance>>fanlessness or battery life

 

[Red Storm]

the arm one only sell becuz itz durt cheep. if they sold the celeron one for 250 it would be sold out everywhere too. people would pick that over the arm one, comfortable performance>>fanlessness or battery life

I know I wouldn't.

 

[Raduque]

the arm one only sell becuz itz durt cheep. if they sold the celeron one for 250 it would be sold out everywhere too. people would pick that over the arm one, comfortable performance>>fanlessness or battery life

You wrong. All the tech idjits I know whine about how loud their laptop's fan is. A Chromebook would be perfect for them as a Facebook machine.

 

[Bateluer]

Chrome OS has actually been around for many years but it still seems like it's stuck in first gear. In contrast Android has grown by leaps and bounds during that time period.

Missed this since I didn't read the entire thread. But it seems Chrome OS is getting serious traction now, Acer is reporting that 5-10% of their notebook sales are Chromebooks. Which is apparently more than what they're selling in Windows 8 hardware.

 

[Zaap]

I still can't see the need for one for my own use, but it's interesting.

Maybe I'll pick one up to play around with for $40 at the inevitable garage sales/swap meets a year or so from now.

 

[ponyo]

ARM allows for easy cellular integration. I want a laptop I can insert my phone SIM and use wirelessly. Current 3G Chromebook can only be used on Verizon so it's little more limited. But Verizon does have good coverage so you should be able to use Gmail and Google Voice to call and receive free phone calls for two years with 3G Chromebook. $319 for Chromebook with 2 years of free cell phone service is good bargain.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I still can't see the need for one for my own use, but it's interesting.

Maybe I'll pick one up to play around with for $40 at the inevitable garage sales/swap meets a year or so from now.

you mean you cant think of a use for a fast booting web browsing/light applications machine?

 

[Zaap]

you mean you cant think of a use for a fast booting web browsing/light applications machine?

Let's see... beyond "something to dick around with simply because its' new... until I get bored with it and am one selling it for $40 at a yard sale next year instead of buying it for that"?

Nope. Not a thing.