A good place to start would be that I got this chromebook at a discount ($749, down from $999). And my needs are mainly to run Citrix (through browser or Chrome app, either works) for work and to casually browse, read magazines/books or listen to Spotify. Not a "Power User" by any means, though not sure any Chrome OS user is.
That being said, this is THE BEST CHROMEBOOK I'VE EVER USED, and it is more than perfect to suit my needs.
Build: The thing is beautiful, a really premium feel to the materials, and the red is really classy and not too gaudy as I was a bit worried and almost went with the more drab grey option - I'm glad I didn't. The chrome ring around the outside is also a premium touch that looks great. It's the thinnest and lightest 2-in-1 laptop I've ever seen, and I know that I like to use 2-in-1s in tablet mode and this is the first time it actually feels comfortable and feasible to do that for more than a brief period of time. The 2.2lbs was a big draw for me when comparing this laptop to the Galaxy Chromebook 2, Asus C436, or the Acer Spin 713 - upon using it I am glad I took it into consideration. Other great things about the build are the relatively loud stereo speakers and the built-in stylus. Minor drawbacks would be the weak hinge that doesn't always hold the screen in place when moving the laptop if open (though for the most part it does the job) and the lack of ports (you just get 2 USB-C ports, which also function as charging ports, so if you're charging you only have 1...adapters easily solve this). Also the cameras are weak but I don't use those - if you're buying for camera quality only for some reason (Zoom?) then this isn't the one for you.
Screen: The SCREEN is AMAZING. The OLED is top notch and better than any Chromebook I've ever seen, at full brightness the colors are insane. That being said, the high resolution and the brightness eat at the battery life a lot, so in most cases I've got brightness scaled way down and I don't really miss anything, it works fine. Touch works perfectly, the stylus allows for really detailed notes/drawings in Canva or other apps. One drawback might be the bezel placement, there are 3 super-thin outer bezels and one larger bottom bezel... in tablet mode that one larger bezel functions well as a "handle" of sorts, but the other sides can't be touched without accidentally hitting the screen and scrolling or clicking a link, etc. A very minor nuisance at most. Another minor issue is that the resolution is SO GOOD that when I run Citrix, the session almost appears blurry, but still workable - on high resolution windows machines Citrix has addressed this with DPI scaling, but they've yet to master this on the Chrome OS app or the Chrome web app. Not Samsung's issue, but still part of my experience with the machine so I thought it worth mentioning.
Performance: This thing is a BEAST. There's arguably no need for an Intel i5 in a Chromebook, but here we are, and the thing is FAST. Scrolling is smooth and even with tons of tabs open I've never experienced lag when playing videos or games. With lots going on under the hood, and no fan, I've heard mention from others that the computer can get really hot under heavy loads - I've barely experienced this while using a decent amount of processing power, and would elaborate that when I did feel heat it was very minor and not unbearable by any means. I'm thinking unless you are gaming a lot or developing in linux or doing something really really processor heavy, you'll be fine. A small performance gripe in general is that Android apps don't always play well with Chrome OS and have re-sizing issues or some lag, but this is not a Samsung problem, more of a Google problem.
Battery Life: Some people have called this the achilles heel of the laptop, but I don't have much issue. Again, I'm not a real gamer/developer/super user - I am Joe Basic using it for administrative work and browsing/music/reading. On an average day at like 70% brightness I can unplug at 8am and make it to about 3 or 4pm before having to plug back in while working in Citrix doing basic tasks on MS Access, Excel, etc - nothing intense but that's pretty much constant screentime for about 6-7 hours before it starts getting low and I've got to plug in. Obviously this is not great in comparison to 10+ hours at full brightness seen on other Chromebooks - but you are getting more than the average Chromebook here and this is a bit of a concession made on Samsung's part to provide the rest of the goods. Overall if you don't need to be away from a charger for more than 6 hours every day, you shouldn't have an issue.
Should you buy it: If you have read this far and think your needs/usage are similar to mine and you want the sleek-est, coolest, thinnest chromebook out there, DEFINITELY BUY THIS (especially if on discount, which it frequently is between Amazon, Best Buy, and Samdsung's own site).
| Standing screen display size | 13.3 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 3840 x 2160 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 3840 x 2160 Pixels |
| Processor | 1.6 GHz core_i5_10210u |
| RAM | 8 GB LPDDR3 |
| Hard Drive | 256 GB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Intel UHD Graphics |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 8 GB |
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth, 802.11ax |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 8 Hours |
