Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch) Reviews
I bought this to replace a Dell mini 10 netbook that I hated with a passion. It has performed beyond my expectations in that regard nearly flawlessly. There have a been a few little hiccups as with any computer but nothing like I experienced with the PC and associated windows issues. I love the 8-9 second boot time and no anti virus BS!!! If you can live with "in the cloud" computing this is a winner by my standards. Of course I wouldn't mind an even better price than the $249 I paid. No regrets here!
This review is from: Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch) (Personal Computers)
Very happy with this purchase to replace my Sony Vaio laptop. No more
updating, restarting, waiting for start-up, looking for a plug to charge
(great battery life on the Chromebook). Lightweight and responsive,
easy to use with good help sections for those who want to delve deeper.
Highly recommended!
If you understand that the Chrome OS is a web only OS and there is limited functionality offline, as well as the "limitations" of not being able to install "software programs", but a plethora of free apps, then you will be pleased with the Chromebook. The SSD drive boots very fast. The processes are quick and the touch pad is very responsive. I played with one next to a Macbook air at nearly $1200. For $250, the Chromebook appeared just as fast and responsive. I bought it for a family member for home use, as a second computer. For that, it met all it's requirements. I was pleased with the build and feel. There are such a variety of free apps that I was able to duplicate all my Windows programs to about 90% satisfaction, with the exception of "Dragon" dictation and a DVD cloner. (The Chromebook has no DVD drive anyway). The Chromebook is more than adequate for 90% of what get behind a keyboard to do.
This review is from: Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch) (Personal Computers)
My Chromebook 3 was delivered on November 26. I've had no issues
whatsoever . . . this is one beautiful and functional device. Having
read the reviews and specifications before I bought, I was aware of the
limitations, but I've found it does 95 percent of what I need in a fast
and user-friendly way. If I should occasionally need to do something
that requires heavy-duty processing power, then I'll simply borrow my
wife's MacBook Pro.BTW, the opened machine has been knocked on the floor twice by a passing dog with no damage to exterior or functionality. Pleasant surprise! :)
I smile when I hear reviews that call this just a child's machine. Nonsense, this is a cost-effective way of researching . . . listening, gathering information, and sharing with the world. It is capable of doing the work that most of us have to do. It is perhaps not for everyone, but definitely for many.
I bought this as a second computer essentially, knowing full well it wouldn't do everything -- that's why I have a gaming PC. However, what this does do is go everywhere. It slips into my purse, It gets carried around, it plays pandora when I clean and amuses me while my daughter takes dance. I have downloaded free educational apps for her, and some more fun ones got me, but what this DOES is it lets me check my email and share documents and write anywhere basically. It powers up so quickly and connects so fast, in the time it takes to get a coffee made at starbucks I can make sure I'm not missing anything.
I read about the battery life and I thought -- no way. But it's true, I get this insane amount of time off one charge. It's perfect for taking with without hauling something heavy. I use it, my daughter uses it, it goes everywhere, but the best thing, it doesn't get hot. She can curl up with it under a blanket on the couch and spend time at the educational games on her school's web site. I'm surprised the the speakers don't suck, and the screen is perfectly fine. Sure, it's not a 'wow best speakers ever' or 'the screen is amazing' but for a little, portable, lightweight piece of awesome, both are so much better than I anticipated. I love this little thing.
This review is from: Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch) (Personal Computers)
If you are irritated by the constant updating of Windows, virus or other
programs that make your computer slow or unavailable while they update,
start and restart, this computer if for you. It is quick to start
(about 8 seconds vs. nearly 2 minutes for my existing desktop and
netbook when they are NOT updating some software). The keyboard has
excellent touch right out of the box and is adjustable too. The tile
key arrangement makes typing easy....never could get the hang of it with
my Acer netbook. I'm one happy cat now with this cloud based O/S that
is always updated. If I were Microsoft or Apple, I'd worry about the
future of computer installed O/S systems.Great Gentoo based Linux stack with all the wrinkles ironed out. Nice capable ARM hardware, ripe for hacking and using to power any kind of 1080p screen. This is a very nice little development board, and it is very easy to get this into developer mode.
My only gripe is that you need a customer charger, rather than being able to charge via USB like all other devices in this power category; notably the Nexus 10 which uses the exact same chipset.
(EDIT: scratch that, USB charging is meant to be possible, although you charge to a full size USB3 port rather than a microusb port. I need to purchase a USB to USB plug to establish this)
This review is from: Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch) (Personal Computers)
This is a great buy! I love everything about it. If you're looking for a
thin, lightweight laptop without all the Windows junk and virus threats
this is perfect!I took it out of the box and it fired right up! Which is a huge change from my old clunky laptop that would take 5 minutes to get up and going!
I love the Google Hangout feature. It's awesome to be able to video chat with my friends and family across the country.
If you're looking for a new/second computer this is perfect! I'm so glad I made the decision to get one!
I just got this as a secondary computer to compliment my desktop, and so far it's been great. The remote desktop app is surprisingly convenient, and since a lot of the time I'm in chrome anyway, I've been very happy with the device. I've even found a lot of apps that I didn't know existed when I got the computer. It's kind of amazing how much can be done in a browser at this point, and it's only going to get better.
This review is from: Samsung Chromebook (3G, 11.6-Inch) (Personal Computers)
Samsung and Google have a good thing going here. It's a smart bunch of
compromises, resulting in great utility at a really fair price. If you
just want an easy and safe device for web browsing and writing, this is
it. If you want to geek out and hack around with the underlying linux,
you can do that too. It's a nice size for typing, sits in your lap
well, and is light enough to carry around. I like it much better than a
tablet.Pro: Inexpensive, easy to setup and use with a gmail account and Google Apps, light, good looking
Con: Screen is a bit fussy to get a good viewing angle, and the case scratches easily. Some will not be satisfied with this as their only device, although it can be great for work on the go.
Would recommend for: gmail and Google Apps users, students, anyone who finds a tablet is not quite enough.
The instant on is fabulous. The weight and feel good for the price. For so much of the time on the computer this is going to change my working habits. Google gives me the vast majority of what I want a small laptop to be (or is it just a big netbook). Took a little time getting used to the trackpad but the keyboard has a nice feel and you can always use a small mouse via blue-tooth or usb plug-in. Hope to see a better screen down the road but it may not be possible and still maintain the low price. Wonderful battery life (6+ hours so far). Bring a touchscreen to this device with only a small bump in price and it'll be a huge success.
This review is from: Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch) (Personal Computers)
Great product. The Build quality is great, screen decent, trackpad and
keyboard great, battery life exactly as described. I know that chrome os
is still in its early stages but I think google really hit the nail on
the head with this one. The only thing that I would like to see google
do is make this a stand alone product. What I mean by that is with this
machine, you still require a windows or mac machine in your home to
either control to sync you google music account or to even print. I
think that if google could take care of these issues, a good chunk of
the computer industry could be theirs.
determined that 95-98% of my activity was spent in a browser. So I decided to give the Samsung 3G Chromebook a shot.
Before the CB, in the morning, I had to wait interminably to get on to the web while my computer was booting up...well those days are behind me. The CB boots up in 2-5 seconds not even the 10 seconds they state in product description. I had been concerned about being able to print but Google solved that with their slick "Cloud Printing" app. Set it up once and it's good to go from there. As for my concern on how to get scanned documents into Google Drive (where I had been storing my documents for years), it turns out that my printer has WiFi capabilities so now that becomes a non issue.
By the way, I have connected my 24" monitor and keyboard to the CB and you'd never know that you're on a very light, extremely good looking and thin laptop. It really gets some heads turning at Starbucks. Use the WiFi or in my case 3G.
I love this and am already about to get one for each person in my family. The learning curve BTW is zero if you use any of the Google services.
The laptop looks fancy. I couldn't wait to play with it. My overall feeling is that for $250 this is an incredible device.
My wife and I are cable cutters and we have a Home Theater PC which is always on. A chromebook probably wouldn't cut it if we didn't have the PC to remote into, but for us it is perfect. Googling or researching on the couch with our Nexus 7 can become a hassle and chrome is just not the same on the tablet. If you are like us, you unsleep the monitor of your computer and the first thing you click is chrome to load up facebook, news, and amazon. This device is perfect for accessing the web via chrome. With its extensions I have google voice, photoshop, VNC, and more.
I deeply recommend that you become familiar with what a chromebook is and what its capabilities are before purchasing. I obviously didn't expect to be able to install Microsoft Office on this little beast. The bad reviews here are basically because people were expecting things that the OS cannot do (unless you flash ubuntu on it).
I will say the only negative thing is that the touchpad feels a little cheap. Sometimes it doesn't register clicks when I expect it to, and clicking it all the way down is clunky. It isn't enough to drop it to 4 stars imo. I would give 4.5 if i could have.
Tips:
-If you don't know what a chromebook is or don't regularly use chrome as your browser..... DON'T BUY without researching.
-If you want an incredibly simple to use couch-surfing portable laptop, you love chrome, and you know what to expect out of a chromebook... then this device offers the best value for any laptop available this 2012 holiday season. If you can find it in stock.... BUY IT.
The good:
- Great matte screen!
- Nice keyboard and touchpad
- No fan: silent, runs cool
- Light & sleek form factor
- Long battery life
- Wakes up quickly from sleep
The bad:
- Google hasn't yet (Dec 2012) updated Chrome to work fully on ARM processors, so you can't watch Netflix on here
Seriously, if you understand what Chrome OS is and what you'd use it for, you're likely to love this computer as much as I do.
If you're clueless about 'the cloud' (and computers in general) and do nothing but surf, you'll also love this computer.
If you're in the middle somewhere and still use dinosaur apps like Word or Excel (instead of Google Docs) and like to print your emails, you should probably take a pass. .
I was going to purchase this from Amazon but the price went up. So I went to Best Buy to get it for $250.
I have a MacBook Pro but wanted a netbook for classes that was light and convenient for on the go. My iPad mini is too difficult for typing notes.
I was able to use a MacBook Pro silicone keyboard protector for the Chromebook, but I had to trim the edges. They keys are very much like a Mac's, which is another reason I decided to go with this instead of a typical Acer netbook. Much easier for me on switching between laptops.
I ignored any of the poor reviews about the video playback because I didn't need that. The screen is odd to me. The closest thing I can think of to describe it is that it's like an LCD TV. Very matte but sharp in a way. Check it out at Best Buy to see if it bothers you or not. The Acer Chromebook has a glass-like screen which I would have preferred. But this had better specs: 6.5 hrs battery life + 2.4 lbs vs. 3 hrs + 3 lbs.
I wasn't too familiar with Chrome OS, but I had the browser on my Macbook. It syncs up pretty well and all of my bookmarks/apps/history/cache transferred nicely (the browser is attached to the google account you use for the browser/GDrive). I'd recommend downloading and playing around with the Chrome Browser to see if you are okay using it. The OS seems to be completely based around the Chrome browser and its apps.
The speakers are surprisingly strong and are under the laptop near the front feet. Gives it a surround-sound feeling.
It's somewhat difficult for me to open compared to my MacBook. I'm still looking for a good cover to put on this, but I suppose I'll have to wait until the market share goes up.
Overall, I absolutely love my new laptop and Google Drive is working great for my note-taking.
Hope this helps!
*UPDATE*
I've been having problems with the machine not waking up from sleep. The power button is lit but the screen is asleep. I had to hold the power button until the machine turns off... and then turn it back on.
Many others have this problem and the current go-arounds are switching to the beta channel (since Google is aware of the problem and apparently fixed it in the next update) or logging off before you close it (which I prefer... but looking forward to the update).
My two cents:
Keep in mind that this, much like other programs, is a work in progress and requires a certain amount of patience and perspective. Google isn't afraid to have people experimenting with the products to make them better. Contrary to other unhappy users, I don't feel as if Google/Samsung have cheated me in any way and I think the pros are outweighing the cons. I mean, why do people think there are always new versions of everything? Mac OSX 10.8.2, Windows 8, etc. There will always be bugs that will have to be worked out and Chrome is a young OS. If anything, I feel like we're helping the OS reach its potential.
This laptop is lightweight, heat-less, noiseless and battery lasts for ever...what else do you want from a portable computer. I have mac-book pro and this beats the stuff out-off it when it comes to daily tasks. I personally spend 95% of my time in chrome on my mac-book and this does job for 1/4 of the price. Guys what else do you want?? Google has answered all your prayers go get one.
[[ Samsung Chromebook (3G, 11.6-Inch)]]
This is a very nice computer. It is small, light, with great battery life. No it will not replace the full function laptops, it is not for the power user that needs their laptop to do everything.. But it is a very handy 2nd computer.. Connecting to Verizon 3g took only a few minutes. It sees wireless networks very quickly and connects with no problems.. It is perfect for traveling and checking your email, surfing the web, paying bills, playing games, etc..
The only con I can come up with is I miss the delete key. The keyboard is surprisingly roomy for such a small device, but they decided to eliminate the delete key, and that will take some getting use to.
Besides that so far this does everything it promises. .
For only $329 it is well worth the money.
I love my Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-inch). I was looking for some kind of computer that I could use away from my regular computer. The Samsung is a combination of my Kindle Fire and my Laptop Computer. I was never able to use my laptop computer away from the CPU, even though I had a router. The Samsung Chromebook is small enough that I can use a keyboard and it's very streamlined; without the costs of a new laptop. Before I got the Samsung Chromebook from Amazon, I used to have to run from the t.v. to my computer while watching a football game and talking with my friends. Sometimes I missed a good play or a touchdown. Now I have my Samsung Chromebook right in front of me and can comment on the games with my friends without missing something. :-)
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