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Samsung’s Chromebook: a $345 webbased notebook With the price of notebook and tablet computers continuing to fall, we thought it worth a look at one of the cheapest notebooks on the market – the Samsung Chromebook. Can a computer that retails for less than $350 really be much more than a toy? Ross Tester had a bit longer to play with one than first envisaged . . . J ust a few hours after obtaining a Samsung Chromebook for review, I was forced to spend a totally unplanned week in hospital. No, the Samsung didn’t cause it – but that “break”(!) gave me the opportunity to have a really good look at this intriguing machine – and also highlighted its very best and very worst features. First, the best: The Samsung Chromebook is small, low cost and very light. It features a nice clear 293mm or 11.6-inch (diagonal) screen and quite a reasonable tactile-key keyboard with standard key spacing and layout (q-p spacing ~185mm) along with a sensitive trackpad. We mentioned small and light: it weighs in at just over 1.1kg and overall (closed) it’s just 17mm thick. One of its greatest claims to fame is that it boots in just a few seconds – even from power-on it’s only about ten seconds and restoring from “sleep”, is much less than that. Turning off is even quicker – no waiting around here! 76  Silicon Chip And a feature that doesn’t normally rate much of a mention, is that (so far) the Chromebook is virus free – not only due to the machine’s inbuilt security but because the malcontents of this At a glance . . . • 295mm (11.6in) displa y (1366x768) • Overall size 289.6 x 208 .5 x 16.8mm • 17mm thin when closed • 1.1kg weight • Over 6.5 hours of batter y life • Samsung Exynos 5250 1.7MHz dualcore processor with 1MB L2 cache) • 2GB DDR3L 800MHz sys tem memory • 16GB solid state drive • 100GB Google Drive clo ud storage* • Built-in dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) • VGA camera & internal microphone • 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0 ports • HDMI port • Bluetooth 3.0™ compat ible     *free for two years world haven’t thought it worth their while to start demonstrating their own inadequacies on it. Now the worst: Hospitals are not known for their computer-friendliness, at least as far as patients go. While the Samsung certainly found WiFi (and lots of it), all were encrypted so none was available for patient use (I asked!). And without internet access, the Samsung Chromebook is, for all practical purposes, a 1.1kg paperweight. Now that is by design, because the Chromebook is specifically intended as a “cloud-based” computer. Perhaps a word of explanation is in order: the computer you are probably used to stores most of its data internally, normally on a large hard disk drive. Cloud-based computers, on the other hand, don’t have this “luxury” – they rely on an internet connection to store data “in the cloud”. That’s just a buzzword for saying “somewhere else” – probably on a giant bank of terabyte siliconchip.com.au hard disk drives, equally probably not even in your country. By and large, you don’t even know it’s happening. But the operative words here are “rely on an internet connection.” Sure, I could have tethered my mobile phone to the computer and gained net access that way but it was much more convenient to use the Samsung Note 3G tablet that my partner had most thoughtfully given me for my “holiday”! But back to the Chromebook. With only (relatively) limited internal storage (it doesn’t even have a hard disk drive as such but instead sports a 16GB solid-state-drive) it is quite limited on what you can do without resorting to that internet connection. From its look and feel, it’s fairly obvious that the Chromebook is aimed at the internet-user and the entertainment market, although there are more and more “serious” Chrome applications emerging for it. Incidentally, every Chromebook comes with 100GB of cloud-based storage (called Google Drive) which you can use for two years free of charge. After that, or if you’re a data hog, it will cost you. We’re not sure how much that will be because the sales rep we talked to couldn’t even get an answer from Samsung. But typical public cloud storage costs between $10 and $25 per gigabyte per month so we’d use these rates as a yardstick. Who is it intended for? A replacement for your desktop (or even notebook) computer it is not – and despite some of the marketing hype, we believe was never intended to be. It really is a second (or third) computer. But there is already quite a large range of productivity apps available; eg, you can easily do the “big four” office-type tasks – writing/editing, database, spreadsheet and some DTP; even limited graphics and photo applications – and many more besides. And, of course, it is absolutely perfect for browsing web pages, emailing and other internet-type applications. It should be very good for gaming but we have some reservations there, which we’ll look at shortly. But you won’t be able to run your familiar “office” applications, such siliconchip.com.au It has a near-standard full-size “QWERTY” keyboard, but the normal “F” keys along the top line are replaced with more internet-specific keys. But where are the caps lock and delete keys? Everyone is used to having them available! as Microsoft Word, etc, because the Chromebook does not operate under the Windows system, nor even under Android – its operating system is Google Chrome, which (like Android) is based on a Linux platform. Neither will you be able to run programs such as Skype nor iTunes, for example (but there are many Google Chrome equivalents/alternatives). However, we would anticipate there will be many more “serious” apps (as distinct from games) in the future. Incidentally, the “Google Docs” word processing application reads and writes Word-compatible files, so you can use the Chromebook for office tasks and retain some compatibility. So is Chromebook another Android? Let’s get rid of this common misconception (and often-asked question) early: can you run Android apps on the Chromebook? The answer is, unfortunately, no. Admittedly, most Chrome apps have the same “look and feel” as Android apps but it’s been a common “beef” on the forums and in the press that Google didn’t incorporate any Android compatibility. The reason for this negativity? There are many thousands of Google Chrome apps (which you access from the Chrome webstore) but there are millions of Android apps which people would like to have. Sorry! So will this limit the Chromebook market? We believe so. The hardware We’ve already mentioned the light weight – so the Chromebook will be very popular with students (who almost universally these days have school/college/uni WiFi) but can also take notes etc, and perhaps store them internally. The light weight comes from a fairly “plasticy” feeling case. It’s powered by a 1.7GHz Samsung Exynos 5 dual-core CPU which has a 1MB cache. There is 2GB of system memory. We’ve also mentioned the 16GB SSD which, even after taking out the space required for the operating system, graphics drivers and sundry “unseen” overheads, is argued can store a reasonable amount of material on-board. Just don’t try a lot of material or really large files! So perhaps we were being harsh when we called it a paperweight if it didn’t have net access. Speaking of the net, it will automatically seek any available WiFi connection (802.11a/b/g/n) and give you the usual options for logging on (including password if required). The integrated graphics powers the 1366 x 768 pixel LED display, and as we mentioned earlier, it’s clear and crisp. Viewing angle is passable, if not brilliant and while Google claim it can play 1080p video, it cannot display full HD. There’s a 0.3MP web camera (ie, it faces the user) but it can’t run the most popular personal communication tool, Skype. Battery life is claimed to be about 6.5-7 hours and we more-or-less confirmed this. The keyboard doesn’t have the familiar “F” keys above the numerics; instead it has a dozen “web-enabled” keys, again pointing to the intended use of the computer. August 2013  77 Shown here about 2/3 life size, the rear panel of the Samsung Chromebook sports a blanked-off socket for (as yet unavailable) 3G, a USB3.0 socket, a USB2.0 socket, HDMI output and DC power/charging socket & LED. As far as expansion and peripherals goes, there’s not much available. On the review model, there was a single SD/SDHC/SDXC card reader, one USB3.0 port and one USB2.0 port, an HDMI display output and a headphone/microphone combo 3.5mm socket. One thing I did find a bit disconcerting was that a standard SD card pokes out the side by about 5-6mm or so – just enough to snag on something. You really have to remove the SD card when not in use. There are two tiny bottom-mounted speakers but they certainly aren’t what you’d describe as hifi (in fact, not even fi!) – especially when sitting with the computer on your lap. You’d be much better off using external speakers or earphones. And that’s about it. Of course, any printing you want to do will have to be either via WiFi or via the USB port; then again, most printers these days are USB devices. It is our understanding that none of the internals can be changed or upgraded – you’ve got what you’ve got! When you turn it on . . . It’s already loaded with several “helpful” Google apps, such as search, Gmail, YouTube and the like, so you can start playing (literally!) immediately. If you’re coming straight out of a Windows/PC background, Google Chrome has a bit of a learning curve; if you’re already familiar with Android, you’re most of the way there already. If you don’t find the app that you want already installed, it’s not difficult at all to log onto the Google Webstore and search for what you require. You’ll almost certainly end up spending a lot of time here to see just what is available! But that’s typical of Android/ Apple/Windows users as well. In use What can I say? It did what it was supposed to do, providing it wasn’t overtaxed. Opening multiple browser windows (yeah, I know, it’s not a Windows machine!) caused it to become a bit sluggish. At times it had trouble keeping up with a video or song – even with a rock-solid WiFi connection linked to a cable modem. I mentioned reservations about gaming earlier on – it is for this apparent sluggishness that I have these thoughts. But I must admit, I am not a “serious” gamer and therefore did not try it out on any games which might give it (or me!) a headache! However, for its intended use – a net-based browser and light-weight productivity machine – it was more than adequate, for most of the time I used it. Free updates – automatically Apart from dowloading apps, the maintenance and chores of a typical Windows or even Apple computer are gone – Samsung has an update (apparently every six weeks) that happens when you next turn the machine on. And they’re not like Microsoft’s infamous Tuesday updates – come back The only other connectors are on the left side: a combo earphone/microphone socket and an SD-card slot. It worries us a little that the card protrudes so far out, though. 78  Silicon Chip when you’ve made a cup of coffee or built the Pyramids, whichever is the sooner. You aren’t even aware that updates are happening. Let’s cut to the chase! So would I recommend the Samsung Chromebook? Yes I would, in fact very much so – as long as you kept in mind that it is NOT a replacement for your “normal” computer. (Especially) used as a web browser (and especially given its lightning boot-up), with some “productivity” tasks thrown in, it really comes into its own. For the price, it’s a bargain! Nearly forgot: there’s some subtle but really annoying differences between the Chromebook’s keyboard and the one you’ve been used to. Like no caps lock! (Perhaps there’s a way to achieve that but I didn’t quite get to it). And no delete key. Splitting hairs? Maybe. But it makes the difference between a glowing report and a nearly-glowing report. The price We’ve said it all before . . . RRP of the Samsung Chromebook in Australia is $345.00, available from a limited number of retailers (eg, Harvey Norman and JB Hifi in Sydney). At first glance, that seems like a pretty good deal for a computer – until, once again, you compare it with the US price: $US249, which at the time of writing was about $AU260. Australians, once again, are being used by computer hardware and software suppliers as bunnies. Underneath you’ll find the two stereo “speakers”. They’re supposedly rated at 1.5W each . . . but hifi they most definitely aren’t. Headphones or speakers sound good! siliconchip.com.au