As moveable as 15.4 inches can get

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus is the corporate’s first foray into the new Chromebook Plus branding. With that new branding, this Chromebook brings highly effective {hardware}, lengthy battery life, and entry to the mandatory apps to get work finished, like Microsoft and Adobe software program. Whereas this $700 laptop computer fills the premium Chromebook void available in the market this yr, what actually drew me to this assessment is how skinny the gadget is, together with its slick blue/purple anodizing.

In brief, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus regarded like a stunner when it was revealed, and I needed to get my fingers on one. Fortunately, after some rigorous testing, I can affirm that appears and slimness aren’t the one superior issues about this laptop computer. It’s, in truth, my new favourite Chromebook of the yr.

Value, availability, and specs

You should purchase the brand new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus straight from Samsung and Greatest Purchase for $700. There is just one configuration, retaining issues easy, and the one shade accessible is Neptune Blue. That is cool in my e-book when the unimaginable anodizing comes throughout as blue, purple, and grey, relying in your viewing angle. Since there is just one shade, there may be additionally just one alternative in your storage and RAM at 256GB and 8GB, respectively.

It is a single mannequin, a breath of recent air in a world the place most Chromebooks provide a handful of specs throughout poorly named fashions. So Samsung is retaining issues simple to parse, with one Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus mannequin bought for $700 throughout storefronts.

What’s nice concerning the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus

Appears to be like, really feel, dimension, weight, and lots extra

You actually should see the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus in individual to understand it, however boy, this laptop computer is skinny. It is solely slightly thicker than the Tab S10 Extremely I simply reviewed, which is fairly important for a daily clamshell laptop computer. Higher but, the keyboard does not endure from quick strokes or a scarcity of tactility as a result of Chromebook’s skinny design.

Past being skinny, this can be a vast gadget, with a big 15.4-inch display. Not solely do you get very skinny bezels surrounding the 1080p OLED display, however the 16:9 ratio ensures this can be a vast gadget with out being too massive to tote round. That ratio simply so occurs to be good for consuming media and taking part in video games, one thing the 16:10 ratio that ships on gaming Chromebooks cannot declare.

Past the moveable, slim design and low weight (of two and a half kilos), what really issues is whether or not the Intel Core 3 100U can carry out at a suitable battery life. I had my doubts about whether or not an Intel chip that requires lively cooling with an inner fan might provide the killer battery life Arm Chromebooks are identified for.

But I am seeing the marketed 13 hours of battery life on a single cost, and that is with Android and Linux apps within the combine. So, for those who require a Chromebook that may final a complete workday after which some but additionally do not need to skimp on the efficiency that Intel brings, the Galaxy Chromebook Plus straddles the road between low energy consumption and optimum efficiency. This gadget is ideal for a mixture of work and play, a central theme of this gadget we already noticed with the display ratio alternative.

One factor is for positive: 2024 is the yr of AI, and since this can be a Chromebook Plus mannequin, AI is included, and a few of it’s fairly helpful. Most new software program like Assist Me Learn is offered for any Plus mannequin and never particular to the Galaxy Chromebook Plus. Nonetheless, it is nonetheless useful for summarizing textual content and digging deeper right into a topic. Positive, the Gemini app exists, and you possibly can use it for a similar, however getting access to studying assist from the right-click menu is way more accessible.

There are additionally generative AI wallpapers, however they’re restricted to set phrases. On the very least, Magic Editor is offered in your photographs. If you happen to’re searching for distinctive AI options for the Galaxy Chromebook Plus, that is the primary Chromebook to supply the Fast Insert key. It sits the place the Search key was beforehand positioned (Caps Lock on different keyboards), which makes it simple to name up AI writing assist, add GIFs, and dip into your Clipboard.

Even higher, for those who do not want to use the Fast Insert key, you may simply revert it to the older Search key performance, a welcome transfer by the dev workforce, leaving customers a alternative.

After utilizing the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus for the previous couple of weeks, I can say that is the primary time I’ve felt like ChromeOS presents an entire expertise from nuts to bolts. Whereas we have had Android and Linux app entry for a while now (and even Steam has been working nice in beta for a bit), the whole lot lastly feels unified, the place Linux and Android apps do not stand out as non-native.

Google has lastly finished the work so as to add polish to the piecemeal expertise that’s ChromeOS, which isn’t any small feat. I can bounce from the Linux app GIMP to the native file explorer to then open an Android app like Slack to speak, and little appears to be like misplaced. Every part the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus presents provides as much as my preferrred ChromeOS expertise, and I’ve a sense I will not be the one one who feels this fashion.

What’s dangerous concerning the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus

There may be extra good than dangerous, however a number of points are value noting

My greatest challenge with this laptop computer has nothing to do with its {hardware} and the whole lot to do with Google’s struggle on adblockers. This can be a Chromebook and it solely presents one browser: Chrome. Because of Google just lately switching to Manifest V3 forcing all extension devs to capitulate to new guidelines, issues like adblocking are actually worse than on all competing internet browsers. This compelled me to make use of a Lite model of my most well-liked adblocker, which lets adverts by means of since Manifest V3 does not permit the identical entry V2 did.

Now, I really feel much less protected as I browse the web, which is ironic given Google’s declare that the change to Manifest V3 is supposedly for consumer security (a well-known tune from Google because it regularly removes consumer management within the identify of safety).

Kind of, I take into account the core of the ChromeOS expertise now worse for put on and rather less safe, which in the end impacts all {hardware} it ships on, together with the Galaxy Chromebook Plus. If I had been a associate making ChromeOS {hardware}, I’d not be happy with Google’s allergy to adblockers affecting my potential gross sales.

I additionally don’t love that this costly Chromebook Plus laptop computer does not provide a high-refresh price display. Whereas 60Hz is clean sufficient, making it a lot simpler to play Steam video games with out buckling efficiency, I would nonetheless want to see all Chromebook Plus fashions ship with quicker refresh charges.

The extra Chromebook Plus fashions we see with utterly completely different specs, the extra the branding is muddied, guaranteeing no one is aware of what Chromebook Plus will get you. If I’ve to dip into the specs simply to know what’s included, what good is the branding to start with? Positive, it is speculated to imply high-end, and but this $700 laptop computer lacks a excessive refresh price, which is what I’d anticipate from a high-end laptop computer.

One other criticism I’ve that will not trouble most individuals is the keyboard. I do not get pleasure from laptop computer keyboards that embrace quantity pads; this shifts the first alpha keys to the left, which implies you need to kind off-center from the display.

I do not want a quantity pad; there are already numbers on the keyboard above the alphas, so I want a centered keyboard that leaves room for audio system flanking both sides. As a substitute, we’re caught with audio system below the gadget and an additional, pointless set of numbers except you do a variety of accounting, that’s.

Final however not least, the included digicam stinks. Straight up, all of the photographs are fairly pixelated, and I checked the settings. The digicam app says I am capturing in FHD, so I am uncertain what the problem is right here. Video calls work wonderful, however selfies look terrible. Simply have a look at my ugly mug as an ideal instance.

Must you purchase the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus?

Chromebooks aren’t for everybody, however for these searching for the OS’s simpleness or its expansive assist for Linux and Android, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus looks like the primary Chromebook to nail the expertise. Positive, this laptop computer continues to be operating ChromeOS, so you will should take care of Manifest V3 and its limitations in Chrome (since there isn’t any approach to change the browser), however the total polish is difficult to disclaim.

Regardless of the big display, the {hardware} is slick and lots moveable, providing the construct high quality everybody expects from Samsung. The software program lastly feels centered, the place even Android and Linux apps do not look particularly misplaced. On the identical time, the dearth of a high-refresh price looks like an odd alternative at this value level. Fortunately, the expertise is not any much less clean.

And sure, this Plus mannequin comes with a plethora of latest AI features, from Assist Me Learn to Magic Editor. It additionally consists of 12 months of free entry to Gemini by means of Google One AI Premium, although it’s your name whether or not you are feeling any of it’s worthy of the value level. For me, the superb {hardware} was sufficient to persuade me.

However hey, on the very least, the software program lastly feels congealed throughout features and options, so it’s now not the underdeveloped expertise it was, which implies your alternative of {hardware} boils down to precisely that. Samsung has certainly knocked the design out of the park with the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus. The 2 earlier fashions on this line had been stunners, and the newest is definitely the very best of the bunch now that Intel has tamed its chips.

This all provides as much as my favourite Chromebook but. Whereas it might not be good, Samsung is definitely providing one of many best-looking and performing Chromebooks this yr with the brand new Galaxy Chromebook Plus, and I positively suggest it if you’re available in the market for a brand new and fancy laptop computer that runs ChromeOS. From gaming to work, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus hasn’t left my aspect in weeks.