Samsung Series 5 Chromebook Review
| Processor | Intel Celeron |
| Memory | 4GB |
| Hard drive | 16GB SSD |
| Operating system | Google Chrome OS |
| Dimensions (WD) | 11.25x8.3 inches |
| Height | 0.7 inch |
| Screen size (diagonal) | 12.1 inches |
| System weight / Weight with laptop adapter | 3.1 pounds / 3.7 pounds |
Pros: The 2012 Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 has more RAM, an improved Chrome OS, and a faster processor than the previous version.
Cons: A relatively high price, the need to always be online, and the general limitations of the Chrome OS make it tough to recommend this Chromebook over a less expensive laptop or tablet.
Summary: Despite solid hardware and a slightly improved Chrome OS, the samsung adapters Chromebook Series 5 550 comes with far too many caveats and compromises compared with similarly priced but more-capable tablets and laptops.
HARDWARE / DESIGN
The appear and feel of the new Series 5 Chromebook isn't changed much from the prior version. At 0.87 inches thick and 3.3 pounds it is no ultrabook, but it really is certainly portable enough to go in a backpack, and at 11.4 x 8.4 inches it's concerning the identical size as last year's Chromebook. Obtainable only inside a silvery plastic with a brushed-metal appear, it really is quite simple with no getting fairly as sleek as the all-black Cr-48. The rounded lid has samsung batteries and Chrome logos, and there's an "Intel Inside" logo on the correct side of the touchpad. The chassis is a lot extra oleophobic than the earlier Series 5, and it doesn't really choose up any fingerprints.
My only genuine complaint is the fact that the color inconsistencies are so slight: the palmrest is really a slightly unique shade of silver from the rest on the front-facing body, and also the back panel is however another color. It occupies an odd middle ground in between looking like a unibody laptop and obtaining starkly contrasting colors, both of which I would have preferred to the shades-of-gray design. The Samsung AA-PB9NS6B Chromebook is well-made and fairly sturdy, though it doesn't feel at all high-end mainly because its parts are so obviously plastic.
Display and speakers
Let me put adp-65jh bb only: matte displays are the best. I'd never ever even dream of taking my MacBook Air outdoors on a sunny day, simply because attempting to see the glossy screen is an exercising in futility. The Chromebook, on the other hand, features a asus adp-150nb, 1280 x 800 matte display that may be totally usable outdoors. It is a decent display, with precise colors and impressive maximum brightness. The tradeoff having a matte display, needless to say, is the fact that colors do not appear nearly as vivid as on a glossy display, and indeed every thing on the Chromebook looks slightly muted. Horizontal viewing angles are excellent, but vertically they're fairly awful ?a tilt the screen at a slightly wrong angle, and you happen to be left with colors so washed out that it really is tough to check out.
Keyboard and touchpad
The Chrome OS keyboard hasn't changed much from generation to generation, along with the chiclet-style keyboard is as excellent as ever, with well-spaced square keys that offer superior feedback and travel. The black keys themselves really feel a bit low cost, but asus ux31 adapter perform properly and I was made use of to utilizing it in no time. However, the keyboard nonetheless is not backlit, which led to a couple of serious tests of my touch-typing capacity in dark rooms.
The keyboard layout is what's seriously beneficial here, though. The 26 letter keys and 10 quantity keys would be the very same as ever, but almost everything else has been re-considered and lots of keys happen to be changed. There is no function row ?a rather the keys are Chrome OS functions, like forward and back inside the browser or to toggle total screen. A few of the icons are a little inscrutable, but they are genuinely handy and the selected functions were picked well. Caps Lock has been replaced with Search, dell adapter just opens a brand new tab and puts the cursor inside the address bar. (You may re-map it back to Caps Lock, even though, for those who ever should yell at someone on the web.) The left-side Manage and Alt buttons are massive, which can be once more intelligent because individuals two are essential for just about every typical Chrome shortcut, all of which operate here at the same time.
Performance and battery life
General performance?killed the appeal?in the last Chromebook ?a it just couldn't hold up below a heavy workload. The new Series 5 is powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Celeron 867 processor and 4GB of RAM, and although individuals are not specifically bleeding-edge specs they're greater than as much as the process of powering Chrome OS. I frequently had Rdio playing in the background, 3 or 4 windows open totaling 20 or so tabs, and a handful of site-specific apps running, as well as the Chromebook by no means after slowed down. I in no way even had a tab crash, and I'm all as well used to seeing the "this web page crashed" frowny face on desktop browsers. The device is also seriously quiet ?a there's a fan inside, but I only heard it if I put my ear proper as much as the computer laptops battery.
I did sooner or later get the Chromebook to slow down and stutter a bit, however it essential playing Angry Birds and Cargo Bridge?simultaneously whilst streaming 3 YouTube videos and some Rdio music and obtaining two dozen tabs open within the background. laptop power adapter not specifically a "real-world" situation, and for something like typical use, you should not run into any problem at all. Flash under no circumstances crashed inside the browser, even on heavy sites like We Select the Moon??a Flash crashes continually in Chrome on my Mac, and it really is virtually strange how much improved it is actually in Chrome OS.