It’s hard to believe that the Chromebook is
still with us. If you recall, Chromebooks were birthed in a tumultuous time for
the world. The country was in the midst of economic collapse and craptastic
net-books were the cheap hotness.
Today, netbooks are so worthless that some
companies have resorted to giving them away with the purchase of an Ultrabook.
Yet Google’s Chromebook science experiment is still kicking along. As they were
at inception. Chromebooks remain low-end hardware coupled with an OS built
almost entirety around the Chrome browser and are really best suited for those
who live the Google lifestyle. The latest iteration is the Samsung Chromebook
Model No. XE303C12. It’s actually the third Samsung Chromebook. We reviewed the
company’s first effort, the Chromebook Series 5 (September 20111, which sported
a dual-core 1.66GHz Atom N5770. and found it wanting. Though not entirely the
fault of the weak Atom chip, the Chrome OS was simply too limited in offline
functionality, and even many online functions didn’t quite work right when it
was connected.
It’s
hard to believe that the Chromebook is still with us. If you recall,
Chromebooks were birthed in a tumultuous time for the world.
Samsungs Latest Chromebook is markedly
different from the Series 5. The most noticeable change is the use of Samsung’s
own 1.7GHz Exynos 5 CPU. This SoC CPU is based on the Cortex A15 and is an out
of order design rather than the typical ARM design, which uses the slower but
power sipping in order execution. To see how this ARM chip stacks up, we
compared it to the Series 5 using the Atom N570 as well as the original Google
CR-48 concept Chromebook running an Atom N455. The winner? Surprise, x86’ The
Samsung ARM chip slaps around both Atom CPUs like the Hulk smashing bad guys.
Before ARM aficionados declare complete victory, we will note that we suspect
the pricier Celeron-based Chrome-book would eat the Exynos in one bite.
Celeron-based Chromebooks are hardly cheap, though. Of course, the real problem
is that discussing performance on a Chromebook is mostly academic you don’t
need much power to run a browser. Even the ancient single-core CR-48 is still
quite usable.
The
most noticeable change is the use of Samsung’s own 1.7GHz Exynos 5 CPU.
It’s more about the presentation and the
pricing. In presentation, Samsung does a relatively good job, though the easily
scratched plastic shell doesn’t exude quality. The new Chromebook is Ultrabook thin,
weighs 2.5 pounds, and its 11.6-inch screen sports 1366x768 resolution which is
slightly higher than the Series 5 Chromebook. The big break-through for the
Chromebook is its price. At $250, the Chromebook is almost a compelling mobile
device.
The
new Chromebook is Ultrabook thin, weighs 2.5 pounds, and its 11.6-inch screen
sports 1366x768 resolution which is slightly higher than the Series 5
Chromebook
We say almost because no matter what,
Chromebooks will always be Limited compared to a PC or even a tablet. While the
much lower price of the new Chromebook makes it pretty attractive, tablets and
even convertible PC’s have been moving in price, too. Now that a quad-core
tablet or a full blown Windows 8 tablet can be had for $200-$500, the
Chromebook is still only suited for those who can work around its (imitation of
requiring the Internet for full productivity.
