As more and more Chromebooks are now available in Canada, I decided to pick up the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook for $269.99 plus tax and environmental fee.
As you open the box, you will find the Chromebook, a quick start manual and a power cable. The power brick for this is quite small and compact and is rated for 100-240V, so all you need to bring is a plug adapter. The processor is an Exynos 5250 1.7 GHz 1MB L2 cache and is quite snappy for every day chores. The 11.6″ LED screen has a 1366X768 resolution and has 200 nits of luminance. Its great for indoor use, but has the tendency of being washed out if used outside.
The SD Card reader takes SD/SDHC/SDXC and has a nice flap to keep dust out, which I find to be a nice touch. The Chromebook has one USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and a HDMI plug all in the back alongside the power plug as well. I think that the placement is good for the HDMI and power input, but the USB slots should be put on the sides if possible as it’s a bit clumsy plugging and unplugging devices to the Chromebook.
Two finger gestures are available for the spacious trackpad and though there is no physical right click function, it is replaced by a two finger tap on the trackpad. Scrolling can also be done by swiping two fingers along the trackpad. Unfortunately, the three finger swipe that is common on newer Macs will not display the Chromebook’s desktop.
Boot up times are quite fast, as I am able to log in and start browsing the internet in all under ten seconds. Shutdown is equally as fast as it takes a mere second to shut down. One can also set their own user icon and desktop background if one chooses to do so.
The webcam on the device is mediocre at best as harsh or low lighting does not work overly well for it. Weighing in at 2.42 lbs or 1.1 kg, it’s very portable for those who will use this as a travelling device and will mainly be checking emails and social media sites. It will be able to take care of basic word processing and such for those who are thinking of using this as a workhorse for typing up documents. And don’t worry about the battery life, though it’s rated for 6.5 hours, when I have used it for web browsing, it has easily achieved that and with juice to spare!
Overall my first impressions are that it’s a great word processing and travelling device with an amazing battery life and light weight to boot too! Though I haven’t had enough time for a full review, I will be writing one in the next few weeks if time and internet permits!
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