Samsung Chromebook 3G Pro Reviews

The Samsung Series 5 ChromeBook offers some exciting advantages for a $499 laptop. For starters, you get contract-free access to the Verizon 3G wireless network and 8+ hours of battery life. Add to that a nice 12-inch matte display that is very easy to read outside under bright sunlight. You also get the very promising Google Chrome operating system that uses cloud-based storage so your important files aren't lost if you lose your laptop. This also makes it easy to replace your laptop and quickly get back to work. Despite these advantages, we cannot in good conscience recommend the Samsung Series 5 ChromeBook for the majority to laptop users. For starters, the lack of abundant built-in storage for apps and files means that you MUST rely on cloud storage for all but the most basic tasks. That's fine if you're somewhere with WiFi or Verizon 3G access, but if you're in a 3G dead zone or if you're on an airline that doesn't offer in-flight Wi-Fi then your fancy ChromeBook is effectively nothing more than a paperweight. Yes, you can download a few apps for offline use, but most still require access to the internet for full functionality. The biggest problem with the ChromeBook is the same problem faced by Google's Chrome operating system. When you show it to most people their immediate response is, "So ... it's just a web browser?" And that first impression is pretty accurate at the time of this writing. I have little doubt that consumers will embrace the Google Chrome operating system as more apps become available and our wireless infrastructure improves to the point that you ALWAYS have wireless access. Unfortunately, at present there is little reason for most people to buy a ChromeBook when you can buy a better Windows-based laptop for the same price and purchase contract-free 3G or 4G access separately.

A good-quality laptop but the stripped-down operating system was frustrating, and it's useless without a net connection.

Samsung has kept up its side of the bargain here creating a well-built laptop for the price. Yes the screen has masses amounts of flex in it, but the keyboard is nice to use and the innards powerful enough for the task at hand. If you’re really only needing a laptop for surfing the web or playing basic games this will offer you what you are looking for, however so will a tablet like the iPad, and so will a netbook that comes with Chrome (browser) and a desktop full of programmes to do other things. If the Samsung Series 5 was selling for £100 this would be a no-brainer.

The Series 5 is a fantastic first outing for Chrome OS, but the web-based operating system isn’t ideal for home users when they can buy a Windows-based netbook for less.

Whoever wants to use the Chromebook for office tasks, which will need to be done in Google Docs with numerous extensions, should above all think twice here. For younger users, it should be easy getting used to this netbook. It's precisely these price-sensitive customers that opt predominantly for Windows netbooks, which can be had starting at 215 €.

We come back to the question central to the start of this review: how do you use your computer? If you wish solely to consume online content then the beautiful design of the Samsung Chromebook arguably lets you do this with more grace than a tablet or netbook and it has superb battery life. For technophobes it also offers a get up and go solution that is unsurpassed in its simplicity. The problem is theory does not live up to reality. Even more portable devices like smartphones and tablets use a mix of offline and online functionality to create far more powerful and flexible solutions making Chrome feel unnecessarily limited. Meanwhile the price of Samsung’s Chromebook pushes it towards budget laptop prices at which point you might as well buy one of those, install the Chrome browser on it to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Ultimately, this whole experiment feels like it's just a couple years ahead of its time. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, a day may come when Web applications have the power and sophistication necessary to replace most of what you do on a computer. Together with even more powerful, affordable, and energy-efficient processors, cheaper flash memory, and a handful of major revisions to the Chrome OS, a computer built to run a Web browser and little else might make sense. Until then, you can find plenty of Windows-based laptops in the $430-to-$500 range that may not have the sleek look of a Series 5 Chromebook, and may not boot up as quickly, but offer such vastly superior functionality that I can't imagine recommending a Chromebook instead. For now, laptops based on Chrome OS feel like a novelty for tech enthusiasts. Even Android 3.0 tablets feel more powerful, flexible, and useful.

An exciting new way to work, but its reliance on online applications and infrastructure is currently too limiting.

With a few choice upgrades and a lower price, Chromebooks could be a hit. But at the moment, on the evidence of the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook, they still have a way to go.

Is the world ready for a computer that relies entirely on the Internet for every function? We approached the first Chromebook full of optimism, but the answer is a definitive “no.” Samsung’s Series 5 comes with the price tag, weight and occasional unreliability of a true PC, but none of the power or flexibility. Even cloud pioneers who would gladly spend all day in Chrome on a Windows or Mac notebook will find Chrome OS’ lack of offline support dumbfounding and the notebook’s flaky Wi-Fi infuriating. Unless Google can vastly improve Chrome OS’ utility by adding more offline functionality and vendors can cheapen up their Chromebooks, Google’s cloud experiment remains a pipe dream.

Despite solid hardware, great battery life, and fast start-up, we can't recommend the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 until and unless Google improves the Chrome OS.

With the Samsung Chromebook Series 5, the company's first Chromebook, you're paying more for a netbook that runs an unpolished OS than one that has Windows 7.

At best, the Series 5 makes an interesting companion to your primary computer. It could be the machine that you take with you to the coffee shop when you don’t want to lug a full sized notebook. It might even be feasible to use a Chromebook like the Series 5 as your only laptop if your primary machine is a desktop computer. But for $430 and up, I’d expect a user experience that’s undeniably better than what you get from a $300 netbook and unfortunately that’s not something this laptop offers.

The Chrome OS–based Series 5 has a super-quick boot time and long battery life, but only those willing to live exclusively in the cloud should even consider it.

Does the world need a computer with a web-only OS? Google seems to think so, and, in a connected world, the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook would seem to be the answer. It's an attractive and highly portable notebook that gives you near-instant access to the Internet.

I'm not convinced that everyone will want, or even need, a Chromebook. But what I saw so far looks to have promise. And with pricing for Samsung's models starting at £349 for the Wi-Fi version, and £399 for the 3G version, the Chromebook looks set to give standard netbooks and ultralight laptops some new competition.