Samsung Chromebook XE303C12-A01US Pro Reviews

I understand that there are other options for browsing the internet, on a more powerful hardware for a few dollars more, and can do much more that the Chromebook, but do not underestimate the “it just works” factor. Less is more with the Chromebook. Less (no) troubleshooting, less (no) maintenance, less configuration, one centralized seamless update process, less (no) worries about backups, settings, applications not working for one or another reason. On the other side of the spectrum, more computing, more streaming, and browsing. For those reasons, there is a demographic out there that would find this device attractive, performance and price wise. I believe the future is promising for the Chrome OS, for few reasons. Google has a track record with the Android OS. It has the resources to make is successful. Ideas are great but what brings a concept to the top is the execution. And finally, it has just added two new partners, other than Acer and Samsung, to manufacture more Chromebook devices, the Lenevo Thinkpad X131e from Lenovo and HP with its Pavilion 14. That shows the Chrome OS experiment is attracting big names from the personal computing industry.

Ultimately the Chromebook puts pressure on the traditional PC notebook ecosystem from below. Tablets have been doing that for a while but they are a physically different form factor. For those who still want a traditional notebook form factor, there hasn't been much low-cost competition. The Chromebook applies a good amount of pressure there. Compared to a $1000 notebook, the Chromebook's display isn't great but move down into the $500 - $700 range and it doesn't look all that bad thanks to many PC makers failing to invest in good quality panels. If a $249 Chromebook delivers a competitive keyboard, trackpad, display resolution and quality experience to your $499 PC notebook, it's time for a change. With Apple pushing at the top and Google working the bottom, the hope is that the entire PC notebook stack gets better.

Traditionally, we'd have said that a Chromebook isn't good enough to be your primary computer, and in too crowded a market with smartphones and even tablets, to consider as a second computer. Things change, though. It's not the technologies that change – broadband speeds and processor power haven't changed all that much since the Chromebook was announced late in 2010 – but what is beginning to change are our habits and priorities. Where five years ago lots of people would have preferred desktop email clients to webmail, for example, these days millions of us access Gmail in browsers without giving it a second thought. With that in mind, we think we might just be at a tipping point for the Chromebook concept. This latest model is good, and for lots of people would be perfectly sufficient as a primary computer. It's a great cheap machine for students (so long as your campus has Wi-Fi), and not in a patronising way; younger folks are more likely to be happy using web apps rather than traditional programs anyway. And actually, it could be a useful second machine, especially if your primary computer is a desktop tower or all-in-one, or even just a bulky, heavy laptop. It's a good chuck-it-in-a-bag-and-head-to-Starbucks-to-get-some-work-done machine.

The Samsung Chromebook Series 3 (XE303C12) laptop delivers what we wanted from Google all along—a cheap, portable way to get online, with nothing getting in the way.

Samsung’s Chromebook XE303 is one of the cheapest laptops you can buy. But it’s an incredibly capable little machine for a $249 laptop. It’s thin, it’s light, and it feels very fast — even if it doesn’t actually have as much raw processing power as many laptops on the market. If you need to run desktop apps such as iTunes, QuickBooks, or Photoshop, the Chromebook might be a compliment to your primary computer, not a replacement for it. But if you’re happy with Google Music, QuickBooks Online (or FreshBooks), and Aviary, you really might be able to replace a traditional PC with this Chromebook. While there are some advantages to running Chrome OS (quick boot speeds, synchronizing data between devices), the high price of early hardware made it hard to recommend a Chromebook. Why spend $450 for a Chromebook when you could just buy a decent Windows laptop and install the Chrome web browser? At $249, the new Samsung Chromebook offers a much better value proposition. It’s priced like an Android tablet rather than a Windows laptop… and while it doesn’t run Android apps there are plenty of games and web apps that you can run in a browser. The large screen and full-sized keyboard and ports also make the Samsung Chromebook feel more powerful than a tablet, since you can use it for long-form writing. In fact, this entire review was written on the Chromebook.

Given its $249 price, excellent keyboard, attractive design, and light weight, it’s hard not to recommend the new ARM Chromebook—for users going into the purchase with their eyes open. The latter is a key point: It’s not for everyone, due to the still undercooked Chrome OS, which brings some frustrations and limitations. But Google is hard at work quickly improving Chrome, so if you read this review months after it gets posted, the situation may well be better on that front.Our other quibbles—the lackluster battery life and the placement of the ports on the rear—are relatively minor ones considering the asking price. If you do most of your work in a browser and are looking for a low-cost device with a good keyboard, the ARM-based Chromebook is an excellent bargain, given that alternatives like Microsoft’s Surface tablet or Apple’s iPad with a keyboard case cost hundreds more. Just know that you’re buying into an ecosystem that’s far less mature than Apple’s iOS (if not Microsoft’s brand-new Windows RT). So you should expect some bumps along the road for the money you’re saving and the hardware’s excellent ergonomics.