After months of rumours and a weekend of leaks Samsung has today finally announced the successor to the Samsung Chromebook, the most popular Chromebook so far.
The refresh is more than just an upgrade; it is a complete revamp of Samsung’s flagship Chrome offering.
As with the initial batch of ARM-based Samsung Chromebooks release in 2012, there’s a petite 11.6-inch model on offer. But following in the footsteps of Toshiba, a larger 13.3-inch model has been introduced, with a full HD 1920×1080 resolution — a spec bump sure to please many.
Eight Core Processors, Double The RAM of Rivals
As previously rumoured, both models include the Exynos 5 Octa processor, an eight-core ARM processor the Korean electronics company is using in its newly announced Galaxy S5 smartphone.
Of these, the smaller model is clocked at 1.9GHz, while its bigger brother rocks in at 2.1GHz. Both models include 4GB of RAM — double the capacity of popular current generation Chromebooks, like the HP Chromebook 11.
Other specs of the new laptop are pretty standard.
Both models include a 720p webcam, around 8 hours of battery life and 16GB of internal storage, something which can likely be expanded with free Google Drive storage that comes free with most Chromebooks. There’s also a microSD card slot, along with other standard ports like two USB ports (both USB 3.0 and 2.0, one of each), audio in and out ports, a charging port and a HDMI port for connecting an external monitor if you find yourself short of space on either of the laptops.
First Chromebook with Bloatware
Somewhat controversially, Samsung is the first Chromebook vendors to include what some commenters refer to as ‘bloatware’.
Three ‘premium apps’ come bundled with the devices which Samsung say are worth $100:
- Wunderlist – a collaborative to-do list
- AirDroid Premium – a tool for managing your Android phone over a Wi-Fi network;
- LittleBridge.com – a tool for learning the English language
Not having to uninstall software when you first boot your new computer has been something Chromebook owners have long enjoyed over traditional Windows laptops.
Another slightly controversial feature of the new Chromebook 2, which has already divided our commenters following the recent leak, is the stitched-effect leather-look backing of the laptop, the same as the one used on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
While on paper it sounds like a terrible idea, this grippy faux-leather material actually looks pretty sleek in pictures, especially when coupled with the curvy bottom of the laptop.
The Samsung Chromebook 2 is available in both both ‘Jet Black’ and ‘Classic White’ for the 11.6″ model and ‘Luminous Titan Grey’ for the 13.3″ model, in April 2014 for $319.99 and $399.99 respectively.
The full specs of the device can be found below.
- Source: Samsung PR