Samsung Chromebook Pro review – CNET

If you’re looking for a solid all-around laptop for roughly $500, the new Samsung Chromebook Pro should at or near the very top of your candidate list. Sure, there are plenty of Windows laptops and tablets in that price range (or lower), but none that I can think of offer this combination of a decent design, mostly metal construction, lag-free performance, long battery life, better-than-HD touchscreen, built-in stylus and a hybrid hinge that transforms the system into a tablet.

Despite the hybrid design, this is still a laptop first and a tablet second. For the opposite approach, an iPad plus a snap-on keyboard would cost about as much.

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I know what you’re thinking: “But wait: Chromebooks use Google’s weird browser-only operating system. They won’t run any of my must-have software, and they’re useless when you’re off Wi-Fi.” And you’d be right about some or all of that — if it wasn’t 2017.

Yes, Chrome OS — while significantly evolved over the past few years — is still essentially the Chrome web browser with a laptop wrapped around it. But, Samsung and Google are using this new model, and its sister system, the Chromebook Plus, to showcase an important new Chrome OS feature coming to all new 2017 Chromebooks, as well as a handful of older models. These new systems are compatible with the Google Play Android app store, allowing you to download, install and run millions of Android apps, much as they would on any Android phone or tablet (with a few exceptions).

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It’s a twist that changes the entire nature of Chromebooks for a huge swath of people, giving the platform access to a universe of software, from games to office tools to social media apps. In practice, it’s not as universally useful as it looks on paper, but it’s also incredibly satisfying in surprising ways.

That, plus the touchscreen, hybrid and stylus features and decent performance and battery life are why the Chromebook Pro feels like a very smart buy at $549, which is admittedly on the high end for a Chromebook. There’s no official UK or Australian pricing yet, but that works out to roughly £440 or AU$720.

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The Pro is coming in the next few months, but a less expensive version, called the Chromebook Plus, is shipping in mid-February. It costs $449 (about £360 or AU$590) and the main difference between the two systems is that the Pro has an Intel Core m3 processor, while the Plus has a non-Intel ARM processor. (That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but we won’t have head-to-head benchmarks until we get our hands on the Plus.)

Both have 2,400×1,600-pixel touchscreens, dual USB-C ports, 32GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot. And both have a keyboard by default — something you have to pay extra for with iPads or Surface Pro tablets.

Return of the not-so-widescreen

The metal body isn’t going to make anyone think this is a MacBook, but it still feels sturdier than the plastic laptops that usually cost just as much. The system, while very slim, has an oddly squared-off look to it, because the 2,400×1,600 display has a 3:2 aspect ratio, while most laptops have a wider, shorter 16:9 screen (the same as an HDTV).

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That feels a bit like a throwback to older laptops of the prewidescreen era, but it also gives you more screen real estate for some things like books or presentations, and feels more like a drawing tablet when using the included stylus. (It’s worth noting that Microsoft has standardized its Surface line on the same aspect ratio, while Apple has stuck with the even more squared-off 4:3 ratio for iPads.) The downside is that HD video content gets bigger black bars across the top and bottom of the screen.

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There’s a passive stylus included, which tucks into a slot on the right edge — both big pluses. When pulled out from its home, the system presents a quick pop-up menu, offering to let you grab a section of the display for a screenshot or launch Google Keep to draw or take a note.

Other stylus-friendly apps, such as ArtCanvas and Autodesk Sketchbook, offer more fine-tuned drawing options, and it feels a lot like drawing on the Microsoft Surface (where we’ve used the Windows version of Sketchbook).

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Typing was acceptable, but not a real selling point, with smallish keys and especially tiny backspace and tab keys that threw off my rhythm. The touchpad was similarly just OK, and one of the more budget-feeling aspects of the system. Two-finger scrolling worked fine, but to tap-and-drag as one would on a Windows laptop, you have to find a semihidden checkbox to enable this feature. To find the checkbox (which took me a long time), launch the settings menu, search for “accessibility” and you’ll see it.

Finally, the accelerometer that flips the screen between portrait and landscape modes feels poorly tuned. It’s too sensitive to the slightest movement, especially when you have the system folded into its tablet mode, leading to some jarring visuals as the screen shifts orientation back and forth rapidly.

Get (almost) every Android app on the Samsung Chromebook Pro

Diving into the Play Store opens up a world of possibilities. It’s almost too much to take in right away. As with most app ecosystems, curation is an issue, but some of the low-hanging fruit is very appealing.

It’s now easy to get the full Instagram experience on a laptop, including the ability to take and post photos. Other apps just didn’t work right on a nonphone device. For example, Snapchat downloaded, installed and launched fine, but I could never get past the login screen. Uber got me past the login screen, but I was unable to enter any location or destination info, rendering it useless. Big Android games, including Pokemon Go and Fire Emblem Heroes, gave me a noncompatible device error message.

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There were plenty of games that did work — Google specifically recommended I try Asphalt 8, a car racing game that works with the system’s built-in accelerometer and a hack-and-slash RPG called Sacred. Both worked fine, although the racing game was a little choppy at times. You’re just not going to get the kind of deep, involved gameplay you get from PC games, or access to major game stores like Steam.