Laptops

Samsung announces Chromebook 2 with a new leather design

Samsung Chromebook 2Samsung has published a press release this morning revealing details about the Chromebook 2, the much anticipated update to the laptop series.

In the past, the Chromebook developed a bit of reputation for being an educational tool. Now they are pushing that idea harder than ever, with the Chromebook 2 catering  mostly to the K-12 sector.

“Chromebooks are particularly important in the education space – according to Futuresource, one in four devices now sold into K-12 schools in the U.S. are Chromebooks – so we’ve designed our latest models with students and teachers in mind, including features like rapid start times, longer battery life and an easy-to-grip design,” the press release said.

A big reason for the popularity of Chromebooks in an educational setting is the price. It costs about the same as a tablet, at $299. But it has the features of a laptop, albeit one focused more on browsing and internet related features/apps.

This newer model will be much the same.

Technical Specs

The HD screen has a 1920 x 1080 resolution, which is more than decent and follows along the specs of most Samsung products. But the screen size might be a turn off for some, at just over 13″. It is a very small computer, though on the plus side this makes it incredibly lightweight, portable, and it is also very slim. There is also a smaller version at 11″ that more or less qualifies as a tablet with a keyboard.

That impression grows the more you look at it. While the 4GB of RAM isn’t bad, it isn’t up to par with most computers. The rather paltry 16 GB of hard drive space is worthless, though it of course allows access to flash drives. It will run a Samsung Exynos 5 Octa, at only 1.9 Ghz…probably the most disappointing thing of all.

Ultimately, this Chromebook is going to be along the lines of their tablet rang, but somehow with less power and on board storage. That makes sense when considering its primary function is in education. They are making a device that won’t be good for multi-purpose use, a problem for teachers but a boon for parents who worry about their kids spending too much time using it as a recreation tool.

That being said, it will be perfect for things like Google Hangouts. Besides, who doesn’t know how to find a million distractions on the internet.

All in all, this Chromebook looks like a decent enough limited model. But it has more bark than bite.

Source: Samsung

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