Samsung Series 5 Chromebook Review

Samsung Series 5 Chromebook Review

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You watch all your TV through Netflix. Check your email through the Web. Pump out those pesky TPS reports in Google Docs. So why do you need anything but a browser, again?

Google says you don’t. The company’s custom-built Chrome OS sheds the pleasantries of Word, Photoshop and yes, even Solitaire in favor of just a browser. But with Internet service less than ubiquitous and many cloud-based services less than reliable, is a world ready for a machine that’s truly nothing but ‘net?

Limited capabilities aside, Chrome OS delivers on one pivotal promise of riding on a lightweight Gentoo Linux build: It boots lightning fast. Even with the same hardware as a netbook, our Series 5 Chromebook with battery such as Samsung AA-PBYN4AB Battery, Samsung AA-PLWN4AB Battery, Samsung BA43-00336A Battery, Samsung 530U3B Battery, Samsung 532U3X Battery, Samsung 540U3C Battery, Samsung NP530U3C Battery, Samsung NP532U3C Battery, Samsung NP535U3C Battery, Samsung NT530U3C Battery, Samsung NT535U3C Battery, Samsung 535U3X Battery went from cold to ready-to-surf in a little over 10 seconds, and booting up from sleep was instant: As soon as the lid is up, it’s ready to roll.

Despite the limited capabilities of an Atom processor, Web surfing isn’t able to present much of a problem. Your day-to-day page visits won’t seem any slower on a Chromebook than they will on a $2,000 notebook. That said, we did manage to bump into the limits of its capabilities in video playback: Even 480p video files sometimes refused to load or stuttered during playback, and anything hi-def (even 720p) played back too slowly to be acceptable. The same was true for HD footage captured from a Kodak Zi8 and transferred via USB, then played locally.

As with boot speeds, the Series 5 delivers on Google’s promise of better battery life by hitting a legitimate 8.5 hours of computing. Even with Wi-Fi on and brightness up, our Chromebook had no issues running for the entire workday on a single charge, which is an impressive feat for a notebook in this size range.

The Series 5 only has one tiny speaker embedded in each side, each with just three tiny slits for sound, but it manages sound far above what we would expect for a notebook this size. Sitting with it the wrong way can tend to muffle sound, but it holds its own on hard surfaces, delivering plenty of volume for TV shows and dialogue-driven movies, even if (like all laptop speakers) it’s too tinny for most music.

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.