Looks over function and practicality. Here are my thoughts 18 months after buying one.
I was going to write a lengthy review of the second Chromebook I have owned, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 from the spring of 2021. But there’s no need. I intend to own it until support ends. And overall, I like it. But there are some things I don’t like, and that’s what this review will focus on. I don’t recommend this Chromebook. If you need a Chromebook you can take anywhere, has top specs, leading build quality, and has an ideal, business class keyboard, I recommend Chromebooks by Lenovo and HP. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 isn’t bad. But it really isn’t good on the road. It’s more like a Chrome desktop (Chromebox) with a great display, that you should keep at home, as I do.
Let’s start with what’s good.
The Galaxy Chromebook 2 has a fine processor, enough RAM for 99% of users, and a fantastic display. The base specs are outstanding. There’s a good Chromebook inside that red shell.
The processor is an Intel Core i3 10110u “Comet Lake.” The storage is a generous 128GB with a micro SD slot for up to another 128GB. It has 8GB of RAM as every laptop should have at the minimum these days.
The highlight of this device is the 16:9 QLED display. It’s a bright 13.3” touch panel with a resolution of 1920x1080. That’s perfect for me. It’s so good, I want Samsung to make an ultrawide desktop QLED monitor. It’s a fantastic low-cost alternative to a 4K OLED.
Also good is the color of the device. The metallic red is matched on the upper and lower halves of the clamshell, despite being different materials (aluminum and plastic, respectfully).
There’s a fan inside, but that’s a good thing, and it is quiet when it turns on.
At 2.7 LBS, it’s light.
And did I mention it looks great on any desk?
And now for what’s not so good.
The price when this was released was $699. I paid that, plus New York state and city sales tax in March 2021. Ouch. Now, I knew going in that once I had this chromebook in my hands, I had to own it until it is no longer supported. That will be the fall of 2028. So cost per year is low, in my case.
Still, it took a while for the price to come down. 18 months after launch, it finally became a good buy.
The keyboard is okay. It’s super low profile with what I think are butterfly switches, so it is very similar to the MacBook pro. That’s not what I prefer. For me, the gold standard in factory notebook keyboards is the Lenovo ThinkPad. I prefer keys with some travel and a springy feel.
The trackpad is not glass. At this price point, it really should be. It’s still good. It works fine. But as you can see in the photos, it has picked up a lot of gloss from my oily fingers. I must admit, once you have a glass trackpad, there’s really no going back, until the next best material is developed.
I should also mention, when one buys the Galaxy Chromebook 2, there is a giant sticker affixed to the left of the trackpad. The only way to remove it is with water and some Goo Gone. It’s awful that Samsung made consumers have to remove that giant sticker from such a great looking device. They should have just included the sticker info on a postcard. I forget what was on the sticker. Nothing important.
The aluminum hinges are fine, but they highlight something that bugs me: the upper and lower halves of the clamshell are different case materials with different weights. The display is wrapped in beautifully engineered red aluminum. The lower half of the device is the same red color, but in slightly flexible plastic. That doesn’t bother me when this device is connected to an external mechanical keyboard. In that mode, this Chromebook is essentially a second monitor or a docked Chromebox. But on my lap, it feels so unbalanced. The heavier, cold metal display half is held up over a warmer, lighter keyboard and motherboard half. In terms of feel, it doesn’t work when sitting in your lap. It feels like two different devices joined together. That makes it a desk machine only in my mind.
Which brings me to my next point. It’s such a desk machine, that I don’t take it outside. I don’t travel with it. It’s not good at what notebook computers are supposed to excel at - portability. This is my Chromebook for home use only. For many, many others, particularly students, this is a deal breaker. Students need a device that can travel well outside with some confidence. This just looks too nice to go outside. And the weight imbalance between the upper and lower halves of the clamshell is something I can’t ignore.
Samsung made sure the speakers of this Chromebook were mentioned in its press releases and marketing. I don’t know why. They are poor, and are under the keyboard. Users should plug in headphones or pair their Bluetooth headphones with this Chromebook. BYOH - bring your own headphones!
And finally (and worst of all) is the built-in camera. It is beyond awful. It shocks me that this device shipped with such a poor camera at $699 in 2021. It’s so bad, the only way I can do a video meeting with this device is to connect an HDMI to USB C capture card and run my Canon M50 in video mode (which by the way, is a fantastic setup that’s superior to any built-in camera by any notebook computer manufacturer). It’s not the resolution that’s bad, it’s the image quality. 720p resolution is fine for web meetings. But the image is cloudy and dark. It would have been a lot better if this Chromebook didn’t have a camera at all. BYOC - bring your own camera!
Here are some photos of the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 next to a Chromebook I highly recommend, the Lenovo Flex 5i.
So to summarize, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is a good choice if you can adhere / agree to a couple of key points. First, you have to own it to the end of life (July 2028) for maximum value for the dollar Second, you have to acknowledge that there are Chromebooks with the same specs for less (like the Lenovo Flex 5i). so if you get this, you are partially getting it for the great looks and the much better than average display.
Want to stick with Samsung? Then check out the newer Galaxy Chromebook 3, er the Galaxy Chromebook 2 360. It doesn’t have an backlit keyboard, but it has a USB A port the Galaxy Chromebook 2 doesn’t. And while the display isn’t quite as sharp, it has a more comfortable shape (it’s taller to show more lines of text). It also has a more comfortable keyboard and consistent plastic feel inside and out. It’s clearly marketed at high school and college students. It also has a slower Celeron processor, half the RAM and not much storage. And yet, I think it’s the better Chromebook overall. It should have been called the Galaxy Chromebook 3. But I suspect that Chromebook is coming two years from now.
