News - Samsung Series 5 Chromebook

[HEXUS]

Samsung Chrome OS-based notebook arrives tomorrow.

Read more.

[Brewster0101]

In the UK this thing is pretty much pointless unless you are either connected to wifi all the time or you have a sim from three with unlimited data. Any other operator with there choking data usage rates would be pointless with this.

Not sure cloud really has a future within the home market.

[Sim0n]

I was under the impression that the 3G model comes with a Three 3G sim in it. But limited to 100Mb/month or something like that.

[Phage]

Well at £350 -£400 I can't see the strategy. Seems way over priced.

[Biscuit]

not entirely sure why this is so expensive :/

with such low specs it seems crazy to charge that much. I thought chrome OS was going to be free aswell?

[Betty_Swallocks]

Um let me see. A notebook at a premium price with less performance than a basic model and that you have to have constantly connected to the internet. Can't see the attraction personally.

[Phage]

The same manufacturer has the R540 at this price point.
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Samsu...0_1055339.html
It's not a flattering comparison for the Chrome Book.

[scaryjim]

I can see one attraction...

At 1.49kg and measuring 0.79mm thick

credit-card thickness computing

I was under the impression that the 3G model comes with a Three 3G sim in it. But limited to 100Mb/month or something like that.

The listings at both Amazon and Dixons confirm this, although they don't say much about the data allowance.

Looking at the specs, as well as being 12.1" (so bigger than your average netbook ) it's got an Atom N570 (dual core, 1.66GHz) and 2GB of DDR3, so the specs are pretty high for a netbook. And besides, I'm not convinced consumer netbooks are the *real* target for Chrome OS - I see it making more sense in businesses that have decided to go for Google Apps rather than MS Office.

Given the relatively high specs of this model, I assume we'll see some entry-level chromebooks with single core Atom and 1GB RAM coming in at the same or lower price as existing Windows netbooks, and potentially we'll also see some with Atom z-series that will have much longer battery life...?

[crossy]

I was under the impression that the 3G model comes with a Three 3G sim in it. But limited to 100Mb/month or something like that.

Better than nothing, but 100MB/month seems pretty poverty-stricken for a device that needs a data connection, unless that's for emergencies only and the intended use is via WiFi?

Well at £350 -£400 I can't see the strategy. Seems way over priced.

Over-priced and over-spec'd too. Looking at the spec and I figure that I could easily slap on a copy of MeeGo or similar with LibreOffice etc and have a pretty nice looking netbook that doesn't need data access all the time. Like Phage says, at this price, why the heck would I want to limit myself to a cloud OS.

As they say across at The Register - FAIL!

[3dcandy]

the whole point is the OS. 15 seconds to boot from cold, much less if on standby, all your data stored in the cloud so you can access it anywhere and on multiple devices...

[Phage]

Wow - I missed the 0.79mm thickness !
Hmmmm....at a rough guess that means the Chromebook has a volume of 4cm3 for a density of 350g per cm3.
Impressive, Uranium is 19g per cm3, I think.

[scaryjim]

or it could be a typo




Actually, I quite fancy buying one to slap some other flavour of x86 OS on: a dual core Atom and 2GB of RAM is reasonable for a productivity machine, and I'm pretty sure you could fit a reasonable productivity-oriented flavour of Linux on a 16GB SSD without too much difficulty*: then just use USB or SD storage for apps & documents... Plus a 19.9mm (that's 0.78inches, Hexus...) 12" chassis hits a lot of the right notes for business users...

Actually, I wonder if Samsung will be tempted to release a Windows netbook based on the same chassis and spec, with perhaps a slightly bigger SSD...?

*EDIT: or just replace it with another mini-pcie SSD of larger capacity... ifixit's tear down suggests that'd be a pretty trivial task...

[abaxas]

the whole point is the OS. 15 seconds to boot from cold, much less if on standby, all your data stored in the cloud so you can access it anywhere and on multiple devices...

If you are using 3g, it will not work between 22:00 31st Dec -> 04:00 1st Jan.

Nothing works during those times.

[scaryjim]

If you are using 3g, it will not work between 22:00 31st Dec -> 04:00 1st Jan.

If you're worried about being able to use your chromebook between those times, you have bigger problems than a lack of 3G connectivity, frankly...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Samsung should rename it FAILbook.

Among its notable features:
1.)Expensive
2.)Expensive
3.)Slow hardware for a netbook of this price(I know it has an SSD). Rubbish IGP too. A tarted up Atom netbook is not worth even £250 if it does not have an Ion graphics card. With Zacate the Atom based netbooks should be consigned to the bargain basement.
4.)Needs internet connection to function. Most connections are bandwidth limited.
5.)At least it is thin but considering it uses a basic Atom processor then this is not that surprising.

If you want a thin netbook using an Atom processor this MacBook Air knock-off is better and cheaper IMHO:

http://micgadget.com/1649/macbook-ai...-and-hands-on/

[Phage]

@scaryjim

Of course, but think of the bragging rights at CERN. Searching for new forms of matter ? Check this out !