Beautiful. It is not often that the word is used to describe a piece of technology. But beautiful, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook is. Yes, the MacBook Air’s and Surface Laptop’s of the world get named dropped with the beautiful tag all the time. But this thing… this is on another level. And it all has to do with one word: Screen.
Yes. I will get this out in the open and up front. I have read the reports of poor battery life. I get it, the battery supposedly sucks. It’s a “deal breaker” for some. These people do not quite get it, as they are focused on one thing, one minute flaw. Please, do not let the battery haters deter you from this machine. Especially now as the SGC 2 is here. In it’s lesser form. These “last gen” remarkable pieces of technology will be available at a heavy discount to make way for the newer, more extended battery-life friendly devices. In fact, Samsung has dropped the OLED display and fingerprint reader from the second generation…A literal Nerf. Back to the elephant in the room, the battery. I have worked off and on with this machine as my daily driver for the last 3 months. I am currently at 28% battery life remaining which equates to 2:13 left. By my calculation, that gives about a 7-8 hour battery life. I currently have the screen brightness at 40% and the keyboard back light constantly on as, for some reason, the choice of sliver key’s and an off white key identifier make the keys themselves virtually impossible to see in a well lit room. Yes, it is one of the flaws of the machine. But again, I don’t care.
I was a big fan of the 12 inch Macbook when it came out. Despite not being the most powerful in the Mac arsenal, it was an awesome piece of media consumption. Maybe that is why I love this device. The Mac book 12″ was a fan-less machine, using the M series Intel processors. I had the M3 version and loved it. That is, until the keyboard did the whole butterfly-switch thing. But the size and portability of the device, coupled with whatever OS Apple had code named at the time, made for a reasonably smooth experience. I am not a power user by any means, so it did everything I needed it to do. When I stare at the Galaxy Chromebook, I see an evolution of that device. Especially since Chrome is, in my opinion, what OSX used to be. It is simple, refined, and smooth. Seriously, Chrome runs better on this device than any other laptop/desktop I have used in the last 20 years.
And Chrome itself really does so much. Again, I am not a power user, but I can write, print, edit photo’s, work on this web site, edit videos, listen to music, watch Netflix, and so much more. All at a speed I have never encountered on a device costing me $499 before. (Full disclosure: This was purchased as an Open-Box “Satisfactory” condition laptop from Best Buy.) This is directly the result of pairing the Chrome OS with a 10th generation i5, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 256 GB NVME SSD. Blazing fast. In addition to the speed, the hardware is top notch as well. The keyboard feels quality and the track pad has an excellent clicky feel to it. Honestly, the user experience is second to none. And let me say one additional thing about this screen- This will be the best Stardew Valley looks on any laptop. No contest. Farming in my digital world was invigorated with color and contrast that added to the immersive experience. The screen is the benefit that far outweighs the cost. It makes me look past the flaws and see this device for what it is: A diamond in the rough. A rare one-off that, despite it’s flaws (battery life, 4K resolution (if used) makes text almost too small at 100%, keys that are very difficult to see in a bright room, and sub par webcam) may not be repeated in a while. It reminds me of another piece of technology from years ago…
There was a Dell android tablet that came out back in 2015, The Venue 8 7840. It had a beautiful OLED screen. Seriously…it had a better screen than any IPad years after it came out. It still has a better screen than some IPad’s. It, sadly, was quickly forgotten about. And Dell never made a replacement. Those of us that used it knew what it was, and how good the screen was. In fact, as I continue to look at the piece of hardware in front of me, it almost looks like the 2020 Galaxy Chromebook is the beautiful offspring of the Dell Venue and the Macbook 12. The SGC keeps the form factor of the 12, with the all metal design, the low key stroke’s, big trackpad, and solid overall feel, and combines that with with the hard edges and the screen of the Dell 7840. Seriously, it it such a “different” Chromebook. It screams luxury.
Now, in all seriousness, I have not tried every Chromebook on the market. Nor have I tried every laptop. But, I have gone through my fair share of varied experiences over the last 25+ years by making my way through the technology world. And I can recognize a keeper when I see it. This is a keeper. I had ordered this Chromebook and the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 at the exact same time. I received this first and had a few days to play around with it before the Spin 713 arrived. This is going to sound superficial, but I didn’t even turn the Spin on. I took one look at it, and stuck it back in the box. No way was it anywhere near the quality of the SGC. Sorry, but that is just the way it is.
The side firing speakers sound good when I am watching Netflix, and the 4K video from YouTube looks phenomenal on this screen. One thing I have not yet tried is serious gaming on this device (outside of what is mentioned above.) I have an IPad Mini 5, Switch, and a Series X for that. This thing is for productivity. And produce it does. It excites me to get to write on it. I want to do work…or at least something creative.
But as I stated before, there are some downsides. With the good comes the bad. After using it more and more, I do think that it is quite difficult to see the keys with this silver/grey model. A poor choice in hardware design. The key back lighting needs to be on…always, and on the higher end of the setting. I believe the keys would be easier to see if I had the Fiesta Red version. That seems to be the one most people go gaga over. I’m a plain kind of guy though. I just added a bunch of stickers to the back of mine. Now it has color and a personality. Battery life has not been the greatest, but I keep my charger on me so that negates the battery life issue. I am able to use an external mic, and I do my podcast with the machine. Seamless and easy. Sounds great as well. The webcam does leave a lot to be desired however, especially with minimal lighting. It is very hard to see my face when talking with the co-host. Like I’m intentionally trying to be brooding. Sorry bro, it’s just the camera.
I also have noticed something a little strange. 1/4 times that I close the lid to put this in a sleep/hibernation state, upon resuming, I get a “Chrome was unexpectedly shut down” error and it asks me if I want to resume. I lose all my tabs. I think what may be happening is the screen protector I threw on just gives enough space between the magnets, to cause the device to turn on multiple times when I am walking around with it in my backpack. Or it is one of my extensions. Again, it’s just a minor complaint as I normally do not keep many tabs open at once. I’m not that kind of guy. I don’t even know if I have ever had more than 10 tabs open in Chrome.
The device comes with an S-Pen. Similar to the Galaxy Note series smart phones. I honestly haven’t used it but I have used the touch screen. Meaning, I could see myself using this in the future, if I need to edit photo’s for this review or something. It is a nice feature to have, if the need arises. Same goes for the Micro SD slot. With 256 GB of NVME storage, I am not certain I will need the extra storage, but it is nice to have it just in case. There is another camera on the upper left side of the keyboard deck, which can be used when in tablet/stand mode, but I have not felt the need to try it out. It is there if and when I need it. A USB-C on each side of the device helps charge, and powers anything you stick into it. It even has a headphone jack. Which I have used for the podcast, and listening to music. Next to the USB-C on the left hand size is a volume rocker that clicks and let’s you know when it is depressed. Which is a state I do not find myself in when using this device.
Chromebooks are for productivity and school. This device is for life. I am in the market for a new amplifier for my audio setup and one of the things I have always found is that, in the world of electronics, the user can feel quality. Weight and heft usually means well-built, solid, and polish. This is a well designed machine that competes directly with the XPS-13 and M1 Macbook Air. It feel like this Samsung product is a Lexus or a Acura, or, I guess, a Hyundai Genesis. It is not without it’s quirks, and faults, but nothing is perfect. There is no silver bullet.
If you can find this like I did, for a good price. Jump on it. This is my daily driver. I have a desktop PC at home and my I Pad for toilet surfing/Hearthstone. But when I need to write, send an email, pay bills, or enjoy the chrome OS experience, this is my pride and joy. And I would not trade it for the world.
