Samsung has announced the Chromebook 3, the latest entry in its popular line of highly portable laptops that use Google’s Chrome OS. Its predecessor was highly praised when it launched in 2014, and the follow-up seems poised to build on the same areas that made that release such a success.
It’s clear that Samsung’s designers considered portability and ease of use to be top priorities when putting together the Chromebook 3. At just over 2.5 pounds, it’s light enough to be carried around in a shoulder bag when you’re on the move — but its reinforced metal body ensures that it’s no fragile bit of kit.
Our review of the Chromebook 2 noted that its comfortable input methods were a major selling point, and that looks set to be improved upon even further by its successor. UL-certified keycaps on its ergonomic keyboard have now been implemented to ensure that long periods of typing are as pleasant as possible for the user.
Under the hood, an Intel Celeron N3050 CPU is paired with an Intel HD Graphics GPU and the user’s choice of either 2GB or 4GB of RAM. A 16GB eMMC hard drive provides a cost-effective way of getting a decent amount of storage space on board.
Meanwhile, an 11.6-inch HD display with a 1,366 x 768 resolution will offer all the visual fidelity you might need from an inexpensive working computer. Samsung is also claiming that the device’s ‘all-day’ battery will be able to last for up to eleven hours on a single charge, depending on what sort of activities are being performed.
The price point of the Chromebook 3 will likely be the sole deciding factor of whether or not it will find an audience — and, at least for the moment, Samsung remains tight-lipped about just how much the laptop will cost. With the company claiming an early 2016 release date for the system, we’re likely to hear more details in the coming weeks.
