Skip to main content

Samsung announces portable, durable Chromebook 3

Samsung Chromebook 3
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.

Related Videos

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.

Editors' Recommendations

Steam enters beta on Chromebooks, tripling number of supported devices
Chrome OS Chromebook Gaming Android Gaming

After a long incubation period, Valve's Steam gaming platform is now available on the beta channel of version 108 of ChromeOS, bringing along improved user experience, broader availability, and greater compatibility with popular gaming titles.

Gaming publisher Valve had, at the beginning of this year, been collaborating with the ChromeOS gaming team in releasing Steam in the alpha channel of ChromeOS. Graduating to the more stable and reliable beta channel means more users can try Steam out for themselves.

Read more
Editing video on Chromebooks just got a lot easier
Light and dark theme shown in ChromeOS.

Later this summer, Google Photos will be gaining new video editing features on Chromebooks, helping address one of the weaknesses of ChromeOS when compared to Windows and MacOS. Also coming are tweaks to the light and dark themes, new editing features in the gallery app, and new calendar integration and notification improvements in ChromeOS.

The new feature in Google Photos is expected to work natively within the app, and all within a few taps for making quick videos.

Read more
How ChromeOS Flex turns old PCs into Chromebooks for free
Chrome OS Flex on a ASUS laptop.

If you have an older MacBook or Windows system somewhere around your house, there's a chance you might that the device might be "too slow" or isn't getting security or major operating system updates anymore.

Microsoft's fading out of older Windows versions, strict requirements for Windows 11, and Apple's allowing newer MacOS versions to run on select Macs might have your computer in the dust. Even in the enterprise space, it is very expensive to replace older devices.

Read more