It’s true that Chrome OS runs acceptably on more modest hardware than Windows 10 or 11 does. But the happiest trend we’ve seen in Chromebooks in recent years has been the surge in models with processors more powerful than an Intel Celeron, memory more than the bare minimum of 4GB, and solid-state drives more generous and capable than a humble 64GB of eMMC flash storage. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is not part of that trend—it hopes you won’t notice any of the above, but that you will notice its eye-catching Fiesta Red hue and high-quality QLED display. Those are great features, but it’s up to you whether to pay $549 for a Chromebook that is otherwise equipped like one that costs half as much.
That’s ‘QLED,’ Mind You, Not ‘OLED’
The Galaxy Chromebook 2 is a more affordable successor to the Galaxy Chromebook Samsung launched early in 2020—a $999 convertible with a dazzling AMOLED screen with 4K resolution. This model’s touch screen is the same size (13.3 inches), but it settles for full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) resolution.
(Photo: Molly Flores)
And instead of the OLED technology increasingly seen in high-end laptops, its QLED design is an enhancement of a conventional LCD. It has an LED backlight, so black pixels still have a little light behind them instead of being completely turned off, but QLED tech puts a quantum dot filter over the backlight to improve contrast and make colors more vivid.
It’s a successful compromise, but you may not be as happy with the Galaxy 2’s other compromises. Instead of its predecessor’s Core i5, it has a dual-core Celeron 5205U processor. It’s heavier—2.71 versus 2.3 pounds—and it doesn’t come with an S-Pen stylus as the first Galaxy Chromebook did. To be fair, the new Samsung is trimmer than another recently reviewed, like-size 13.3-inch convertible, the 2.97-pound Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 Chromebook; it measures 0.55 by 12 by 8 inches to the Lenovo’s 0.67 by 12.2 by 8.4.
(Photo: Molly Flores)
Our test unit is a $549 Best Buy configuration. The retailer also sells a model with a 10th Generation Intel Core i3 CPU and double the memory (8GB) and storage (128GB, though it’s still eMMC flash instead of an SSD). Both versions are also available in Mercury Gray. We’d expect the Core i3 to offer snappier performance (see the benchmark results below), but it’s well into premium consumer-Chromebook territory at $699.
Speaking of premium Chromebook features, the Galaxy 2 has a dimly backlit keyboard, but no privacy shutter for its webcam and no fingerprint reader to let you avoid typing passwords. On the positive side, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth are standard, and the bright red chassis with black keyboard makes it a visual standout, helped by thin screen bezels (except for the thick bottom bezel). The laptop is plastic with an aluminum lid; there’s not much flex if you grasp the screen corners or press the keyboard deck, though like with many 2-in-1 machines, the screen wobbles when tapped in clamshell-laptop mode.
(Photo: Molly Flores)
With no HDMI port on the edges of this laptop, you’ll need a USB Type-C DisplayPort dongle to connect an external monitor. The Samsung has two USB Type-C ports, one on each side; either can accommodate the compact AC adapter. The left edge also offers a volume rocker, a headphone jack, and a microSD card slot. The power button is on the right side.
(Photo: Molly Flores)
Friendly Features
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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-chromebook-2