Samsung Chromebook Pro

[MI MacGuy]

WHEN IS THIS GOING TO COME OUT!?

Just as a quick update, it sounds like a second Chromebook Pro is on the horizon with a Skylake processor vs. the ARM Samsung chip. Both devices will probably launch simultaneously and is probably why the original CBP is delayed a bit.

Still really hoping to see this come out before the holidays!

 

[sarah11918]

I hope they both come out at the same time! I'm in need of a new note tablet, primarily, but the 2012 MBA isn't getting any younger either. Given how quickly I want to replace my tablet with this, I would hate for only the lower spec one to be officially announced, and leave me waiting in hopes of this rumoured higher-end one.

 

[jamesrick80]

Chrome OS is what iOS use to be...simple and effective and everything just works....with the addition of a full blown desktop browser to better the overall experience....

 

[SigEp265]

I need this in my life. The battery on my Galaxy Note Pro is starting to die.

 

[jamesrick80]

I need this in my life. The battery on my Galaxy Note Pro is starting to die.

Get you a tab A 10.1 with s pen for now since this chromebook is delayed until further notice..just purchased it and it's fast and responsive and includes the awesome write on pdf, easy gif maker smart select feature of note 7, and smart pen translation feature, and a flash on the rear camera....and has a 7300 mah battery that lasts about 14 hours on screen with a 1080p display......and a guaranteed update to nougat in the future

 

[SigEp265]

Get you a tab A 10.1 with s pen for now since this chromebook is delayed until further notice..just purchased it and it's fast and responsive and includes the awesome write on pdf, easy gif maker smart select feature of note 7, and smart pen translation feature, and a flash on the rear camera....and has a 7300 mah battery that lasts about 14 hours on screen with a 1080p display......and a guaranteed update to nougat in the future

How is touchwiz with only 2 GB RAM though ?

 

[jamesrick80]

How is touchwiz with only 2 GB RAM though ?

If you did your research the version with s pen has 3 gb ram....it's smooth and flawless...no lag at all

 

[ozaz]

Honest question: does anyone legitimately prefer this 360-degree rotating touch screen form factor to a detachable tablet in the style of the Surface line? Lenovo tends to make these their flagship pen-enabled products, and now it seems like this Chromebook may be the spiritual successor to Samsung's Galaxy Note tablets, which I really liked. I've never understood the benefits of this design for anything other than using the keyboard space to cram in more stuff (like a dGPU)… it seems more or less useless for a low-powered Android device.

For a productivity device, I think my favourite form factor would be a convertible with a hinge that allows the screen to rotate wihout lifting the keyboard off the table.

e.g. Like the Vaio Flip
http://us.vaio.com/vaio-z-flip/

Seems to me like the most efficient way to switch between keyboard and pen-based usage if you are mostly working at a desk.

 

[Channan]

If you did your research the version with s pen has 3 gb ram....it's smooth and flawless...no lag at all

No need to be rude. :/

 

[SigEp265]

If you did your research the version with s pen has 3 gb ram....it's smooth and flawless...no lag at all

ha, i guess i was looking at the 9.7 version. thanks! next time i will thoroughly do my research before speaking to someone that never makes mistakes.

 

[sarah11918]

For a productivity device, I think my favourite form factor would be a convertible with a hinge that allows the screen to rotate wihout lifting the keyboard off the table.

e.g. Like the Vaio Flip
http://us.vaio.com/vaio-z-flip/

Yeah, a lot of the old school "convertible" TabletPCs from the early 2000s had a centre hinge on which the screen spun (to face either forwards or backwards) and then you could "close" the laptop, either in the traditional way, or with the screen facing up and out at you. Like the Fujitsu Lifebook. But no one seems to be doing that anymore, and everyone seems to do the "just fold it back around thing."

As a long time convertible TabletPC user, I just don't know how weird it's going to be (or worried I'm going to get) with the keys out and exposed, either on my lap or applying pressure to write on it sitting on a table. How do you not smush the keys that way? Is there a sensor mode so that keyboard input is prevented when it's completely folded back like that, I wonder?

 

[M. Gustave]

Where is this machine? I don't see any pre-orders online, and no announcements.

 

[ozaz]

Yeah, a lot of the old school "convertible" TabletPCs from the early 2000s had a centre hinge on which the screen spun (to face either forwards or backwards) and then you could "close" the laptop, either in the traditional way, or with the screen facing up and out at you. Like the Fujitsu Lifebook. But no one seems to be doing that anymore, and everyone seems to do the "just fold it back around thing."

As a long time convertible TabletPC user, I just don't know how weird it's going to be (or worried I'm going to get) with the keys out and exposed, either on my lap or applying pressure to write on it sitting on a table. How do you not smush the keys that way? Is there a sensor mode so that keyboard input is prevented when it's completely folded back like that, I wonder?

I have a ThinkPad Yoga 260. The keys being exposed is not really an issue because when the screen is rotated to tablet mode the keyboard frame lifts slightly so that its flush with the top of the keys. Key input is also prevented by what feels like a mechanical lock beneath the keys (presumably a consequence of the lifting of the frame). I don't know if this keyboard frame mechanism is specific to Yogas or is also present in Yoga clones like this Samsung Chromebook. If not present, I expect keyboard input will be disabled in software.

The main reason I think I'd prefer the Vaio Flip mechanism (or old-style tablet PC rotate around centre hinge) is because when I'm working at a desk and have peripherals attached to the Yoga, its a bit of nuicance to lift and flip the whole machine to go to tablet mode. If the keyboard stayed in place on the desk, this wouldn't be an issue.

However, what I really like about the ThinkPad Yoga is the quality of the keyboard and the fact that it has a silo for the pen (like the Samsung Chromebook Pro), something missing from almost all convertibles

 

[sarah11918]

Where is this machine? I don't see any pre-orders online, and no announcements.

Chrome Unboxed discovered it, and has a few posts, such as this one: https://chromeunboxed.com/kevin-is-the-samsung-chromebook-pro-up-for-pre-order/ You can search around their site for information. What looked like an internal staging page from Samsung was found live, and for about a day, the product information page for the chromebook was up and running (before they noticed people had found it and took it down). A few sites captured screenshots to recreate the page and most of the big Android sites had a story about it.

So no official announcements yet, and as people here have hypothesized, perhaps Samsung is waiting for official Android support and/or a possibly second, higher end model ("Caroline") to be ready before publicizing. Also, Adorama (I think?) had it up on their website and you could pre-order it, again for only a few days before everything was shut down. It claimed shipping on October 24. And, that unofficial-official product page was pretty elaborate, which gives the impression that the machine really is pretty much ready to go. It was all very exciting, but then October 24 came and went, so we're all just pretty much waiting and speculating now.

 

[AdaminOz]

Rokchip ARM chipset means there's a good chance SCP will phone home to Peking.

What was Samsung thinking? How have/will they manage this? Complete supervision of firmware production?

 

[mi7chy]

Non-sense. Intel partnered with Rockchip so they have credibility. And, network software stack is part of the OS and not SoC. Just like how iOS and not A10 reports back to mother ship. Nice fear mongering attempt though.

https://theintercept.com/2016/09/28...sage-contacts-and-may-share-them-with-police/

 

[M. Gustave]

Non-sense. Intel partnered with Rockchip so they have credibility. And, network software stack is part of the OS and not SoC. Just like how iOS and not A10 reports back to mother ship. Nice fear mongering attempt though.

https://theintercept.com/2016/09/28...sage-contacts-and-may-share-them-with-police/

This is the second thread in which "AdaminOz" has attempted to spread that idea.

 

[AdaminOz]

Non-sense. Intel partnered with Rockchip so they have credibility. And, network software stack is part of the OS and not SoC. Just like how iOS and not A10 reports back to mother ship. Nice fear mongering attempt though.

https://theintercept.com/2016/09/28...sage-contacts-and-may-share-them-with-police/

Was aware of ARM/Intel's deal to license production of low end procs but didn't know how/where supervised. Where did you find these details? Also the part about phoning home? How did you find this out? Got the inside track on production and seeing exactly what the are putting into the thing? Or is it always true that only NSS can phone home on this chipset?

 

[0000757]

Just got a Surface Pro 3.

Kinda wish I had seen this first. I still need access to Photoshop and stuff, though.

 

[AppleRobert]

Just got a Surface Pro 3.

Kinda wish I had seen this first. I still need access to Photoshop and stuff, though.

Nothing to see, who knows when the heck it will be released. Nothing wrong with what you bought.

 

[Nancy bout]

I need to Get one w a touch screen for my daughter she's 10 for Christmas
I'll use it too lol

 

[M. Gustave]

I need to Get one w a touch screen for my daughter she's 10 for Christmas
I'll use it too lol

Well, you can wait who knows how long for the Samsung, or you can get something like an Acer R11 now. I highly recommend it. It has full Play Store access, and I'm running several Android apps now, in addition to the usual Chrome apps. For $249, it's a lot of laptop.

 

[ackmondual]

This is the first Chromebook that can be a legit computer AND tablet hybrid IMO. It meets all the requirements I needed before I bought another Chromebook and dumped tablets for good.

Minimum of a 2k screen - check
4gb of RAM - check
Touch screen with stylus support - check
Solid CPU and GPU - check
Expandable storage - check
Android apps capable - check
Multiple usb-c ports - check

Only thing that might be missing is a backlit keyboard?

My tablet buying days are officially over.

At first, I refused to get ANY tablet. Well, Android tablets were quite affordable even many years ago, but I wanted an iPad for certain digital board games and video games in general. That it doubles up as a web browser would also be nice. However, they were pricy. Ended up getting a used iPad Air (1), 128 GB w/o cellular for $400. I much prefer to use the Chromebook for internet (see below), but will use this in a pinch since it takes up less space (9.7" vs. 14") and weighs less (1lb vs. 3.5 lbs). However, this has ended up being my "will be replacing Ipod Touch 5" iOS gaming device.

The CB OTOH... it's such a joy to use with web browsing, Google services, and Office like stuff (mostly docs and spreadsheets). I'm sure there are computers that are far better for web browsing (e.g. MacBook's legendary trackpads", mid to high end Windows laptops, not to mention more productivity), but for $200... GREAT VALUE! I wish my CB had backlighting, but I'm fine for that price.

Microsoft should copy the slot for the pen for the Surface, that is way better than a magnet

What kind of annoys me is you can only "clip" the pen onto the right side of the unit. For some reason, it's not on the left hand side. The M$ Store employee explained why that was, although I forgot why (something else was already taking up that space?)

 

[tbayrgs]

The Verge's first look at the Chromebook Pro. Doesn't look like it's quite ready for prime time.

CHROMEBOOK PRO: LIFE IN BETA

 

[SigEp265]

The Verge's first look at the Chromebook Pro. Doesn't look like it's quite ready for prime time.

CHROMEBOOK PRO: LIFE IN BETA

Thanks for posting this! I preordered it on amazon but I have since canceled it .. Interested to see their software updates.