Samsung to Launch “Premium” Chromebook Pro after HP’s 2016 Models

Samsung Chromebook Pro and HP Chromebook

Most people don’t think of a Chromebook as a serious laptop. From a user perspective it’s neither a full-fledged laptop nor does it have the flexibility of a hybrid tablet. Chromebooks users are, of course, the most reliable source of information with regard to usage, performance and so on, but even there the sentiments are mixed. Some love it, others hate it.

Chromebooks run on ChromeOS, a desktop operating system created by Google, but it hasn’t “evolved” to the extent that Windows or macOS has. And that’s one of the biggest gripes of Chromebooks users. Here’s a look at this year’s Chromebook Pro reportedly to be released by Samsung, and HP’s family of Chromebook models for 2016.

New Samsung Chromebook Pro

The first thing we noticed was the stylus that is expected to come with Samsung’s iteration of the Chromebook.

The stylus obviously indicates a tilt towards an Android-esque experience that will be familiar to users of the Samsung Galaxy Note range of smartphones.

Samsung Chromebook Pro and HP Chromebook

As for the specs, sources expect a 360-degree rotation capability around the y-axis for the touch screen (vertical rotation, not horizontal), 10 hours of battery life, 32 GB memory and 4 GB RAM. The 12.3-inch screen will feature a resolution of 2400X1600 pixels, and the slim Samsung Chromebook sports a petite half-inch chassis and weighs in at a delicate 2.58 lbs. Under the hood is a 2 GHz hexa-core processor (two Cortex-A72 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores.)

Samsung Chromebook Pro and HP Chromebook

It will likely be released as the Samsung Chromebook Pro, according to Samsung’s website. At $499, it is a little pricey for a Chromebook (most retail at between $199 and $399), but with the “Pro” tag and enhanced performance, the higher price could be justified.

New HP Chromebook 13, Chromebook 14 and Chromebook 11 G5

As for HP’s version, which was launched earlier this year, the Chromebook 13 came with slightly better screen specs but at the same $499 price point. The Chromebook 13 sports a slightly larger 13.3-inch screen with a “QHD+” display and a 3200X1600 resolution.

The processors on the Chromebook 13 are the 1.5 GHz Pentium 4405Y and 6th Generation “Skylake” Core M5. RAM and internal memory are the same as the upcoming Samsung Chromebook Pro.

Shortly after Chromebook 13, HP released another model called Chromebook 11 G5, the first touchscreen Chromebook from HP, which essentially opened it up to several Android apps from Google Play to be launched this year. You can check which Chromebooks currently support Android apps on Google’s site here.

Samsung Chromebook Pro and HP Chromebook

The Chromebook 14 has a 14-inch 1366X768 display and is noticeably heavier than the Chromebook 13 but other than that it seems to have no earth-shattering upgrades or anything.

Chromebooks Outsold Apple MacBook Pros in the U.S. this year

Earlier this year, Dell, HP and Lenovo jointly shipped 2 million Chromebooks, for the first time outstripping Apple Mac’s 1.76 million shipments. Chromebooks are popular because they leverage Google’s Chrome browser, making it the center-point of the ChromeOS experience. A typical Chromebook, says Google, boots up in less than 10 seconds compared to 30 seconds for a “traditional computer.”

One of the best benefits of a Chromebook is cloud storage using Google Drive, and because of this capability the laptops only come with a maximum of 32 GB of internal memory. Of course, if you have a huge amount of data to store, you’ll end up on one of Google’s monthly plans for cloud data storage, but in each case it’s comparable with or cheaper than most other cloud storage solutions, including iCloud Drive.

More and more people are moving towards cloud storage today because it’s convenient, accessible from anywhere and available on nearly any device they own. Besides, the level of security far surpasses any native security features that your devices might have.

That’s one of the reasons why Samsung is now trying to get into this space with the Chromebook Pro.

For these and other reasons, Chromebooks are quickly becoming one of the most sought-after category of mobile computing devices in recent times.

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