Samsung Chromebook 2 XE500C12-K01US 11.6 inch Laptop, Metallic Silver Review

Samsung Chromebook 2 XE500C12-K01US
via Amazon

Metallic silver Samsung Chromebook 2 XE500C12-K01US is a new 11.6 inch laptop designed for everyday tasks to be performed fast mainly on the web, comes with the more advanced 802.11ac wireless, Chrome operating system and a long 9 hour battery life. It has a built-in virus protection and you don’t need to do anything manually for any software or operating system upgrades, boots up in about 10 seconds and wakes up from hibernation almost instantly- in just a second. It is very easy to set-up, safe and simple to use by anyone.

Samsung Chromebook 2 is offered with the dual core Intel Celeron N2840 processor at 2.16 GHz speed up to 2.58GHz with turbo function, 2 GB DDR3L SDRAM system memory, 16 GB Solid-State Drive and 100GB of Google Drive storage free of charge for 2 years and Chrome operating system. You will not find a large size traditional HDD on this or any of the Chromebooks as they are supposed to be slim and lightweight machines, so you will store most of your files on cloud based Google Drive and have access to them wherever you have internet access on whatever device. The multitasking capability is OK with the 2GB memory, but not great- it would have been better to have at least 4GB RAM so you may encounter some lags when running multiple tabs on Chrome.

11.6 inch anti-reflective LED backlit high definition screen with 1366x768 pixel maximum screen resolution and Intel HD Graphics offers decent viewing experience with vivid colours and sharp images and texts at this level but this is high definition and not Full HD and doesn’t come with an IPS panel (which would make the system more expensive) so you don’t have the very large clear viewing angles, you will need to stick to your best angle of viewing and not change position vertically or horizontally a lot. Having said that, this Chromebook seems to be one of the best Chromebooks in terms of picture quality. It comes with two powerful speakers so you will experience nice audio when you’re watching movies or listening to music and there are games you can play on this machine but they are more the lighter sort rather than those demanding advanced 3D games. There is an integrated webcam and microphone for live chats but you don’t get Skype on Chromebooks but there are Google alternatives for almost every program or app you have on Windows PC’s and it is Google Hangouts in this case.

Metallic silver Chromebook 2 weighs 2.6 pounds, has the measurements of 11.40 x 8.06 x 0.66 inches- very thin and lightweight and you get up to 9 hours of battery life from its lithium metal battery so you will not need to recharge it all day long and use it comfortably away from the power outlets. Connectivity options include up to 3 times faster 802.11 A/C wireless with better coverage for better video streaming and faster internet browsing experience overall, 1 x USB 2.0 port, 1 x USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port to hook up the Chromebook to your larger screen HDTVs at home, a microSD card slot which can be used for additional storage and a headphone jack. Keyboard with curved keycaps is reported to be great quality with great tactile feel as well as responsive and smooth trackpad. It has a fanless design and works quietly and stays cool even after hours of being online. The faux leather cover makes it comfy in your hands and the metal frame adds to its durability in your daily use of this computer.

Conclusion: Samsung Chromebook 2 XE500C12-K01US is a fast, functional and versatile machine that is compact- slim and light, looks good in metallic silver and with metallic frame, has built-in security features that help keep all the evil attackers away and the sandboxing technology ensures your apps and OS are kept separate so as to avoid cross-infections. It is designed mainly for web based applications but also offline stuff. You will get all the Google products including Youtube, Hangouts, Gmail and Search installed on the Chromebook. One of its best features is its display quality despite being non-FHD or IPS and another is its long battery life, allowing it to offer you solid performance when you’re out and about. Then you have the 802.11ac fast wifi rather than the standard 802.11bgn that you see on most laptops and the improved keyboard with tactile and comfy keys and responsive touchpad and its weak point would be the 2GB RAM, which should still be more than adequate for what this Chromebook is designed to do on a daily basis. It is a nice and modern Chromebook with user-friendly improvements over the older models and presents great value for money.

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