The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook stole our hearts last year with its fire-engine red chassis, ultra-thin form factor and stunning AMOLED display. For CES 2021, the Korean tech giant has unveiled a new Chrome OS device: the Galaxy Chromebook 2.
The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is a super-slim 2-in-1 with an alluring new feature: a QLED display. QLED displays have been a gold standard for Samsung TVs and now they're becoming more common among Samsung's laptop portfolio.
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Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 release date
The release date of the Galaxy Chromebook 2 hasn't been revealed yet, but the laptop should hit store shelves no later than March 31.
CES 2021: Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 specs
The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 starts at $549.99 and comes with an Intel Celeron 5205U CPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. For $699.99, you can upgrade the internals to an Intel Core i3-10110U CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
Samsung, a dominant presence in the tech realm, is plucking a consumer favorite from its TV market and integrating it into Galaxy Chromebook 2 with the highly praised QLED display.
You may be wondering, "What is a QLED display?" QLED stands for Quantum Dot LED TV. A quantum dot, according to Lifewire, is a "manufactured nanocrystal with semiconductor properties" that can improve a laptop's brightness and color performance.
What makes QLED particularly eye-catching is its power-efficient technology. The Samsung Galaxy Book Flex 15, the world's first QLED-display laptop, offered 565 nits of brightness, covers 158% of the sRGB color-gamut and gets almost 16 hours of battery life. Bright and colorful screens usually affect battery life, but thanks to the Galaxy Book Flex 15's efficient QLED display, the notebooks landed on our laptops with the longest battery life list.
We haven't gotten our hands on the Galaxy Chromebook 2 yet, but we suspect that its 13.3-inch QLED display will enhance the device's brightness, color range and power efficiency. Similar to last year's Galaxy Chromebook, the Galaxy Chromebook 2 sports a Fiesta Red finish and a featherweight, ultra-slim chassis (it's 0.6 inches thin and weighs 2.8 pounds). If red isn't your cup of tea, you can opt for the Mercury Gray variant.
One design element that's noticeably different is the keyboard. The Galaxy Chromebook is equipped with red keys, but the Galaxy Chromebook 2 has black keys, allowing for better visual contrast.
The Galaxy Chromebook 2 is also a 2-in-1, which means it can transform into several orientations, including tent mode and tablet mode.
According to Samsung, the Galaxy Chromebook 2 delivers "exceptional sound," so after being productive with Chrome apps such as Google Docs, Meet and Sheets, you can enjoy movie streaming, Spotify and light gaming. The Galaxy Chromebook 2 does not come with an S Pen, but it supports USI pens (sold separately).
With the mélange of Samsung and Google all in one Chrome OS device, we can't wait to test the Galaxy Chromebook 2 for ourselves. Who knows? It may land on our best Chromebooks page.
Outlook
Last year's Galaxy Chromebook had a jaw-dropping starting price of $1,399, but thankfully, the Galaxy Chromebook 2 is more affordable. After all, Chromebook users are typically more budget-conscious, so we're ecstatic to see the Galaxy Chromebook 2 at a wallet-friendly price point.
