Samsung on Thursday took the lid off of a new Galaxy Chromebook 2, a follow up to the first Galaxy Chromebook. Only, instead of taking the high-road by offering best-in-class components and a price price tag that flirts with four figures, the Chromebook 2 takes a more modest approach.
The two-in-one laptop runs Google’s Chrome OS operating system, with a healthy dose of Samsung’s own Galaxy apps and services. It features a 13.3-inch QLED FHD display, up to 8GB of memory, and up to 128GB of storage, with Wi-Fi 6, a 720P webcam, and support for any USI-compliant stylus.
The base model will come with an Intel Celeron 5205U processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage for $549.99. The other build includes an Intel Core i3-10110U processor, 8GB of memory, and 128GB of storage for $699.
As previously mentioned, Samsung’s own apps will be preinstalled on the Chromebook 2. Those apps will allow users of the company’s own Galaxy phones to do things like send and receive text messages, as well as place calls directly from the Chromebook 2.
Even though it’s a 2-in-1, meaning it can be used as a tablet in addition to a traditional laptop configuration, the Chromebook 2 does not come with a stylus of any kind. That’s right, Note fans: There’s no S Pen in the box.
Instead, Samsung opted to make the Chromebook 2 compatible with all Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) certified pens that you’ll have to separately purchase. You can then use that pen to draw or write on the Chromebook 2’s screen.
Samsung touts a new Smart AMP feature on the Chromebook 2, bringing louder and clearer audio to the laptop, which should help both for watching movies or TV shows and video calls.
It’ll be available in a bright, as Samsung calls it, “Dynamic Red” color scheme and a Dynamic Gray.
There isn’t a firm ship date for the Chromebook 2, with Samsung only stating that the Chrome OS device will be available sometime in the first quarter of this year.