Updated: Best Buy has price matched. You can sign up for their college student program to take another $50 off the cost, bringing the total down to $329.
The Samsung Chromebook Plus is one of the newest Chromebooks around, having just been introduced in January this year, and is currently $378.74 on Amazon. It shipped at a starting price of $449. While it has seen a few drops here and there since then, this is the lowest it has ever dropped. Pretty much everywhere else, including Newegg and Best Buy, has it for $419 or higher right now.
The Chromebook Plus is lightweight, comes with a stylus, and has a touchscreen. It can convert from a laptop into a tablet. It comes with Bluetooth, a 720p integrated webcam, and two USB-C ports. It has a nice, bright, screen with 2400 x 1600 pixel resolution, which is part of the reason it cost a bit more out the gate than your average Chromebook.
It's also unique in that it's part of Google's attempt to combine ChromeOS and Android, letting you use the features of the Chrome operating system while also accessing Android apps. If you already use an Android smartphone, this Chromebook should complement it pretty well. The Chromebook Plus uses a 2 GHz OP1 Dual-ARM processor, which is designed for use with Android apps, to make that a faster process. However, since ChromeOS is designed to work with a different kind of processor you might see some slowness in other aspects (like when browsing the Internet).
It's not perfect. It is a Chromebook, after all, which means it's designed for light work not heavy play. It only has 4GB RAM and a 32GB SSD, which can be expanded with a microSD port. The battery life is only six hours and the keyboard doesn't have a backlight. It's designed to be able to do a few things at a time and do them well. If that's what you need, then go for it.
Not sure if this is the Chromebook for you? Be sure to check out some of our thoughts here.
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