The days of only finding Chromebooks with small displays are over. Samsung is the latest laptop maker to release a 15.6-inch laptop running Chrome OS, although the launch of this particular notebook, the Samsung Chromebook 4+, has been rather unorthodox.
Samsung Chromebook 4+ price and release date
Instead of announcing the product in a press release or at a fancy event (as Microsoft will do today with its Surface products), Samsung has simply supplied retailers with the Chromebook 4+, who in turn, have listed it in product pages. As such, the only thing we know about the notebook is what we see on those listings: that the Samsung Chromebook 4+ will cost just $329 and run Chrome OS on a large display. The Chromebook 4+ is currently selling at Connection and Insight but it's not clear when it will be available at mainstream retailers.
Samsung Chromebook 4+ specs
Apart from its large display, what really stands out about the Chromebook 4+ is its boxy silver chassis, which is reminiscent of the Asus Chromebook Flip 302 (although the Chromebook 4+ appears to be a clamshell, not a 2-in-1 laptop). We don't know for sure what the Chromebook 4+ is made of, but the chassis in the included images looks like it could be aluminum. We do, however, know that the Chromebook 4+ will be fairly portable, at 0.6 inches thick and 3.8 pounds. Ports include two USB-C inputs, a headphone jack and a microSD card slot.
We're also thrilled to see that such an inexpensive notebook has a 15.6-inch, 1080p display, not the lower 1366 x 768 we still see all too often. What doesn't sit well is that the Chromebook 4+ has a non-touch panel, something we rarely find on Chromebooks nowadays given how touch-reliant Chrome OS has become.
Looking at the specs, the Chromebook 4+ will be powered by an Intel N4000 Celeron CPU --- a two-year-old low-end processor that should have no problems running Chrome OS and simple, everyday tasks like browsing the internet and sending emails. Accompanying that processor is a measly 4GB of RAM and just 32GB of storage, further proving that this is a budget device.
Tech news site Chrome Unboxed did some digging and discovered a second Chrome OS laptop from Samsung with an 11-inch display called the Chromebook 4. Unfortunately, we don't have any information on that device yet, although we wouldn't be surprised if Samsung released official materials on these two new laptops in the near future.
