Samsung - 11.6" Chromebook - Intel Celeron - 4GB Memory - 32GB eMMC Flash Memory - Night Charcoal

I love this chromebook. I don't need an additional upgrade in O/S just simple to stream TV, social media, pictures. I needed an inexpensive laptop which works great. Drawbacks- the sound is poor. You will definitely need a bluetooth speaker. The power adapter overheats in a power strip. The input is also a very small port which I can foresee breaking off, so I'd advise getting the insurance.

I bought this on sale for $129. That's $130 off. So I can't really fault it much for that price. However my only complaint is the build quality. As in it is very plasticy. Other then that it is an awesome Chromebook. I get an easy 9-10 hours out of it. It has nice storage and I can run Linux via Crostini.

Good laptop, very convenient for travel, fast operating system as well

This was my first Chromebook. I needed something that would "just work", but I wanted at least 4GB RAM, 32GB local storage, and an SD slot to expand storage. The Samsung 3 fits the bill, especially on sale. I'm using the Micro-SD slot to increase storage by 128GB (not that I've really needed it yet). Besides typical Chrome usage, I've installed several Android apps that all work pretty well. The screen is okay if the brightness is turned up, but it tends to flicker (almost like an interlaced CRT screen) on lower brightness. Even on inexpensive laptops, I've not experienced such a "cheap" feeling screen. It's a super cheap machine, though, so I can accept that trade-off. The resolution is fine, and for casual usage it's not an issue. The keys are large, and the lettering on them is very large; I almost feel like I'm using a device meant for someone with vision problems -- like the TV remote controls with the super large numbers -- but functionally it's great. Better that, than a tiny squished keyboard. I've used it on battery for 5-7 hours without charge, on w/ screen on & at mid-brightness, before feeling as though I needed to plug it in (I typically get the itch to plug in anytime I fall under 40%, particularly around 30%); I've closed it and left it on the coffee table for several days, picked it up, opened it, and had over half the battery still left. It's not going to last as long as, say, an iPad, which is a shame... but it's certainly an acceptable battery life. Pros: - Lightweight; - Simple to use, once you become familiar with ChromeOS; - Powerful enough most of the time (see last "con" bullet point); - Battery life is good (not great, but good); - The speakers are surprisingly decent. Cons: - Screen flickers when brightness is down (increasing brightness seems to reduce the effect, but it also drains the battery faster); - Feels very cheap and plastic-y, but, it's a sub-$200 system, so that's fine; - Sometimes the processor seems to struggle a bit upon first opening it up (especially if it's been hibernating/sleeping, vs fresh boot). I'd recommend closing any open Chrome tabs or doing a fresh reboot if you open it up and it's slow or hesitant to respond. I'd recommend this little Chromebook for the following: - Kids - it's cheap, doesn't need to be patched or run antivirus, will do pretty much anything short of bonafide gaming (web-based games and some Android games should be fine); - Anyone needing a casual, secondary device with a keyboard (it's not a touch screen) for light productivity or entertainment (YouTube, Netflix, etc). Not recommended for: - Full time "laptop"/productivity - if there's an option, spend a bit more and get something with higher quality materials; - Any sort of gaming or heavy entertainment use. I'm rating it 4 out of 5 stars. I've purchased $279 laptops before that have a better quality screen and more functionality (since they can run any OS & application you want), so the screen quality being a bit below par is worth deducting one star. I got the Chromebook during a sale for $159, but it's normally closer to $199; if its regular price was ~$159, I'd give it 5 stars, but for $200... I'd rather Samsung had put a bit more quality into the screen and charged $220 or $230, OR price this laptop no higher than $179 as a truly "budget" laptop. At $200 it seems just a bit too "cheap" for the money, but just barely. If you're shopping Chromebooks and your next option is over $100 difference, and you're on a strict budget, don't be afraid to buy this. It'll get the job done. If you can afford higher quality materials, and/or want to use it extensively, look at something with better quality hardware. (My background: IT professional for 20+ years; extensive experience with PC's, laptops, Mac's (MacBooks, iPad's, Mini's, etc), iPads & mobile devices.)

Ordered one during the Black Friday sale as a second device primarily for online classes. I was looking for something that would get the job done for a low price. So far, this has met and exceeded my expectations, knowing that I would be getting limited space, RAM, and cheaper components. So far, everything I need to do on the day to day works so well on this ChromeBook, I have stopped using my other computer for it and only use it for heavy projects (editing/filming/music production/etc). Using ChromeOS works out really well overall, considering I am in the Google ecosystem overall. Using Docs to write a term paper while having a YouTube Stream in the background has worked really well overall. Battery life is overall excellent, and gives me all the mileage I need when doing long school projects and I am moving locations constantly through the day. I actually REALLY like the throw and range of the keyboard. It is by no means perfect, but I found myself pleasantly surprised at my ability to maintain long typing sessions and accuracy with something so portable. It is light and extremely user friendly. However let me go through my Cons, as they may be a make/break for some. 1. The screen is horrible. Bad viewing angles and everything always looking dirty was a really hard transition from a much higher end computer. You can mitigate some of this if you plug into a monitor or TV via the HDMI onboard. It definitely will help, but cannot solve the problem when you take it out on the road with you. 2. Speakers are placed oddly and sound horrible. Putting the speakers on the base/underneath doesn't work well at all. It sounds horrible and extremely quiet. Not sure if they ran out of space, or why this design choice was made that way. Workaround is using a cheap bluetooth speaker or headphones with the ChromeBook. 3. The charging port does not consistently stay in and is extremely particular. I barely touch the port with the charger plugged in and it stops charging. It is really frustrating and leads to longer charge times because I have to constantly check to make sure it's charging, even with extremely minor shifts. 4. No Spotify support. This isn't a deal breaker as a smartphone is usually on me and can be used in it's place. It would just be a nice app/support for it if it wouldn't suffocate the RAM and system resources. Everything else about this ChromeBook meets expectations. I made sure when I researched that I had tempered expectations and that I was not going to try and do heavy duty work with this device. So far, it has exceeded in every way in all my uses, except one time when I had 9 tabs open in Chrome, which was my own fault knowing the 4GB of RAM and OS could not handle the workload. If you use the work arounds I provided, your at home experience should be adequate with the correct expectations. On the road use is primarily hindered by the screen quality more than anything else. I find myself reaching for this ChromeBook for day to day uses over my other computers available to me in the household. It has become the daily driver for simple tasks. If you don't ask too much of it, it'll work well and take you far in the basics. It has helped me keep my school tasks and assignments in one place, and helped maintain my sanity through most days.

Aside from different RAM (2 GB vs 4) and local storage (16GB SSD vs 32), all 500/501 series have the same features and screen. Bought this for the standard Chrombook uses: email, web browsing, streaming, cloud documents, etc. I've had multiple tabs open while streaming and a few apps in the background and this shows zero hiccups. Resolution is lower than some other brands, but the screen size is limited to 11.6" so it looks crisp and clear. Two small speakers on the bottom front sound like, well, two small speakers on the bottom front... Definitely enough sound to fill a small-to-medium sized room, but don't expect to get a ton of bass or depth - for everyday listening or something to listen to while working though, it's fine. Fit and finish are good all-around; I wouldn't want to intentionally drop it or toss it around, but it also doesn't feel the least bit flimsy. Lid opens and closes with a reassuring smoothness and the hinges show zero wobble when doing so. It's nice having a USB port on both sides. Would have liked to see a model with a backlit keyboard and 180* lid movement, but those are minor issues. Hope the next model uses USB-C for charging.

This is my first experience with the Chromebook. I purchased a lap top with Windows 10, and I have to say I wish window 7 is still around. That's the main reason why I was looking into a Chromebook and I love google. I use everything Google, including google docs. I need this Chromebook specifically for school so I don't need anything fancy, just something portable and would last me a long time. This one fits the bill. The non-touch screen is nice for me because that throws off my kiddos who are used to the touch screen to stay away from it. It's a perfect size, slightly on the heavy size ( more than I expected but not a deal breaker because my co-worker has a pixel and weigh about the same.), long-lasting battery. The only thing that would make it nicer if it has a backlit function on the keyboard.

The Chromebook is a great little laptop for traveling (light weight, compact, durable, low cost) when on personal/recreational pursuits. I use it for email/web-browsing when on the road when my smartphone is too small. I left the Chromebook in my car (on sub freezing winter days) when skiing and it worked fine upon power up. I have not tested it in extreme heat (leaving it in my car on a summer). Given the low cost of the Chromebook and my main Windows based PC (at home) has all my important sensitive information, I wasn't too concerned leaving the Chromebook in my car and subjecting it to temperature extremes. Key Points on Chromebooks: 1) Google Docs software (spreadsheet, word processor etc) is free and can read/write in the corresponding MS Office format (MS Excel, MS Word etc); however, the software is located on the cloud (not the Chromebook). As such, having internet access is important. 2) The Chromebook by itself has limited storage (32GB eMMC Flash Memory); however, if you are connected to the internet you can store larger items on Google Drive. 3) Coming from a Windows/PC background, the Chromebook takes a little while to get used to (e.g. file system, touchpad w/o buttons etc); however, there are a lot of good tutorials on the web to teach you the basics and come up to speed quickly.