Being on the borderline between cheap and expensive chromebooks, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 comes with a good combination of specs allowing it to make the most out of the chrome OS for the price. Although it doesn’t have a backlit keyboard it does have a solid design with a 3/4th aluminum build and a secondary camera. And so, paired with an impressive battery life as well as an included pen and LTE modem, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 stands out to be the best chromebook with so much functionality at its price.
Why We Like It – Samsung Chromebook Plus V2
Starting at the baseline point of powerful chromebooks the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 brings to you a laptop with a great combination of power and design. With options of upto the Intel Core M3 processor and 4GB of RAM it outperforms many other chromebooks with their intel celeron processors and even provides you with an impressive battery life. Thus, even with its own share of drawbacks, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 is a great chromebook with a solid build and a good combination of specs now available at a pretty low price.
- Good performance
- Great battery life
- LTE enabled
- No backlight on keyboard
- Keyboard has shallow travel
Performance
With the base model starting with an Intel Celeron 3965Y processor, 4GB of memory, and the Intel HD Graphics 615 integrated graphics the Samsung Chromebooks Plus V2 allows you to use the chrome operating system with a good amount of flexibility. However, this may limit you to use a lower number of tabs like the more lower priced chromebooks (if you like to work with lots of open tabs, you might be better off with the Samsung Chromebook Plus). And so, with a slight increase in price, you can get the model with the Intel Core M3 processor. This will greatly boost the performance of the device, allowing you to use chrome to its fullest extent without almost any lag at all. But, unlike the Google Pixelbook you may see some latency when using an android app as like any of other similarly priced chromebooks.
When it comes to storage, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 offers you an amazing amount of flexibility, by being able to choose from 32GB of internal storage and all the way upto 128GB. Along with the SD card slot and google’s cloud storage, a shortage of memory won’t be an issue anymore.
Moreover, the Plus V2 comes with a full HD 12.2 Inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a 16:9 aspect ratio. Although this may seem like a downgrade from the 2400 x 1600 resolution (found in good quality chromebooks like the Samsung Chromebook Pro Convertible Xe510C24–K01Us) and 3:2 aspect ratio of the previous model, it is brought to justice with its price range. It is pretty great for surfing the web or watching movies thanks to its vibrant and bright colours. Additionally, allowing you to be on the go for a longer time, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 provides you with around 10 hours of video streaming battery life, surpassing the HP chromebook X2 as well as the Samsung Chromebook Pro.
Moving onto the keyboard, the Plus V2 has a pretty cramped keyboard with a slightly shallow key travel. And as for the touchpad, you do get a good amount of functionality, but it lacks physical buttons and is slightly smaller than most touchpads. However, with the included pen you can just use the touch screen on the display which also provides you with a good palm rejection feature for sketchtaking notes.
Finally, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 also comes with two webcams, one on the top as usual and the other on the top end of the keyboard. Now you may be wondering what could it possibly help with. Well, whenever you need to take a quick snapshot in the classroom or office, and you’re using the laptop in tablet mode, the 13 megapixel camera allows you to take good pictures quickly. As for the top webcam, with its 1 megapixel sensor, it provides you with a good 720p resolution video shooting which is great for online video calls.
Design
Measuring 0.7 by 8.2 by 11.4 inches and weighing around 3.1 pounds, the Samsung chromebook Plus V2 is quite portable, but not as lightweight as the Google Pixelbook nor the Asus Chromebook C302 Flip. However, that’s quite a good compromise for all the additional features like the LTE modem and the second camera you get in this 2 in 1 convertible design.
The Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 might have a smaller screen unlike the 13 Inch of many other laptops, but this allows you to use the chromebook with greater ease in tablet mode with a better grip. Speaking of the tablet mode, the Chromebook causes the screen to automatically shift once the hinge is shifted past 180 degrees making for no issues when switching between modes.
Moving onto the inputs, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 offers two USB-C ports, a USB-A port, a micro SD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone and mic jack. While the USB-C ports allow to charge, transfer files as well as connect displays, the USB-A port reduces the need of dongles everytime you need to connect certain devices.
Value
With all these additional features starting from the included LTE modem and pen, a second camera and the amazing convertible design, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 offers you a great amount of functionality and flexibility. Paired with its great combination of specs, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 allows you to use the chrome os and apps like many of the google play games with greater ease and almost no lag. And so, being priced as low as $400 on sales, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 is a great chromebook coming at a great value.
Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 Wrap Up
It may not be as lightweight as the Asus Flip C302. It may not have as strong specs as the Google Pixelbook, or have as large a display as many other chromebooks. But with an impressive battery life, an Intel Core M3 processor, 4GB of RAM and its own share of additional features, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 stands out to be one of the best chromebooks you can get for the price right now.
