Samsung Chromebook 3 XE500C13-K04US

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Reviews for the Samsung Chromebook 3 XE500C13-K04US

80% Samsung Chromebook 3 Review
Source: Laptop Mag Archive.org version
The Samsung Chromebook 3 is a great little laptop for both school and entertainment. For a sub-$200 device, the Chromebook 3's build quality is surprisingly good, even though it's made of plastic. The textured "metallic black" looks classy enough for any setting. The chassis has a silky-smooth palm rest, as well as a gently rounded lip to keep your wrists comfortable. The subtle texture around the display helps minimize reflections from the glossy bezel.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 11/24/2018
Rating: Total score: 80%

80% Samsung Chromebook 3 Review
Source: Laptop Mag Archive.org version
Everyone likes getting more for less. With the $179 Samsung Chromebook 3, you get the brightest 11.6-inch display in this class, speedy performance with 4GB of RAM, just about 10 hours of battery life and a fun webcam -- all for less money than the Windows-powered $200 HP Stream 11 costs. There are a few downsides, though including weak speakers and awkward key placement. You also have to be willing to live with the limitations of Chrome OS.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 07/13/2017
Rating: Total score: 80%

Comment

Model: While the Chromebooks may seem pointless to most, they can be a great tool for staying constantly connected without shelling out for too much to others. Such is the case with the Samsung Chromebook 3. For a cheap device, its quality is surprisingly good; barring its specs, which isn’t the point of this device although it should be worth a mention. This device is powered by an Intel Celeron N3060, 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of flash storage; no SSDs here but close enough. Looking at its construction and materials the Samsung Chromebook 3 is mainly made out of plastic, although it has some textured metallic black accents, which is considerably pleasant to the eye. Despite its chassis material the Samsung Chromebook 3 is quite rigid and strong enough for normal use without breaking easily. For its size, the IO is surprisingly well. It comes with two USB ports, a full sized HDMI port, an audio jack and an SD card reader, although it should be noted that the USB ports are both a 2.0 and 3.0 variant, respectively. The Samsung Chromebook 3 is quite light at only 1.14 kg although it loses out to its rivals. However, this shouldn’t be an issue as long it doesn’t exceed the 1.5 kg mark for devices of its size. Despite its size the real tour de force of the Samsung Chromebook 3 is its excellent display. It is very much brighter than its competitor's. At 259 nits, it outright beats the Lenovo Ideapad 100S. However, it should be noted that it only has an HD resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels,  but at its size having a higher resolution doesn’t make sense. Because of its excellent color reproduction this tiny Chromebook puts its other competitors to shame for its given price bracket. One thing to note here is color reproduction is not the same as color accuracy. The display was only able to score an sRGB rating of 63 %, while its competitor, the Lenovo Ideapad 100S, achieved 83 %.

In the audio department, the Samsung Chromebook 3 is about decent for its price bracket, but isn’t great. Nevertheless, it is still able to fill a room with sound. Don’t expect the Samsung Chromebook 3 to punch beyond its price bracket, since it does rather poorly when it comes to highs, which causes the sound to be distorted. Next in the firing line is the keyboard and touchpad. While the keyboard is reasonably sized and spaced apart for users with large fingers, it does have a bit of flaws in respect to its backspace and power button. If you are a touch typist you'd better make damned sure that you are occasionally glancing as you’re just a backspace away from accidentally shutting down the device. This might take some time getting used to. Overall the typing experience remains quite comfortable with some kinks. As for the touchpad it is quite large for an 11-inch device, which is great. The touchpad feels smooth enough to glide about without any noticeable resistance although, like its palm rest, it is very sensitive. However, users shouldn’t be choosy since sensitivity is also a good thing. Lastly as a Chromebook battery life should be mentioned. The Samsung Chromebook 3 was able to clock in at 9 hours and 44 minutes in the Wi-Fi test, which is respectable. If you are the kind of person who likes to get more for less you can’t really go wrong with the Samsung Chromebook 3.

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam

Intel HD Graphics 400 (Braswell): Integrated graphics card in the Intel Braswell series (2016 Celeron) processors. Based on the Broadwell architecture (Intel Gen8) supporting DirectX 11.2. Depending on the processor offers 12 shader cores (EU) and different clock speeds.

Non demanding games should be playable with these graphics cards.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

N3060: SoC with an integrated dual core Atom processor clocked at 1.6 - 2.48 GHz, an Intel HD Graphics GPU and a dual channel DDR3L-1600 memory controller.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

11.60":

This is a standard display format for tablet computers or small convertibles. You see more on the screen than on a smartphone but you can't use big resolutions well. On the other hand, mobility is not a problem.

Samsung: Samsung Group is the largest South Korean conglomerate and was founded in 1938. Samsung Group employed 489,000 people in 2014 and is one of the world's largest companies in terms of revenue and market strength. The name Samsung means "Three Stars" in Korean and represents the three sons of the company's founder. The company was founded in 1938 as a grocery store. With its subsidiary Samsung Electronics, founded in 1969, Samsung took up the production of electrotechnical items, focusing on consumer electronics and household appliances at an early stage. Other branches in which the large corporation is active include mechanical engineering, automobiles (Hyundai), insurance, wholesale, real estate and leisure. Samsung manufactures a wide range of electronic products, including smartphones, televisions, home appliances and semiconductors. The company's Galaxy line of smartphones is one of the most popular in the world. Samsung is also a major player in the semiconductor industry, making memory chips and processors for many other electronics manufacturers.

80%: This rating is not earth-shattering. This rating must actually be seen as average, since there are about as many devices with worse ratings as better ones. A purchase recommendation can only be seen with a lot of goodwill, unless it is about websites that generally rate strictly.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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