Samsung Chromebook 3, 11.6", 4GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, Chromebook (XE500C13)

Now first off, this is not a powerbook, or any high end high power notebook computer. We have pretty basic internet and computing needs. We currently own 3 ipads, 2 iphones, ad 2 ipod touches. These and their predecessors have mostly served 100% of our internet needs over the last 5 or years. However our school aged children have started having some issues with homework. Our school district uses iready (funny that it uses a moniker similar to Apple), and iready does not work on any of our i-devices. It works with google chrome. Now there may be some clunky backdoor way to get it to work through a chrome page on an i-device, but that is just going to complicate the situation. I figured if Chrome is the preferred operating system, then a Chromebook would be ideal. Doing some math homework, and some reading homework, on a notebook is not supercomputer stuff, so these budget Chrome books really looked to fit the bill. Plus we prefer using ipads for most internet stuff anyway, so I did not want to buy a high end machine. I found a great deal on a brand new Samsung Chromebook (I know Apple fan, buying Samsung. I do own Samsung stuff:Robot vac, refrigerator, camera, on and on), and this thing is perfect for its intended task. Oh, and it is fun to mess around with on other stuff as well. I got the 4 GB ram version so I could do more stuff, more quickly. I opened several windows, and messed around on the internet for a while and I could not lag it down. Now we do have Spectrum 100/100 internet, and I get about 113 mbps via my Orbi wifi network, so my internet is very fast. My kids are finally able to do all their iready homework, including extra math. The results are showing in test scores. I wish I had gotten this thing last year, they would be way ahead of the game. We kept hearing iready will be apple ready soon. 18 months later, I gave up and ordered this Chromebook, and it is worth every penny. This is the perfect setup for students. It is larger than an ipad, but small enough to be easily portable. It is fast enough to handle most any task you throw at it. I cant ask for more! I'll update if the honeymoon period wears off.

For background, I consider myself a power user when it comes to computers. I do a lot of 3-D CAD and CAM, a little bit of gaming (driving sims) and I can write a bit of code when I need to. I thought these Chromebooks were silly when they came out because they can't do all that other stuff I do on my PC. But I found for what I do most of my free time on the computer, recreation web browsing and video watching, this is an amazing machine. I received one of these as a gift a couple years ago and was so happy with it I purchased another one for my mother this christmas. It's not a Chromebook you're going to load Linux on and do some serious hacking, but for just browsing the web and watching video, e-mail, Docs, etc, you can't really beat this thing. It boots in seconds, has no problem with keeping a bunch of tabs open, plays video just fine. Not to mention it's durable as heck, I work in a machine shop at a materials testing company so there's all kinds of nasty materials and vapors floating around and computers do not live long. But the fanless design is really great and I haven't had any issues taking mine to work and using it for reference or whatever. Only complaint is the power button is kind of funky, I'm not really sure how it's supposed to work after using it every day for a year or two. Whenever I have to turn it on after a dead battery or something I have to do a dance of pressing and holding the button and eventually it decides to turn on. Another positive though is the battery is excellent. After letting it die a couple times a month, leaving it on AC for months on end, and using it all the time the battery life still hasn't degraded noticibly and it charges very quickly. Great product for the person who doesn't want to do anything too heavy, blows a full laptop out of the water for browsing.

This is an amazing little device. I have not had a PC in my home pretty much since smartphones were invented. I thought I could get by with just the phone and I did, but man this is much easier:) I occasionally need to deal with work stuff after-hours and usually I'm responding to emails or calling someone at the office and telling them what to do. This is perfect for quickly logging in to Citix workspace, fixing whatever needs to be fixed and going back to whatever I was doing. It's faster than the phone and working from home is no big deal now. It seems durable, there isn't much that could break. The screen is a normal laptop screen, it probably cant take a direct hit. The rest of the unit is so light it doesn't seem like it would get damaged if you dropped it. I was a little surprised and disappointed that the charging port is one of those little round plugs. I've always had bad luck with those. I think the last 3 laptops I have owned died because that port went bad and I couldn't charge them. This one seems snug and solid, I guess we'll see. Other than the Citrix work space I have been using browser based stuff and it works great. Noticeably snappy-fast. I fully charged it right out of the box 3 days ago and it's still at 38%. I guess i have used it about 8 hours so the 11 hours battery life claim should be right on.

Compact design, good battery life. good screen size, good keyboard and mediocre speakers. For the price you can't go wrong. For those who don't know a Chromebook uses the chrome browser instead of dedicated apps. However that just changed with the newest update. You can now download and install apps from the playstore! This is a game changer for Chromebooks, which were previously held back by only using the chrome browsers (a few app exceptions). That being said, Chromebooks are still predominately web browsing laptops, as some apps from the playstore may not work correctly or be buggy. If you are unsure if a Chrombook is right for you, do this test for yourself. Avoid any apps on your pc / laptop, open the chrome browser and run everything through chrome for about a week. If you find you can complete 90% or more of tasks then pull the trigger and get one! You won't regret it. If however you rely on incompatible apps, or just find sticking to chrome isn't for you then you may want to avoid a Chromebook. Cont. Samsung is an overall great brand and you will enjoy this product. Be aware, these usually aren't very powerful so you may run into bouts of lag, crashes, and in compatibility. Videos tend to load slowly, but once buffered offer a seamless experience. My model has 4 gigs of ram. I think once these start shipping with a tad bit more ram it will be in that perfect sweet spot of saving money without too much sacrifice.

After much research and debating which Chromebook was right for me, I decided on the Samsung Chromebook 3 and here are my reasons why: Price - I saw this on sale at my local walmart which prompted me to look into getting a Chromebook in the first place. I am a regular Mac user (Macbook Air 13") but wanted something cheap enough I wouldnt have to worry about losing or breaking it. Battery life, speed, display and software were my additional top reasons why I went for the Samsung. The battery life is incredible and literally lasts all day, not to mention it charges to 100% in about an hour and a half. The performance of this thing honestly blows me away! This device is mainly used for web browsing and pages load quickly, animations are swift and not laggy. This thing reminds me of my Macbook Air in regards to web browsing and light tasks. The display is crisp and bright, setup literally takes under a minute, its fast, cheap, charges fast, lasts forever. The trackpad literally feels just like my Macbook Air's and that makes me so happy. I don't feel like I have to relearn how to use this trackpad; it feels right at home in comparason the the Air.I also love how if there isnt any WiFi near by I can use my hotspot from my iphone. Buy this thing if you want a cheap, snappy web browser on-the-go. I am beyond impressed with this little machine, I would absolutly buy this again!

Our high school boys are required to have a Chromebook for school. I had purchased two of the ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02 and it was the worst experience I had ever had with an with an electronic device. Both of the ASUS Chromebooks had to be sent for repair three times! Literally when we got the ASUS Chromebook back form the repair center it would stop working the day we got them back. Right now as we speak one of the ASUS Chromebooks is back at their repair center in Texas and we are awaiting its arrival as my son loses points in class for not having the Chromebook. As for the other ASUS Chromebook they finally gave me my money back after the third repair. I did some research and chose the Samsung Chromebook. Immediately my son was able to see the difference between both brands and it is working like a champion! The journey began in December of 2019 and now we just need to see what is going to happen with the other ASUS as it is now in repair for the 3rd time as well. I am hoping they give me my money back and I can purchase another Samsung Chromebook. You will not be disappointed with Samsung! They are a true contender in the Chromebook game. The aesthetic is top notch and its performance is second to none. Battery life is long and everything about it is perfect! No complains here! Thank you Samsung!

This thing is great! I bought the 4GB model which will hopefully last me a few years but it's nice and snappy now. The 16GB of SSD storage is perfect as I use it for school and the biggest file I might be storing would be a picture. It integrates perfectly with my google account! This thing boots up super quick and it sleek and beautiful. It's lightweight, has a long battery life and although it's smaller than a standard laptop, the keyboard is easy to use. Google and partners have done great with Chromebooks and have plenty of features to accommodate. There are multiple physical keyboard shortcuts running along the top of the keyboard to quickly adjust settings. There are also several different hotkey menus which are accessed by keyboard combinations. The only thing I'm bummed about is the lack of Google Play. I'm still giving this thing 5 stars because the Play store should be released soon as it is already available on other Chromebooks. I would highly recommend this to anyone, but especially to someone wanting something that is affordable, easy to use and just a bit more than a tablet. UPDATE 7/21/17 - STILL ROCKS I've gotten more use out of this thing than I first envisioned. I have a Samsung Galaxy S8 and can easily access my Google Drive files that I create and edit on the Chromebook via Goggle Docs. It's still nice and snappy; I have Amazon Prime music running in one tab, working on a Google Docs file in another and browsing Reddit or searching something on a third tab and there's no hesitation. I've enabled the beta build and enjoy several Google Play Store applications. I added an SD card which has expanded on the 16GB of storage. I'm getting very used to the multiple finger shortcuts on the touch pad when navigating Chrome. For instance: putting 2 finger tips on the touch pad and swiping left or right will act as the forward or back button. Also, "clicking" on a link by using 2 fingers and pressing on the touch pad, you bring up a menu to open in a new tab among other things. I watch Netflix and HBO Now and can definitely notice the lack of 1080p but it's a "get what you pay for" situation, and I knew that going in. This thing is still fantastic for what it is. If you want a proper laptop then buy one -- this is a Chromebook. I'll be back to give another update in a few months.

I purchased this chromebook for small little things, mostly to do some writing while traveling. A chromebook appealed to me because a lot of the work I do is linked through Google. I spent a decent amount of time researching, and I am sorry to say that I pegged this one wrong. For starters the battery life is absolutely atrocious. I gave it a full charge right out of the box without ever turning it on, just like it says in the manual, and used it maybe twice. The big issue wasn't the amount of battery life while using it per say, but I learned that when you power it off, it doesn't truly shut off. It concerned me at first when I noticed that it turns on right away every single time you open the lid. It doesn't power off, it hibernates. So you are draining battery life even when it is sitting on your shelf "powered off". If that wasn't bad enough, even if you change it in the power settings to not sleep when the lid is closed, you cannot control when the screen shuts off. If the screen shuts off, yes, you guessed it, it hibernates again.... Really terrible if you are, I don't know, say, in the middle of uploading some pictures from an SD card, and are not constantly hovering around the device to keep hitting a key or moving the track pad to keep the screen on. On that note, the device is really really really slow. I am a huge fan of samsung products, but this one is just terrible. My Galaxy S7 is faster than this thing is. That's pretty despicable. In terms of the physical device itself. I should have thought to get a backlit keyboard. O boy was that dumb of me. And speaking of keyboards, it looks like they crammed in as much as they could into such a small space and went: "What do you think people will use the most?" and then cut those keys. Besides your basic ASDF and 1-9 keys there is nothing else really on the keyboard. And the Caps Lock is replaced by a search key. Don't think I needed it, but then again, I didn't do as good of a job researching this time around. Do yourself a favor and spend slightly more money for something good.