First, what are the samsung chromebook 4 reviews?
The Chromebook 4 Plus is a decent laptop for those on a tight budget who need to complete basic tasks, but you get what you pay for. For younger students, it’s a good starter device, but for those with more money to spend, the poor screen viewing angles and average battery life might be a deal-breaker.
Read on for a detailed explanation of the Samsung Chromebook 4 review that I will be illustrating in this article.
Table of Contents
Overview Of Samsung Chromebook 4
PROS
- Cheap and compact
- Comfortable keyboard
- Respectable battery life
CONS
- Dull, fuzzy display
- Poky performance
- Only one USB-C and one USB-A port
When compared to the Samsung Chromebook 4+ that we recently reviewed, the Samsung Chromebook 4 without the plus sign is actually minus 4—minus 4 inches. Instead of a large 15.6-inch panel in the style of a desktop replacement, it is a small Chromebook with an 11.6-inch screen. Although both are basic economic systems, this Chromebook (starts at $229.99; $242.51 as tested) performs a little better than its larger sibling. Additionally to being lighter and having a longer battery life, the smaller size makes the poor screen quality less obvious. If you’re a student or simply on a tight budget, it’s not a delight but a respectable grab-and-go laptop.
Feature Review Of Samsung Chromebook 4
Resolution
The Samsung 4 is only HD, not full HD, as was already mentioned. This indicates that the Chromebook 4 has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels rather than 1920 x 1080 pixels. It won’t have any trouble playing 720p videos on YouTube, but it won’t be able to render 1080p videos correctly. Younger users won’t have any issues with the low resolution, but older users who are used to a clearer screen might find it to be detrimental to the overall experience.
Battery Life
The Samsung Chromebook 4 excels in many areas, including battery life, which is even better than that of the Samsung Chromebook Plus. According to Samsung, the internal battery can run for up to 12.5 hours on a single charge. This device has a fantastic battery life that is an hour and a half longer than the Google Pixelbook Go, which costs more. It completes this performance using just a single 5070 mAh 2-cell lithium-ion battery. Although this Chromebook lacks a fast-charging feature, the battery life should easily last throughout an average school day. A great alternative may also be one of the other Samsung models. Check out our review of the Samsung Chromebook 3 to learn more.
Weight & Durability
With a weight of 2.6 lbs, the Chromebook 4 is a respectably lightweight computer. Although it’s not the lightest model on the market, your child shouldn’t have any trouble carrying this laptop around with them as they go about their daily lives. One of the best Chromebooks available in terms of durability is this one. The 4 has undergone testing and is rated for military-grade resistance to drops, vibrations, temperatures, dust, and humidity. You might want to rethink giving your kid a laptop if they manage to break this one!
Inputs
Although this device has few connection options, your child should be able to use them. There is only one USB 3.0 port, one USB C port, one microSD card slot, and one 3.5mm headphone jack available on this Chromebook. While having more ports would have been nice, as long as you buy the right adapter, the USB C port will support any extra connections your child may need (like an HDMI or DisplayPort connection). Your child will be pleased to learn that the Chromebook 4 has Bluetooth capabilities if they prefer wireless headphones.
Price And Configurations
Both sizes are available for the Samsung Chromebook 4: the $229 11.6-inch model we tested and the $259 15.6-inch The larger and more angular Chromebook 4+. You can upgrade the internal memory and storage from 32GB and 4GB to 64GB and 6GB for $50.
Design
The Samsung Chromebook 4 looks precisely as you would anticipate given its low price. The Samsung Chromebook 4 resembles many of the MacBook knockoffs we’ve seen over the years thanks to its curved edges and silver color. Although the laptop’s plastic body is cheaply made, its aluminum top feels a little nicer than I had anticipated. Although the large display bezels on this machine give it an even more worn-out appearance, I don’t think you should expect more from a laptop that costs less than $250.
The Samsung Chromebook 4 weighs 2.6 pounds and measures 0.7 inches thick, making it slightly thicker and lighter than the Lenovo Chromebook C330 (2.82 pounds, 11.4 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches). It is also slightly heavier than the Samsung Chromebook 3 (2.5 pounds, 0.7 inches). The heavier and slightly thicker Dell Chromebook 3189 weighs 3.2 pounds and measures 0.8 inches.
On the left side of the Chromebook 4, next to the microSD card reader and headphone jack, is a USB-C port that you’ll need to power the device.
On the right side of the Chromebook, a USB 3.0 port and a security lock slot are both present. Oddly, the USB 3.0 port is the only one without a bottom edge.
The Chromebook 4 reportedly passed a number of MIL-STD 810G durability tests, including ones for transit drops, vibration, freezing temperatures, high temperatures, humidity, blasts of dust, and low pressure, according to Samsung. We can’t wait to see how it survives our Chromebook drop test.
Display
The Chromebook 4’s display is our main criticism of it. First off, this Chromebook lacks a touch screen, which is glaring given how commonplace Android app support is on Chrome OS laptops today. The Samsung Chromebook 3 didn’t have a touch screen either, but the Lenovo Chromebook C330 and Dell Chromebook 3189 do have them.
Let’s discuss brightness next. When I first opened the Samsung Chromebook 4, I tried to increase the brightness setting but was unable to do so. watching the Jumanji movie trailer The white cast of the panel in The Next Level, including Kevin Hart’s red bandana around his neck, the green plants that surrounded the characters, and the brown tones of the snake that bit Jack Black in the head, masked all the tones.
The Chromebook 4 scored a meager 64% of the sRGB gamut when we scanned it with our colorimeter, nearly tying the Samsung Chromebook 3’s score (63%). That’s lower than the 75% rating for the Lenovo Chromebook C330 and the 81% rating for the Dell Chromebook 3189, as well as the 83% average for Chromebooks.
The Chromebook 4 received a low brightness rating from our light meter of 210 nits, which is less than the 216 nits Chromebook average. Brighter laptops include the Samsung Chromebook 3 (259 nits), Lenovo Chromebook C330 (250 nits), and Dell Chromebook 3189 (222 nits). On the Chromebook 4, colors naturally became noticeably darker when viewed from a 30 degree angle to the left or right.
Keyboard And Touchpad
The typing experience on the Chromebook 4 is generally good. Although the keys felt a little shallow, they are by no means bad. On my first attempt, I completed the 10FastFingers test at 71 words per minute, which isn’t too far below my 80-wpm average.
Similar to that, the touchpad on the Chromebook 4 is passable and does an adequate job of tracking taps and scrolling. Similarly fluid were pinching and pulling gestures.
Audio
The Samsung Chromebook 4’s sound was barely passable when playing Run the Jewels’ “Legend Has It” in a modestly sized room. The vocals of Killer Mike and El-P were audible enough, the instrumentals were fairly accurate, and what about the bass? On kick, it’s not completely empty, but there was some. I’d suggest going with a pair of headphones or dedicated computer speakers if you plan on picking up the Chromebook 4.
Performance
When compared to its cost, the Samsung Chromebook 4’s Intel Celeron 3000N processor and 4GB of RAM offer respectable multitasking power. I divided my screen into 12 Chrome tabs, including ones for Giphy, a Google document, and a 1080p YouTube video (Nick Offerman’s Hot Ones episode is delightful), and I only experienced lag when I returned to the Giphy page. The Google doc that contained my performance evaluations of the system continued to function.
The Chromebook 4 was able to run Asphalt 9 with playable frame rates when I tried it out. There was some tearing and clipping, but it rarely caused me to veer off the road.
The Samsung Chromebook 4 achieved a score of 3,613, which was higher than the Lenovo Chromebook C330’s 2,934 (MediaTek MT8173C CPU, 4GB of RAM), but lower than the category average of 5,128.
The Chromebook 4 scored a 49.03 on the JetStream 2 benchmark, which measures the performance of JavaScript and WebAssembly. This result is higher than the Lenovo Chromebook C330’s 31.32 score and lower than the category average of 66.22.
The WebGL Aquarium simulation ran smoothly on the Chromebook 4, rendering 500 fish at a frame rate of 60 frames per second. 500 Fish only ran at 25 frames per second on the Lenovo Chromebook C330.
What’s Good: Samsung Chromebook 4
An elegant design can be found on the Samsung Chromebook 4 Plus. Despite being on a tight budget, the device doesn’t feel or look that way. Although the overall construction is made of polycarbonate, the metal lid gives the laptop a more upscale appearance. The trackpad is big enough, and all of the touchpoints appear to be sturdy.
When you consider the available memory, the 4GB/32GB version we tested didn’t feel underpowered. This one has an Intel Celeron N4000 processor. Although it is a low-tier chip with less power than the Core i3 and i5 found in many Chromebooks today, it is adequate, especially given the price of this Chromebook. Particularly with a USB-A 3.0 port included, the port selection isn’t bad.
In terms of comfort, the Samsung Chromebook 4 Plus is superior to the majority of similarly priced laptops.
Fortunately, Chrome OS manages web browsing in Google Chrome better than a Windows machine with comparable specifications would. The Samsung Chromebook 4 Plus fared reasonably well in my testing as a web browsing machine. I needed to have about 10–12 Google Chrome tabs open, along with Gmail, YouTube, WordPress, Google Docs, and a few other websites, to complete my rather light workload. The performance was adequate to keep me from experiencing any major setbacks for the rest of the day.
It has a nice keyboard as well. The keys have an angled depression that makes them comfortable to type on and a textured finish. Cheap laptops frequently skimp on their keyboards, but the Chromebook 4 Plus stands out in this regard, especially given its price.
What’s Not So Good: Samsung Chromebook 4
A lot of the advantages of this Chromebook that I’ve listed above are justified in light of the price, particularly the performance. It’s respectable for a cheap Chromebook like this, which is likely to be used as a web browsing tool for personal or academic use, but you can’t expect to accomplish much work with it.
I attempted to strain the Chromebook 4 Plus to its breaking point by playing multiple YouTube videos at once, but it started to choke and lose frames. The low RAM and low-end processor reached their limits, which slowed down the overall experience. This machine’s limitations became apparent when basic multitasking was increased.
Battery life on the Samsung Chromebook 4 Plus is also below average. During my testing, I slept for about eight to nine hours. Although it’s far from the worst battery life possible for a laptop, it falls short of the 12-hour battery life many Chromebooks have demonstrated.
Final Thoughts
The Samsung Chromebook 4 review served as the post’s main focus.
The Samsung Chromebook 4 is a fantastic choice if you’re looking for the best Chromebook for children. This budget-friendly laptop has a 11.6″ HD screen, military-grade durability, and a battery life of up to 12.5 hours. Even though this Chromebook isn’t going to win any prizes for storage or gaming performance (or the best Chromebook award), its specs and low price make it the ideal first computer for any kid!
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