My spur-of-the-moment Chromebook surprise

If you’ve read this column for long, you probably know that when it comes to tech purchases — and tech decisions in general, really — I’m typically not one to be hasty.

It’s practically in my blood at this point. I’ve spent so many years studying, researching, and obsessing over this stuff (both personally and professionally!) that it’s tough for me to commit to buying a new product or even using a new service without really digging in and thinking through the implications.

Plain and simple, I like to feel confident that whatever I’m using is not only “the best” in some broad, general sense — but is, critically, the best for me and my specific work purposes. It’s the same thing I encourage everyone else to do, too, when considering new tech twists and turns (whether via my own recommendations or any other source).

That’s why I really surprised myself when I happened to be walking through a Best Buy the other day and ended up walking out with a brand spankin’ new $600 laptop — a Chromebook, to be specific.

But Goog almighty, am I ever glad I made that uncharacteristically fast decision.

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Google’s Pixelbook and my ChromeOS journey

Before I get to the specific Chromebook I purchased and why, let me back up real quick for a pertinent bit of perspective.

I’ve been both using and writing about Google’s ChromeOS platform since its very earliest days — back before the devices around it were even called Chromebooks.

I’ve personally owned and relied on Google’s precious Pixelbook since that device’s debut in 2017. While I’d had plenty of other ChromeOS vessels before it, the Pixelbook was the first Chromebook I truly fell for — thanks to its rare combination of power, practicality, and design. The device’s sleek and minimalist form and in-a-league-of-its-own keyboard made it a singular treat to use and served as the perfect match for the more-than-capable computing power inside.

For years, the Pixelbook left me with little to ask for. But despite the fact that the laptop is still technically being supported with regular ongoing ChromeOS updates — and will continue to be all the way through August of 2027 (!) — the system has more recently started showing its age.

I’ve been thinking about a replacement for it for a while now. But while I’ve tried out tons of perfectly capable and decent Chromebook options, I’ve yet to find one that really speaks to me and stands out in the same way.

The reason, I’ve come to realize, is that more and more, current Chromebooks are mostly about being good enough. For most people and purposes — whether businesses, schools, or just budget-conscious individual device-buyers — that’s perfectly fine and probably makes a lot of sense. But for those of us who place an emphasis on design and device quality both inside and out, the options have been a little lackluster lately. And so despite my motivation to find a suitable replacement for my rapidly aging Pixelbook, nothing I’ve considered had quite fit the bill.

At least, that was the case — until an alluring new digital vixen caught my eye. And, as you’ve no doubt realized by now, it didn’t take long to realize it was the one I’d been waiting for.

ChromeOS, take 2: My next Chromebook chapter

I’d been intrigued by the new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus since I first heard about it ahead of its arrival this autumn. But it wasn’t until I spent several minutes with the system in a physical store that I realized just how special it actually was — and how much it filled the void I’d been seeking to satisfy since my poor Pixelbook started growing a little rusty.

So, first things first: The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus is far less clunky than its awkward name suggests. It’s sleek and almost shockingly minimal in its design — with an eye-catchingly subtle blue casing and an understated Samsung logo on the outer cover but no branding of any sort on the inside. (One of my biggest tech-nerd pet peeves is paying hundreds of dollars for a device and then being forced to stare at an ugly company tramp stamp right atop or beneath the screen for every second that I use the damn thing.)

Samsung

That alluring appearance is definitely what drew me in. But the way the Chromebook feels is what ultimately won me over.

No two ways around it: The Galaxy Chromebook Plus is a skinny fella. This thing is thin in a way I haven’t experienced on a laptop since — well, the Pixelbook.

JR Raphael, IDG

In a sharp-as-can-be contrast to the typical utilitarian Chromebook of our current moment, the Galaxy Chromebook Plus feels light and luxurious. It’s a body that makes you want to carry and, dare I say, caress it constantly. All over-the-top tenderness aside, it’s a premium computer through and through and the closest thing I’ve seen to a spiritual successor to Google’s fading Pixelbook star.

Now, do all those surface-level superficialities matter, you might ask? As with so many things in the tech decision-making matrix, the answer depends entirely on you. Some people are perfectly satisfied with a utilitarian tech approach and knowing that their laptop has what counts on the inside — and hey, that’s okay! But some of us also appreciate the design and form and how those factors affect the overall experience of carrying and using a device.

And my goodness, when it comes to the Galaxy Chromebook Plus, is that experience ever exceptional.

The sweet surprise of Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook Plus

No exaggeration: Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook Plus is just a delight to work on — a true treat that makes you want to carry it everywhere and never put it down. The display is an AMOLED panel, which results in richer colors and deeper blacks than most standard laptop screens, and the 15.6″ display size is such a pleasant change after years of squeezing into smaller laptop dimensions. That arrangement also includes the side perk of a larger, less cramped keyboard, complete with a number pad at the right.

Samsung

All in all, the Galaxy Chromebook feels lavishly spacious, and the slim frame keeps it from seeming at all bulky or even the least bit unwieldy. The whole “thin” race can slide into silly territory quickly, but I’m tellin’ ya: This laptop’s slimness is such a sweet surprise and something you really do appreciate. It’s an absolute pleasure to use — and, provided your budget can support it, adding that pinch of pleasure into your workday can make a world of difference when it comes both quality of life and productivity.

I’m also happy to share that the qualities of the Galaxy Chromebook that gave me pause early on haven’t proven to be particularly problematic in real-world use: 

• I worried that the system’s 8GB of RAM might be insufficient for my multitasking-heavy, resource-intensive style of work — but so far, at least, the computer’s been quite capable of handling anything I throw at it.
• As reported, Samsung has been permitted to preload some of its own apps on the Chromebook — something that hasn’t traditionally been permitted in the ChromeOS ecosystem — but outside of the presence of a single preinstalled Samsung Notes app (which, thankfully, can easily be removed), there hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary or concerning.
• And while Google’s move to replace the signature ChromeOS Launcher/Search/Everything key with a weird new Gemini-connected “Quick Insert” key still strikes me as misguided, it’s an easy enough change to work around for anyone in the know. In fact, a quick tweak of the system keyboard settings is all it takes to restore the Launcher key to its proper position and to bump “Quick Insert” down to the keyboard’s bottom row, in a newly added “G” key that seems like a much more sensible spot.

JR Raphael, IDG

After growing accustomed to having a convertible Chromebook that sports a touchscreen, I’d also been hesitant to go with a model that’s more of a traditional clamshell form without any touch capabilities. But over the past year or so, I’ve added a Pixel Tablet into my personal tech lineup and started relying on that for more casual video-watching and other such “lean-back”-style activity. This has pushed the laptop back into a more narrowly defined role of active keyboard-involving work for me, and consequently, I don’t find myself missing the touch and converting factors much at all — certainly nowhere near what I would’ve expected if I’d considered this same shift a couple years ago.

The only big question lingering in my mind now is what’s in the cards for ChromeOS from a longer-term perspective. As you may have read, rumors suggest Google could be looking at essentially replacing ChromeOS with Android — yes, again — or at least replacing it with some future version of Android that’s designed to provide a similar sort of desktop-friendly computing experience.

While I have my doubts about how effectively Google can pull such a feat off, I’m cautiously optimistic that a ChromeOS-Android combo could actually be a good thing at this point — and, potentially, could even be less of a drastic front-facing change than most of us might expect.

But regardless, if such a move ends up happening — and to be clear, that’s still a hefty “if” at this point — it’s almost certainly still years away. For now, I very much enjoy using ChromeOS in its current form. This laptop is guaranteed ongoing operating system updates through June of 2032, at a minimum, and one has to imagine that if Google were to start bringing a future Android version into Chromebooks down the line, it’d phase that change in gradually and avoid or at least make optional any sort of dramatic switch in how existing devices operate.

Long story short, I’m not too worried about what ChromeOS (or whatever we’re calling it) might look like a decade from now. If it stays the current course — hey, cool. I’m content! If an enticing option comes along to shift over to a more Chromebook-like version of Android in the future, maybe that could be interesting, too. For the moment, though, I couldn’t be happier with the laptop I’m using.

And, remember: This is coming from someone who had been stubbornly hanging onto his aging Pixelbook and refusing to accept any of the alternatives that had come along in the years since.

For now, this Chromebook is the one to beat. And this is the first time in a long time I’ve felt fully confident saying that — confident enough to pick up this system myself and happily head home with it the very same day I touched it for the first time.

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