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Samsung Chromebook 2 11" & 13"

I had a chance to play with an 11" Samsung 2 Chromebook a while back before they were generally
released. Now I've got on on a trial basis and have been putting it through its paces.
IMG_20140602_194647.jpg
IMG_20140602_194739.jpg
I'm not a great fan of the fake leather look on the top - but otherwise its a good looking machine. Build wise its much better than the old Samsung 303. It feels very sturdy and well constructed - similar to the Dell Chromebook.

The screen is better than the Samsung 303, but not as bright as I would like. In terms of performance, I ran Octane (javascript) and Peacekeeper (HTML5) benchmarks for this device, a Samsung 303, Dell Chromebook and a Pixel. Both the Samsungs are on v36 beta channel as this gives a bit of a boost to ARM based devices. The Dell and the Pixel are on 35 Stable.
Peacekeeper
Octane
Samsung 2 11”
Samsung 2 11”
Samsung 2 Peacekeeper.png
Samsung 2 Octane.png
Samsung 303
Samsung 303
Peacekeeper new 303.png
Octane Samsung 303 new.png
Dell
Dell
Dell Peacekeeper
Dell Octane
Pixel
Pixel
Pixel new peacekeeper.png
Pixel new octane.png

So the Intel based devices are significantly faster. This is very obvious if you use the Samsung 2 alongside the Dell or an Acer C720. The Dell and C720 feel smoother and faster. However, the benchmarks don't tell the whole story. The Samsung 2 does feel a lot faster than the 303 to use - despite not scoring much higher in the benchmarks. So real world performance is better than these figures suggest.  

However, the big issue for me is while an Acer C720 or the Dell can do full screen casting using Screencastify or Snagit without any audio issues at all, the Samsung 2 cannot. It suffers from the same audio dropout that the 303 does. Perhaps some performance optimisations will come along to make full use of those 8 cores - but for now, the Intel devices are clearly on top performance wise.

Given that we are using video feedback and record more video content, this limitation may well be a deal breaker for us. However, a few updates may improve things - we shall see.

Just as an update I've got hold of the 13" model now. Its got a full 1080p screen which is brighter than the 11" and gives you more space to play with. Its possibly makes the icons a bit small for someone with duff eyesight like me - but thats probably just me.

The grey styling is more to my liking and the device fells well built. However, screencasting has the same issue and neither device runs the 3D version of Google Maps - both of which can be done on the Intel based devices.

Benchmarks of the 13" - it fairs a bit better as it is clocked 300Mhz faster.
Peacekeeper
peace 13 Sam 2.png
Octane
Octane 13 Sam 2.png
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