Samsung’s new Chromebooks seriously undercut the competition on price
Samsung has launched a new line of low-cost laptops this week, debuting the Chromebook 4 and Chromebook 4+ on Monday.
The Chromebook 4 is on sale in the US now with pricing starting at $229.99. The Chrombook 4+ is a little pricier, carrying a $299.99 RRP. But for your extra dosh, you get slightly better specs. The basic Plus model includes 32GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. It also boasts two USB-C ports, voice control, a 10-hour battery life and built-in virus protection. The feature that sets this Chromebook apart from others is arguably its 15.6-inch full HD screen.
The changes to the screen directly address some of the issues we had with the series 3 Samsung Chromebook. Plenty of advances have been made on the regular Chromebook 4 too, with it featuring a 11.6-inch HD Ready screen and 2GB of RAM.
Related: Acer Chromebook 514 Review
Other Chromebooks, though sometimes cheaper, have always had lower res screens. By comparison: a £229.00 HP AMD A4 Chromebook is in the same price bracket as the Samsung Chromebook 4, but it’s got a smaller (14″) display and a resolution of 1366 x 768, compared to the new Samsung device’s 1920 x 1080 resolution.
The Acer Chromebook 514 won our ‘best budget laptop’ award for 2019 but comes in at £370, a lot more than the basic Samsung. While it pips the Samsung on some of the specs, we picked out the display as a drawback of the Acer and it will be interesting to see how the Samsung’s compares.
Related: Samsung Series 3 Chromebook Review
Alanna Cotton, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Samsung Electronics America, listed the aggressive pricing as a key step in Samsung’s ongoing bid to grow its Chromebook business.
“The Samsung Chromebook 4 line is a testament to what can be achieved when you’re focused on pushing the boundaries of convenience and value for computers,” said Cotten.
“Given the tremendous response to the Chromebook 3, we worked hard to maintain the features our consumers loved, while still making great strides in design, performance, and user experience with the Chromebook 4 and 4+.”
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
