Samsung’s latest premium Chromebook is a convertible tablet that weighs about 2.9 pounds, features 12.2 inch full HD touchscreen display, and is powered by a 6 watt Intel Celeron 3965Y Kaby Lake-Y processor.

It’s called the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2, and as the name suggests, it’s an update to an existing device… but it’s a bit tough to decide if this is an upgrade or more of a lateral move.

The Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 will be available at Best Buy for $500 starting June 24th.

The new Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 features a 12.2 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel, 300-nit touchscreen display, digital pen support, a 39 Wh battery, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage.

It has two USB Type-C ports, a USB 3.0 Type-A port, a microSD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The computer has stereo speakers, a 1MP front camera, and a 13MP “rear” camera above the keyboard (which is the back of the device when it’s folded up for use in tablet mode.

The computer has an aluminum alloy and plastic chassis and the whole thing measures about 11.3″ x 8.2″ x 0.7″ inches and weighs about 2.9 pounds.

By comparison, the original Chromebook Plus was one of two Chrome OS devices Samsung released in early 2017. The other was the Chromebook Pro.

Both models had the same physical design, including a 12.3 inch, 2400 x 1600 pixel display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, touchscreen and pen support, a 360-degree hinge, and a chassis that measured less than 0.6 inches thick and which weighed less than 2.4 pounds. The key difference is that the Pro had an Intel Core M3-6Y30 Skylake processor, while the 1st-gen Plus had a Rockchip OP1 (RK3399) ARM-based processor.

The ARM-powered model had a starting price of $449, while the Intel version sold for $549 and up at launch.

So is the new Plus an upgrade? Maybe. While it does have an Intel Celeron processor based on 7th-gen Intel Core technology, it also has a lower-resolution display, a thicker and heavier design, and otherwise similar specs. It does have a full-sized USB port though, which isn’t available on last year’s models.

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9 replies on “Samsung launches Chromebook Plus V2 (convertible with Kaby Lake Y)”

  1. Just got the V1 plus used. The screen is the selling point here. Absolutely beautiful. 3:2 is where it’s at for these if you ask me.

    And BTW, 1920×1080 is 16:9, not 16:10, which would be 1920×1200.

    1. Yeah, Samsung’s website says 1920 x 1080, but also says 16:10. I found that weird too, but apparently that didn’t stop me from putting it in the article. Upon second thought though, in just gonna take that out.

      1. So, I just got the Chromebook Plus from the Ebay Best Buy store sale last week for $345, which I considered a good deal. Not sure whether to return it now with the announcement of the V2. Should I worry about the ARM processor for the long haul and the move toward Intel? I have another week to return it. Looking for some advice and suggestions. I use it for web browsing, general tasks and some video watching. Not a gamer.

  2. What a screen downgrade. I still have my Plus V1 and am in the process of getting rid of it since I purchased a Pixelbook. I loved the V1 especially the screen. The RockChip wasn’t that great, admittedly, but I barely play Android games and most of the none note-taking apps I used worked just fine with no lag.

  3. The device is what it is, naming it a V2 of something which is a fully different animal is just dumb though. I wonder how many college grads they are paying how much money to sit in a meeting and decide on such a fully foolish way to confuse their customers.
    I know, let’s market a mayo but we’ll call it ‘ketchup V2’, shouldn’t be any problems.

  4. It is not an upgrade but more of a new device–16:10 and keyboard–they are going for more of traditional 2 and 1 laptop rather than something that could be more of a tablet hybrid. The cheaper screen is unfortunate but if there is a better keyboard, battery life and speakers, there is still a market for this. And if you must have that 12.3 screen there is always the hp chromebook x2. This is more like the asus 302 flipbook but with pen support. I will be curious to see how it gets reviewed. I did have the chromebook plus and while I did not think the arm processor was slow for what I used it for, I never could get the hang of the keyboard, and the speakers were awful. That screen was awesome though.

  5. This thing is a disaster.

    I could make so many comments as to why but it isn’t even worth my time.

    I have already forgotten about this device.

Comments are closed.