Samsung’s Chromebook Pro gives me hope in Chrome OS—thanks to Android’s help

The market is about to be flooded with a new wave of Chromebooks, all focused on Android apps. Chrome OS and Android were always meant for different devices, but now OEMs are making Chromebooks that can deliver the best of both worlds. Google's Play Store has already come to some older Chromebooks, but Samsung's new Chromebook Plus and Pro models are the first that explicitly play up their Android compatibility.

These devices follow in the footsteps of the Asus Chromebook Flip, which was the first Chrome OS two-in-one back when the operating system didn't really lend itself to that type of hardware design. Now a convertible design is apt to run Chrome OS and Android apps on the same system, but this union of operating systems isn't perfect yet.

Look and feel

As one of the first Chrome OS devices built with Android apps in mind, Samsung's Chromebook Pro is a true two-in-one rather than a laptop. (We were given a pre-production unit to review, but the hardware design isn't going to change by the time it hits shelves.) The device has an aluminum chassis with a satin finish, rounded edges, and curved corners, making it look almost like two tablets joined together via oval-shaped hinges that let the lid flip backwards to lie flat against the bottom of the chassis.

Specs at a glance: Samsung Chromebook Pro
Screen	2400×1600 LED touch display at 12.3"
OS	Chrome OS
CPU	Intel Core M3-6Y30
RAM	4GB LPDDR3
GPU	Intel HD 515 Graphics
HDD	32GB eMMC
Networking	802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports	Two USB-C, microSD card reader, combo headphone/mic
Size	11.06 × 8.72 × 0.5" (280.8 x 221.6 x 13.9 mm)
Weight	2.38 pounds
Battery	39Whr
Starting price	$449
Price as reviewed	$549
Other perks	included stylus, 720p webcam, accelerometer, gyroscope

The Chromebook Pro isn't heavy (it weighs just under 2.5 pounds), but it feels sturdy and can support itself in laptop mode while being toted from room to room by its keyboard deck. The chiclet-style keyboard takes up most of that space, but—refreshingly—this doesn't result in a cramped trackpad.

A big reason for the comfortable keyboard deck appears to be the display. Samsung packed a 2400×1600 234 PPI LED touchscreen with a 3:2 aspect ratio onto the Chromebook Pro; the display makes the entire device taller than most 16:9 laptops and two-in-ones. This means a larger palmrest and more space for your hands to sit. Unfortunately, the screen also includes a huge bottom bezel, made larger by a satin-finished strip of hardware needed so the hinges can attach to the lid. You're left with a bunch of empty space that's a mix of glossy and satin black.

The edges are rounded and thin, and they contain all of the Chromebook Pro's ports. The left side features a combo headphone and mic jack, one USB Type-C port, and a microSD card reader. The right side has the volume rocker, power button, the other USB Type-C port, and the stylus holder. Both USB Type-C ports support speeds up to 5Gbps, 4K display out (with an optional adaptor), and charging. The pen itself is identical to the stylus used on Samsung's Note pens, but Google explains any EMR pen can work just fine on the touch display. The stylus hides completely when in its holster, the end lying flush to the notebook's edge hardware; to retrieve it, you pop it out with a push.

The only things to note on the bottom of the Chromebook Pro are the speaker grills, which are positioned toward the front of the keyboard deck near the corners. This placement doesn't lend itself to perfect sound—when sitting on a table, you'll hear everything clearly, but when placed on your lap or another soft surface, sound gets muffled easily.

Keyboard, trackpad, and stylus

The keyboard is comfortable, and the keys have decent travel. I only felt cramped by the keys on the left and right sides of the keyboard, as they are the keys that have been shrunk the most to fit onto the smaller chassis. The keyboard is mostly normal (no missing Shift key to mess with your brain), but as with most Chromebooks, the Caps Lock button has been replaced with Google's search button (you can set it to work like a Caps Lock key in the settings if you want).

Samsung's included stylus is basically an S-Pen, even if the company won't refer to it as such. It's shorter than a normal stylus (and smaller than a real pen), proving the company could have just plucked some extra S-Pens from its inventory and stuck them into these Chromebooks. But unlike other smart pens, this one doesn't need to be charged, and it will be harder to lose since it slides into the Chromebook just like the S-Pen slides into the Galaxy Note devices.

The software that controls the relationship between this stylus and the Chromebook's display is different from that on the S-Pen and the Note devices. Samsung explained that it spent time refining the friction between the pressure-sensitive pen tip and the glass display to create a more realistic-feeling writing experience. The system also uses machine learning so that the display can predict where the pen will land next once you've started writing. This should reduce latency and make the digital writing experience more like writing on traditional paper.

The difference made by this technology is subtle but noticeable. The experience writing on the display with the stylus doesn't feel exactly like writing with pen on paper, but it is a more fluid experience than other systems I've used. The latency is reduced slightly, so your strokes will appear on the display almost as soon as you put the stylus to the glass—but there's maybe a millisecond of lag time. That delay can also change depending on the note-taking program you're using, but that is likely not due to the machine itself. For example, latency was similar when I took handwritten notes in both ArtCanvas and another Android app called Squid, but in the Android app version of Evernote (the Chrome Web Store has its own version), there was noticeable lag. I believe this was due to the app's inability to fully adjust to being opened inside Chrome OS, as it would randomly flip the window's perspective to portrait even when I was in landscape, and it performed a bit slower than other apps in general.

The stylus' pressure sensitivity is great for digital artwork, and apps like ArtCanvas make the Chromebook Pro feel similar to a Surface Pro. However, I was disappointed that the device couldn't totally differentiate between my hand and the pen tip. Often the side of my hand would rest on the glass when drawing, and I'd end up with an ink spot on my digital canvas.

You also can't input handwriting into text boxes, including the Google search bar, using the pen. You can use the pen in place of your finger to tap on the digital keyboard, but you won't be able to write words on the display and have them appear as text in browser text boxes.

Overall, the stylus experience is good even if the pen is shorter than most. As with all digital pens, those who will get the most use of out them are artists and obsessive note-takers. But Samsung and Google did add some extra features to encourage everyone to try the stylus. When you pop the stylus out of its holster, a dedicated menu pops up near the bottom-right side of the display. With it, you can change the input mode of the stylus so that it becomes a capture tool that will save a region of screen on the display, a laser pointer that will produce a small red dot that follows the pen tip around on the display, and a magnifying glass that enlarges any part of the display you tap.

That menu also lets you create a new note quickly in Google Keep, but I wish you could change the default location of those notes. I don't use Google Keep, but of course Google wants you to use its services by default and will put shortcuts in place to make that happen.