So Is It a Laptop Or a TV? I Say BOTH!

I have to say, my internet in my home is cheap and slow. It does the job and stays within the budget. However my satellite TV is not that way at all. It is premium and EXPENSIVE. Enter the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook. This baby can handle streaming from thousands of popular streaming websites (Hulu, Sidereel, Youtube, etc.) Soon it will even have Netflix support! This means I can watch all my favorite TV's shows and movies on my Chromebook all in an instant. It just goes to show that this device is much more then just a piece of hardware that runs a browser. Once Netflix comes (It will come very soon) I will be all set. Goodbye expensive TV bill and hello True Blood, Weeds, Glee, Teen Wolf, and... Well you get the picture =)

Angry Birds or Pandora? How About Both!

Yesterday as I sat on my couch plunking away on my Samsung Series 5 Chromebook I was presented with a dilemma. I was really in the mood to play some Angry Birds but at the same time I also really wanted some of my Elton John channel on Pandora Radio. I thought to myself "There is NO WAY this little Chromebook can handle them both at the same time can it?" Much to my surprise and delight I loaded up Pandora Radio and then launched Angry birds in a new tab. This thing loaded them both effortlessly. This little baby is packing a punch! I wouldn't wanna bump into it in a back alley, its a beast!

After about an hour of that, I put Angry Birds on pause and checked my email as well as edited a spreadsheet in Google Docs all while Pandora was still streaming away. As Elton John would say, this thing didn't let the sun go down on me ;-) There is literally NOTHING I haven't been able to accomplish on this bad boy! The more I use this Chromebook the more I LOVE IT! Google did something very right with this one. Kudos to Samsung for the sexy look as well! =)

Samsung Chromebook: A Writer's BFF

Even though Chromebooks still lack the option of offline Google Apps. This Chromebook is truly a writers best friend. Maybe it's because I have the 3G model or maybe it's because I have WiFi on every street corner (Thank you Starbucks, Panera, Subway, and Micky Dee's.) But I never find myself not being able to use this little guy to write my short stories or talk to my readers. I am always connected and the battery lasts forever. It is so light and portable. It is a dream come true. On top of  that ChromeOS is only gonna get better and faster not worse and slower (Here's looking at you Microsoft). Now if you'll excuse me, Google Docs is calling me... =)

Oh Verizon...

So I spent the morning attempting to get my Samsung Chromebook activated with the Verizon 3G. I knew this was going to be fun because the area I live in has very low signal from every body. The Chromebook refused to activate which I wasn't surprised by as I said. I called the special support number for Chromebooks and other mobile broadband products from Verizon (1-800-786-8419). I was greeted by a very well spoken and knowledgeable woman.

She walked me through to check my signal strength. I was only at -71 dbm. She said most 3G modems won't activate automatically if your signal is below -90 dbm. So she walked me through the manual activation. As I said she knew the Chromebook and all it's screens very well. We went into Crosh (Ctrl-Alt-T) and manually activated it from there. Now 3G works wonders and she even gave me a free unlimited day pass to use anytime I wanted! Verizon is known for it's amazing customer service and I wanna say thanks to the woman I spoke with for being so patient and helpful.

Have any of you guys activated your 3G yet? Let me know!

Are You For Real? This Battery is Still Going...

So day one with my Samsung Chromebook has come to an end. This Chromebook doesn't want to quit though! This baby is still cooking. I have been using it regularly for almost 10 hours now. I call that a WIN =) That alone is worth the price tag. Try getting that on your machine!

V8 Benchmarks and More Observations

So here are the V8 benchmarks of the Samsung Chromebook running on the latest Dev Channel. Not to shabby!

On another note, the ambient light sensor works way better on here then on the CR-48. It is way less sensitive and doesn't change or flicker the screen as much. The keyboard feels slightly smaller but I am ok with that. I ave been running this thing with tons of tabs open and haven't had any lag or crashing. Color me impressed Google and Samsung.

First Impressions of the Sammy Series 5 Chromebook

Coming from a CR-48 the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook is a HUGE step forward. Youtube and Hulu are flawless at 480 and stable at 720. I wouldn't use 720 all the time but it is usable. Scrolling on web pages is very smooth. The screen is very bright and has a matte finish on it. This thing is sleek and sexy. It is very light and very thin.

I switched it to the Dev channel right away because I prefer to live on the edge. It's mostly stable but has its quirks. I had to reboot once already because the screen was flashing. That is one of the many bugs I have found in the Dev build. All and all it is wonderful. I have an extremely slow internet connection and this thing still flies. Facebook and Twitter load in a snap. Google Reader used to lag like crazy on the CR-48. That lag is gone. In fact I haven't seen lag anywhere on this machine. I am pretty sure this thing boots even faster then my CR-48. I didn't think that was possible.

In conclusion, I would give this thing a 9 out of 10. My biggest complaint is still the lack of Netflix and offline apps. I know those are coming though so I patiently await that. ChromeOS is still a beta OS so that's why it's a 9. As for the hardware and the build quality itself, it is flawless and sexy. I would highly recommend this Chromebook to anyone who wants a cloud computing device hands down.

- AC

Unboxing of the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook Feat. J-Lo

I was one of the few chosen by Google (The best company in the whole wide world!) to be a Chromebook "Guru". Google just sent me this brand spanking new 3G/Wifi Samsung Chromebook. This is the exciting unboxing! I added a J-LO song to distract you all away from my abysmal filming skills! =) 

Here are the boring bits such as the VGA connector, the AC adapter, and the paper work/quickstart guide.