Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook

My white Chromebook arrived today (ordered 2 days ago from Amazon for $499 with free shipping). My first impressions are very good. The whole unboxing and setup took me 10 minutes.

1. Took it out of the box
2. plugged it in (although this turned out to be unecessary since it shipped fully charged)
3. Opened the case, which turned it on
4. Prompted me for language (English) and network (picked my wifi network and typed in the password)
5. Downloaded an update and rebooted
6. Prompted me to pick a logo for my login prompt and let me take a picture of myself
7. Prompted me for my gmail login
8. Took me to Chrome with a tab open to let me practice with the touchpad

Having gone through that I've powered it off and back on, and signed off and back in, and shut the lid and reopened. Each time it behaves exactly as advertised and gets me back to Chrome very quickly.



The whole thing is so straightforward that I'm not really sure what all the bad reviews are about. I guess I need to reread them. I suppose if someone got this and was expecting something other than "turn it on and you're using chrome" then maybe they would be disappointed.

The device feels very light and very solid. I've used it on a desk and in my lap (where I'm typing now on the couch) and it's very comfortable. I use my laptop like this too, but it feels heavy in comparison, and can get hot. It's not as big as my laptop, but the keyboard feels full size, and is very comfortable to type on. I have Dell Mini 9 netbook too, and have always struggled typing on that.

So far the only adjustment I've had to make is that there isn't an "end" key on the keyboard. There's other differences in the keyboard, but that's the only one that I've consciously had to adjust for. Maybe there will be more things as I use it more. But so far it has totally met my expectations in speed and simplicity.