Samsung Chromebook Series 5 review

As the first laptop to come pre-loaded with Chrome OS, Samsung's Series 5 Chromebook has certainly made an impression, but is it right for business? Tom Morgan and Alan Lu take an in-depth look.

IT Pro Verdict

As a thin client, Chrome OS is mostly a success; its ability to work solely within the cloud means it's very well locked down, but this also means it's entirely dependent on an internet connection. Without one, its usefulness is currently severely restricted. If these two points aren’t an issue, it is an excellent way to reduce your hardware acquisition and support costs over the equivalent Windows machine, but even so given the current limitations and restrictions in the design of Chrome OS we would think very, very carefully before committing to even a small-scale deployment.

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If you already use multiple browser tabs to multi-task, Chrome OS won't seem much of a departure from Windows.

A shortcut key switches between open windows, including the terminal (if you have it open), which is ideal for separating productivity pages such as Google Docs from personal sites such as Twitter or Facebook. Although it's not possible to have two different windows open side-by-side, which can make multitasking a little tedious, we did appreciate the full-screen view which hides the already minimal Chrome user interface so you can focus on your work.

Appy meal?

Google's wide range of web-based services is now so vast that the search engine giant doesn't supply any software with Chrome OS, save for a multimedia player, file browser and ScratchPad note-taking tool. Both the multimedia player and notes tool open from the bottom of the screen, but can't be moved or maximised unless you're playing a video file.

ScratchPad lets you jot down quick notes without leaving your current tab, which are then synced to Google Docs automatically, but for serious text editing you'll need to go to Google Docs itself. In fact, if you want to create any word processing documents, spreadsheets or presentations, Google Docs (or another web-based alternative such as Microsoft Office 365) is your only option. Google could do a better job of integrating its own web services with Chrome OS though the desktop notifications option for new emails in Gmail doesn't currently work with Chrome OS for example.

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