IntroductionChromebooks are a bundle of contradictions, budget laptops that are both weird and brilliant, underpowered yet potent. They pack basic computing functionality into the Chrome OS, a web browser masquerading as an operating system. The search giant’s OS and mobile computer spec are just a few years old, but companies like HP, Samsung and Acer already have several models on the market.The other firms may have a headstart but the Toshiba Chromebook has come out swinging, the first with a larger 13.3-inch screen, plus two USB 3.0 ports.Size and speedy ports aside, the Toshiba Chromebook is nearly identical to its competitors on paper. Looks, however, are a different story.DesignSave for the Google branded HP Chromebook 11, these frugal Google machines are largely lacking in personality. The 11.6-inch Acer C720 Chromebook is a nondescript merging of gray and black plastic pieces. The 14-inch HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook rocks smudge-prone glossy plastic all over.An all-plastic, silver-gray frame, the Toshiba Chromebook sports a pocked surface on its lid and underside. Toshiba hasn’t pulled off anything extraordinary here, but rather employed its trademark budget design from its Windows 8 machines. While it generally looks bland next to slightly more stylish low-price laptops, it stands out among the largely drab Chromebook lineup.A chrome Toshiba logo and a glossy Chrome logo make the final touches on the outside. Opening the lid reveals a rather plain-looking keyboard deck and bezel, but it’s the matte plastic that I appreciate most throughout. Not only does it give a slightly soft shine, it’s almost impervious to fingerprints and smudges. It’s details like this that go a long way in design.An answer for everythingIf you’re new to the Chrome OS, it might surprise you how much […]

More laptops based on Google’s Chrome OS are hitting the market and Samsung’s second generation of Chromebook is testament to the resolute approach Google’s partners have adopted.The Korean company had its Chromebook 2 11-inch and 13-inch Chromebooks on display at its booth at CeBIT 2014 in Germany, two models that it announced earlier this month.The new Chromebooks (XE503-C12 and XE503-C32 respectively) will sell alongside the original one, bringing the total number of inventory units on the market to three. Prices in the UK have yet to be announced but we expect the 11-inch to retail for around £250 and the high-end, 13-inch model to hit £350.Faux leatherThe two models come with a faux-leather finish at the back of the screen. The material used is likely to divide opinions, as it did on its introduction at IFA last year with the Galaxy Note 3.We briefly handled the two flavours of Samsung’s Chromebook 2. As a reminder, both come with an octo-core Samsung Exynos processor, possibly the Exynos 5410, which has four Cortex-A15 and four Cortex-A7 subprocessors in the dynamically scaling CPU configuration known as big.LITTLE. The A15 subprocessors are clocked at 1.9GHz on the 11-inch model and at 2.1GHz on the 13-inch one.Apart from size and keyboard layout, the other major difference is screen resolution: the 11-inch model spans 1,366×768 pixels while the bigger Chromebook has a full HD resolution which falls short of Google’s high-end Pixel Chromebook but is still significantly higher than the rest of the competition.That particular model was not working properly which meant that we couldn’t visually compare the screen quality on both Chromebooks. Expect the 13-inch model to be marginally sharper as it boosts a higher pixel density (170 vs 142ppi).Hangout […]