Updated Nov. 25, 2016 – Walmart is offering Black Friday specials on this model with 4GB RAM for $119 !!!
The Chromebook 3 is a helpful laptop option for quick blogging, SEO and light WordPress work.
- Efficient – Easy and responsive. Great battery life.
- Quality – Feel and finish and keyboard good enough to make work enjoyable. Good value.
- Good Size – Big enough to type on , but small and light enough to actually take to couch or bed.
Small , light and efficient … and under $200. All day battery life. I have other tools for other jobs , but this is becoming my go to device. I purchased my Chromebook 3 in June of 2016. Google had just announced that they will update the operating system of this machine to run Android apps in the near future. If you are thinking about a new Chromebook you may want to check this list for the Chromebooks that will support Android in 2016.
Samsung Chromebook 3 – good size and great battery life
Why the Chromebook 3 works for me…
Frankly, I was getting quite frustrated with my main laptop, a three-year-old 17″ HP laptop. Everything seemed to have more friction after the Windows 10 update. I felt like I was driving a Mack truck to the 7-11 ! I have a Nexus 7 tablet , which is great for surfing , videos and as an entertainment controller, but tablets are not ideal for content creation.
This is where the Chromebook fits in nicely.
- Ready to go: Almost instant startup, and the battery last a LONG time.
- Portable: Small enough to carry around and do work anywhere.
- Right-Sized: Screen and keyboard good enough to get work done.
This works well because I’m doing a lot of content creation. Blogging, light graphics, social media and the occasional video and screen capture. Having very fast internet helps a lot (Thank you, fiber!).
Why it may not work for you ….
Your experience will not be so good if you have a different situation. This setup is not ideal if you:
- Do not have a fast connection – at least a cable modem wifi class connection .
- Are trying to do “Heavy Lifting”: Coding and development , or heavy video or graphics.
So far I’ve been impressed! I’ve found it to be quite easy to use, and so convenient that I actually use it! I don’t think you will find people raving about it like they would about an Apple , but this machine has a humble workhorse type of attitude. At about 1/6 the price of a mac book , it is a great value. You get about 80% of the functionality of an expensive machine at 20% of the cost.
Getting hands on time is vital!
Actually, I had a hard time finding Chromebooks locally. I find this strange because they are generally selling well and are in demand. I have fairly large size hands (please, no comparisons to Trump!), so I decided to rule out the 10.1 inch Asus Flip . Although it had a good quality feel to it , the keyboard seemed far too small for my hands. Good choice for a student or a much smaller person than me! The keyboard on the Chromebook 3 is good enough to get stuff done
The Chromebook 3 is available through Walmart for about $190 . Please note that this is the 2GB version. I probably would have bought a 4GB version if they had stocked them, but I haven’t really noticed any memory issues .
