Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook review

The laptop has a DisplayPort output, which means you can connect it to an external monitor. Currently, you can only mirror the display, which is handy for presentations or viewing media on a large screen, but it means that dual-display setups aren’t an option. The 12.1in integrated screen is fantastic. It has a resolution of 1,280×800 and a non-reflective finish that lets work in bright light. It also renders skin tones and bright colours in a remarkably accurate and natural way.

We can’t run our usual benchmarks within Chrome OS, but we ran the JavaScript-based SunSpider online benchmark, which completed in 770.6ms. By way of comparison, our 3.1GHz Phenom II X2 550 finished in 297ms and a 3GHz Core i3-540 did the job in 228ms. For a battery test, we ran a loop of MP3 audio files, which kept going for over nine hours – a performance that’s in keeping with its predecessor.

The latest Chromebook is extremely well made, and Chrome OS 20 fixes many of the greatest problems that users had with earlier versions’ cloud-only ethos. It’s still a cloud-computing client, but it no longer turns into a paperweight as soon as you go offline. It’s also much faster and more responsive than your average netbook. Unfortunately, its £361 price means it’s also more expensive than most netbooks, but is a bit cheaper than an entry-level iPad. However, its speed and simplicity are major points in its favour. There’s very little you can do to break, slow down or otherwise affect the Chromebook, which makes it a great buy if you live and work online.