Chromebooks are a relatively new obsession of mine. I recently wrote about picking up my very first Chromebook this past month, but with Black Friday currently underway I find that I'm hunting for great Chromebook deals as diligently as I do for smartphones, even though I'm not necessarily looking to purchase; you never know. Sometimes you just come across a deal that's too good to pass up.
There have been a couple of good Chromebook deals to pop up, such as the Samsung Chromebook 3 for $119, the Acer R11 for $269, or the Acer 14 for $229. However, what really caught my eye didn’t have anything to do with a price drop. Instead, a "leak" surfaced regarding a particularly elusive – and highly anticipated – Chromebook, the Samsung Chromebook Pro, stating that it could be released today (it wasn't). It wasn't the leak that piqued my interest so much as the mere mention renewed my waned interest in the device that has mysteriously fallen off the grid over the past couple of months.
I'll cut to the chase: the Chromebook Pro will be all about the S Pen. No other Chromebook on the market offers anything remotely close, which is why this would be such a big deal for Chromebooks. With the announcement earlier this year that Google would be bringing the Play Store to certain Chromebooks (which is slowly but surely rolling out), the alleged Samsung Chromebook Pro could easily become the pinnacle of productivity for Chromebook users.
In theory, the Chromebook Pro could even pull people away from options like the Surface Pro and the iPad Pro. Rumors state that the Chromebook Pro is estimated to begin sales at around $499 USD, which puts it well below the base price of the Surface Pro 4, and slightly below the 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s introductory price. It is also suspected that the Chromebook Pro will release with Play Store support already in tow, as well as a newly discovered feature of Chrome OS, “Wake On Voice”.
Until I had experienced it for myself, I had been skeptical of how wonderful Samsung’s S Pen could be. My old Samsung Note 8.0 tablet was my first experience with the accessory, and I was quickly enamored with it. The S Pen felt good in the hand, was precise, and never needed to recharge. The capacitive stylus had a convenient storage slot on the device so it was much less likely to lose when not in use. With enhanced capabilities, it was clear that the S Pen was more than just a writing tool – it was a simple tool that boosted productivity in a multitude of ways. The S Pen can do a little bit of something for everybody.
The idea of pairing the S Pen with a Chromebook – especially knowing that Android support will either be there or will eventually be there – is one that I am keen on. Considering all signs point to the Chromebook Pro being a hybrid device (think: laptop when you need it, tablet when you don’t) this really could be a great option for people who don’t need the extensive capabilities of a full OS like Windows 10 on the Surface, but find that they need more than the limited capabilities of iOS.
The only problem is that it seems to be a total shot in the dark in regards to figuring out when it will actually release. The Chromebook Pro was initially expected to show up at the tail end of October. When that didn’t happen, November predictions popped up; with November almost over, December is the next logical guess. Personally, I’ve taken to the phrase “It gets here when it gets here.” But I also predict that it when it does get here it’s going to be a pretty big deal.
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