The Samsung Chromebook 4 and 4+ came out some time ago, announced all the way back in October of last year. The pair never really sat on our radar because their internals were just too mundane too high a price to ever consider or recommend. For low-end Chromebooks, there were too many other devices that just offered more for less money than these, so we never took the time to get them in the office for a real look.
Fast forward to August of 2020 and things are a little different than they were 10 months ago. With Chromebook sales through the roof and inventory a bit, as we find ourselves firmly in the back of school, we started looking at all the possible options when recommending affordable Chromebooks for students. Although we have long panned the Samsung Chromebook 4 and 4+, they are one of the few affordable Chromebooks that are still available and still reasonably priced.
Shop Samsung Chromebook 4 and 4+ at Chrome Shop
Although not an extensive review, I have tried in this unboxing to quickly form some opinions so that you can make a choice for yourself if this is a Chromebook that is worth your money. Keep in mind that this device currently hovers right to give or take $ 299 and that could change quite a bit in the coming weeks. There are currently quite a few Chromebooks, so a decent device for this kind of cash may be your only option at the moment.
In fact, I would say that this is exactly what the Samsung Chromebook 4+ is: a decent Chromebook for the money. The screen is larger at 15.6-inches, so it will be great for school, but the TN panel is bad like all other TN displays and the vertical repetition angles are bad with washed out, inverted colors. It’s anti-glare and decently bright, but it’s not great to look at.
However, the keyboard and trackpad are pretty good, and that makes a big difference in a utilitarian Chromebook. Not much else has happened with this, keep an aluminum lid and a light lift in the keyboard cover when you fully open it. Unfortunately, this light lift only serves to highlight the lack of rigidity in the base and this Chromebook flexes very easily when the display is opened past 90 degrees. Watch the video for an example.
Inside you get an Intel Celeron N4000 processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC storage. There is a 128 GB model at Samsung for about the same money with student offers, so I would recommend packing this one if it is the same and still available. That combo will get you very good performance for a ‘cheap’ Chromebook and I am very pleased this year with the overall performance of the N4000 line of Intel chips. For students, there is nothing to worry about from a performance output.
Finally, the aesthetic design is very nice and you get a standard, useful array of ports (USB Type A, Type C, microSD, headphone / mic-jack) around the outside. Speaking of which, the square edges look almost Pixelbook-esque and the Chromebook really looks the part a few feet away. However, you get what you pay for, and this thing feels unapologetically affordable. Again, if it’s on the table in your kitchen to exclude some commands, a plastic body will somehow not matter.
We hope this post and video will help you decide if this is the Chromebook for you or not. It is a difficult time to be in the market for a Chromebook and we want to help as much as possible at the moment. Eventually, the Samsung Chromebook 4+ will make a solid Chromebook at its normal price. When I even went up a bit myself, I had a very hard time saying that everyone should buy it, but seeing the times, I tell you that you need to pack it quickly if you need an affordable, decent Chromebook.
Shop Samsung Chromebook 4 and 4+ at Chrome Shop
