Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15 are Chrome OS-based laptops. They are the suited solution if you are looking for an affordable laptop since you can take them home for under $400. Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15 are more particularly the good laptop for travel. You can use the two for over 10 hours without plugging them to the power source. So, which one you should buy?
Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15 have a lot in common. First, they use Chrome OS as the operating system. Second, they are powered by Intel processor. However, they use different Intel series. While Samsung Chromebook 3 is powered by Intel Celeron N3060, Acer Chromebook 15 is powered by Intel Pentium N4200 — which has more cores.
The major difference between Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15 is the screen size. Samsung Chromebook 3 is a 11-inch Chromebook, while Acer Chromebook 15 is 15-inch Chromebook. Let’s start the comparison from the specs.
Specs
[table id=17 /]As you can see from the specs above. There are no much differences between Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15 specs except the processor and screen size. They both are equipped by a 4GB RAM and fewer storage capacity.
Storage should not be your expectation when buying Chromebook. The vast majority of Chromebooks come with fewer storage capacity since Chromebooks are intended to be cloud oriented devices. If you unwilling to be a paid subscriber on Google Drive or other cloud storage services, investing on external storage — such as external SSD can be a great thing.
Design
Both Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15 come with a thin design. The thickness of those Chromebooks are not reaching the number of 1 inch. Their thin design will makes it easy for you to carry them around. If you often go travel abroad and have to keep monitoring your work, you can comfortably do so at the airport while waiting for the departure thanks to thin as well as lightweight design of Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15. The long battery life can also be a good additional point.
- Samsung Chromebook 3
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As said above, Samsung Chromebook 3 is a thin Chromebook with the screen size of 11 inches. Or more precisely 11.6 inches. Samsung offers dark design for its Chromebook by providing black body for Chromebook 3. Samsung Chromebook 3 is an ideal laptop to be used on public areas like airport. The total weight of this Chromebook is just about 2.54 pounds so you can comfortably put it on your thigh while sitting on the airport bench — or any place you want to work at. The chassis of this Chromebook has a silky-smooth palm rest. If you notice more deeply on the area around its display you will find that this Chromebook contains subtle texture — which is handy for minimizing reflections from the glossy bezel. You won’t be able to turn Chromebook 3 into tablet mode since its display doesn’t support touch screen technology, but you will be able to tilt the screen orientation to 180 degrees thanks to the string hinge.
- Acer Chromebook 15
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If you ever noticed, it’s rare thing enough to see a laptop manufacturer that releases a Chromebook with a large screen size. The vast majority of Chromebooks available in the market today have smaller than 14 inches screen. Acer Chromebook 15 is one of those rare Chromebooks with large screen size. If you get more comfortable to work with large screen then this Chromebook is probably suits you.
Acer Chromebook 15 comes with a silver design. At a glance, the look of this Chromebook is a bit similar to Macbook if it seen from the front side. Acer Chromebook 15 is a metal slab with Acer’s logo in a mirror finish on the left side. When you open the lid, you will see the 15.6-inch display surrounded by a thick bezel. Same as Samsung Chromebook 3 above, Acer Chromebook 15 also comes with limited enough ports. On the left side lies Kensington lock slot, while on the right side you will find home to a microSD card slot and a headphone jack.
Performance
Performance should be the first thing you consider when buying a new laptop. While you are unable to test it if you opt to shop online, you can at least estimate how good a performance of a laptop by seeing its specs (processor and RAM). Both Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15 are powered by low-end Intel processor so they are basically intended to handle lighter computing tasks.
- Samsung Chromebook 3
Overall, the full specs of Chromebook 3 is not too “wow”. It’s because this Chromebook has never intended to be a gaming laptop or for doing graphic design. Samsung Chromebook 3 would be ideal to be used for surfing the web, editing some documents or watching some videos on YouTube. Although the full specs of Samsung Chromebook 3 is not too high, its performance isn’t too disappointing. You can open tens of tabs on web browser at once, while watching a YouTube video or editing a document on Google Sheets without any interruption. Your Chromebook will be keep running smoothly. You have to be thankful that this Chromebook is equipped with a 4GB RAM.
For a Chromebook with a low enough specs, the overall performance of Samsung Chromebook 3 is not too bad. If you test its graphic performance using WebGL Aquarium, you will see that this Chromebook is capable of rendering 2,000 fishes in the tank at 23 frames per second. Is that good?
Just as a comparison, Lenovo Ideapad 100S-14 wavered between 6 and 7 fps for the same number of fish.
- Acer Chromebook 15
Same as Samsung Chromebook 3, the full specs of Acer Chromebook 15 tends to low so this Chromebooks is also ideal for handling simple computing tasks like editing documents, browsing the web or watching videos in the standard quality. When working with this Chromebook, you can open more than 10 tabs at once, plus watching some videos as well as editing some documents. The Chromebook will keep running without any serious problem.
The processor used on Acer Chromebook 15 has more cores than Samsung Chromebook 3 — four. However, the overall performance is not much different. If you perform a test for the graphic performance of this Chromebook using WebGL Aquarium, you will see that your Chromebook displays 500 fish at 51 frames per second. This result is better than, for instance, Chromebook Pro from Samsung.
Configurations
Be it Samsung Chromebook 3 or Acer Chromebook 15 is available in several variants. On the specs table above you see that Samsung Chromebook 3 has a 16GB storage space, while Acer Chromebook 15 offers 32GB storage space.
In addition to 16GB storage space, Samsung also offers a variant with a 32GB storage space. What about Acer Chromebook 15?
Same thing. You can also choose Acer Chromebook 15 according to your need. In addition to the variant with a 32GB storage space, you can also choose the variant that has a 16GB storage capacity. You can even choose the one with 2GB RAM if you want.
Software and warranty
In case this is your first experience of buying a Chromebook device. Don’t expect too much on applications or you will end up with a disappointment. Unlike Windows-based laptops or Mac — or even Linux, the default apps offered by Chromebook are very limited. By default you will get only apps from Google like Google Docs, YouTube and Google Drive. Nothing more. Both on Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15.
For warranty, Samsung provides a one-year warranty on parts and labor. So do Acer. This manufacturer also sells the Chromebook 15 with a one-year warranty.
Conclusion
[table id=18 /]Some people tend to get comfortable working with a larger screen device, regardless the condition. Even if they are being at a public areas like airport of park. If you are the member of such people then there is not reason to not choosing Acer Chromebook 15. The consequence is that it will consume more space on your suitcase or backpack. Overall, there is no much difference between Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15 in terms of performance. They are powered by low-end Intel processor and tend to intended for handling lighter tasks like browsing the and editing documents. Both Samsung Chromebook 3 and Acer Chromebook 15 are ideal choice of laptop for travel.