With a retail price of around $430, this new laptop is about $120 cheaper than the 13.3” Galaxy Chromebook 2. Despite the difference in name, both laptops have a 360-degrees hinge, so they are truly in the same product family.
The price difference comes from a few key factors: the screen size (12.4” vs. 13.3”), its resolution (1920×1080 vs. 2560×1600), the CPU performance, and the battery life.
This Chromebook 2 360 is powered by an Intel Celeron N4500 and 4GB of RAM, which seems tight to me, but should remain “functional enough” in the context of using the laptop to study. This CPU is typically used in low-price laptop Windows products.
Normally, the computer should work well with today’s school requirements, including video conferencing, thanks to its 720p camera.
There’s 64GB or 128GB (+$20) of storage, but a microSD slot would allow extending the storage if needed. There are also one full-size USB and one USB-C port for further connectivity.
If you can afford the slightly more expensive Samsung Chromebooks, I’m tempted to say they provide higher value for the price and user experience based on the paper specs.