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Buying a Chromebook is an exercise in compromising. Want a solid construction and a rotating display panel? The Lenovo n21p fits the bill. But what if you want great battery life? Well, there's the Samsung Chromebook 2. Or, perhaps you want a bigger screen? Other models in the Samsung Chromebook 2 series offer a 13 inch 1080p screen, alas the price is significantly higher. All compromises, where's the perfect Chromebook?
The new Toshiba Chromebook 2 manages to do what the similarly named Samsung could not -- deliver a really nice 13 inch 1080p screen while keeping the price down. Finally a Chromebook you wouldn't mind watching a movie on. If you've been waiting for a decent screen to arrive before you test the Chromebook waters, this is the machine for you.
I tested the Toshiba CB35-B3340, which features a 2.58 GHz Intel Celeron N2840 processor, 4GB of RAM, 16GB SSD (with 2 years of a 100GB Google Drive account also included for free). There's also one USB 2 port, one USB 3 port, an HDMI port and a pretty decent gesture-enabled touchpad. Those are quite solid specs for the price and backed by two outstanding features -- the 1080p display and the Skull Candy audio. The Toshiba Chromebook 2 retails for $330.
The result of all that is that the Toshiba makes an excellent way to watch movies on the go. The sound is great -- well, great within the obvious limitations, this is still a laptop -- and the screen is bright and clear, with vivid colors, nice deep blacks and the wider viewing angles you'd expect from an IPS display. It is still a glossy screen though, so bright sunlight is not your friend.
I should note that Toshiba also offers a 1366x768 model for $250, if you just don't want to pay for the HD screen. And note that while the resolution is lower, it's still an IPS display and should be considerably nicer than the washed out TN displays in many Chromebooks (for further proof of this, check out the Lenovo Yoga 11e Chromebook, which has the lower res display, but also uses an IPS panel). Still, if you can afford it, the better resolution is well worth the money.
The sound is also noteworthy having been, according to Toshiba, "tuned" by Skullcandy, which, if nothing else, got Skullcandy's logo slapped very prominently just below the keyboard. Whatever "tuned" may mean, the result is really great audio output that's not at all tinny or flat the way laptop speakers typically are. If you really crank it up you can actually feel the bass through the keyboard.
The keyboard itself is the standard Chromebook layout and chiclet keys. It's on par with pretty much every other Chromebook I've used -- nothing special, but no real annoyances either. The same is true of the trackpad -- it works, but probably won't draw any accolades.
Overall though the build quality of the Toshiba is excellent. The case is sturdy and doesn't flex at all when being carried with one hand. In fact, if someone handed me the case with all logos removed I would never guess it was a Chromebook. It has the look and feel of a much higher end Toshiba. The 13 inch screen does of course make this a bit bigger and heavier than the more common 11.6 inch Chromebooks. Again, it's a trade off. For my money the slight increase in size and weight are well worth it for the vastly better display.
Despite my enthusiasm for the display and speakers, the Toshiba is not without its downsides, namely performance. The 4GB of RAM is a nice step up from the typical 2GB that ship with other lower end Chromebooks, but the Bay Trail processor doesn't have the power of Haswell-based devices like the Acer C720.
In real world terms that means flipping between tabs when you have quite a few open can lag a bit. I also noticed a bit of stuttering in some WebGL demos. Suffice to say that if online gaming is your primary use for a Chromebook you may run into some problems. On the bright side the Bay Trail chip means you'll consistently get more than 8 hours out of the battery.
So is this the perfect Chromebook? Almost. As with the previous reviews I still think the best Chromebook is an amalgamation of several -- for example the Toshiba would be greatly improved by adding the screen flipping capabilities in the Lenovo, especially since movies are actually watchable on the Toshiba, unlike the Lenovo. That said, based on what's actually available today, the Toshiba comes the closest to Chromebook nirvana.
Wired: The gorgeous 1080p IPS display with vivid, rich colors combined with great sound make the Toshiba Chromebook 2 one of the best Chromebooks around.
Tired: A display of this caliber deserves better than the somewhat pokey Bay Trail processor
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