Samsung's New Galaxy Chromebook Plus Has a First-of-Its-Kind Keyboard and Lenovo Revives Chromebook Duet
This is the new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook plus and this is the new Lenovo Chromebook duet. 11 both arrive this fall along with some fresh chrome OS updates to help boost your productivity and just generally potentially make life easier with the power of Google's Gemini A I. Let's start with a look at the new hardware. So it's been a minute since Samsung released a new chromebook and I've always been a fan of them but they can certainly be hit. Or Miss Google says the Galaxy chromebook plus is the thinnest chromebook plus ever at 11.8 millimeters. So I'm at least hoping Samsung solved for any potential cooling issues. It's also extremely light at about 2.5 pounds or about 1.2 kg. It has a bright 15.6 inch ola display. Though the 16 9 aspect ratio is a little dated inside, you get an Intel core 3 100 U processor, eight gigs of memory and 256 gigs of storage. And Samsung says up to 13 hours of battery life, the price is $700 which is on par with other premium chromebooks like this probably the most important thing about this one is it'll be the first with a new keyboard layout that replaces the launcher, search key with a quick insert key, pressing it pulls up a context menu with options related to what you're doing. If you're in an email, for example, you can press it and you get some emoji options or access to files or a recent photo. So all you have to do is click to add, it's integrated at the OS level, giving you options for whatever app you're in or what's on your browser window. The launcher now moves down to the bottom row so you don't lose that key. This new keyboard layout will appear on other models next year. But current chromebook plus users will be able to remap the launcher key to use the new feature at the other end of the size spectrum is the updated 11 inch Lenovo Duet which Google said is probably the best selling chromebook of all time. I wouldn't be surprised if that were true. Given what you get for $350. The new duet is built around a two K 1610 touch screen with a new media tech processor up to eight gigs of memory and 100 and 28 gigs of storage. It now has a spill proof chassis and detachable keyboard and the rear cover was also redesigned so it can stand horizontally and vertically. It works with any U si 2.0 pen, but you'll probably find a bundle with Lenovo's pen that magnetically attaches to the back next to the eight megapixel camera. There's also a five megapixel one in front with a physical privacy shutter. Google also said it improved palm rejection. So if you're looking for something like this for entertainment and note taking or drawing and productivity, the duet is one to look for. Now about the OS editions For the most part, they are things Google announced for chromebook plus models earlier this year, but they're now available. There are essentially three key ones. Help me read, live, translate and live transcription. Help me read uses Gemini A I to summarize written content, whether that's a website or a presentation or A PDF. More importantly, you can use Gemini for natural language. Follow up questions about the content letting you drill down to find the info. You're after live translate, generates Google A I translated captions for audio and video, but it does it at the OS level. That means it'll work with any service or app or website. So you can translate a Zoom conversation just as easily as a youtube video. Then there's the recorder app with live transcription, which can also be used with any service. You can record a conversation in zoom for example, and it will transcribe on the fly and it can detect different speakers and it's searchable. This has been on pixel devices for years, but it's nice to have it built in. So I don't have to pull my phone out and put it next to a speaker to record. There are a few other editions that you'll see in all chromebooks, not just plus models. Uh The best one of those for me is the update to focus mode. Uh It integrates with your Google tasks list so you can pop it open and you can set the length of time. You'll need to focus, select the task, pick sounds or music to help you concentrate and also toggle on. Do not disturb, to shut off notifications. You'll also find more Google Drive integration in the tote and launcher interfaces and a welcome recap. That shows you what you worked on the last time you were on the chromebook. So there you have it two new devices and some helpful OS editions for chromebook, pluses and all chromebooks. I'm excited to see live translate and transcribe finally arrive. But let me know what you think in the comments about the deeper A I integration into chrome Os. And you can read more about these devices and other chromebooks on cnet.com. Thanks for watching and you'll see me when you see me.