Samsung's Chromebook design has changed a lot in a short time, from the glossy black toy-like Series 5 to the premium feeling 550, with this model they've gone back to plastic but it still feels like a premium machine, largely due to it's thin, clean profile. I wouldn't feel ashamed getting this out in a cafe full of Macbooks, and much prefer it to the original.
Performance has increased significantly from the original Series 5, previously I'd found Flash and high-performance HTML5 apps out of the question, but now they run smoothly and there's no lag with a few tabs open. I can't think of many scenarios where it wouldn't be enough power to get the job done.
There's a few compromises that come with the lower price, most notably the screen, which is slightly smaller and doesn't seem as clear. It's not inappropriate for a device of this price, but if Samsung could fit a larger, higher-res screen into the same profile, I'd happily pay a bit more. Battery life isn't as insanely long as the original but can still make it through a few hours, much more than an equivalent Windows netbook.
Connection options are more up to date this time round, with HDMI output replacing VGA, and one of the USBs updated to version 3.0. The touchpad feels more responsive and the keyboard is still great, but I'd have liked to see backlit keys added.
Chrome OS itself has come on leaps and bound since I first got the Series 5 Chromebook when it was just a single window of Chrome. Although I had mixed feelings about the Aura window management when it first rolled out, improvements like the Android-esque app launcher have made it feel more like a fully fledged, modern operating system. There's still weak areas - media playback is basic and file management is clunky - these aren't a huge problem on a cloud-based OS, but improvements in these areas could still go some way to improving the overall experience.
The concept of a cloud-based OS has also become more realistic in the past year, largely due to Google's additions to it's own web app suite, such as Play Music, Drive and offline Docs. Offline support in external apps is still poor and some users will still miss certain native apps (for me Spotify is a sore loss, but a web version is rumoured to be in the works). I hope that Chrome's new packaged apps, NaCl and ever improving HTML5 will help fill these gaps.
It's still hard to say if or when Chrome OS will become a true replacement to a traditional OS, but for many people it could already be close enough, and it's a handy secondary laptop if your main machine is too heavy to carry around. In making the new model cheaper and lighter without sacrificing much functionality, Samsung have made a near-perfect piece of hardware for Chrome OS and it's a great time to give it a go.
