Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus: everything we know so far

January 3rd, 2024: that’s the day that ‘Xol’ became a Chromebook we’d begin keeping tabs on for the entirety of this calendar year. At the time, I had no idea it was made by Samsung, that it would show up this fall, or any of the myriad of things we now know about this device. It all started with a reference to an Assistant key on the keyboard, and like it has been with any other Chromebook that has that particular trait, it began a months-long stalking process where I uncovered everything I could about Samsung’s latest Chromebook.

Like many others, I initially saw the Assistant key inclusion as a possible sign that Google might be prepping another Pixelbook. But as I said in that initial post, Google has made their 1st-party Chromebook intentions quite clear, and there was no evidence supporting the idea that ‘Xol’ was being concocted by Google.

Numeric keypad = bigger device

Some of the first clues I found about ‘Xol’ had to do with the fact that it was made by Samsung and that it would show up as a Chromebook Plus. Given Samsung’s latest track record, it was nice to see that this device wouldn’t end up as yet another entry-level Chromebook with the Galaxy branding on it.

But one of the first real hardware revelations I found regarding the Galaxy Chromebook Plus had to do with the included numeric keypad. Again, the first find was the Assistant key (which we’ll all assume is now a Gemini key), but I stumbled across another commit in February that indicates the Galaxy Chromebook Plus will ship with a numeric keypad.

While I like a numeric keypad just like anyone else, I was really more interested in the ramifications of that inclusion, not so much the inclusion itself. By adding in this extra portion of the keyboard, it became clear that Samsung was going with the larger Chromebook form factor this time around, and we also knew by this point it would simply be a clamshell – not a convertible – Chromebook. Things were taking shape.

More unique keys on the keyboard

But the numeric keypad and Assistant key were just the beginning of the additions to the keyboard. In the weeks that would follow, I also found the ‘Xol’ was being outfitted with both a dedicated Accessibility key and a dedicated dictation button. Both of these new buttons should be added to the function row up top on the keyboard, and we’re not 100% sure how they will be utilized by ChromeOS.

Sure, there is an Accessibility menu in ChromeOS and there is a dictation feature as well. But they hardly feel like front-end features at this point. Perhaps the next ChromeOS update will change this and push these features front-and-center for the Galaxy Chromebook Plus to take advantage of.

And while we’re on that subject, the same could be said about this Assistant key, too. If it is a Gemini key, Google will need to either roll it into the app launcher like they have with the Google Assistant or figure out some way to surface Gemini when the dedicated key is pushed. Right now, that’s not really a thing on the software side of ChromeOS, so it will be very interesting to see how that plays out next week.

An OLED screen

The next juicy detail showed up in late June with the news that Samsung had opted for an OLED panel for this new Chromebook. We don’t get OLED screens too often here in the ChromeOS world, so that inclusion is a big, big deal. Of course, the original Galaxy Chromebook sported a 4K OLED screen, and we’re excited to see a return of that color, contrast, and image quality on the new Galaxy Chromebook Plus.

I still don’t have confirmation on the refresh rate, but I’m really hoping to see 120Hz on this device. Samsung’s Windows laptops come equipped with 120Hz OLED panels, so it is well within reason that this feature could be included in the Galaxy Chromebook Plus. It’s not a deal-breaker if it isn’t, but I remain hopeful.

One other interesting note on the screen: it might come with adaptive screen colors. We found references to a change in the Chromium Repositories that helps the ALS (ambient light sensor) smooth out fluctuations in the temperature of the screen. Though it was technically in reference to the Night Light feature, auto-adjusting the color temperature of the screen isn’t something we see in Chromebooks, so this could be helpful if implemented across the entire OS.

2 configurations

After learning in late July that this new Samsung Chromebook was just around the corner, I stumbled upon Geekbench results for ‘Xol’ and became aware of at least two configurations for the Galaxy Chromebook Plus.

One will come bearing the Intel Core 3-100U and the other will come with the Core 5-120U. The Core 3 model will likely ship with 8GB of RAM while the higher-end Core 5 model should show up with 16GB of RAM on board. Between these specs, this amount of RAM, and the OLED panel, it feels safe to say this will be a higher-end device all around.

The name is official…and correct

Finally, just today we reported on the fact that ‘Xol’ is 100% the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus; and I’m so happy about that. I’ve been so certain that this would be the name for ‘Xol’, but I did start worrying that Samsung would try to get crafty with the naming.

Thankfully, they nailed it and this name for this device is so good. Rarely do we get succinct naming in the Chromebook space. Apart from Acer (who sticks to their guns on their Chromebook names), you never quite know what a device is going to end up being marketed as when it comes to Chromebooks.

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus sounds great, looks great, and feels like a confident return to what started with the original Galaxy Chromebook. I talked recently at length about this device being a chance for Samsung to pull off the biggest comeback story the Chromebook world has ever seen, and as I stack up all we already know (and happily anticipate all we don’t) about this device, I’m wildly excited to get my hands on it next week at the Chromebook Showcase. No, we don’t know 100% that it will be there, but looking at the evidence, it feels like a certainty. And it feels like it could be very special.