It looks like Samsung’s new Chromebook Plus (‘Xol’) will be a bigger device

To say that I’m excited for the new Samsung Chromebook Plus that we know is on the way would be an understatement. We’ve been waiting a long time for Samsung to truly get back in the Chromebook game with something more like the Galaxy Chromebook, and there’s good reason to think that their upcoming device ‘Xol’ will be just what the doctor ordered.

One primary reason for thinking this is the fact that ‘Xol’ is being prepped with an Assistant button. As you may well know, Chromebooks with Assistant keys are made by Google, so this device isn’t just another random Chromebook. With NVMe storage, an Assistant key, and Alder Lake internals, it’s clear that this one is destined to be a Chromebook Plus model for sure. And the addition of the Chromebook Plus boot screen seals the deal on that front.

New details arise

And just a few days ago, I came across a new code change in the Chromium Repositories that indicates we may be dealing with a larger Chromebook this time around from Samsung. We already know ‘Xol’ should be a clamshell device – not a convertible – so a larger form factor is easily in play. And Samsung already makes larger laptops akin to the biggest Macbooks in their top-of-the-line Galaxy Book Pro/Ultra line. This new commit simply makes it clear that a larger Samsung Chromebook is on the way for sure.

As you can see, a new “Strauss” keyboard layout is being added for ‘Xol’ that incorporates a numeric keypad. It doesn’t take much figuring to put two and two together to understand that the addition of a numeric keypad means we’re looking at a larger device. The only laptops you tend to see this addition on are of the 15 or 16-inch variety, and I’m now convinced ‘Xol’ will be in that size range.

Samsung’s existing 16-inch laptops

And in my mind, this could be a very good thing. When I look at Samsung’s current laptop lineup, their larger devices are quite nice. If you’ve never done so, head to a Best Buy the next opportunity you get and check out the Galaxy Book4 Pro or Ultra and you’ll immediatley see why I think a larger Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus (the name I’m angling for) could be awesome if it was built like these laptops.

For now, however, we can’t be completely sure that it will be. It would make a whole lot of sense, but as you also might know at this point, Samsung’s Galaxy Book devices are not cheap. If this is indeed a Chromebook Plus we’re looking at, Samsung will have to cut some corners to get the price in check. They can do this with RAM and storage for sure, but hoping for an AMOLED screen in ‘Xol’ is probably not a reality. Regardless of how they trim the budget, I’m hopeful Samsung’s build quality carries over, that Google is heavily invested in this one, and that we see it sooner than later.