New Samsung Chromebook is a cheap

I asked my colleague Tim Conneally, who got up close to the new Chromebook in this video, for his reaction. "My first impression: it looks like a plastic MacBook". Ah, yeah, hasn't Samsung been having problems with Apple, fending off accusations of imitating products. Judge for yourself, from the photo and link to Tim's video. Doesn't the new Series 5 Chromebook resemble MacBook nevertheless donned in plastic?

Living in the cloud doesn't free Chromebook from daily computing demands. If anything there are more, because so much activity is conducted online when all is said and done many services require Adobe Flash, which for all that seems wonky to me on Chrome OS -- that's without the demands placed on CPU, GPU and Net bandwidth.

Currently, I'm using the Lenovo ThinkPad T420s with: 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 processor; 14-inch matte screen; 160GB Intel sold-state drive; 4GB of DDR3 memory; DVD burner; WebCam; Ethernet; WiFi N, memory card reader; 3 USB ports, one each HDMI and VGA port; and Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. The original Chromebook -- and, sadly its successor -- isn't in the same league. Chrome OS changed my computing habits, so I for all that largely do everything in the browser, however there's real performance on ThinkPad T420s and none of the waiting common with the Samsung Series 5.

My Chromebook config: 12.1-inch LED display with 1280 x 800 resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio; 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 processor; 2GB DDR3 memory; 16GB solid-state storage; integrated NM10 graphics; ALC272 integrated audio; stereo speakers; internal microphone; 1-megapixel webcam; WiFi N; Verizon 3G; headphone/Mic jack; two USB ports; 4-in-1 memory card reader; and 6-cell battery.