Toshiba Chromebook 2: A Feast for the Eyes
by Jarred Walton on February 11, 2015 10:00 AM ESTToshiba Chromebook 2 Closing Thoughts
I have to admit that when I first saw the pricing on the Toshiba Chromebook 2, I was skeptical. When you have $200 (and sometimes less) alternatives like the Acer C720 floating around, and with a lot of Chromebook users going that route due to pricing considerations, tacking on an extra $130 is a tough sell. On the other hand, there’s no question about which device is more pleasant to use on a regular basis. The Acer C720 can do everything you might need to do, and it’s actually quite a bit faster than the Toshiba Chromebook 2, but the Toshiba CB35 is a far more enjoyable laptop thanks to its improved styling and keyboard, but more especially thanks to the great display – at least on the 1080p model we’re reviewing (don’t bother with the $249 1366x768 display version is our advice).
If you’re not beholden to Microsoft Windows, there are several viable alternatives right now: OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, and Chrome OS all have something to offer. In the case of Chrome OS, it’s a lightweight OS built around one of the most popular web browsers, targeted primarily at laptops. For internet surfing, email, and moderate office tasks, a Chromebook is able to do everything most people need, and it’s able to do it while typically costing less than the Windows incumbents. It’s true that we now have inexpensive Windows laptops, but so far it doesn’t appear anyone has taken the challenge of building a good quality Windows with Bing option at the same price as the Toshiba Chromebook 2. There’s also the question of performance and features, and while living with Chrome OS with just 16GB of internal storage is relatively painless, the same can’t really be said for Windows alternatives. Battery life of Chromebooks also tends to be better than equivalent hardware running Windows, though we need to investigate the subject further before coming to any strong conclusions.
Perhaps more important than the cost and battery life, Chromebooks avoid the headache of viruses and other malicious software – and they do it with minimal effort on the part of the user. It’s possible to get a similar experience with Android or iOS, but the simplified user interface with Chrome OS and integrated keyboard make Chromebooks a great fit for educational purposes as well as for people that don’t have much technical skill (or a desire to acquire it). There are still limitations with Chrome OS, but additional apps appear on a regular basis, and part of the beauty of the platform is in not having too many choices. You can sit down with a Chromebook and surf the web painlessly, and that’s what a lot of people want – no mess, no fuss, no apps to dig through, etc. And if for some reason you do need to swap out for a new Chromebook, you can be up and running in a matter of minutes (or less) after logging in on a new device.
The biggest complaint I have with Chromebooks right now is that no one has really delivered “everything” in a single device at a reasonable price. If you want one of the fastest and least expensive Chromebooks, Acer’s C720 still holds that crown, but the keyboard and display are less than stellar. For a great typing experience and great battery life, I’d rate the Acer Chromebook 13 as the best option, but the display is again lacking and performance is clearly a step down from the C720. Toshiba’s Chromebook 2 with a 1080p display has the best display among the current offerings, but battery life is a bit worse and performance isn’t at the level of the C720 – and given the number of other Chromebooks using Celeron N2830/N2840, the performance story is similar for those. And if you want a touchscreen, the only options right now seem to be the Acer C720p or the Lenovo IdeaPad N20p, both of which again have other areas where they come up short.
My ideal Chromebook right now would be to take the display and general design of the Toshiba Chromebook 2 we’re looking at today, but pull out the Celeron N2840 processor and get a Celeron 3205U in there instead, and then give me a bit more travel on the keyboard – bonus points for keyboard backlighting as well. I’d even take an older Celeron 2955U if necessary, provided the screen and keyboard are left intact. Ironically you could get exactly that minus the display with the original Toshiba CB35-A3120, which is priced at $220 these days – and you can’t tell me that an extra $110 isn’t enough to upgrade the display! It’s almost like Intel has some mandate that you can’t ship a Celeron 2955U Chromebook with anything more than a lousy 1366x768 TN display. I keep saying that the Acer Chromebook 15 might be the closest thing yet to such a device, but then the 15.6” 1080p display means it’s larger and bulkier than the Toshiba.
In light of the lack of a clear winner in all areas, what we’re left with is a decision of where to compromise. Among the 13” Chromebooks the Toshiba Chromebook 2 (specifically, the CB35-B3340 model) is currently my favorite option, and it’s really all about the screen. If you appreciate a good display it’s practically the only game in town for Chromebooks right now, with the 15” 1080p Acer model due in the near future. On the other hand, if you’re not particularly finicky about display quality, you can get better performance and/or better battery life for less money by looking at some of the other options we listed above.
If you’re in the market for a Chromebook, the Toshiba CB35-B3340 is definitely worth a look and earns our Recommended by AnandTech award. It performs reasonably well and gets all of the major areas right, and that’s enough for most people. Give us an updated model with the Broadwell-U Celeron 3205U for under $400 however and this would be an easy Editors’ Choice award.
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nafhan - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
I upload all my photos and videos straight to cloud storage from my phone. I don't bother with this dragging it across to my device thing you speak of. Old school right there...Plus, to discount your final point: there's a number of W8 based devices (mostly x86 tablets) with a similar amount of storage - from the same OEM's.
BackInAction - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
I have the older Toshiba 13 CB at home. I have easily gone 3+ weeks without touching my desktop machine. But I don't do pix, audio or movie editing. I need zero local storage. The only reason I use my desktop is the once-a-month itch I get when I feel like doing a bit of gaming (cheap Steam games).The real crime is that they even make laptops with HDD anymore. That should be the premium upgrade, not the SSD. I would be willing to bet 95% of the PC (windows, MAC and 'linux' desktops) could get by with a 256GB SSD. Which is less than $80. But Apple, Dell, etc. make it a premium option only for stupid expensive PCs.
chlamchowder - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
I wouldn't go so far as to call them pointless - you just need a really, really good internet connection.The intention is this: Jimmy loads the video into his Chromebook, which realizes it doesn't have enough internal storage left. So it uploads directly to the cloud through his dedicated low-latency gigabit connection, and it doesn't feel much slower than using internal storage. The pro is that when Jimmy gets a new Chromebook, he doesn't have to worry about spending hours copying files.
The problem is how hard it is to get a high speed internet connection. It's hard even at home, let alone when traveling (which kind of defeats the portable laptop form factor).
SM123456 - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
>>If this were windows it would be laughed out of the page even with 32GB of storage.<<Yes quite right if you were using Windows OS on the device - like for example the HP Stream 11 Windows netbooks which Microsoft has being trying to push as Chromebook killers - these have only 32GB local storage, which reduces to 17.5GB after you deduct the space used by the Windows with no apps installed. These crappy revisited netbooks have apparently flopped very badly.
However this limit does not apply to a Chromebook because, unlike Windows, the ChromeOS image is tiny and doesn't grow in size (in only contains the bare minimum required to run the provided hardware and the web browser, and you can't install programs or drivers on it). ChromeOS also does not use local storage at all except for user downloads and for caching data - all user data, apps etc. are created and stored in the cloud other than for what is temporarily cached locally (eg. local apps, data). Indeed Chromebooks will warn you that data in the local downloads directory may be subject to automatic deletion if space is required (you should use an SD card to store local files you do not want deleted).
Chromebooks just work completely differently to an old OS designed for the low end disconnected desktop era like Windows or an OS designed for high end connected network servers like Unix/Linux. This is how they are able to boot up fast, and run fast and responsively on low end hardware and limited disk/RAM space on which desktop Windows and full Linux installations run very slowly and very painfully.
AdmV0rl0n - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
Lame. The whole industry needs a complete kicking. What we want is a cheap option, and a decent option. So for granny I don't give a crap, I'm happy with the low end, easy care device. What I want is a real laptop that runs chrome AND allows me to do what I want. So give me a Chromebook that has denet spec, and upgradable ram, disk, etc. ts been the heart of the PC industry for two decades, the fact Google and the tech companies can't do this is purely embarrasing.The google guys have added the capability to run linux in the OS. Thats awesome. But not on 16GB of space it's not.
I accept adding ram slots and disk slots adds to price. I accept a faster CPU does as well. *I* accept it has a higher price. Guess what. I have not yet bought a chromebook, and I'm not going to. Not unless this is fixed.
No prime OS and vendor should be happy failing to youtube in 2015. Its pathetic.
Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
Somethign seems to have changed starting with the haswell pentium/celeron U lines. They seem to be all vapor. I cant find one reasonably priced product containing any haswell pentium/celeron 15W chips.savagemike - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
I'm not aware of any Haswell Pentium ever being offered in a ChromeOS device. Haswell Celerons were the standard for a while. Acer C720 and others of its era should still be readily available and at good prices. The screens on most of them aren't great though.Last year Intel really began pushing BayTrail chips in tablets and Chromebooks. Almost all the Chromebooks switched to it. Though I think all the Chromeboxes stayed using Haswell Celerons.
Now Broadwell is about to launch in the Celeron class chip and there is already information that at least some Chromebooks will be using it. Should be on sale in another month or two. I'm hoping Broadwell Celeron is the common chip this year as the Bay Trail stuff was slightly too much of a regeression in my book. The Haswell Celeron is a plucky little chip though and the Broadwell should be all the better.
Pneumothorax - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
Why can't a single PC laptop maker make a laptop with this great screen with a DECENT CPU/iGPU, expandable HDD/SSD, and decent battery life at the $500 price point? Everything else still comes with the same $25 TN panels that should be all automatically thrown in the dumpster.jabber - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
I bet the IPS option costs $25 and the TN $10.zodiacfml - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
Awesome screen. Awesome WiFi. Yet, what to do with those with such an OS?I'd buy in a heartbeat with a big Celeron chip and Windows based for that price.