UPDATED 16:12 EDT / JANUARY 06 2020

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Samsung unveils $1,000 Galaxy Chromebook as portable computing market heats up

The two entry-level Galaxy phones Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. unveiled last week aren’t the only new devices the company is showing off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

Samsung today pulled back the covers on the Galaxy Chromebook, a high-end laptop running on Google LLC’s Chrome OS that will start at $999.

The machine’s 13.3-inch display is the first AMOLED panel with 4K resolution to be included in a Chromebook. The Core i5 Comet Lake processor running under the hood makes the laptop first in the category to sport a 10th-generation, 10-nanometer Intel Corp. chip.

Chromebooks are for the most part inexpensive notebooks with limited hardware specifications. That’s a core part of their appeal: The competitive pricing has helped make Chrome OS the most widely used laptop platform in U.S. classrooms by a wide margin.

But in recent years, Google has sought to expand its reach beyond  education by adding features that cater to the enterprise, a market dominated by high-powered Windows laptops. The Galaxy Chromebook could help put Chrome OS and Google on a more even playing field in this segment.

The laptop’s high-resolution display and Core i5 processor are housed inside a 9.9-millimeter thick aluminum case that Samsung touts as the thinnest in the category. The case also contains a retractable silo for an optional S Pen. Originally introduced as an accessory for the Galaxy Note, the S Pen is a Bluetooth stylus that enables users to write on the touch-sensitive display and doubles as a remote control for applications.

The Galaxy Chromebook works in multiple modes. Consumers can use it as a laptop or, if space is limited, push the screen all the way back to turn the machine into a tablet.

Laptop makers are under pressure to introduce new designs every year in order to stay competitive in the crowded mobile computing market. While Samsung is using CES to show off a high-end Chromebook with several industry firsts, Lenovo Group Ltd. today shared details about an upcoming 5G laptop. The Flex 5G sports a 14-inch display, will provide up to 24 hours of battery life and runs on Qulacomm’s seven-nanometer Snapdragon 8cx chipset.

Lenovo also teased a second, perhaps even more ambitious entry into the laptop category: the ThinkPadX1 Fold. Users can fold it at the hinge into a tablet, then fold the 13.3-inch display again along the middle like a book. 

Image: Samsung

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