Samsung Chromebook 11.6" XE310XBA-K01US Silver 2020

The Samsung Chromebook 4 is a super cheap, ultra-portable laptop that excels at basic web tasks and boasts killer battery life. Its low-res screen and weak internals mean it chokes on multitasking, but for students or as a secondary device, the value is hard to argue with. Just don't expect it to do any heavy lifting.

Let's be real, the Celeron N4000 and 4GB of RAM aren't going to set any speed records. In our database, this combo ranks in the 2nd percentile for CPU and dead last for RAM. What that means in practice is you can forget about heavy multitasking. Keep your tabs to a handful, and it'll chug along fine for writing, email, and streaming a video. Push it with more than five or six tabs, especially on media-heavy sites, and you'll feel it start to wheeze.

The integrated Intel graphics sit around the middle of the pack, which is fine since you're not gaming on this thing anyway. Our gaming score for it is a brutal 2.1 out of 100. But for its intended use, the performance is more about Chrome OS efficiency than raw power. The OS is light, so basic navigation feels snappier than the specs would suggest, at least until you hit that RAM ceiling and the freezing some users report kicks in.

Stacked against the Lenovo IdeaPad 82VG00TYUS or the Dell Latitude E7470, the Samsung's limitations become obvious fast. Those Windows laptops offer more RAM, better screens, and far more storage flexibility. But they also cost more and aren't running Chrome OS, which is a plus if you want simplicity and security. The HP Pavilion 15.6" FHD Touchscreen is in a different league for screen quality, but it's also a much larger and pricier machine. The real alternative here is the ASUS Vivobook Go L410KA, another compact Chromebook. The ASUS often comes with a similar Celeron chip but sometimes a better port selection, an area where the Samsung really falls behind, landing in the 14th percentile. If you need more than one USB-C port, the Samsung might drive you nuts.

Value is where this Chromebook makes its strongest case. As a renewed unit, you can snag it for around $65, which is basically impulse-buy territory. We saw a wild price spread across vendors, up to $2177, but that high end is clearly nonsense for this hardware. Stick to the lower end of that range, and you're getting a functional web machine for less than a night out. Compared to something like the ASUS Vivobook Go L410KA, you're trading a bit of build nuance for a lower price, but the core experience is similar. For a kid's first laptop or a backup device, the cost-to-usefulness ratio is hard to beat.

The Samsung Chromebook 4, specifically this XE310XBA-K01US model, is one of those devices that knows exactly what it is. It's an 11.6-inch Chromebook built for the basics, and you'll often find it as a renewed unit for well under a hundred bucks. If you're searching for a cheap laptop for a student or just need a portable machine for web browsing and Google Docs, this thing pops up on a lot of shortlists. It runs on an Intel Celeron N4000, packs 4GB of RAM, and has a tiny 32GB of eMMC storage, all running Chrome OS.

Right out of the gate, you can tell this isn't trying to compete with a MacBook. The 1366x768 display is a throwback, and the specs are about as entry-level as it gets. But that's also the point. It's light, the battery life is a standout according to owners, and it handles the core Chromebook experience without much fuss for simple tasks. For remote desktop work or typing up papers, it gets the job done.

We see this model land in the 98th percentile for compactness, which makes sense given its size. But that portability comes with some serious trade-offs. The screen quality and storage sit way down in the 4th percentile, and the CPU and RAM are scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's a machine with a very narrow mission, and it sticks to it.

Anyone who needs to run demanding software, keep more than a handful of browser tabs open, or stare at a screen for hours should look elsewhere. The low-resolution display and constant threat of freezing make it a poor fit for power users or even heavy multitaskers. If you need a machine for photo editing, coding, or serious office work, spend a bit more on a used Lenovo IdeaPad or Dell Latitude with a proper amount of RAM and a better screen. This Chromebook is a satellite device, not a main computer.

You should buy this if you need the absolute cheapest, most portable typing and web machine you can find and you understand its limits. It's a single-tasker. Write a paper, answer emails, watch Netflix. That's it. The user sentiment score of 72 out of 100 tells the story of a device that delights people with the right expectations and frustrates those who expect a full laptop replacement.

Don't buy this thinking you'll run Linux apps smoothly, edit photos, or keep a dozen tabs open without lag. The frequent freezing complaints and the phone-like interface gripes are real. But if you go in knowing it's a cloud-dependent terminal with a great keyboard for the price, you'll probably be part of the happy majority. It's a purpose-built tool that nails its one job.