Samsung Chromebook 4 15.6" XE350XBA-K02US 2022

A big screen strapped to a painfully slow processor. Spend your money on a used ThinkPad instead and actually get some work done.

We were genuinely surprised by how quickly this machine can feel overwhelmed. The Celeron N4000 processor sits in the 2nd percentile of all laptops we've tested, which is a polite way of saying it's one of the slowest chips you can buy today. Paired with just 4GB of RAM, also in the 2nd percentile, opening more than a handful of Chrome tabs will bring the system to a crawl. It's fine for a single Google Doc or streaming a video, but the moment you add a music tab and a few background apps, the lag becomes a constant companion. The 64GB of eMMC storage is also painfully slow and tiny, landing in the bottom 5th percentile.

The Samsung Chromebook 4's competitors aren't other $1,000 ultrabooks like the MacBook Air M4 or the ASUS Zenbook S. Its real competition is other cheap Chromebooks and used laptops. A used Lenovo ThinkPad with an 8th-gen Core i5, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD will run circles around this Samsung for the same price. If you must have a new Chromebook, look for a model with at least an Intel Core i3 or a MediaTek Kompanio 500 series processor and 8GB of RAM. The difference in daily usability is night and day.

At $389, this is a tough sell. You're paying for a big screen and not much else. The internals are so weak that the experience will be compromised from day one. For the same money, you can find a used business-class Windows laptop with a much faster processor, double the RAM, and a proper SSD. The only way this makes sense is if a 15.6-inch screen on a Chromebook is your absolute, non-negotiable priority and you can't spend a penny more.

The Samsung Chromebook 4 is a budget Chromebook that makes exactly one compelling argument: a big, 15.6-inch 1080p screen for under $400. That's the headline, and for a very specific type of user, it's enough. But you need to know what you're signing up for. The Intel Celeron N4000 and 4GB of RAM inside this thing are a recipe for a slow, often frustrating experience if you try to do more than a couple of things at once. This is a machine built for a single browser tab, maybe two, and a whole lot of patience.

If you're looking for a responsive, all-day workhorse for school or work, this isn't it. Go get a used Lenovo ThinkPad T480 or T490 instead. You'll get a faster processor, more RAM, a better keyboard, and a much more durable machine for the same price.

Skip the Samsung Chromebook 4. The big screen is a trap. The painfully slow processor and criminally low RAM will have you regretting this purchase within a week. Spend your $389 on a used, higher-quality machine that won't make you wait for every click to register. Your sanity is worth more than a 15.6-inch display.