Samsung Chromebook Series 3 compare

The $249 Samsung Chromebook is a good extra computer for cloud-loving Google-centric Web users.

At $199, the Acer C7 is an attractive proposition for anyone looking for a supercheap portable laptop, but the Chrome OS and short battery life mean you'll have to accept a lot of compromises.

The HP Pavilion Chromebook 14 advances the argument for Chrome as a low-cost mainstream computing environment, but the laptop's most noteworthy feature is a slightly bigger screen.

While it's not going to dazzle anyone, the Toshiba Satellite U845T is a great example of exactly how much laptop $799 should buy in 2013.

Despite solid hardware and a slightly improved Chrome OS, the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 comes with far too many caveats and compromises compared with similarly priced but more-capable tablets and laptops.