Samsung 12.3" QHD Touchscreen Chromebook-Plus

I had an iPad for a number of years and it was getting on in age and a big sluggish. I had a few dollars laying around and decided I was tired of its computing power (or lack of) and determined it was time to invest in something new. Of course by default, I started investigating new iPads. Brainwashed! It dawned on me that perhaps I needed to look into some alternate makes/models. I should add that I use my iPad the way that most people do I presume: watching YouTube, looking things up in Google's search engine and occasionally using Google's cloud based suite of apps (Docs, Sheets and Slides). I do also have a fairly powerful laptop that I sometimes travel with if I know I will need to write up report for work of decent heft, or if I will be gone long enough that I don't feel like answering all my emails on my phone and typing with my thumbs. I have thought about getting a detachable keyboard for the iPad in the past but decided it was kind of crazy to add a peripheral to a tablet, which was as large as the device itself. So I started looking into other devices and I came over to Chromebooks. Well let's fast forward because you all know what I ended up buying. I can say now after taking this on many trips, using it in airports, hotels and even on planes, that I absolutely love it. I laugh at the criticisms that people are giving this hardware here in other reviews, as they obviously should have bought something totally different. You don't buy a Ford Taurus and then complain that it doesn't go 120mph or ask questions like 'does it come with a spoler?'. The Taurus does not come with a spoiler, but it will get you to work everyday and then some, and you can put 200,000 miles on it. See where I am going with this? First of all, there should be almost no reason to ever install any apps on this thing. I don't play games on my phone or on my old iPad so I don't care about that. Even YouTube, the app offers nothing over the regular website in Chrome. I have installed nothing. The Google suite of 'Office' products previously mentioned also work totally fine running from the cloud. Why do you need hard drive space on this device? Use Google Drive. I have put it in convertible mode (flipped backwards like a tent) and sat in Starbucks for hours watching YouTube. I can type probably 90% of my normal ~70wpm on this tiny keyboard. I can write extensive well written emails and work on reports, spreadsheets, presentations, etc... with this awesome device. I must admit it is a little odd using it as a tablet, perhaps because it is so large (this seemed awesome on paper before I got it), and feeling the keyboard underneath seems wrong. But I think these things are in my head. You don't need RAM, or hard drive space, or USB ports, or a DVD drive. If you need those things, it is easy enough to get a decent laptop for the same price as this. What this offers that a laptop does not is extemely small footprint, low weight, great form factor, and something that is built to interface flawlessly with Google's cloud products. I am a dyed in the wool Google user so this was a perfect fit for me. If you reject their products I suppose you could use Office 365 products fairly well as those also operate in the cloud. This thing boots up in about 3 seconds. I already use Chrome on my phone, home desktop and work desktop. So this all makes sense for me. Maybe it doesn't for you. And it certainly doesn't if you want to do video editing or some other high powered stuff, this is a netbook essentially and you don't drive a Ford Taurus if you want to pretend you are in 'The Fast and The Furious'. I am 100% happy with this and I have taken it everywhere with me. Did I mention the battery life is insane? Well it is. I can't say enough about this and I can't believe I lived with an iPad for so many years. I would never ever turn back. That is nothing against Apple, I love my iPhone. Anyway, this is a great device and I suggest you pull the trigger.