LAS VEGAS—A sleek Chromebook with an AMOLED display and a flashy Fiesta Red color scheme is joining the Samsung Galaxy lineup. Unveiled at CES, the new Galaxy Chromebook marks the first time Google's desktop operating system has appeared in a Galaxy device.

At $1,000, the new Galaxy Chromebook is also available in a more subdued silver aluminum finish. It's aimed at those who might also be eyeing Google's own premium Pixelbook laptops. They'll get excellent build quality and innovative features that rarely grace the legions of sub-$300 Chromebooks that have been popular with kids and budget buyers.

The Galaxy Chromebook's most unique feature is its 13.3-inch AMOLED display, with a 4K 3,840-by-2,160-pixel resolution. Colors pop off the screen and text is razor sharp, though the increased number of pixels compared with the more typical full HD (1,920 by 1,080 pixels) resolutions that most laptops offer could result in reduced battery life.

The display is touch-enabled, and the Galaxy Chromebook includes a stylus for writing, tapping, or drawing on it. The stylus slides into a garage on the laptop's edge, similar to the S Pen included with other Galaxy laptops and phones. Unlike the S Pen, however, the Galaxy Chromebook Pen is a passive stylus, with no battery power of its own. It does have tilt support, but there's no pressure sensitivity.

Like the Pixelbook and Pixelbook Go, the 2.2-pound Galaxy Chromebook is a 2-in-1 convertible laptop, which means you can rotate its hinge 360 degrees to turn it into a tent, easel, or slate tablet. During a brief demo, I noticed that the screen bounced significantly when I converted it into an easel, which could make writing and drawing difficult.

Face the World

The Galaxy Chromebook has two webcams. One is in the normal position above the display, while a second is mounted above the keyboard and points away from the user when the device is used as a tablet. This "world-facing" camera could be used for augmented reality (AR) applications, but Samsung mainly envisions it as a useful tool for students who want to take a picture of the notes their teacher has written on the blackboard.

The other camera has a sensor compatible with Google's Ambient EQ feature, which dynamically adjusts the color temperature and brightness of the display to match the environment of the room you're using it in. Ambient EQ is currently only available on Google products like the Nest Hub. Google initially said that it would keep it this way, but in an about-face that's typical for the company, it's now working on building it into Chrome OS.

In fact, Google product teams were closely involved with the Galaxy Chromebook's design, and Google will be promoting the device as a platform for Android and Chrome software developers who might need to develop using Linux for both Chrome and Android apps. As with Ambient EQ, Google says support for a Linux developer mode will soon come with Chrome OS (it's currently in beta testing).

Ice Lake Under the Hood

In addition to being the first Galaxy Chrome device, the Galaxy Chromebook is among the first crop of Chromebooks to feature Intel's latest 10th-generation processors. It uses an Intel Core i5-10210U CPU, along with 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD.

Look for the Galaxy Chromebook in the first quarter of the year.