Best For Users Who Travel A Lot Or Work Remotely
Do you have to work remotely often? Or perhaps you travel a lot and need to stay in touch with others at all times? A Chromebook would be ideal in these situations because it stores everything in the cloud and allows you to continue your work no matter where you are.
This isnt all Chromebooks are also excellent when you are away from home because they are light and have long battery life!
However, if you want such a system specifically because you travel a lot, you should be careful when shopping. Some Chromebooks are lighter and smaller than others, and some other models have larger and longer-running batteries. Read reviews and have a good look at specs before investing in anything.
First Off: What Is A Chromebook
Since laptops have been a mainstay for decades, we probably dont need to define a Windows 10 or Apple macOS laptop for you. Chromebooks, though, are a relatively new product category that may be unfamiliar to many shoppers, especially if you havent been in the market for a laptop for years.
Chromebooks are technically laptops, too, and look just like other notebooks from the outside. They have some core differences, though, mainly on the software side, that set them apart from the laptops and desktop PCs you may be more familiar with.
With Chromebooks, were talking about machines that cost, in some cases, as little as $175 to $300. You can find a handful of Windows laptops in this range, but they’re mostly cut-price options that cant do as much as their pricier counterparts. Many of the cheapest Windows laptops are on the smaller side, as well.
Even inexpensive Chromebooks, though, are fully capable of all the tasks Chromebooks are made for, since theyre intentionally somewhat limited to a subset of jobs. You’ll also see on the market more upscale Chromebooks, which focus on nicer physical chassis builds, better processors, more storage, and other extra features. These premium Chromebooks are appealing, providing a higher-quality feel and in some cases 2-in-1 convertible designs. But the core Chromebook concept centers around the less-expensive machines.
Better Battery Life And Endurance
Most systems can last 7 hours on a single charge.
Like Windows laptops and MacBooks, the more you use a Chromebook, the faster it runs out of battery. However, where Chromebooks excel is battery life when idle.
The primary reason why these computers are more power-efficient when idle is that they have very few locally installed apps. So you dont have to deal with apps running in the background and eating through your battery even when you are doing nothing.
With that said, keep in mind that some models run longer on a single charge than others. Besides, you should still be conscious about your power consumption and close unneeded apps, keep the screen brightness low, and lock the screen when inactive to save battery charge.
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Why Should You Go For A Chromebook
A moment of truth, Chromebooks will always be less powerful than a Laptop running Windows or macOS. Having said that, most of the time you dont need all that power. So, let us see some of the reasons why you should go for a Chromebook.
The following are some of the advantages of a Chromebook.
Now, let us talk about them in detail
1] Inexpensive
Since Chromebooks pack less power, they are relatively inexpensive as compared to laptops. You can get a budget Chromebook at $200 and a higher-end one will cost you anywhere between $300-400.
Whereas, if you are in the market looking for a Laptop for $200, good luck! You will get a brand new entry-level laptop at $300-400 and a high-end one can cost you anywhere between $2000-2500, and sometimes even more.
2] Fast Boot
Since Chromebooks uses SSD instead of normal HDD and have a light OS, the booting speed is express. The average booting time of a regular Chromebook is 8 sec, which is super quick.
3] A Better Cloud Storage
Now, this can be debatable as for many of you, and will be a topic of utmost interest.
One thing which is not debatable is that you also are getting 100GB of free Google Drive storage with Chromebook.
Best Chromebook Of 2021
Acers Chromebook Spin 713 is, hands-down, the best Chromebook you can buy. With a gorgeous 3:2 screen that rivals some more expensive competitors, youll have a ton of extra vertical space for your work and multitasking.
The keyboard is excellent with a comfortable, quiet feel, and nice backlighting. Theres even an HDMI port, which you dont see on a thin Chromebook every day. And the 11th-Gen Intel processors can handle a heavy load of tabs with no problem. The Spins speakers arent great, and theres no biometric login, but those are reasonable sacrifices to make for a laptop of this quality at this low of a price.
In a market where the main differences between Chromebooks in this price range boil down to their screens and maybe an included stylus, Acer sets itself apart by making an affordable laptop thats excellent in almost every way.
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Buying Laptop Vs Chromebook Which Is The Better Choice
When you decide to buy a convenient, lightweight laptop computer then you need to consider the type of operating system you would require, the overall versatility of the computer to make your tasks more efficient, etc.
In essence, a Notebook and Chromebook are both laptops that can replace the desktop computer for everyday tasks.
These are more advantageous than a conventional desktop PC because of their incredibly lightweight, smaller size, and portable design.
However, there are some significant differences between a Laptop and a Chromebook, such as:
What Is A Tablet
Tablet is a wireless and highly portable personal computer whose primary interface is a touch screen. A tablet looks like a very large smartphone, but functions as a mobile computer. You can carry a tablet with just one of your hands and use it wherever you want.
Pros of tablet:
- Keyboard is not necessary
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Are Chromebooks Good Enough To Replace Your Windows Pc
It all depends on what you use a computer for. If you spend most of your time online and are comfortable spending the majority of your time in a web browser, then a Chromebook will be just fine for what you want to do. If not, you may be better off with a more traditional PC, and there is no shame in that. Of course, we all need different devices for different things, but if you haven’t looked at a Chromebook before, now might be a good time to take a look.
With Chrome Os Even If Your Chromebook Burst Into Flames You Lose Nothing
Say you drop your laptop, and then the screen cracks. If you’re running Windows, you’d better hope you have a good recent backup, and you’re able to restore it to a new one without too much trouble. Good luck with that.
When I did that with a Chromebook, I got a new machine, signed into it, and in three minutes I was ready to go again. Using a Chromebook means never losing your settings, applications, or data again.
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Runs More Apps Than Any Competition
Dont be surprised about this fact. Chrome OS wins over the competition when it comes to having more access to apps. There is no other OS out there that can top Chrome OS in this regard.
The Play Store offers Android apps, there are web apps, and the Chrome Web Store offers thousands of options. Recently, Google brought Linux apps to the fold, and you can even run Windows apps on a Chromebook using Parallels. Google is looking to further those integrations, too.
Imagine all the apps of three operating systems and it’s all possible on a Chromebook. That should be a treat! You add this up with , and you have a wide selection of apps, tools, and games straight from your Chromebook!
Very Low Software Costs
The next big advantage of Chromebooks is their low software costs. To confirm this, just have a look around Google Play or the Chrome Web Store you will struggle to find an app that requires tens or hundreds of dollars of monthly investment.
No matter what you are doing editing videos or writing content Chromebooks give you the chance to do your job at little to no costs.
HOWEVER, software availability is fairly limited on Chrome OS. But well talk about this more in-depth a little later.
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Is A Chromebook Or Laptop Better For School Work
A Chromebook is a good choice for a student that is primarily using the computer for web browsing, word processing, or streaming video and audio. Storage isn’t a problem if Google-focused students can store their files with Drive. They can also use SD cards and USB drives to keep hold of their documents.
A Chromebook is also a great low-cost option, with prices dipping as low as $100/£120/AU$140 during the holiday season for the low-end models. However, the price of a Chromebook can skyrocket to $1,000/£1,000/AU$1,400 if you choose a corporate or luxury option like the .
For school work, the Chromebook is a winner because it has so few features. Without extra games or a lot of applications, the Chromebook becomes a homework powerhouse, allowing students to access their lessons online with few distractions.
Students can write their papers with Google Docs and share their work straight from the Chromebook to their teacher or parent, no printing necessary. The Microsoft Office suite is also available online, so students can create Word documents with ease.
The Chromebook is also just a hard device to break. If your student is prone to installing virus-laden programs, the Chromebook can be wiped and reset with ease. If the child isn’t particularly tech-savvy, there are few confusing functions: the Chromebook is a plug in and play device. Some of the newer Chromebooks are a little more delicate physically, but most can take a tumble, as many of the parts are plastic.
Chromebook Vs Laptop: How To Decide Which Computer Fits Your Needs
Can you get by with a budget-friendly Chromebook, or do you need a laptop with more functionality? We’ll help you figure it out.
Joshua Goldman
Senior Editor / Reviews
Joshua Goldman is a senior editor for CNET Reviews, covering laptops and the occasional action cam or drone and related accessories. He has been writing about and reviewing consumer technology and software since 2000.
Acer’s updated Chromebook Spin 713 two-in-one is the first with Thunderbolt 4 support and is Intel Evo verified.
If you’re looking for an affordable new computer that you can take on the go, Chromebooks are a tempting option — with some even dipping below $300. The web-browser-based Chromebooks, which come in both laptop and two-in-one designs, run on Google’s minimalistic Chrome operating system. Before making the leap from a Windows or MacOS system, it’s important to consider whether a Chromebook will offer everything you need from a computer.
Read more: Best laptop under $500 for 2022
When Chromebooks first arrived in 2011 they were routinely derided — and rightfully so — for their limited functionality and reliance on a consistent internet connection. The operating system turned 10 years old last year and today’s Chromebooks are far from where they started, but some things haven’t changed, and you might not be willing to work with the limitations they do have.
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Chromebooks Work Just Fine Offline
One of the great myths about Chromebooks is that, without an internet connection, Chromebooks are just expensive door-stops. Wrong.
With an offline Chromebook, you can still read and write Gmail, use your calendar, watch movies, listen to music, edit photographs, or work in Google Docs. People who claim that Chromebooks are just a Chrome browser and nothing more are clueless and haven’t actually used one.
Should You Buy A Chromebook Or A Laptop
Picking up a laptop used to be fairly straightforward. It was a choice between a Windows laptop or MacBook, with a well-established tribal loyalty to each. Today, the two are arguably a lot closer than theyve ever been, and a newer challenger has entered the ring the Chromebook.
With their cheaper prices and simple approach, Chromebooks are becoming a smarter choice than regular laptops. In fact, unless you have to run a certain program that’s only available on Windows , we’d argue a Chromebook is the best purchase. They’re also quite secure, which will help guarantee that you aren’t the victim of a security breach.
More computing happens online, rather than on your computer itself, these days. Your email account? Synced via the cloud. Your documents? Backed up to Google Drive or Dropbox. Your music and videos? Streamed, not downloaded. Chromebooks are perfect for this always-online approach, and they’re so much cheaper than Mac or Windows alternatives.
Chromebooks, MacBooks and Windows laptops all have their advantages and disadvantages, and there are tasks that each can achieve better than the others. At their core though, theyre all essentially laptops, and can browse the web, stream video and handle documents.
Weve broken down what to typically expect from each operating system in the table below:
Let’s understand a few of those spec differences between Chromebooks, Windows Laptops and MacBooks
Operating system
Software on a Chromebook
Chromebook Processors
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What Are The Differences Between A Chromebook And A Laptop
When looking at Chromebook vs laptop, there are several things that you should check to differentiate the two. These include:
- Price tag
A Chromebook has a lower price tag than a laptop. They run on the Google operating system called Chrome OS, you can run Windows OS on a Chromebook but it will take a lot of effort. The fact that Chromebooks are cheaper does not mean that you will get less value from them.
- Operating System
A Chromebook is more or less the same as a laptop. Even though laptops and Chromebooks are portable, they differ in several things such as functionality, software, and User Interface.
- Portability
Chromebooks are thinner, smaller, and lighter than laptops. Few ultra-portable traditional laptops can compete against modern portable Chromebooks.
- Performance
A Chromebook does not have high performance than a laptop with the latest version of Windows OS. The performance is due to the device specifications and its ability to handle lots of hard work.
- Battery Life
A Chromebook has a longer battery life than that a laptop. Therefore, this gives Chromebooks a competitive advantage since they can store charge for up to 11 hours.
- Display
When checking Chromebook vs laptop, you must also look at their display. With a laptop, you get to have more display size options and graphics.
Advantages Of A Chromebook
Compared to a laptop, a Chromebook has these advantages:
- Price: Unless you buy a model with numerous options, a Chromebook will nearly always be a more economical option than a laptop . Note that these numbers are approximate, with a wide range of price options in each category.
- Boot times: Chromebooks boot up faster than other PC systems thanks to their solid state drives and the Chrome OS, which is intentionally designed to activate a minimal set of functions — little more than the Chrome browser — when first turned on.
- Simplicity: For anyone who hasn’t yet used a PC or gets frustrated using a standard laptop OS, a Chromebook can be a great choice because there’s less to learn to get started, with most tasks initiated directly from the Chrome browser.
- Thin and light: Generally, Chromebooks are thinner and lighter than standard laptops because they use solid state storage exclusively and omit big, heavy add-ons such as DVD drives, etc. But read the specs. Many new laptop designs compare favorably to Chromebooks in terms of portability.
- Unplugged lifestyle: There’s nothing like a Chromebook to help push a user to adopt a more unplugged lifestyle — saving files to the cloud rather than a hard drive, streaming music rather than downloading it, and perhaps even avoiding some viruses or other negative aspects of using a standard laptop OS.
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How To Buy A Chromebook
In many ways, if youve decided a Chromebook is the best option for you, choosing which Chromebook to buy is very similar to deciding on your desired laptop.
Once again, the first place to start with buying a Chromebook is budget. If you know how much you want to spend on a Chromebook, you can easily narrow down your choices and find the slate of options that would work best for you. Since all Chromebooks run on Chrome OS, you neednt worry about operating system choices, but even though Chrome OS is a cloud-first operating system, if youre someone who needs more storage, be sure to go with a Chromebook with a larger solid-state drive.
Design also matters here, so be sure to find a Chromebook that has a compelling design and the monitor size you want. Also be sure to opt for a reliable brand like Acer theres simply no substitute for a PC maker you know you can trust.
Chromebooks Are More Affordable
A Chromebook is one of the best budget laptop options available.
This is one argument where Chromebook vs. Windows has an obvious winner. Chromebook’s always come out on top because you can utilize them for a lower cost than many Windows laptops while having almost the same performance level.
Chrome OS works more efficiently, even when running on lower-end hardware. There is no Windows device available in the market today for $300 that can provide you with the same performance as a similarly priced Chromebook.
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