As the laptop market has grown over the last few years, Chromebooks have too often been shoved into a niche as a cheaper device that isn\u2019t quite a full featured laptop but gives you a little more juice than a tablet. Well, guess what? Chromebooks have outgrown that label and it\u2019s time to give them some real consideration as a primary laptop.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what is still true about Chromebooks. In general, they run smaller and lighter than your standard laptop. They run on Chrome OS, as opposed to MacOS or Windows. And they rely on connectivity a bit more than your average machine, with smaller hard drives that get supplemented with cloud storage. <\/p>\n
But if you think that these machines can\u2019t keep up with the competition, well, it\u2019s time you catch up. Chromebooks are increasingly capable machines. So let\u2019s dispel some misconceptions about these laptops and help you pick the one that is best for you.<\/p>\n
Unless you\u2019re a creative and need very specific apps like Adobe After Effects, odds are there is a way to run just about anything that you need on a Chromebook \u2014 or at least find a viable alternative. Because Chromebooks are a popular option for students, there are plenty of ways to run apps like Microsoft Word<\/u> and other parts of the Microsoft Office suite on a Chromebook. <\/p>\n
If there isn\u2019t an app option available, there is typically a web-based alternative that will let you create and edit documents and store them in the cloud so you can access them anywhere. Even an app like Zoom has the ability to run on Chromebooks so you\u2019ll be able to stay connected to your class or your office while operating remotely.<\/p>\n
There are definitely limitations to Chrome OS, don\u2019t get us wrong. It\u2019s an operating system designed specifically to operate on Chromebooks, and it\u2019s relatively young compared to its competitors in macOS and Windows. But it\u2019s more than capable of handling most tasks. <\/p>\n
Chrome OS is based on Linux and in recent years has become capable of running Linux apps, which gives it a whole new arsenal of capabilities. Linux has many alternatives to popular apps \u2014 GIMP for Photoshop and LibreOffice for Microsoft Word, for instance \u2014 and being able to tap into this well of existing apps makes Chromebooks more fully featured than you might have imagined.<\/p>\n
Additionally, some Chromebooks have the capability of running Android apps. While this is limited to Chromebooks that have access to the Google Play Store, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. If you\u2019re already using an Android phone or tablet, being able to seamlessly hop into that same ecosystem on a laptop makes it easy to pick up your work anywhere.<\/p>\n
While Chromebooks are more than enough to help you keep up with your school work or make the commute to the office, they aren\u2019t fully featured machines. If you want to do some high-level creative tasks like photo or film editing, you\u2019re going to find the Chromebook a bit lacking. Same goes for gaming.<\/p>\n
That said, these machines are more powerful than you might think. Many come equipped with Intel processors that you might find in mid- to high-tier Windows machines, and have 8GB to 16GB of RAM available, as well.<\/p>\n
What you\u2019re more likely to find lacking is physical memory. You aren\u2019t going to be able to load up a Chromebook with lots of photos and videos, nor are you going to be able to download your favorite series from Netflix to watch offline. Chromebooks ditch big hard drives, which can often add a significant amount of weight, in favor of cloud storage. This keeps the machines portable, but also makes you more reliant on having an internet connection available. <\/p>\n
Now that you have a better idea of what a Chromebook is capable of (and what it can\u2019t quite handle), you can finally start considering which Chromebook is best for you. The one problem? There are a lot of them. So we\u2019ve put together a list of some of the best available to get you started.<\/p>\n
These top seven are the ones we most hope to see on sale come Prime Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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