When buying a laptop, the number of options available is much wider and more varied than if we opt for a desktop computer, since we can not only buy a computer that is managed by Windows, but also We can find computers with macOS and ChromeOS, called MacBooks and Chromebooks respectively.
While laptops with Windows and macOS offer us practically the same advantages and disadvantages, if we talk about Chromebooks, things change, since they have a completely different approach to the operating systems that both Microsoft and Apple make available to us. ChromeOS, through Chromebooks, offers us a series of advantages that make it an ideal device for certain uses, as well as a series of disadvantages, depending on the use we want to make of it.
If you want to know both the advantages and disadvantages of Chromebooks, we invite you to find out which is the best option for each type of user.
Advantages of Chromebooks
The Chromebook was born as a device focused on the educational field, however, in recent years, Google is doing everything possible to popularize this device in the home environment, since it offers a series of advantages that make it an ideal laptop:
- Price. Most of the Chromebooks that we can currently find on the market are very cheap devices, and do not exceed 300 euros in most cases, since they are managed by an Intel Celeron, a processor that is fair in terms of resources but which is more than functional to move ChromeOS with ease.
- Large number of applications. ChromeOS has its own application store, a store where we can find a large number of applications, not as many as in the Play Store, to satisfy any need we have, whether to retouch images, create documents, edit videos or any other.
- Sure. The only official way to install applications on Chrome is to use the application store, a limitation very similar to what we can find in the Apple App Store, so, unless something slips in during the review process malicious application, the number of options for our computer to be infected by a virus is remote.
- Integration of all Google services. If we usually use Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, Google Photos and the applications to create Google documents, ChromeOS is an ideal device to do so, since all of these are natively integrated into the operating system and offer excellent performance.
- Touch screen. One of the main attractions of Chromebooks is that they all include support with a touch screen and allow us to fold the keyboard to place it behind the screen to use it as if it were a tablet.
Disadvantages of Chromebooks
Regarding the negative points, we have to highlight several, especially if we come from Windows or macOS.
- Limited applications. While it is true that in the official Google store we can find a large number of applications, we can forget about using Photoshop to edit photographs, DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere to edit videos, since these applications are not available for ChromeOS.
- Limited power. In relation to the above, the main reason why Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere are not available for the ChromeOS operating system is due to the limited power of their processors (Intel Celeron), a processor with which editing videos can take days. , not a few hours or minutes.
- Storage capacity. Any laptop with Windows or macOS has a minimum storage capacity of 256 or even 512 GB, more than enough space to work with all types of files, whether photos, videos, documents or any other format. Chromebooks are devices designed to work with the cloud, so storage space is usually limited in most devices to 128 GB and without the possibility of expanding it.
- It does not have caps lock. Although it may seem silly, Chromebooks do not have a key dedicated to caps lock, which is a problem when starting to use it if we are used to how it works on Windows and macOS. Although it does not have a dedicated key, you can use a key combination to do it, a very unintuitive process and not that easy to remember.
Worth?
If the use that we are going to give to the Chromebook is the same that we give to our mobile phone: checking social networks, watching YouTube or Netflix, sending and receiving emails, browsing the Internet and little else, the Chromebook is, without a doubt, a device ideal.
But, we need certain applications that are only available for Windows or macOS, large storage capacity and enjoy maximum power to carry out any task, the Google Chromebook is not a solution in any case.
