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Buying a Chromebook: Where They Differ from Normal Laptops

By December 18, 2018December 28th, 2018laptops

Chromebooks have become increasingly popular due to their extreme portability, ease of use, and their low price-point. A Chromebook meets all the same specs as a laptop, but it runs on a different operating system called Chrome OS (made by Google, who also makes Android). Let’s go over the main differences between a Chromebook and a standard laptop.

chromebook on desk

Weight and Size

Chromebooks have more in common with ultra-slim laptop models like the MacBook Air. While the MacBook Air was the laptop that kick-started the extreme lightweight laptop market, Chromebook developers shaved even more grams off to become lighter still. As a comparison, MacBook Air weighs 1.3 kg, and the Samsung Chromebook weighs 1.1. The extra grams you save can make all the difference to someone who is carrying their laptop around with them all day.

Some Chromebook models have a smaller display than a MacBook Air or Dell XPS 13 as well as a thinner form; this does not always correlate into a smaller screen with the Acer Chromebook being the best example. Chromebooks will be similar in size to many other slim laptop models, but they also come in a wider variety of smaller sizes.

Price

What Chromebooks lack in weight, they also lack in price. Price considerations are an essential factor for a large number of people in the laptop market as well as schools, companies, and other bulk-buying institutions. There are some expensive Chromebooks out there, but most are priced to be exceedingly accessible, and if they’re still too pricey, consider buying your laptop with Afterpay.

Anyone who is wanting to buy the latest Google Pixelbook or is locked into a relationship with Apple will have to swallow hard and hand over the mega-wad of cash that these names command. Any Windows-based laptop has more price tag flexibility.

The most expensive Chromebook models can make the Pixelbook look cheap in comparison. The best thing that can be said about a Chromebook is that there will be a make and model to suit everyone’s price point, unlike any product from the Apple-verse.

Performance

Why should you consider buying a Chromebook when it’s not noticeably cheaper than a Windows-based laptop? It’s because of the Chrome OS that powers it. Windows requires more hard drive space, memory, and takes up more CPU time, which will slow down your work.

Chrome OS is built to function around the Chrome web browser. Since the heavy lifting is done by the internet in a Chromebook, its performance can be drastically improved. Because of this, Chromebooks win the performance award when compared to lower price-bracket laptops, but not against the expensive models.

Display

Chromebooks are known for smaller size displays (26.5 cm to 30.5 cm measured diagonally). It is possible to buy one with a 38 cm display, but they don’t match up well to laptops that range from 30 cm all the way up to 43 cm.

Mid-range to high-performance laptops surge ahead of Chromebook when it comes to screen resolution. This means that the images will appear sharper and have better clarity than a similarly priced Chromebook.

Storage Capacity

You don’t get much storage on a Chromebook. The positive side, however, is that you don’t need as much storage because Chromebooks are designed to be web-powered, as previously mentioned. The average-size Chromebook comes with 32 gigabytes of storage.

These machines are meant to work alongside web-based tools, such as Google Docs, that store files and documents for you. Because your work is stored online, you don’t need as much local storage on your laptop.

Battery Life

Because Chromebook is designed to shift the heavy lifting to the Chrome web browser, the models have a more predictable 8 to 10 hours of battery life. Although some laptops claim to have 10 to 12 hours of battery life, this is not very quantifiable when the user is playing a top-tier computer game on it.

In conclusion, Chromebooks are useful for anyone who needs a laptop to browse the web and check in with social media. They are also perfect for email, music listening, or movie streaming. In this regard, they out-perform laptops. If you are into playing dedicated apps for long periods of time, then a Windows-based laptop is probably a better fit.

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