Chromebooks are all the rage with the Department of Education. Need a computer? They’ll give you a Chromebook. But, is a Chromebook worth buying?
I personally bought a Chromebook when they first came out. Actually, I bought it for my wife, but you know, it was actually for me…haha and my hidden deception reared its ugly head as I was severely disappointed. Karma was a bi$%h and I promptly returned this Internet box back to Amazon.
But, I am in the tech field. So, I just wanted to review if this Chromebook still may be a winner. See how it fared in my analysis for the school, office, and home.
Are Chromebooks good for school?
For school, Chromebooks are actually decent if you stay within the Google ecosystem. Gmail, Calendar, Meet, and Classroom all work really well. It’s once you start going into Zoom or other apps that are not part of Google. Why? The Chromebook itself is using ChromeOS which is a Linux-based operating system. So, you’re really living with your Gmail and then can spawn out to its affiliated G-apps. No Firefox, Microsoft Office, no anything else. Again, this works for school especially if Google Classroom and Meet is how the students are functioning mainly. Zoom is glitchy because it’s outside of the Google suite.
How about buying one for your office?
On the office end, that’s a hard no. Most lack in space as it’s clearly living on the cloud. Your Internet speed needs to be tip-top blazing for this to make any sense. For printing, you’re forced to use Google Print so legacy or older printers will be useless to print to. The video on this thing is crap so get ready for slow-loading programs and freezing remote video chats. As you can see, I’m not a fan for this to be used for your office.
What about for your home?
Yeah, I can see this working out. Think utilitarian minimization. This is not an over-the-top system, so think of this as an Internet system. Want to check out websites and Gmail? Sure, this will work. But, other than remotely handing school through the G-suite, that’s all you go. It will work with lowered expectations.
Take away
Depending on what you need to use a Chromebook for, it may be a winner or loser. It’s a winner for school and light home use. But, it’s definitely not good for office use. On the plus side, it’s purely made of plastic so if it breaks down the Chromebook repair cost is usually not expensive.