Hello everyone, it’s Matt from Style Factory here.
In this Chromebook review, I’m going to walk you through the key pros and cons of
Chromebooks.
But first: what IS a Chromebook?
A Chromebook is a laptop that you use mainly when you are online.
Chromebooks use Google’s Chrome OS operating system, which, as the name suggests, is largely
based on the Chrome browser.
The key tasks you perform on a Chromebook — word processing, number crunching, note
taking and so on — are typically done in Chrome and your data is stored in the cloud.
But are Chromebooks any good?
Let’s go through some key pros and cons of Chromebooks and find out!
We’ll start with a look at the 5 main advantages of using a Chromebook.
One — ChromeBook can lower your IT costs.
Because Chromebooks are generally designed to be used online and for fairly simple tasks
only, they don’t usually come with much storage, and don’t require a particularly
fast processor.
This makes them much cheaper than other computers to produce, meaning they can be picked up
quite cheaply.
In fact, you can buy a Chromebook that will serve your basic IT needs perfectly well for
as little as $140 dollars.
Computers running Windows or Mac OS tend to have a much higher starting price.
Two — Chromebooks come with a fast and stable operating system.
Chrome OS is easy to use, stable, and free of the ‘bloat’ or ‘lag’ that you often
get with many other operating systems.
Chrome OS also boots up incredibly quickly, and Chromebooks are ‘instant-on’ from
sleep.
Three — Chromebooks are less vulnerable to viruses and malware than other types of
computers.
Chromebooks are very secure devices and it’s rare for them to get infected with viruses.
Security is provided via a combination of automatic updates to Chrome OS, self-monitoring
for any changes to files during boot-up, sandboxing of browser tabs so one can’t affect another,
and encryption of sensitive data.
Four — Chromebooks encourage collaboration.
Because the focus of Chromebooks is on working in the Chrome environment, people using them
are effectively ‘nudged’ in the direction of using browser-based apps that allow multiple
users to edit files together in real time.
This opens up a lot of collaborative possibilities and new ways of working.
Five — Chromebooks are great for on-the-go computing.
Chromebooks are generally lighter and thinner than traditional laptops (due to the lack
of moving parts) — and this makes them much easier to transport.
The lack of moving parts also means that their battery life is excellent.
So, if you travel a lot, and will be working in locations where WiFi is available, Chromebook
could be a good option for you.
That all sounded pretty good didn’t it?
However, there are some downsides of using Chromebooks that you need to be aware of too.
But before we look at those, a quick reminder to click the subscribe button and hit the
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Right, let’s dig into the 5 main disadvantages of using a Chromebook.
One — you can’t install Microsoft 365 apps on Chromebooks.
If you are particularly attached to Microsoft 365 apps like Outlook, Word and Excel, you
should note that you can’t install the full desktop versions of them on a Chromebook.
You can use the online version of Microsoft 365 on a Chromebook however, and Google Workspace
lets you create and edit basic documents in Microsoft format.
For more information on the pros and cons of Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace, check
out the Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace comparison on the Style Factory website.
You’ll find a link to this in the video description.
Two — Chromebooks are not ideal for working on multimedia projects.
If you work on a lot of audio or video related projects, you are probably better off with
a traditional desktop machine.
Most of the professional software typically used for multimedia projects is not browser
based, and most Chromebooks are not powerful enough to handle demanding audio or video
processing.
Three — Chromebooks are much less functional offline.
Chromebooks are mainly designed for online use, and if you find yourself without a WiFi
connection, you may find it difficult to get much work done.
Although you can use Google Workspace and Gmail offline on a Chromebook, this requires
some advance planning.
Four — there’s an ‘end of life’ date to worry about.
Chromebooks receive automatic updates to provide users with the latest features and keep their
devices secure — but not indefinitely.
Each Chromebook comes with an Auto Update Expiration date, after which updates will
no longer be supplied for that device, and it may not be advisable to use it.
While other devices run out of steam eventually too, some computer types, especially Apple
devices, can be supported for longer periods.
Five — Chromebooks don’t tend to come with much storage.
Because Chromebooks are mainly geared towards online use, they don’t typically come with
much storage — especially where cheaper machines are concerned.
Budget machines often give you just 32 or 64 gigabytes to play with.
This can be eaten up quite quickly if you download large music or video files to your
machine.
And that’s it!
5 key reasons to use Chromebooks and 5 reasons to think twice about them.
There’s lot’s more pros and cons of Chromebooks to discover though, so do check out our full
Chromebook review on the Style Factory website.
You’ll find a link to this in the video description.
If you’d like to get more business tips and advice from Style Factory, make sure you
like this video, subscribe to our channel and hit the notifications bell.
And if you have any questions about Chromebooks, just leave them in the comments section below.
We read them all and will do our best to help.