Plus, the availability of apps for services like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify and, of course, YouTube and YouTube Music mean you’ve got plenty of entertainment options.Īlso, some of the same reasons Chromebooks are good for schools and businesses make them excellent family computers. And, again, you can play Android and browser-based games on them, too. Speaking of gaming, while you won’t be able to play the latest PC games directly from a Chromebook, game-streaming services like Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now make gaming possible. You can connect a Bluetooth gaming controller to it and play Android games on it. With its USI pen support, you can draw and take notes on the screen. It’s a two-in-one Chromebook with a detachable keyboard cover so it can be used as a tablet or a laptop. One of my favorite models from last year, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, sells for less than $300. While premium models start at around $500, you can find excellent options for everyday use for $200 to $300. Price is one of the big things that makes Chromebooks so attractive. Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet is part pen-enabled tablet, part laptop. It’s basically this combination and some other key Chrome OS features (I’ll get to those in a sec) that make Chromebooks an easier recommendation than they were even just a few years ago.

If you can’t find a web app to meet your needs, all modern Chromebooks can run Android apps, too, from the Google Play store. Web apps are essentially websites that function like downloadable mobile apps and Google has a web store full of them. So many things, especially when it comes to productivity tasks like word processing and spreadsheets, can happen in a browser or with a web app. If everything on your list is done in a web browser, congratulations, Chromebooks are a perfect fit. Not sure if a Chromebook is right for you? Start by making a list of exactly what you need to do on a computer. What can be done with web, Linux and Android apps on Chromebooks are increasingly more than enough to get through your day-to-day tasks.Īcer’s updated Chromebook Spin 713 is the first Intel Evo-verified Chromebook. This is generally true, but again, many people don’t need to do more. Delivered on weekdays.Ī common argument against getting a Chromebook is that you can do so much more with a real computer, i.e., a laptop running on MacOS, Windows or a Linux distro. Spice up your small talk with the latest tech news, products and reviews.

Mac cleaner virus cnet