Chromebook vs. laptop computer variations: Which one do you have to purchase?

In Mashable’s 2011 evaluate of one of many first Chromebooks, our author mentioned it “may change the world of computing.” And you realize what? They have been form of proper: Most present lists of the perfect laptops underneath $500 to $700 are Chromebooks all the best way down.

For those who solely consider Chromebooks as crude laptops geared towards college students, it is time to meet up with the instances. Newer fashions have principally shed the class’s fame for fugly clunkers, for one factor, discovering a happier medium between sturdiness, practicality, and premium options.

Sure, Chromebooks nonetheless have some software program quirks that cap their worth for sure use circumstances. However until your workload revolves round demanding specialty apps, or your laptop is your major gaming machine, a Chromebook most likely makes extra sense than an inexpensive Home windows laptop computer or Apple MacBook.

I’ve extensively examined some common Chromebooks, having written about the perfect laptops for Mashable since 2023, so belief me after I say that they’re certainly price it for a lot of customers. For those who’re undecided which taste of laptop computer is a better choose for you, learn on for my primer on what makes Chromebooks completely different from common PCs.

First off: What’s a Chromebook, precisely?

Chromebooks are laptops that run on Google’s ChromeOS as an alternative of Microsoft’s Home windows 11 or Apple’s macOS. They help Android apps from the Google Play Retailer in addition to cloud-based apps (which means apps you entry over the online). Google choices like Gmail, Drive, Meet, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and YouTube come pre-installed on all Chromebook fashions.

ChromeOS is mainly simply the Chrome net browser, so Chromebooks work finest after they’re linked to the web. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to change your Google Drive settings to allow offline use of Docs, Sheets, and Slides recordsdata and folders.

Google rolled out an preliminary batch of Chromebooks in 2010 as a part of a faculty pilot program, and the primary consumer-facing fashions made by Acer and Samsung hit cabinets a yr later. (We reviewed the latter.) Extra producers entered the fray quickly after, together with Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Google itself. Google now not makes its personal Chromebooks, referred to as “Pixelbooks,” having discontinued the road in 2022.

What’s a Chromebook Plus?

The Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is a good mid-range choice.
Credit score: Sarah Chaney / Ian Moore / Mashable composite

In late 2023, Google expanded the Chromebook class to incorporate Chromebook Plus laptops. These fashions are assured to satisfy sure upgraded {hardware} and efficiency necessities, and so they help some unique software program options. Extra on these momentarily.

Chromebook vs. laptop computer: Specs

Chromebooks do not look a lot completely different from common laptops.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable

When most individuals consider Chromebooks, they most likely image the cumbersome, thick-bezeled training fashions that colleges typically subject to Okay-12 graders, that are designed to be rugged above all. However most consumer-ready Chromebooks appear to be another funds laptops, save for an figuring out emblem within the corners of their lids.

Chromebooks vary in measurement from 11 to 16 inches and are available each clamshell and convertible designs. (Convertible/hybrid laptops have touchscreens and 360-degree hinges to allow them to double as tablets.) Chromebooks’ chassis are often comprised of plastic in boring shades of silver and grey. Due to their plastic builds, and since they lack heavy-duty {hardware}, they skew lighter than different low-cost laptops.

Chromebooks and conventional funds laptops are additionally very comparable on the within. Each are designed for primary on a regular basis duties, similar to looking, phrase processing, and streaming, so their specs are equally primary. You may usually get a small quantity of RAM (both 4GB or 8GB), an entry-level processor, built-in graphics, and a teeny chunk of onboard storage — wherever from 64GB to 256GB. Some low-end Home windows laptops have 512GB of native storage, however that is not needed in a Chromebook, which stashes most of its information within the cloud.

Chromebook Plus fashions have to satisfy some spec minimums that assure better-than-baseline efficiency. These embody:

• At the very least a Twelfth-generation Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 7000 collection processor

• At the very least 8GB of RAM

• At the very least 128GB of storage

• A 1080p webcam with temporal noise discount

• An IPS show with a decision of at the very least 1080p (Full HD)

Once more, these are simply minimums. Google’s most up-to-date Chromebook Plus units blow previous them with OLED and a pair of.8K touchscreens, 256GB of quick SSD storage, 5MP webcams, 12 to 16GB of RAM, and high-end chips with neural processing models (NPUs) for dealing with AI duties.

What are the benefits of a Chromebook?

Chromebooks are perfect for workloads that revolve across the Google ecosystem.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Cheapness is a Chromebook’s most evident attraction. Costs vary from the low $200s for probably the most primitive configurations and prime out round $800 with the most recent, most superior Plus fashions. As with every type of laptop computer, specs and construct high quality enhance the extra you spend.

Affordability apart, there are a number of different causes to contemplate shopping for a Chromebook.

Simplicity and ease of use

For those who’ve ever used Chrome, you have low-key used a Chromebook. Between their easy OS and their pre-installed Google apps, Chromebooks will make folks embedded within the Google ecosystem really feel proper at dwelling.

Organising a Chromebook is as simple as selecting a WiFi community and signing right into a Google account. Android smartphone customers can get began even sooner by scanning a QR code that kicks off a knowledge switch.

Chromebook customers even have the choice of syncing their Google account exercise to the machine for an much more seamless setup expertise. Chrome tabs, bookmarks, passwords, themes, and looking from earlier periods will populate routinely, so you’ll be able to choose up proper the place you left off on one other laptop or telephone.

Constructed-in safety

Chromebooks have a number of layers of built-in safety towards malware, viruses, and different safety assaults, together with computerized software program updates each 4 weeks. All fashions launched since 2021 get 10 years of those updates.

Nice battery life

Current-gen Chromebooks examined by me and different Mashable writers are slower than most inexpensive Home windows laptops and MacBooks. Nonetheless, they’re very sturdy opponents on battery life.

Google charges Chromebooks at as much as 10 hours of use per cost, however the median battery life for our testing pool is 12 hours and 47 minutes. One new Chromebook Plus we tried lasted simply over 18 hours, placing it on par with M4 MacBooks and Qualcomm-powered Home windows laptops. Now that is spectacular.

Gaming is workable

The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE is a gaming-ready Chromebook. (That is a factor!)
Credit score: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Chromebooks can run the Android variations of video games like Roblox, Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and Amongst Us regionally, however they lack the required {hardware} to help extra graphically intensive PC video games (i.e., devoted GPUs). Happily, cloud gaming providers like Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming supply a straightforward workaround: They allow you to stream video games from highly effective distant servers proper onto your Chromebook’s display.

All Chromebooks help cloud gaming, however a few of them are higher at it than others. One such mannequin is the $649 Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (brief for “Gaming Version”), which options a big 120Hz show, an RGB keyboard, and a mid-range Intel processor.

Chromebook Plus is AI- and creator-ready

Chromebook Plus fashions have unique AI options that you simply will not discover on normal Chromebooks. These embody a built-in Gemini chatbot, custom-generated wallpapers, Reside Translate, Assist me learn, and webcam enhancements. Two of the latest, priciest Plus fashions throw in a further tab-sorting software and an on-device picture editor throughout the Gallery app. (They’re the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 and Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514.)

Chromebook Plus house owners additionally get complimentary trials of Adobe Categorical Premium, a photograph enhancing app referred to as Luminar, and Google’s AI Professional service, which unlocks instruments like Veo 3 Quick and Gemini 2.5 Professional. These perks are supposed to spotlight the machines’ capability to deal with gentle multimedia enhancing and AI duties.

What can a traditional laptop computer do {that a} Chromebook cannot?

The Asus Zenbook A14 is my No. 1 funds Home windows laptop computer.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The largest distinction between Chromebooks and common funds laptops actually boils all the way down to the type of software program they’ll run.

Strong desktop apps

Some common productiveness and inventive apps are solely accessible for Home windows 11 and macOS. Two common examples are the Microsoft 365 apps and the Adobe Artistic Cloud suite. Free, pared-down net variations of them work on Chromebooks, however the full-featured desktop variations don’t.

Most prime public universities actively discourage their college students from utilizing Chromebooks as their major computer systems for comparable causes: They do not help the applications wanted to finish some faculty coursework. (Conversely, Chromebooks make nice laptops for youthful college students as a result of they are not very sturdy.)

The Android model of the Slack app is optimized for cell view. You’ll be able to’t resize these home windows on Chromebooks.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable

I am going to additionally add that Android apps can look funky on Chromebooks in the event that they’re solely designed for cell view. You will not be capable of make their home windows any larger than the dimensions of a telephone or pill display. They nonetheless run, however you will not get the total, laptop-y desktop expertise.

Full-fledged PC gaming

As talked about earlier, Chromebooks haven’t got the brawn to obtain and run AAA PC video games regionally (and beginning in January 2026, they will not help Steam). You are additionally restricted to the video games in cloud streaming providers’ libraries, so titles like Elden Ring, The Final of Us, and Crimson Lifeless Redemption 2 are all off limits.

Moreover, the standard of a cloud gaming session is closely depending on the power of your web connection. You may run into points with enter lag.

Closing ideas: Which is best, a Chromebook or a daily laptop computer?

The Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is my favourite Chromebook for most individuals.
Credit score: Lenovo

I believe lots of people is likely to be stunned to seek out out that the perfect low-cost laptop computer for them is definitely a Chromebook.

In 2025, Chromebook {hardware} is best than ever. Certain, most conventional laptops nonetheless outpace them, and choices with devoted graphics are nonexistent. However a variety of trendy Chromebooks translate to actually good offers on nicer specs within the funds market.

Take the newer Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, which begins at $649.99 with a 2K OLED show. The most affordable OLED Home windows laptops are at the very least $50 to $100 pricier until you discover them on sale. The $699 Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514, one other 2025 launch, has a 120Hz touchscreen, 12GB of RAM, and a 5MP webcam. It is solely $50 costlier than the most affordable MacBook you should purchase today, the 13-inch M1 MacBook Air, which has a crappier 60Hz show, 8GB of RAM, and a 720p webcam.

This continues at cheaper price factors. You will not discover a 2-in-1 Home windows laptop computer that is cheaper than the $399.99 Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11, for instance.

I encourage any Chromebook skeptics to suppose onerous about what sorts of apps they really, really use frequently. Is the flexibility of a conventional laptop computer a necessity or a glut? Are you certain the online variations of Microsoft 365 and Adobe Photoshop do not have already got what you want? Would a Chromebook restrict your workload, or wouldn’t it truly streamline it?

Our reviewer mentioned the unique 2011 Chromebook was nice at “something most individuals would need to do with a small laptop computer,” and I nonetheless suppose that is true. For those who’re somebody with a chill e-mail job who’s simply bopping between Chrome, Gmail, and YouTube all day, a Chromebook is completely as much as the duty.

Between the 2 Chromebook tiers, I like normal Chromebooks for teenagers and for adults who desire a secondary machine they’re going to use often when touring or working remotely. (These begin at $229.) If you would like a peppier, premium-feeling Chromebook that is comparatively future-proofed and appropriate to be used as a day by day driver, improve to a Chromebook Plus mannequin. They begin at solely $369.

Full-time creatives, hardcore PC players, and faculty college students ought to consider Chromebooks as fallback plans. They tick lots of your packing containers, however they make some essential compromises that reduce their long-term viability in your specific use circumstances. You may miss the software program flexibility of an inexpensive Home windows laptop computer or MacBook. You’d additionally profit from the extra onboard storage they provide.

As of late 2025, I believe the perfect Chromebook for most individuals is the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus, a horny mid-range convertible that retails for $599.99. For those who can splurge a bit, I am obsessive about the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 ($699 to $799.99). For those who’re on a stricter funds, I like to recommend the Acer Chromebook Spin 312 ($449.99). Take a look at my full information to the perfect Chromebooks for extra shopping for steerage.

Store the perfect Chromebooks we have examined:

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