If you simply want to play the latest games, you can play AAA titles stably over the cloud using Google’s Stadia gaming platform or Xbox Game Pass. Since they’re streaming from stronger hardware over the internet, Chromebooks get the latest versions and aren’t held back by hardware restraints over time. Chromebooks can access smooth cloud-based versions of suites like Adobe Creative, Microsoft Office, and Zoom, which brings their functionality in line with locally powered versions without needing the hardware to do so. While ChromeOS devices may not come equipped with the most powerful internal components like a traditional laptop, connecting a Chromebook to the web unlocks a world of power. In fact, ChromeOS devices outsold Apple’s MacBook lineup for the first time during the pandemic-taking the second-largest market share in the PC space behind Windows.Ĭhromebooks Make The Most of Limited Specs, But Laptops Are Still More Powerful Each operating system has its own advantages and drawbacks, but while MacOS and Windows fail to stray from a traditional desktop experience, ChromeOS is only growing more relevant and appealing in this connected, mobile-centric world. Since most of a Chromebook’s power is externally tied up in the cloud, you can’t natively run powerful AAA games like you would on a Windows machine or render 4K footage edits on a MacBook without an internet connection.Ĭompared to well-established operating systems like Windows and MacOS, ChromeOS is a lightweight alternative that seamlessly switches between a laptop and mobile tablet experience.
Just a handful of essentials like Google Drive, Polarr photo editor, and installed Android apps like games are available offline.
The majority of ChromeOS software is made up of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) that rely on a constant internet connection. With that said, this speed sacrifices onboard power. That leaves Chromebooks with a less-intense workload and plenty of onboard memory, which translates to a snappy, modern operating system that runs atop a version of Linux. Chromebooks stream tasks which frees up resources that tax computing power, onboard graphics, and battery. This is the fancy way of saying that the software and services are powered by the internet on a Chromebook versus laptops which use local applications. These battery, performance, and touchscreen feats are possible because Chromebooks are laptops and desktop computers that run on ChromeOS, which is a cloud-based operating system.