With Amazon Prime Day deals launching June 21-22, many will be wondering if now is the time to finally take a look at the best Chromebooks on sale during the event, which will get a pretty decent discount on some that are already very affordable. devices. If you've never owned a Chromebook before, you might understandably feel a little hesitant before finally using one of these laptops. Chrome OS isn't as functional, at least not right out of the box, as the Windows or Mac laptops you may be used to, so you might be wondering what to use when you drop a few hundred bucks on one of those Amazon Prime laptops. Days. Chromebook deals. While we're generally bullish on Chromebooks, we certainly understand that they're not for everyone. Despite some major advances in recent years, there are some things that a Chromebook simply won't be able to do, or at least not well. So if you're wondering if you should buy a Chromebook on Amazon Prime Day, we're here to help you figure out what to expect and whether a Chromebook is the best device for your needs. The best Chromebook laptop deals right now PRE-PRIME DAY SALE ends in Check out more deals from these top retailers:
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Chromebooks are very lightweight devices in more ways than one
Chromebooks don't come with much rugged hardware, so they generally tend to be very portable laptops that are easy to throw in a bag and take with you. Some are even as thin as the best Ultrabooks on the market, though this type of form factor tends to be a bit more upscale than you'll find with most Chromebooks, where the focus is really on affordability. This lack of rugged hardware also means that most Chromebooks will look pretty light on the specs side. It's not uncommon to see Chromebooks with 4GB of RAM and 64GB or even 32GB of eMMC flash storage. Flash storage is pretty much the same technology you get on a USB drive, so it won't be as fast as the PCIe SSDs found in most laptops these days. The screens of many Chromebooks, mostly 11,6-inch models, will be around 1365 x 768p, which is HD quality, but not the full 1080p you'll find on almost any Windows laptop. Larger Chromebooks typically have 1080p displays, but don't look for anything sharper than that in anything but the most premium Chromebooks. However, on 11,6-inch displays, you can't really tell the difference between 768p and 1080p, so you shouldn't care too much. However, all that underperforming hardware is still more than enough to run Chrome OS. Chrome OS has nothing to do with overloading your Windows or macOS system, so your experience will be more or less the same on a Chromebook for general computing tasks as on a Windows or Mac laptop. problem is when it starts loading in chrome tabs. Chrome is very well optimized for Chrome OS, but there's not much you can do about it. With only 4GB of RAM, treating your Chrome browser on a Chromebook like we normally do on a laptop with 16GB of RAM is problematic: keep it in a small group of tabs, not an entire forest.
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Chromebooks rely heavily on a good internet connection
Chromebooks were designed with cloud computing in mind. Google has huge data centers that do everything from running productivity apps like Google Docs and Sheets to streaming AAA video games like Cyberpunk 2077 through Google Stadia. With a fast and stable internet connection, you don't need a high-spec machine to run any of these apps locally, which means you can get by with much lower-end hardware. This, in turn, is what allows manufacturers to produce Chromebooks at such a low cost, making them very affordable devices. The problem is when you don't have a fast and stable internet connection, which is not a given for many people outside of major metropolitan areas like New York and London. There's still a lot you can do with a Chromebook without connecting to the internet, but its functionality will be drastically reduced.
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Locally installed software will be much more specific
When it comes to locally installed apps on a Chromebook, you really have more options than you did when you first introduced them. Through the Google Play Store, you have access to the world's largest app market, as well as the Chrome App Store and even a working Linux kernel and all the software you can get on a Linux command line. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Google Play Store, these apps were not designed for a Chromebook, but for an Android phone or tablet. Running apps intended for a mobile phone can be cumbersome on a Chromebook, especially if the Chromebook isn't a touchscreen 2-in-1. Also, because mobile devices typically have less powerful hardware than even a Chromebook, these apps are designed accordingly and won't be as feature-rich as you'd typically find on a more mainstream computer. This means that locally installed productivity apps won't have as many bells and whistles as you're used to, and the vast majority of available apps will be single-function apps, like basic checklists or a PDF reader. However, this more focused approach isn't a bad thing, as sometimes you just need a simple checklist app, and this kind of feature is usually handled by the built-in tools in Windows or macOS. If you don't like these tools, or find that they're just not what you need, it's going to be a lot harder to find something like this on a more traditional laptop than it is on a Chromebook.
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Should you buy a Chromebook on Amazon Prime Day?
I hope you have a better idea of what Chromebooks are capable of and whether they will do what you need for a laptop. If you need to run full-fledged, dedicated software like Adobe Photoshop, you certainly have options through the cloud or in app markets that a Chromebook has access to. These options may or may not be enough for your needs, so you'll have to really think about the specific software needs you expect to have and whether a Chromebook can meet them. If you're just looking for light computing work, video streaming and conferencing, productivity tasks, web browsing, etc., most of today's consumer Windows and Mac laptops are really a bit of a stretch. If you use your laptop to check emails and watch the best shows on Netflix and maybe blog, a Windows laptop with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of super-fast storage will be vastly underutilized and cost much more than your typical Chromebook. . If a Chromebook sounds like exactly what you're looking for, then you're in luck. Amazon Prime Day deals on Chromebooks are some of the best you'll find all year, so there's no better time to shop. The best Chromebook laptop deals right now PRE-PRIME DAY SALE ends in Check out more deals from these top retailers:
TheComparison brings together all of the best deals during the Prime Day sale period, and we've included all of the best Prime Day deals in one easy-to-navigate article to help you find the great deals you're looking for.