Chromebooks can do it!
If you still think that Chromebooks are only good for browsing the web, then may we humbly suggest you update your settings?
Many potential buyers get put off by talk of limitations that applied in the early days of Chromebooks, but which no longer hold true. Sure, a Chromebook won’t run the same range of creative design or productivity apps as a Windows laptop or a MacBook, while your native games library is restricted to browser-based titles and controllerfriendly Android apps. Yet there are fine alternaties that cover most people’s needs, and many work extremely well on Chrome OS.
Edit photos
Editing photos on a Chromebook used to mean using a web-based image editor. You now have a range of options. Adobe offers Photoshop on the web to Chromebook Plus users; a streamlined version, with some features stripped out, but others such as layers, quick actions and the new Generative Expand and Fill features remain. Three months of use is bundled as a perk for Chromebook Plus users, along with a three-month subscription to Adobe Express Premium.
Alternatively, Chrome OS’s ability to run Android apps opens up other choices. Polar, Pixlr and Snapseed all run well on Chromebooks. Also remember that Chromebooks can run most Linux apps in a Linux container via the Crostini compatibility layer. This is easily enabled from the Developer section of the Chrome OS Settings, so if you want to run GIMP, Krita or Lightbox, you’re in business.
Edit videos
Chromebooks have traditionally struggled at video editing, with working on large video assets in the cloud a challenge. However, that’s changed with the arrival of LumaFusion on Android, with Chrome OS support. LumaFusion provides a familiar and effective desktop UI on Chromebooks, along with powerful multitrack audio and video composition and rendering abilities. If you’ve used other mainstream video editors, you’ll feel right at home. What’s more, Google currently offers a 25% discount on purchases for Chromebook users through the Google Play store as part of its perks programme.
Play games
Native gaming on Chromebooks is virtually non-existent beyond simple, browser-based games. Most Android games will run on touchscreen Chromebooks, but few offer keyboard and mouse support. A beta version of Steam for Chrome OS will run on most new Intel and AMD hardware, but it has a limited list of titles.
However, there is a better way to play your favourite games. GeForce Now supports streaming at 1080p on Chromebooks on the cheaper Priority tier, and at up to 4K resolutions with 120Hz refresh rates on the Ultimate tier, though you’ll need at least 45Mbits/sec of bandwidth on your internet connection to make it work. It’s a brilliant way to play PC games such as Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, Starfield, Alan Wake 2 and the mighty Baldur’s Gate 3, with full controller or mouse and keyboard support.
Xbox Games Pass users aren’t shut out, either. Subscribers to Games Pass Ultimate can stream to Chromebooks as well as PCs, phones and tablets, and while resolutions are limited to 1080p, you get impressive visual quality and smooth play, bandwidth permitting. Xbox controllers work great with Chromebooks, too, or you can make the most of any discarded Google Stadia pads you have hanging around.
Get work done
For obvious reasons, Chromebooks work best if you or your business has signed up for Google’s Workspace services.
The Docs, Sheets and Slides apps have evolved into powerful alternatives to Word, Excel and PowerPoint, while the whole ecosystem does a fantastic job of supporting collaboration within teams and across departments. The real-time collaborative editing features arguably trump Microsoft Office, and working with standard Office documents is now fairly seamless, even supporting comments and revisions.
You’re not limited to Workspace, either. You can use the Microsoft 365 Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Outlook web apps on a Chromebook, and they’ll work fine to open files you store locally or – preferably – files stored on SharePoint or OneDrive. Meanwhile, you’ll find a range of Android productivity apps on the Google Play store, or you can switch to LibreOffice through Crostini. Meanwhile, essential productivity services such as Slack, Monday, Trello and Zoom will work as well in the Chrome browser on a Chromebook as they will on the Edge browser on Windows. After all, they’re what Chrome OS was built for.
Code
There’s a reason why the Crostini option can be found in the Developer settings; Linux compatibility was originally added to make developing for and on Chrome OS less challenging and more appealing. As a result, you can now code on Chromebooks using a large selection of languages and Linux development tools, including Visual Studio Code, Android Studio, Docker, Jupyter Notebook and IDLE. Performance wasn’t always brilliant on older Chromebook models, but you shouldn’t have any issues with modern Core i3, i5 and i7 machines.