Choosing a cheap Chromebook vs. a cheap Windows laptop - Chromebook windows 10 reddit free download
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We also found that the D model ships with a smaller battery and lasted only 5 hours in our mid battery life test; the 35VZ model lasted 6 hours and 11 minutes. But if our inch picks are out of stock, this is a passable option that performs well enough to do most computer tasks. If you want a tablet with a bigger screen… The iPad is plenty powerful for most people, but if you want a bigger screen on your tablet for multitasking and a faster processor, consider the iPad Air.
Chromebooks have different requirements to run well—they run better than Windows laptops with 4 GB of memory and can get away with certain slower processors. You can learn more in our guide to Chromebooks. When shopping for a cheap laptop, stick to major retailers with good return policies, such as Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, or the manufacturer itself. Avoid sites with deals too good to be true, like BuyDig. Buying a refurbished model is another excellent way to save money.
As soon as your laptop arrives, open the box carefully, keep all the parts and accessories, and give the computer a thorough test drive. Wirecutter Deals editor Nathan Burrow told us that the best deals on laptops come around the holiday season, starting in November and running through Christmas.
In this category, we just wanted to find usable laptops. To figure out which components had the greatest impact on general use, we first tested three Windows laptops:. We used each of these configurations for a full day of work, with four to five applications open at once alongside a browser with 10 to 15 tabs.
In these tests, we found that flash storage was the most important component, followed by a decent processor, with 4 GB of memory being the best compromise to make if you need to. More memory still feels much better to use and will run Windows well for years to come. Then we tested the Windows laptops and Chromebooks that met our criteria by using each for at least a day of ordinary work and video calls to get a feel for their performance, screens, keyboards, and trackpads.
For Chromebooks, we had at least 20 browser tabs open, including Google Docs, Google Sheets, streaming music, Slack, and a variety of other sites. For Windows, we had five to 10 tabs open at a time, as well as the Spotify and Slack applications.
We also tested the laptops by opening large Excel spreadsheets, page Word documents, and page PDF files. Although previous-generation processors will likely feel just as fast—and we recommend them if you find a good laptop that uses one—stock of such laptops is even iffier than for current-generation models.
The Acer Aspire 5 AA3 is fast enough, but it has an awful TN screen that looks harsh and has poor viewing angles. Its keyboard also feels stiff and cheap. The Gateway Similar to the Gateway, the HP Laptop 15z-ef is fast enough but also has a bad screen and poor build quality. Its keyboard and trackpad also feel unpleasant and make a rattling noise when used. It also has poor build quality and terrible speakers. We tested a Zoom call alongside a couple of open browser tabs, and we encountered connection dropouts and audio delays of more than 30 seconds, which made conversation impossible.
The Dragonfly also has guaranteed update support through June , plus a useful array of ports, a responsive fingerprint reader, and a handy webcam cover. We still love this model—and it has a better webcam than the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 does—but its support runs out in June , two years sooner than support for the Galaxy Chromebook 2.
Our upgrade pick is cheaper, lighter, thinner, and blessed with longer battery life and a better keyboard. Several different versions of the HP Chromebook x 14b are available from various retailers. But I found the cramped keyboard impossible to adjust to—even as someone who adjusts to weird keyboards for a living.
The processor was too slow for everyday work, as well, and the Duet lacks a headphone jack. Most people should spend a little more for our top Chromebook pick, the Flex 5i, unless you just really want a ChromeOS tablet. Power testing , Git repositories on Chromium. Chromebook security , Chromebook Help Google Support. Kimber Streams is a senior staff writer and has been covering laptops, gaming gear, keyboards, storage, and more for Wirecutter since The ZMI PowerPack is our favorite power bank for charging modern laptops at top speed while on the go—no need to hunt for a power outlet.
Of all the laptops we recommend, these offer the best balance of performance and a low price—and that makes them our favorite laptops for college students. Why a Chromebook? Great for students. Our pick. Upgrade pick. Also great. Everything we recommend. What is a Chromebook? Why you should trust us. How we picked. How we tested. Recommended configuration. Processor: Intel Core iG4 Screen: On the right side, the Flex 5i has a power button, a volume rocker, and a USB-C port, plus a lock slot.
Photo: Michael Murtaugh. Our battery-life test mimics ordinary browsing behavior by scrolling through websites, Gmail, audio streaming, Google Docs, and YouTube videos. We run the test until each Chromebook dies. Upgrade pick: Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2. You can also add in shortcuts to a commonly accessed website be it something like Gmail or Google Drive or even your company's internal content management system by opening the site in a regular browser tab, clicking the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner, and selecting "More tools" followed by "Create shortcut.
Now, the part most relevant to our purposes: Keep in mind that you can open each item in that list from anywhere in your system by pressing Alt and then the number key corresponding with its position. Pretty handy, eh? Next, save yourself even more valuable seconds by setting up on-demand shortcuts for your favorite web-based search functions.
You can do that for most any site with a search option, whether it's Google Images, Twitter, or Thesaurus. Here's the trick: Go to the website in question and perform a search — then copy the URL that ends up in your address bar with the results. With Thesaurus. So in our Thesaurus.
Once that's done, you can simply type your keyword into Chrome's address bar, hit Tab, and then type in whatever term you want to search for — and as soon as you hit Enter, you'll be taken directly to the associated site's results page for that term.
I use this constantly, for all sorts of purposes such as searching for synonyms of "fish". Bonus tip: You can also set up a custom search engine without the search parameter in place to create a shortcut for any site or internal Chrome function. On every Chrome-including system I use, for instance, I can type cs into the address bar to pull up Chrome's settings in a jiff. I can type c to pull up Computerworld. You get the idea. Finally, if you have certain words or phrases you find yourself typing over and over — addresses, phone numbers, recipes for baba ganoush, and so on — consider setting up a Chrome-OS-friendly text replacement tool.
That will let you create custom keyboard shortcuts for all your favorite phrases and can save your stunning fingies from so much needless pecking. There's one app in particular that really does the job well. It's easy to get spoiled with the effectiveness of voice input on your phone — so why not bring that same speaking power to your Chromebook? Yes, indeedly: Chrome OS has a little-known option for system-wide dictation, and it works whether you're using your device as a laptop or in a tablet-like state.
All you've gotta do is enable it: Open up your Chromebook's settings by clicking the clock in the lower-right corner of the screen and then clicking the gear icon in the panel that pops up. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the settings screen and tap "Advanced. Click the "Manage accessibility features" option beneath that, then activate the toggle next to "Enable dictation speak to type. And that's it: You'll now see a small microphone icon in the lower-right corner of your screen, next to the notification panel.
Tap it anywhere, anytime, and then just start a-yammerin' away. Your words will show up on your screen — in whatever field you have focused, no matter what app or process you're using. Chromebooks don't tend to have a ton of local space, so take a minute to open your device's Files app and clear out any clutter you no longer need. All set? This next part's equally easy: We're gonna connect your Chromebook's Downloads folder to the cloud so that anything you download will automatically sync with your Google Drive storage and thus be available wherever you might need it — on your Android phone, on a traditional desktop computer, or even on another Chrome OS device.
Chrome OS is all about this kind of automatic syncing and device-agnostic access in general, but this is one area where it oddly doesn't do that by default. So here's the plan: Type chrome:settings into your browser's toolbar, select "Advanced," then find the line labeled "Location" under the "Downloads" header.
Click "Change" and select a folder or make a new folder specifically for downloads within your Google Drive storage. Easy, right? There's nothing more to it: Anything you download on your Chromebook will be saved to Drive and available anywhere else you sign in from this moment forward.
Bonus tip: You can take this same concept a step further by setting up your Android phone and any other computers you use — Windows, Mac, whatever — to also sync their downloads with that same Drive folder. That'll create a single internet-based downloads folder that keeps everything you download in one universally accessible place, no matter what device you're using.
Go ahead and take a moment to marvel over what a wondrous notion that is, then make your merry way over to this guide of mine to get started. Last but not least, a quick bit of tune-up that'll take some of the strain off your peepers so you can better focus — on Very Important work documents, Very Important Winger videos, or whatever other Very Important content you might be viewing. A relatively recent update to Chrome OS added an incredibly beneficial Android-born visibility feature, y'see, and it's well worth your while to enable.
A common argument against getting a Chromebook is that you can do so much more with a real computer -- i. This is generally true, but again, many people don't need to do more. 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. Not sure if a Chromebook is right for you? Start by making a list of exactly what you need to do on a computer.
Include what you'd like to do, too. If everything on your list is done in a web browser, congratulations, Chromebooks are a perfect fit. 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. Web apps are essentially website bookmarks that look like mobile apps on a phone or tablet and Google has a web store full of them. More feature-rich web apps, called progressive web apps or PWAs , actually function like full mobile apps letting you do things like use them offline, store files locally and let you receive updates and notifications.
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. 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. Price is one of the big things that makes Chromebooks so attractive. It's a two-in-one Chromebook with a detachable keyboard cover so it can be used as a tablet or a laptop.
With its USI pen support , you can draw and take notes on the screen.
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