Can You Daily-Drive a Chromebook in 2025?

I precocious came into possession of a Chromebook Plus, and it is by acold the lowest-spec laptop I've utilized successful good implicit a decade. Yet, that doesn't mean it's a slouch erstwhile it comes to performance—all things are relative!

So, could I power retired my regular regular operator with a Chromebook? Did I truly request to walk much than the $329.99 asking terms to get my day-to-day enactment done? I walk a fewer days utilizing this fund laptop to bash what I usually do.

My Normal Daily Driving Setup

To springiness you an thought of wherever I'm coming from, it's sensible to speech astir what my mean daily-driver setup is astatine the moment. I person 2 workspaces. My main table is successful my office, and past I person a tiny table down a sofa successful our surviving room, truthful I tin ticker TV with my woman and chat with her portion catching up connected work, oregon doing projects.

That photograph was with my erstwhile M1 MacBook Air, which has present been replaced by an M4 Pro MacBook, and I usage an M2 iPad Pro arsenic a 2nd monitor, oregon arsenic its ain machine utilizing the Universal Control feature. If I'm truly feeling silly, I'll adjacent adhd a CRT arsenic a 3rd monitor.

OK, jokes aside, this is my portable enactment setup, and past successful my upstairs bureau I person a 34-inch 1440p ultrawide surface which is shared betwixt assorted computers, but chiefly I dock my MacBook to it for enactment during the day.

This is simply a accelerated and almighty computer, and I person nary complaints astir my setup, which lets maine bash enactment quickly, comfortably, and efficiently.

My Chromebook of Choice

The Chromebook I've gone with present is an Acer Chromebook Plus 514. It has an 8-core Intel Core i3 CPU, with 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB eMMC. It has a brace of upwards-firing speakers, a 1080p 14-inch screen, and capable ports for my needs. It adjacent has a touch-screen, which my Mac surely doesn't!

The Obvious Downgrades

I'm not going to unreal that going from a modern MacBook (even the $999 MacBook Air) to a Chromebook isn't a large downgrade successful galore important ways.

The biggest interaction comes from the peripherals, judge it oregon not. The speakers connected this Chromebook Plus are not the worst I've heard, but they're besides not great. Unlike each MacBook I've used, with speakers that don't thrust you to headphones, and are really pleasant to use.

The show is besides a large measurement down. Going from a retina 120Hz miniLED show to a 1080p LED LCD is hard connected the eyes, but again conscionable a fewer years agone this would person been considered a large screen, and it's perfectly due for the needs of astir people, including mine. It's not mind-blowing, but it volition get the occupation done.

The biggest comparative contented is the touchpad, but that's hardly just since Apple is the person erstwhile it comes to touchpads. Surprisingly, I rather similar the keyboard connected the Chromebook Plus for writing. It's not conscionable OK, it's genuinely a pleasance to benignant on.

I Still Got Everything Done

What didn't feel similar a large downgrade was performance, amazingly enough. The M4 Pro and i3-N505 are successful antithetic universes performance-wise, arsenic is each different constituent that I'm utilized to using. Yet, that made small quality erstwhile my accustomed workload is having a Google Doc unfastened with a web browser containing each my root worldly and enactment utilities.

Even hooked up to my ultrawide show successful extended mode, determination was ne'er a hiccup that had immoderate interaction connected my productivity. 8GB of RAM sounds inadequate, but ChromeOS is truthful lightweight that I ne'er felt similar I was utilizing a instrumentality without capable memory. In fact, acknowledgment to Steam for ChromeOS, I was capable to bash immoderate beauteous decent gaming even!

With a YouTube video playing connected the laptop's main screen, oregon euphony playing successful the inheritance portion I worked, I ne'er experienced immoderate benignant of stutter indicating that it was astatine its limits. It conscionable got connected with it, quietly, and with capable artillery beingness for an eight-hour day. Which is thing I inactive person to get utilized to connected immoderate laptop with Intel silicon successful it.

I Could Work Like This

I emotion my MacBooks, and you'll person to claw them from my acold dormant fingers, but I could perfectly get my mean regular enactment done conscionable good utilizing a Chromebook Plus similar this one. Most of my enactment happens successful a web browser, and considering that's what Chromebooks are built around, it makes consciousness that I hardly felt the difference. At slightest erstwhile it comes to the halfway experience.

The main areas wherever I'd tally into issues would beryllium erstwhile doing video editing, moving with 3D models for my 3D printing side-hustle, and moving section AI models. These are each things I bash with my MacBook, and either for show oregon bundle compatibility reasons, would beryllium intolerable connected the Chromebook. However, I'm convinced that astir radical without these comparatively niche needs, would beryllium A-OK with a Chromebook Plus.

Now, you could bargain a much costly Chromebook for much performance, a amended screen, and immoderate of the different foibles I mentioned, but arsenic I person argued before, if you commencement spending northbound of $500 connected a laptop, past fundamentally immoderate caller oregon refurbished Apple Silicon MacBook Air is simply a amended choice, but students and workers connected a fund are successful for a dainty if my acquisition with this Chromebook Plus is immoderate indication.

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Everyone other who spends their days successful a browser astir apt don't request to wage much than the asking terms of the Chromebook, and you'll get a overmuch amended acquisition than a Windows laptop of a akin price, fixed that a immense chunk of the terms of fund Windows laptops goes to the bundle license.