I attempted switching to a Chromebook. Here is what stunned me

I’m a longtime Home windows person, however ChromeOS has at all times piqued my curiosity instead. In contrast to MacOS, which does a whole lot of the identical issues as Home windows, ChromeOS presents one thing fully completely different. It’s light-weight, environment friendly, and ships with the power to run virtually any Android app.

I lately got here off reviewing an HP Chromebase All-in-One 22, and in my overview interval, I spent a whole lot of time enjoying with ChromeOS. However along with the Chromebase, I even have an authentic Samsung Galaxy Chromebook that I normally solely go to for beta testing new ChromeOS options like Screencast.

Since I appreciated the Chromebase a lot, I spent an additional few days within the post-review interval with my Chromebook as my predominant machine, delaying my return to Home windows. In that week, I definitely discovered quite a bit about Chrome OS, and there have been a whole lot of surprises alongside the way in which.

The nice

One of many first issues I used to be reminded of when spending some further time in ChromeOS was effectivity. I’ve grown keen on Microsoft Edge when on my Floor gadget, however I shortly seen that Chrome works nice as an internet browser on Chromebooks. Each Edge and Chrome are based mostly on Chromium, so it was not a shock that ChromeOS actually tackled my workflows effectively.

Even with the Android model of Groups open, in addition to seven Chrome tabs and a Groups progressive net app (PWA), ChromeOS chugged alongside properly on my {hardware} (an Intel Core i5-10210U with 8GB RAM.) RAM utilization didn’t peg too excessive, and neither did the CPU, in accordance with the system standing app, COG. Years of coping with Home windows laptops have educated me to count on excessive utilization from Chrome, however ChromeOS stunned me.

One other good factor? A whole lot of the apps I want for work from my Floor can be found on ChromeOS. I even put in Microsoft Edge as a Linux app, which was a shock.

For different apps, I used PWA variations of Phrase and Excel. I additionally used a PWA model of Groups, because it has a desktop interface.

I additionally love the way in which that Android apps are built-in with ChromeOS. You get apps that may be totally resized, both right into a pill kind or a telephone kind. Some apps even allow you to resize them right into a windowed mode. This jogs my memory of what’s been carried out with Android apps in Home windows 11, but it surely’s nice to see that this works natively in Chrome OS with out further downloads. Issues like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Subway Surfers all run very effectively on my Chromebook, with Cloud Gaming feeling the identical as it might on Home windows.

That’s as a result of, on Home windows, it is advisable to set up the Amazon App Retailer, and also you don’t have entry to the Google Play Retailer. ChromeOS undoubtedly does Android higher because of this. It even performs good with Android telephones, too. My Pixel 6 Professional’s open Chrome tabs, images, and LTE community have been accessible for sharing on my Chromebook by way of Cellphone Hub. It jogs my memory a whole lot of Cellphone Hyperlink on Home windows 11.

Different nice issues I seen about my Chromebook come right down to battery life, pace when booting up and putting in updates, and the general simplicity of settings and utilizing printers. My power-hungry Floor Laptop computer Studio barely pushes 4 hours of battery life, however my Chromebook obtained me by a full day of labor. Booting up my Chromebook, in the meantime, is nearly on the spot, however on a Home windows gadget, I’ve to attend close to 30 seconds at some factors.

After all, that is an apples-to-apples comparability throughout each gadget in these two working methods, however averaged out, Chromebooks have at all times excelled in effectivity and battery life — and that is still true at the moment.

The unhealthy

App compatibility has at all times been a battle with ChromeOS, particularly should you’re aware of a standard working system like Home windows 11. The largest hiccup I bumped into was round Microsoft Workplace apps, that are part of my every day workflow. For some motive, ChromeOS gained’t let me obtain the Android variations of Microsoft Workplace apps. As a substitute, I’m redirected to make use of the PWA variations.

That is in all probability a Microsoft factor, and never Google’s fault. Nonetheless, I couldn’t assist however be pissed off by the limitation. I really feel as if utilizing my Galaxy Chromebook as an Android pill can be simpler if I may simply use Android variations of Workplace. It’s a disgrace, because the PWAs for Workplace aren’t accessible for offline use.

Another smaller issues that aggravated me embody the shortage of the date and time and a calendar within the system tray, not having a Caps Lock key, and the brand new launcher that’s based mostly on the left facet of the display. I very a lot appreciated the previous interface higher, because it simply is smart for a touchscreen Chromebook. The smaller Begin Menu-like hub in ChromeOS Canary doesn’t appear fairly as environment friendly.

And another factor that sucks? The Recordsdata supervisor. I’ve complained about what the Home windows File Explorer appears like, however the ChromeOS File Supervisor is even worse. It doesn’t totally combine with OneDrive, for instance, and file previews are horrible round icons. There’s not even a “Paperwork” folder, and the whole lot is saved to Downloads by default. I actually hope this modifications sooner or later.

The ugly

Alright, so now it’s time for the ugly components of switching to a Chromebook for every week. There’s one huge, unhealthy factor that held me again, and it’s the lack of a real video editor.

Now, I did attempt to use Clipchamp as a video editor for ChromeOS, however it is a largely web-based interface, and it wasn’t as environment friendly as a devoted editor on Home windows like Wondershare Filmora. Encoding occasions have been sluggish, and a whole lot of issues like chopping out audio weren’t environment friendly for me. I really had to return to Home windows for enhancing my weekly podcast.

All hope shouldn’t be misplaced although. Google did affirm that it’s working to carry the LumaFusion video editor to ChromeOS. So, in just a few extra months, video enhancing is likely to be doable on high-end Chromebooks.

That’s not a shock. ChromeOS has grown up to now past its early days, and even with the problems I’ve skilled, I’m extra assured than ever that Google goes to proceed to hone the ChromeOS expertise into one thing actually nice. As a lot as I loved returning to the consolation and familiarity of Home windows 11, I can’t say I didn’t surprise at occasions if I’d sometime persuade myself to decide to ChromeOS for the lengthy haul. Perhaps sometime.

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