In the US, Chromebook has a 60% market share among students from kindergarten to the 12th grade. That’s quite a significant number, to begin with. Further, Google is bringing huge improvements to Chrome OS to make it a viable alternative against Windows and macOS. So if you are wondering what is a Chromebook exactly, well you have landed at the right place. In this article, we are taking a look at every aspect of Chromebooks beginning with its very definition. We have also discussed its operating system, headline features, the target users, whether you should switch from a Windows PC or not, and more. So having said all of that, let’s begin the article and learn more about Chromebooks thoroughly.
1. A Brief History
Before learning about Chromebooks, we need to know what powers this machine and its history of development. Chrome OS is the operating system of Chromebooks which is developed by Google just like Windows is developed by Microsoft and macOS is developed by Apple. Chrome OS may seem like a new operating system in the realm of desktop computers, however, it is now almost a decade old. It was first announced in 2009 and the first commercial Chromebook was made available in 2011. It’s a Linux kernel-based operating system and primarily supports web applications rather than native apps. This is one of the reasons why Chromebooks are so fast and lightweight in comparison to other desktop computers.
- Performance and Battery
I would say the best feature of a Chromebook is that it’s not a demanding machine in terms of hardware resources which translates to exceptional performance and battery efficiency. Again, all of this is possible because of the lightweight operating system it’s running. As I mentioned above, Chrome OS intrinsically supports web apps only. So there are no system frameworks hardwired to the kernel except the Chrome browser. A Chromebook boots up in seconds and is ready to be used the moment you log in, unlike the laggy mess that is Windows OS.
Performance and Battery
Offline Support
Contrary to popular opinion, you can now use Chromebooks offline. You might be thinking how is it possible to access a website, say for instance Google Docs without the internet? Well, Google has developed something called a PWA (Progressive Web App) standard that creates an offline wrapper of a website. It works and feels very much like a native app, but it’s essentially a web app created using the browser components. You can comfortably access and use web apps to the full advantage while being completely offline. As and when, you will be connected to the internet, all your files will be synced via Google Drive.
Android Apps
In the above section, I mentioned that Chrome OS is moving away from its foundational principle and this is what I was talking about. Now, you can use millions of Android apps on your Chromebook through the Google Play Store. While Android apps are far from being perfect on Chromebooks, it shows that Google is trying to bring native app support on Chrome OS. In case, you are wondering how it’s done, Google has baked in Android Runtime (ART) compiler on Chrome OS. It’s a layer that allows Chrome OS and Android apps to communicate with each other.
Linux Support
Similar to Microsoft, Google is also bringing support for Linux on Chromebooks. The project is still in beta, but the results are quite promising. You can virtually run any Linux apps on Chrome OS and that is a huge development. In my testing, the Linux Terminal worked flawlessly and it took only 0.25 seconds to download the Google homepage through the curl command. If you compare it with a Windows laptop running the Linux Shell (almost the same config), it took 1.04 seconds which is 4x more than Chromebook’s download time. Other than that, I also installed GIMP through Linux on Chrome OS and it went through flawlessly. However, the performance was not up to the mark as it was running in a container. Nevertheless, Linux support on Chromebooks is a great step for bringing students and developers into the Chrome OS fold and I hope it improves over time.
Security and Updates
Security and seamless updates are one of the main aspects of Chrome OS. From the very beginning, Google has made it clear that users will not have to worry about security updates on Chromebooks. It’s because Chrome OS has something called a Seamless Update Mechanism where users don’t have to manually update the operating system or wait for the updates to be installed, unlike the horrendous Windows update system. As and when Google pushes the update and security patches, Chrome OS will automatically download it and install it on another partition. Now, whenever you restart your Chromebook, the boot slots are switched to the new partition and you get an updated OS without even realizing it. That is for me, one of the best features of Chromebooks.
If you are considering to move from a Windows PC to a Chromebook, this section will help you make the decision. First of all, the difference between both the operating system is mainly in its objective. While Chrome OS is for a specific set of users with limited use-case, Windows is a matured desktop OS with support for innumerable native applications for all kinds of users. Further, Windows is compatible with both native and web apps and enjoys massive developer support from all over the world. Not to mention, Windows OS has almost become the de-facto platform for gaming. Simply put, Windows is for everyone irrespective of whether you are an average or a professional user.
All this indicates that both the operating systems have their shortcomings and the companies are trying to improve their platform. However, at this point, Chrome OS is still nowhere near Windows as a full-fledged, desktop-class OS.
The EOL Conundrum
Each Chromebook has a specific end-of-life (EOL) date which generally lasts for 5-6 years. It means that you will get updates and security patches directly from Google only within the EOL period. Also, keep in mind, the EOL period does not start when you buy the Chromebook, but it gets activated when the product is certified by Google, much before the actual release date by OEM.
To put it simply, if most of your work is done on a web browser then Chromebook is the best piece of hardware that you can opt for. It’s miles ahead of Windows laptops in terms of both performance and battery life. You can use it for writing, creating presentations, watching movies and videos and basically every general task that most people do on their computer. Also, with the addition of Linux, students can do programming (supports Vim) and a lot more. And in case, you are an Android developer, there is native support for ADB (Android Debugging Bridge) as well.
