Chromebook/Pixelbook are good for you?

Google Pixelbook and Chromebook both are a portable laptop/tablet hybrid computer developed by Google which runs Chrome OS. The devices are primarily used to perform a variety of tasks using the Google Chrome browser, with most applications and data residing in the cloud rather than on the machine itself. Some Pixelbooks/Chromebooks can also run Android apps. Both are almost online-exclusive OS, and can still be adapted to handle most workflows. Both are primarily sold directly from Google and also from the company's retail partners. In this article, we explore what these books can do and help you to decide if you should be hopping on the Google brand.

So, let’s find out what you can do with Chromebook/Pixelbook

It has own web store seemingly full of apps and there are using dedicated apps for productivity, office work, light photo editing, and even some gaming. They are built to run anything and everything on the web. Look at the below section -

Apps

You can access everything that Google does available through your Google account, like the way Android connects to Google and synchronizes your mail, your contacts, your online activities and all your other Google data.

The most useful Chrome apps are the ones centered on Google Drive. Access to the user's Drive account is baked into the file manager which makes opening, organizing, and managing files saves in Google's cloud storage service relatively simple. The Chromebook/Pixelbook also have the ability to make Drive files available for offline access, although users will be limited by the physical storage of the device. Google Drive also has client apps for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS making it easy for users to continue their work across platforms.

Most of the time, you probably don’t need the full desktop version of Microsoft Office. Microsoft offers a completely free web-based version of Office called Office Online, complete with Word Online, Excel Online, and PowerPoint Online. Microsoft even makes these apps available in the Chrome Web Store and users could use Office Online to get an official Microsoft Office experience for free.

Google is working toward allowing all Android apps to run on Chrome OS. They recently released few Android apps for this Chromebook/ Pixelbook. You can also run most of the Android apps by using the ARChon Package app on Android that quickly converts an Android app to run on Chromebook/Pixelbook also, or install the twerk Chrome app to quickly package an APK file for installation.

Media and Games

Chromebooks/Pixelbooks are better suited for streaming media than offline playback and apps like VLC do exist. They make for competent media machines. Though They have underpowered chipsets, can still handle 1080p playback and FHD content streaming. They are better suited for streaming media than offline playback with video playback software and low storage.

What about gaming? Now you are going to excited. Most games available on ChromeOS are found on web-based gaming sites like Miniclip or Armor Games. The Chrome Web Store offers such titles as Bejeweled, Cut the Rope, Fallout Shelter, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes and Minecraft.

Even offline use

There are more than 200 offline Chrome apps that can work without Internet connectivity, including Gmail, Pocket and Google Drive. You can read your Gmail and compose new messages, view your Google Calendar, edit documents in Google Drive. You can download Kindle eBooks, videos, music, and PDFs to view offline. Use a Chrome app like Google Keep to compose notes or manage your to-do list. Not only that, tons of the Android apps coming soon will also work offline.

Privacy Security

Privacy is also well managed on Chromebook/Pixelbook. Most of the time you are conscious about security and check what data you're sharing with Google or any other service and look after your privacy. But with Chromebook/Pixelbook, you do not have to worry about the actual security because Chrome OS does it for you.

In the world, every product is not made with 100% perfection. Most of the products belong with some good qualities and have some negative points. So, Google’s Pixelbooks/Chromebooks also have some underrated features.

The things that you can't do with a Chromebook/Pixelbook

• You can't install Microsoft Edge or Firefox on a Chromebook. These two browsers tend to require small tweaks when compared to Chrome or Safari.

• You can install plugins and extensions to allow for a Ruby or Python interpreter, but usually, they aren't able to do everything that you'll need to do.

• Chromebooks/Pixelbooks are designed to meant primarily for online use, which means that many apps simply won't work if you're out of Wi-Fi range or Internet connectivity.

• Most of the packs have just 16GB of onboard storage. So, you can't store the large sized files which consume storage memory. You need external storage device to store them.

• Unfortunately, popular software applications, such as Adobe Photoshop and the Microsoft Office suite, aren't available on all Chromebooks. You can only use the free cloud version of Office via the Chrome browser.

• Chromebooks/Pixelbooks are not made for the gamer, only used for office and school works with the network connectivity.

• You can develop Chrome apps and extensions, but for most of working with code, a Chromebook isn't the best machine. It wasn't designed to do.

• Chromebooks/Pixelbooks aren't media based creation. You can find some Chrome apps for audio and video production or image editing if doing anything for full-time, then the apps and their features just aren't powerful enough to do the task.

 

Conclusion

Chromebook/Pixelbook offer decent performance and introduce lots of Android apps with increasing in number and their capabilities, and these are also an affordable product. In contrast, Microsoft claims that Windows 10 S mode will give laptops better performance and battery life, but if you're looking for a simple way to get online and you prefer Google's services, you might be happy with a Chromebook//Pixelbook.