There's very little a Chromebook can't do compared to Windows or a Mac

[AC News]

It might have taken Google longer than expected, but ChromeOS has matured to a point where there's not much a Chromebook can't do.

There's very little a Chromebook can't do compared to Windows or a Mac : Read more

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Seems legit.

 

[B. Diddy]

I've hardly touched my Windows laptop for years now. Everything's done on my Pixelbook, Pixel Slate, or Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3.

 

[GLBias]

Printing can still be problematic with a Chromebook. Vendor driver support is still pretty limited. Google Cloud Print was a great alternative until they pulled the plug on it. My printers work fine with MacOS, Win10 and Ubuntu/Mint Linux, but no deal with the Chromebooks. Print to a PDF and print from one of the others is a workaround, but a PITA.

 

[Callen_V1]

There's very little a Chromebook can't do compared to Windows or a Mac, except most everything I need to do. I'd also rather not have 2 devices just because one of them is a Chromebook.

 

[spookme]

Printing can still be problematic with a Chromebook. Vendor driver support is still pretty limited. Google Cloud Print was a great alternative until they pulled the plug on it. My printers work fine with MacOS, Win10 and Ubuntu/Mint Linux, but no deal with the Chromebooks. Print to a PDF and print from one of the others is a workaround, but a PITA.

I've found the Android App "Printer Share Mobile Premium" has been essential for working off a Chromebook as my daily. It it pretty ChromeOS friendly and can print to pretty much any printer.

 

[spookme]

Printing can still be problematic with a Chromebook. Vendor driver support is still pretty limited. Google Cloud Print was a great alternative until they pulled the plug on it. My printers work fine with MacOS, Win10 and Ubuntu/Mint Linux, but no deal with the Chromebooks. Print to a PDF and print from one of the others is a workaround, but a PITA.

I've found the Android App "Printer Share Mobile Premium" has been essential for working off a Chromebook as my daily. It it pretty ChromeOS friendly and can print to pretty much any printer

There's very little a Chromebook can't do compared to Windows or a Mac, except most everything I need to do. I'd also rather not have 2 devices just because one of them is a Chromebook.

I guess it depends on your needs. I'm an IT professional and I use Chrome OS. It has everything I need, but I can see why it might not suit everyone.

 

[Daelos]

Rubbish! Try plugging a scanner into it. So bad you have to use Android apps and for many scanners, there isn't even one of those.

It's useless for things like media servers, NASs, routers etc.

It sucks at photo editing and it's even worse for video editing. Can it even render 3d?

Not only that you're stuck with everything wrapped up in ads. It needs a good internet connection for anything but the most basic tasks.

Most overhyped OS in existence. I'm pretty Pro Android and Fuscia if it ever comes out looks good but a online only OS is too crippling for any use case I have.

 

[akatwhitty]

There's very little a Chromebook can't do compared to Windows or a Mac, except most everything I need to do. I'd also rather not have 2 devices just because one of them is a Chromebook.

This, exactly.
I purchased a $1000+ Chromebook a few years ago when it was a lot more rare in getting the C436 i5/512/16 variant. I've had the Linux container set up from day one, and a while back even swapped out the more limited default Debian container with a full fledged Ubuntu install as my default container. I also have a Windows gaming desktop, a Windows ultraportable 2 in 1 and two Zorin laptops I use for various projects, and a cheaper take everywhere Chromebook with an m3 processor and 8gbs of ram.
As useful as my C436 is, for serious non-cloud work I ALWAYS have to turn to one of the Windows or Linux machines. Specs and Ram don't really matter for certain use cases, the OS limits the hardware in ways that make the Chromebook usuable in certain scenarios. Chromebooks are awesome, and they do a lot, but they are not for serious local work yet.

The other thing not being considered is while there isn't much a Chromebook can't do that a PC or Mac can, there's NOTHING a Chromebook can do that a PC can't. My Windows 2 in 1 has the Linux and Android subsystems running, so I get full access to tools for both OSes. There isn't much available for Ubuntu that isn't available for PCs, so the use case for the Linux subsystem is pretty limited admittedly, but it serves me well when I don't want to switch machines or transfer files to do one task. I'm a unique consumer in that I have a bit of extra money to blow on machines for specific use cases or for funsies, but for the most part you just have to really prefer having a Chromebook to having a PC in order to justify paying $1000+ for a single machine you use as your only computer and daily driver. There is no real argument that Chromebooks at that price are a better value at all.
Additionally, comparing the price of Chromebooks to Surface machines is a bit disingenuous. OP mentioned the HP Dragonfly with a 12th gen i5 as a good buy at $1000. You can almost always find a Windows PC with same or better specs for hundreds less, in fact HP is selling a convertible with the same cpu and ram for $629 right now. That one has a worse display, but if your argument is Chromebooks ought to be able to compete as more than media consumption devices then that nice bright display is often a nice to have vs. productivity features. Additionally, you can upgrade the HP x360 to a better display, a i7, 16 gbs of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and still only come in at $989, 10 bucks cheaper than the worse specced Chromebook.
When my Chromebook's battery life completely gives out, which I'm guessing with happen sometime late this year or next I'll upgrade to another pricey, fancy Chromebook to replace it. But I won't pretend it's the best value for the money while I'm doing it.

 

[taynjack]

Just like windows phone Chromebooks lack 3rd party support. Like another commenter said you can do alot on a Chromebook, you can do anything on a Windows PC. No reason to buy a device that can do 50% of what a similarly priced device can do.

My kids have the Chromebooks at school. They hate them. They still prefer their HP convertibles at home.

 

[spookme]

Rubbish! Try plugging a scanner into it. So bad you have to use Android apps and for many scanners, there isn't even one of those.

It's useless for things like media servers, NASs, routers etc.

It sucks at photo editing and it's even worse for video editing. Can it even render 3d?

Not only that you're stuck with everything wrapped up in ads. It needs a good internet connection for anything but the most basic tasks.

Most overhyped OS in existence. I'm pretty Pro Android and Fuscia if it ever comes out looks good but a online only OS is too crippling for any use case I have.

Horses for courses. I haven't used a scanner in years. I use GIMP and Darktable for photo editing. I don't do video editing. And why would I use my laptop as a NAS, media server or a router??? I use UnRAID for my NASA, Jellyfin in Docker on a bare bones Linux machine for my media server and PFsense for my router. Even if I still used Windows (thank god I don't) I still wouldn't use my laptop for any of these tasks. And ads? What ads? I haven't had a single ad on my Chromebook. I think you're confusing it with W11, which seems to come riddled with adware and bloatware. For me a Chromebook is perfect. In contrary. I find it one of the best OS's I've used. Waaaay more stable, fast and simple than Windows, and a lot more easy to just get working on the Linux.

 

[B. Diddy]

Obviously, a Chromebook won't be the end-all be-all for everyone, but that doesn't detract from its excellent value for the majority of users out there. If you're a user who relies heavily on huge installed Windows programs that have no web or Android equivalent, or a heavy gamer, or a photo/video professional, then clearly an expensive Windows computer will be more effective. But the average user who can do most of what they need to do on the web or with an Android app (e.g., office suite work, web browsing, social media, media consumption, light gaming) will find a Chromebook to be perfectly fine, and generally cheaper than a Windows (or certainly a Mac) counterpart (how many Mac Pro users are there who shelled out $2000 for a glorified word processor/Instagram browser?).

On top of that, there's the huge added benefit of security (no need for big lumbering antivirus suites) and not having to deal with Windows Updates (on lord, those updates). Rather than being something a Chromebook can do that a PC can't do, it's more of something that a Chromebook doesn't have to do that a PC absolutely has to do all the time.

 

[BEaRebel]

Bros got mom a Chromebook 3-4 years ago, she HATES IT. I Cannot use either. Might be the limitations we smack into. Being a Rebel is not easy.

 

[David Setton]

Obviously, a Chromebook won't be the end-all be-all for everyone, but that doesn't detract from its excellent value for the majority of users out there. If you're a user who relies heavily on huge installed Windows programs that have no web or Android equivalent, or a heavy gamer, or a photo/video professional, then clearly an expensive Windows computer will be more effective. But the average user who can do most of what they need to do on the web or with an Android app (e.g., office suite work, web browsing, social media, media consumption, light gaming) will find a Chromebook to be perfectly fine, and generally cheaper than a Windows (or certainly a Mac) counterpart (how many Mac Pro users are there who shelled out $2000 for a glorified word processor/Instagram browser?).

On top of that, there's the huge added benefit of security (no need for big lumbering antivirus suites) and not having to deal with Windows Updates (on lord, those updates). Rather than being something a Chromebook can do that a PC can't do, it's more of something that a Chromebook doesn't have to do that a PC absolutely has to do all the time.

couldn't agree more. I have a custom built windows 11 tower, but I can't stand using windows now! It is so bloated and full of adds. Every time I update it, setting are changed and apps are reinstalled (like Onedrive)

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Ooof. I'm a huge chromebook fan but the claim "there's very little a chromebook can't do compared to Windows or a Mac" is nothing short of hyperbole. And it doesn't properly set new user expectations... THAT will have the opposite effect. They'll be excited to switch to a chromebook based on these inflated expectations, get disappointed, and then be sour on chromebooks.

Can a chromebook replace a traditional desktop OS for some? Sure. There are people who have replaced their desktop computers with a smartphone. For THEM, it is a desktop replacement.

To claim that one must spend $1000 to get a great Windows laptop is a bit of a contrived strawman. Make it an apples-to-apples comparison. To do everything that a chromebook can do (as well as those other basic tasks that a chromebook CAN'T do), you don't need to spend $1000 on a Windows laptop. A quality Windows system for $500 will be plenty of machine.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I love my pixelbook. Gone back to windows just because I got a gaming laptop for Diablo 4 and for CD/DVD burning. Everything else can be done on my pixelbook