Chromebooks - What are they? & How are they different from Windows-based laptops?

In 2011 Google revealed the first commercially available Chromebooks: Samsung Series 5 and Acer C700. The idea behind Chromebooks is that they are to be used mainly in the cloud - with an internet connection, this explains why most of them have 16GB hard drives.

However, their hard drives are SSDs (Solid State Drive) which are much faster than the normal HDDs (Hard Drive) but this also means that you cannot store anywhere near as much as a Window's laptop which may have a 320GB hard drive can. And because of the above, and probably the fact that Google have Google Play Music and Hangouts, you can't install programs such as iTunes or Skype or even Microsoft Office! Chrome OS does come preloaded with Google Docs/Sheets/Slides which are the equivalent of Word/Excel/PowerPoint. This also means that if you normally use other browsers like Firefox or Internet Explorer you won't be able to on a Chromebook, but they do come preloaded with the Chrome browser. Having said all this, you can download some programs such as Spotify, Any.do and Pocket as apps from the Chrome Web Store. A big flaw can be seen in this idea of 'living in the cloud': what happens when you're in a place without an internet connection? Well, games like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope or Cube Slam are playable offline. Other apps such as Gmail and Google Docs/Sheets/Slide are also available offline.

About a month ago I actually bought a Chromebook, the Acer C720, after having a Windows 7 Toshiba laptop for about 4 years. The first thing that hits you about these laptops is how cheap they are. The Chromebook I purchased was £199 which I think is a bargain for such a lightning-fast, lightweight laptop. However, one unpleasant surprise I received was finding out that Chromebooks can't print the same way that other laptops can. Most laptops connect to a printer by installing the correct drivers/software needed. Chromebooks only use Google's wireless cloud print service which really isn't helpful as only a certain number of printers support this service. 

So, if you're someone who downloads a lot of music, images, videos or installs a lot programs/software like Adobe Photoshop or AutoCad then Windows is probably best. Although the Chrome Web Store has equivalents such as Pixlr Editor and Sketchpad, it just isn't the same. But, if you mainly just browse the internet and do a few other things such as blogging, creating documents or occasionally visiting Miniclip, then a Chromebook could be an option. For people who have an Android smartphone and/or tablet, the HP Chromebook 11 would be a nice addition as it charges using a Micro USB cable, so you may only have to use one cable to charge all of your devices!

So, do Chromebooks sound like the way forward or should Google have just stopped at Chrome being a browser?