In defense of Chromebooks

When a prospective Chromebook buyer turns to the internet for advice, they are instantly bombarded with overwhelmingly negative search engine suggestions painting Chromebooks as "bad", "slow" or "laggy".

But what these searches fail to reflect is the sheer determination of these compact devices. Chromebooks may not have the fastest RAM or the largest CPU, but they don’t claim to either. They know what they’re good at, and they stick to it.

What are they good at? Let us list the ways.

Why do Chromebooks suck?

Despite the volume of negativity surrounding Chromebooks, there is a significant userbase that didn’t jump on the "Chromebooks suck" bandwagon.

Industry research shows that the global Chromebook market will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.30% from 2023 to 2030 – to put it simply, more and more people are stepping out of the hate brigade and joining the millions of Chromebook users.

North America led this growth in 2023, with 40% of global Chromebook revenue attributed to the continent alone, underscoring genuine – and growing – demand.

The increase in Chromebook popularity is driven by various industries’ adoption of these devices, as well as the general attractiveness to consumers. But what are these Chromebook-loving industries and why are Chromebooks such as good fit?

Chromebooks for education

Chromebooks offer an easily accessible digital learning option for students and teachers globally.

Chromebooks offer simplicity inside and out, supporting commonly-used education apps without any distractions as well as being compact, portable and extremely durable (important, considering how children can be with devices).

Chromebooks for business

The need for simplicity doesn't stop with students. For most business-related communication and administrative tasks, Chromebooks are more than capable.

Sometimes, Chromebooks know how to do corporate better than corporates do themselves. They take away the guesswork that comes with traditional, company-wide hardware (and software for that matter) by focusing on web-based apps that encourage efficiency and productivity; particularly within Google Workspace.

Chromebooks for healthcare

If Chromebooks had a middle name, it would be mobile. These devices can follow their users from ward to ward, providing healthcare workers with consistent, cloud-native access to electronic health records.

Positioned as the go-to mobile solution within the highly competitive healthcare IT market, these devices are transforming patient care as well as hospitals’ bottom lines. Not only are Chromebooks low-cost, but the Chrome operating system also has the capability of HIPAA compliance; an absolute must-have for this industry.

Why do Chromebooks exist?

Contrary to popular belief, Chromebook users aren’t all students. Recent market research revealed that while the userbase of Chromebooks does consist of users within the education sector, there is also significant usage across IT and software services, administration and healthcare.

Your typical Chromebook user likely prioritizes mobility, simplicity, affordability or security over loading time speed.

Basically, they’re not being used to play God Of War – and they’re not intended to be.

Do Chromebooks actually suck?

Yeah, they probably would suck if you stressed it out with 30+ tabs going at once.

Luckily, most users know these devices hold strengths in other areas. So what are these strengths?

Our Head of Revenue here at Lumin – Scott Paulin, PhD – used a Chromebook for a year to understand how well they serve their purpose. As Head of Revenue, he was also aware Chromebooks are much more affordable alternative to most workplace laptops.

There were several key features of the mighty Chromebook that Scott, like millions of other users, found were in a league of their own:

Security

Chromebooks use the principle of “defense in depth” when it comes to security, providing multiple layers of protection to fight against malware infiltration.

There are also more user-friendly security features that we love, such as data encryption and recovery mode. If you want to get into the technical details, you can read more about Chromebook security here.

Collaboration

The true capabilities of the Chromebook are unleashed when integrated with Google Workspace. Real-time editing, centralized storage, and multi-media communication options all team up for a collaboration superstation.

Because the Chrome operating system is inherently cloud-based, you can pick up your work from anywhere, share your screen with colleagues and sync work across all your devices.

Flexibility

Once again, Chromebooks offer the most bang for your buck when it comes to the features that allow flexibility. Since the device runs on ChromeOS (rather than Windows or Mac), a Chromebook’s battery can go on for longer than its power-hungry alternatives.

Plus, these devices are known (among other things) for being extremely lightweight and durable. So durable that you can actually buy a military-standard Chromebook that has been tested for drops, water, extreme temperatures and more.

If data scientists, law professors, doctors, CEOs and our very own Head of Revenue willingly use Chromebooks to get things done, we’re sure you could too.

Chromebooks are for everyone.

Unless you’re gaming. Then Chromebooks are just not for you.