Whereas it’s straightforward to give attention to what you’re going to do with both a Chromebook or a Home windows PC—net searching! video games!—it’s straightforward to lose sight of the little issues.
Top-of-the-line options of a Chromebook that’s simply neglected is Google’s strategy to updates and safety. Every little thing takes place behind the scenes. Home windows downloads updates for antivirus and different applications within the background, however others require a reboot. In the event you don’t have Home windows correctly configured, these reboots may even happen whilst you’re utilizing the PC, which might be massively annoying. Whereas Chromebooks often must be rebooted to use updates, the method is faster and fewer intrusive, as Google reloads the pages you have been on fairly shortly.
In reality, “quick” is likely one of the finest options of a Chromebook. Whereas they’re much less full-featured than a Home windows PC, booting and resuming them simply typically feels extra environment friendly than it does on Home windows. A part of that’s the simplicity: Google takes care of a lot of the mundane duties of powering a PC, like safety and driver updates. “Blue screens of death” happen on Home windows; Chromebooks not often crash—a reality Google emphasizes in commercials.
Nonetheless, a few of these extra mundane duties might be irritating to Chromebook customers, too: comparable to printing, file administration, and utilities: That is the place the variations between the 2 platforms can grow to be abrasive, particularly when you’re used to doing issues in a sure manner. For instance, Google is attempting so as to add diagnostics to the ChromeOS platform, nevertheless it’s nonetheless doing it its personal manner.
Take printing, for instance. The world’s printers have been designed from the bottom up for Home windows and Macs, and may print both over a wi-fi community or from a USB cable. Chromebooks, then again, have struggled with direct printing or utilizing the extra superior options of sure printers. Google Cloud Print was the corporate’s workaround, requiring a Wi-Fi enabled printer; nevertheless, this characteristic was phased out by the tip of 2020.
Sure duties additionally require a special manner of doing issues on a Chromebook versus a Home windows PC. Certain, there are the ChromeOS keyboard shortcuts, the place taking a screenshot or a portion of 1 requires figuring out to press the Ctrl + “switcher” key. While you take that screenshot, you’ll see it saved inside a folder—however you gained’t be capable of rename that file with out opening it. Home windows lets you right-click a file and carry out any variety of operations on it; ChromeOS doesn’t.
Even accessing these recordsdata on ChromeOS requires clicking the “home” circle within the lower-left nook, then both swiping or clicking the uncovered up arrow to entry the ChromeOS apps, a few of which might be saved within the taskbar dock for straightforward entry.
The identical goes for various enter modalities. Whereas Chromebooks permit for inking—you’ll typically want to provide your personal stylus or use your finger—and may report audio, don’t count on a Chromebook to incorporate pen enter that’s translatable into textual content. Home windows completely supplies this. Nevertheless, Chromebook pens will quickly assist NFC wi-fi charging, reasonably than forcing you to look out a AAAA battery or cost them with a cable.
To be truthful, Home windows 11 appears to be like much more like a Chromebook than it did earlier than. The Home windows 11 Taskbar (for now) can solely be oriented on the backside of the display screen, the place apps pop up from a Begin menu that appears considerably just like the ChromeOS launcher.
Our colleagues over at Computerworld embody a Chromebook cheat sheet that you could be discover helpful with extra particulars on the ins and outs of Chromebooks.
