Laptop vs. Chromebook: Which Type of Budget PC Is Right For You?

pcmag.com:

If you’re in need of a cheap laptop that's high in value, particularly if you’re shopping for a student ready to go back to school, a whole heap of important factors go into that buying decision. Among Windows laptops and Apple MacBooks, myriad options unfold before you, once you start looking at different brands, widely ranging screen sizes, and clamshell laptops versus convertible 2-in-1s. But in 2023, you may not need a Windows or macOS laptop at all.

Why? Chromebooks. Chromebooks are an affordable—and increasingly practical—solution for everyday computing tasks. But they're not for everyone. We'll help you break down the differences between traditional laptops vs Chromebooks to see which kind makes more sense for what you, or a student, does every day.

Since laptops have been a mainstay for decades, we probably don’t need to define a Windows 11 or Apple macOS (Ventura) laptop for you. Chromebooks aren't new, either, but they may be unfamiliar to you if you haven’t been in the market for a laptop for years.

Chromebooks are technically laptops, too, and look just like other notebooks from the outside. They have some core differences, though, mainly on the software side, that set them apart from the laptops and desktop PCs you may be more familiar with.

With Chromebooks, we’re talking about machines that cost, in some cases, as little as $175 to $300. You can find a handful of Windows laptops in this range, but they're mostly cut-price options that can’t do as much as their pricier counterparts, and they tend to be on the smaller side. Even inexpensive Chromebooks, though, are capable of all the tasks Chromebooks are made for, since they’re intentionally somewhat limited to a subset of jobs.

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