Chromebook vs Laptop, what is the difference? This article shows the differences between the two. Desktops (laptops and Chromebooks inclusive) comprise a worldwide market share of 41.52%. Mobile phones lead the market share with 56.05% and tablets come in last with 2.43%. Before we compare the two, let us first explain what each is exactly:
Contents
What is a Chromebook?
A Chromebook is a laptop or tablet running the Linux-based Chrome OS as its operating system. They were originally designed to strongly depend on web applications for tasks using the Google Chrome browser. Chromebooks have since expanded to be able to run Android and fully-fledged Linux apps since 2017 and 2018, respectively. All supported apps can be installed and launched alongside each other.
Related: How to Turn your old computer into a Chromebook
And then a Laptop?
A laptop computer or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops usually have a clamshell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper lid and the keyboard on the inside of the lower lid. Despite the fact that 2-in-1 PCs with a detachable keyboard are often marketed as laptops or as having a laptop mode.
Laptops are folded shut for transportation, and thus are suitable for mobile use. Its name comes from lap, as it was considered practical to be placed on a person’s lap when being used. Today, laptops are used in a variety of settings, such as at work, in education, for playing games, for web browsing, for personal multimedia, and for general home computer use.
Read: A Beginner’s Guide to buying a Laptop in Uganda
Chromebook vs Laptop, What are the differences?
A laptop is usually controlled by a PC operating system for example Microsoft Windows 10 which provides the familiar “desktop” workspace where you launch programs, write documents, save files, and so on.
Chromebooks are powered by the lightweight Google Chrome OS, which uses the Chrome web browser as the primary user interface (UI). Nearly everything is done online within the Chrome browser or via the cloud – improving system speed and efficiency across the board
Hundreds of gigabytes (at least) of internal storage are provided either by a spinning hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD).
Whereas there is some local storage on a Chromebook, users typically save their documents, photos, music, and other files on the cloud, with convenient features for syncing and storing data across devices (e.g., your Chromebook, tablet, and smartphone).
A laptop can handle many uses and is able to download software and run applications from any source.
The Chromebook system is more of a closed environment. All your apps must come from the Google Play Store or Google Web Apps store.
Those are some of the differences between a Chromebook and a laptop.