An Chromebook is a very low-power laptop that relies on the ability to run web applications, which are mostly executed by remote servers. So its work is reduced to capturing the user’s actions, transmitting them over the Internet and showing them on the screen the result that the remote computer has processed. So, just as a web page is not available without an internet connection, neither are web applications.
During 2020, and as a collateral effect of the health measures against COVID-19, the sale of so-called Chromebooks skyrocketed due to the need to work or study from home. Creating a change in the supply of computer equipment. The reason? The need to have a cheap system that would allow them to work or study, depending on the case, and that would be relatively cheap for them. However, for certain basic tasks, its performance is good enough. And with the internet now in every home, they have become a cheap alternative to having a full computer.
What is the origin of Chromebooks?
The concept of cloud computing is not new and if there is a company that is a leader in it, it is Google. After all, we have seen a change in computer applications from the product model to a service model. It was with the appearance of version 5 of the HTML language, the one used to encode web pages, and of the best in JavaScript in the mid-2000s, where the so-called web applications began to be deployed. Specifically due to the capabilities of the WebKit engine, which is used today in all kinds of browsers, including Google’s Chrome.
So, taking advantage of the fact that Linux exists, the people at Google came up with the idea of making a distribution of said operating system, but not run anything other than the browser and its web applications. After all, the second generation of smartphones that Apple’s iPhone had launched did not start with the famous Apps, but with web applications, which grew in functionality over time. So at one point and from 2011 the Gmail company began to launch the first Chromebooks on the market.
It’s no secret that Chromebooks were made especially for the educational market, one that is very lucrative and where Apple has traditionally always been very strong. Although the concept of these computers seems to be more influenced by Nicholas Negroponte’s OLPC program, one laptop per child, than not in direct competition against the brand with the bitten apple.
Cheap yes, but much less powerful than a laptop
The best analogy we can make so that you, gentlemen, understand how they differ is the analogy of two types of cars. On the one hand, a car without a license that can only circulate in towns and cities as it does not go faster than 50 km/h. On the other hand, a conventional car that we can use to move around anywhere. Well, the first case would be a Chromebook and the second a conventional laptop.
In the same way that the vehicle that does not require a license is not going to need a very powerful engine, neither will our Chromebook, the reason for this is that most of the applications will be executed remotely. Others, on the other hand, run locally, but are designed to operate on very low-power computers and, therefore, can be run on those computers without having to be connected to the network. Thus, if a low-end laptop is usually moved on the 4 processor cores today, Chromebooks have configurations of 1 or 2 cores and running at very low consumption.
The second of the elements that differentiates them in terms of hardware is storage. To save costs, they use low-speed and low-capacity NAND Flash storage. Since the user is expected to pull cloud storage. Although there are models that usually have ports for SD cards. In general they do not stand out for performance, but they do not need it either.
How can I differentiate them from a conventional laptop?
Mainly for two clear reasons, the first of which is because of its specifications, you may not understand processor models, however, there are a number of details that will help you detect them. The first thing you have to look at is the type of storage. Because many use eMMC. A type of flash memory much slower than NVMe, which is not recommended for a conventional laptop, but with which a Chromebook has no problems.
On the other hand, many manufacturers, luckily, mark on their models that you are in front of a Chromebook by adding the word to the product name, others, on the other hand, are more subtle and usually place euphemisms like Go on their models.
Although a faster way to recognize them is by the fact that they areu keyboard is different from that of a conventional PC. Since an image is worth a thousand words, we leave you the image of one of them above these lines so that you can see the visual differences of the keyboard of this type of computer. As you can see, some keys have been replaced by others, especially the keys F1 to F12. You can also see how in the specifications they usually have support to be able to place a SIM for mobile internet to connect to 4G or 5G networkssomething that conventional laptops do not usually carry.
Knowing how to differentiate them is important, since today we can find Chromebooks of various sizes and form factors. Although we think that with these simple tips you can very easily differentiate them from a conventional laptop.