Chromebooks have an increased popularity nowadays, as an able alternative to laptops with a Windows or a Mac OS. It is mainly a cheaper alternative capable of most office applications, Internet browsing, watching streaming videos and others. One major concern of the Chromebook is its main access point is through the Internet, wherein most, if not all, activities are done with an Internet connection.
Unlike other laptops with a Mac or Windows operating system, Chromebooks cannot do much and you can not actually work on office applications when it is offline. With this in mind, there is a lingering argument for an individual on how much he/she can adjust or the willingness to not use a feature that is present on a Windows or a Mac laptop and is not present in the Chromebook, as it can only offer so much considering the price it is sold for.
In terms of storage, Chromebooks provide larger storage compared to what a typical Windows or a Mac laptop can offer. This is by way of using cloud computing and storage. Google drive, an inherent cloud storage feature that provides large storage of files, is readily available upon signing in on your Google account. A good thing about Google drive cloud storage is that it can also be accessed through any other Internet-enabled device by just signing in on the same Google account used on the Chromebook. This is also true even if you switch to another laptop, may it be another Chromebook, a Windows laptop or a Mac PC. Another alternate storage medium for Chromebooks is through Dropbox. This is actually the same with Google Drive, the only difference is its offline storage on your Chromebook and you can actually work on those stored documents without connecting to the Internet.
Once you are connected with the Internet, the file you have updated offline will be synced with the same file online thus making a synced file especially when you use other devices in accessing the file. For those who are more into the conventional storing of files, Chromebooks still have a 16-32 GB SSD storage capacity where you can store directly on the Chromebook without Internet access. It may be small compared to what a Windows or a Mac OS laptop can provide, but with the alternate access on cloud storage, it can be acceptable.
A Chromebook may not be a direct equivalent to a Windows or a Mac OS laptop, as it has limited features of which the usual laptops are freely capable of. The end user must weigh the things that he/she is ready to sacrifice when using a Chromebook because of the main reason of saving a considerable amount of money in buying one rather than a Windows or a Mac OS laptop. The storage capability is one thing that a Chromebook has limitations on when compared to the other OS enabled laptops. If the user has limitations on Internet connection and is more comfortable working on his/her laptop offline, you might as well go for laptops other than a Chromebook. Otherwise, a Chromebook is a viable and economical option for any kind of user as the Chromebookâs main aim is universal accessibility of files to any device, with the strong dependency on the Internet connection.