Chromebook would be a viable laptop option

Chromebooks are poised to evolve in 2014 from an oddity to a viable laptop option. The laptops use Google’s Chrome operating system—which means that everything you do on a Chromebook is accomplished through the Google Chrome Web browser. You can’t install Windows, Mac, or even Linux apps on a Chromebook. Early Chromebooks also tended to have short battery life and weren’t terribly affordable, either. Some people saw them as less useful than the lowly netbook and nowhere near as cool as a tablet pc.

Currently that scenario is changing. The latest generation of Chromebooks is receiving largely positive reviews for their combination of low cost, light weight, and long battery life. Case in point: Acer’s C720 Chromebook, which costs $199, weighs 2.76 lbs., and has a Acer as07b31 battery lasting up to 8.5 hours. You won’t find that combo in a traditional laptop. HP, Samsung, Google and most recently Toshiba also offer Chromebook models, all of them $350 or less. Dell and Asus are said to have consumer Chromebooks in the works. And new models are expected from Samsung, Acer and others this year.

Does all this mean you should consider a Chromebook in 2014? Absolutely. AussieBatt laptop experts have tested Acer C720 and HP Chromebook 14 recently and found them to be surprisingly useful, though noticeably inferior in build quality to my Apple MacBook Air laptop. We play devil’s advocate and offer you the top reasons to buy a Chromebook—and the top reasons NOT to buy a Chromebook.