Should you buy a Chromebook? 2020/04/07 2021/03/06 Chromebooks are on the rise. Chrome OS machines have been selling like hotcakes since 2020, and they've proven to be reliable and often affordable laptops for anyone learning or working from home. But many people are still asking themselves: Is a Chromebook really a good choice for me? In this article, we're exploring when you should buy a Chromebook, what limitations there are, and what has improved over the last year. Chrome OS is celebrating its tenth birthday this March, and while the platform has become much more powerful over the years, one thing is still true: You're essentially running a barebones OS that gives you access to nothing but a browser, plus Android and Linux apps thanks to on-board virtualization. If that's all you need to get your work done, then this shouldn't bother you, but it's a limitation you need to have in mind. You can't use widely popular productivity apps like Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere, or the desktop version of Microsoft Office — though that might change in the future once Google has more to tell us about its plans to support Windows apps on Chrome OS.