

Now, it's pushing iOS into watches, set-top boxes, and cars. But Apple's ambitions have grown wildly since it became one of the world's most powerful companies. Then there's the more powerful OS X for desktop computing pros. It's got the super-simple iOS for touchscreen smartphones and tablets. On the Apple front, the Cupertino company insists that it still makes sense to have two different computer platforms. The Apple iPad Pro, with its keyboard folio.

If you want to know what using Chrome OS is like, just fire up the Chrome Web browser on a Windows, Mac, or Linux machine, and start installing some Web apps from the Chrome Web Store. There's a good reason for that! While Chrome OS is technically a Linux-based operating system, it's basically the same damn browser. Everything Chrome can do, Android can do betterĪ lot of people confuse Chrome OS with the Chrome Web browser. Chromebooks also avoid some of the security risks that affect PCs.Īnd what if I told you that the Windows computers generally have just as much battery life, too? Battery life is one thing that the Chrome team finally figured out this year with machines like the Asus Chromebook Flip, which manages up to 12 hours on a charge - but Windows machines can offer the same battery life at the same price. That means that now, for just $50 more than the lowest cost Chromebook, you can get a "real" PC running a "real" OS - a Windows computer that'll be compatible with all your Windows applications, instead of a Chromebook that only browses the Web and uses Web apps.Īdmittedly, a Chromebook can be a remarkably nice, clean, uncluttered experience compared to your average Windows PC, which often come loaded with unnecessary software.

(We're not sure exactly how much the terms of those deals are secret.) In response, companies like HP started making decent Windows notebooks you could buy for as low as $200. The company started offering Windows for far cheaper to manufacturers building inexpensive laptops. Sure, you could find a $300 Windows computer if you looked hard enough, maybe even one at the $250 mark, but you'd be talking about an exceptionally flimsy machine with a terrible keyboard that would struggle to browse the Web.īut last year, Microsoft turned all of that on its head. When the starting price of a decent Windows computer was $500, a $250 Chromebook seemed like a steal. Originally, Chrome OS computers were supposed to be so inexpensive you could afford to treat them carelessly, even throw them away, yet fast enough to perform basic tasks. Cheap Windows laptops are killing the need for cheap Chromebooks
