Even the best Intel-powered premium Chromebooks struggle to keep up with Apple’s blazing-fast M1 and M2 silicon, which performs almost unreasonably well considering that Apple only introduced its own chips in 2020.Ĭhromebooks tend to use lower-powered chips to keep the price down. This is going to be a fairly short category to judge. (Image credit: Future) MacBook Air vs Chromebook: Performance While these models can be a bit more expensive, it’s a great advantage if you want the flexibility to swap between laptop and tablet modes. One significant advantage of Chromebooks is that many are available in 2-in-1 or detachable tablet configurations, packing a touchscreen and occasionally a stylus for a more user-friendly experience. It’s very much a ‘get what you pay for’ situation. Chromebooks will vary massively in terms of features, with basic models usually just featuring a basic port selection and a 480p or 720p webcam. If you need a laptop to use specific software, there’s a good chance it won’t run on a Chromebook.īeyond the OS, the MacBook Air doesn’t offer a huge amount in terms of physical features we’ve got some Thunderbolt 4 ports and a clean 1080p webcam. ChromeOS is somewhat limited in this regard, even though it can now run apps from the Google Play Store. MacOS functions fine without Wi-Fi access, and also has access to a wider range of available compatible software. You can certainly use it offline, but some features won’t be available. Since ChromeOS was designed with cloud computing in mind, it generally requires a constant internet connection in order to perform optimally. ChromeOS, meanwhile, is super fast and smooth but more akin to Android-based tablet operating systems. The former is arguably the more powerful OS, sitting closer to Microsoft Windows in terms of capabilities and user interface. The key difference here is the operating system: MacBooks use MacOS, while Chromebooks rely on the more cloud-focused ChromeOS. (Image credit: Future) MacBook Air vs Chromebook: Features But if you’re looking more towards the premium end of the scale, the MacBook Air still offers a sound price-to-performance proposition. We’re still going to give the win to Chromebooks in this category, since the wide range of options to suit any budget is great for any potential buyer. If you need a laptop with solid performance for running more intensive software, a MacBook Air with an M1 or M2 chip is likely to beat most Chromebooks hands down. These cheap Chromebooks obviously won’t compete with any thousand-dollar laptop when it comes to performance, though. The Chromebook Flip series from Asus sits in the $500-600 range depending on the specs, while you can snap up super budget options like the 2021 Acer Spin 311 for less than $300. While premium Chromebooks with similar pricing to the MacBook Air do exist - like the excellent Google Pixelbook Go and HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook - most are quite a bit cheaper. They’re still more expensive than the best Chromebooks, which were always positioned as a more wallet-friendly alternative to conventional laptops. But that's another article.Older MacBook Air models such as the 2020 M1 version or Intel-powered editions came in at $999 (£999 / AU$1,599), but you can generally find them for less nowadays. Unless, of course, you have a problem with Google and its data collection practices. In addition, many benchmarking tests have shown that Chrome is the fastest browser available. You can literally pick up where you left off, which means you can start browsing on your iPhone and then move to your Mac and access your open tabs. It will seamlessly sync your bookmarks, passwords, preferences, and open tabs across all your devices. ![]() ![]() If you use Chrome on your Android phone or tablet or iPhone or iPad, you might want to consider using it on your laptop or Mac as well. In this guide, we walk you through the steps so that you can finally ditch Safari or Mozilla or whatever for Chrome. If you're wanting to see what all the fuss is about, you'll be happy to know that downloading and installing it on your Mac is incredibly easy and fast to do. For many, Google Chrome is the only web browser worth using.
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