Chromebook computers under 10 million... are they "good - nutritious - cheap"?

There is no shortage of Chromebook models priced under 10 million VND on the market that are considered “good, nutritious and cheap”. Is the quality as good as rumored?

With the increasingly expensive mainstream laptop market, finding a cheap laptop that is still smooth and powerful enough for learning needs is becoming a difficult problem. Chromebook, with Google's ChromeOS platform, is being evaluated by the technology community as an effective solution with the ability to operate smoothly and stably even on low configurations.

Attractive price

In Vietnam, a popular Windows laptop costs between 12 and 15 million VND to have a good configuration, Full HD screen, good battery life and run smoothly for 2-3 years. Meanwhile, Chromebooks are popular in the 6-9 million VND range, with some models costing only around 5 million VND, but their smooth processing capabilities are not inferior to Windows models that cost twice as much.

Engineer Nguyen Huu Duy, a technology consultant at Mobile World, said: “Chromebooks are cheaper than Windows laptops because Google targets education and general users, and subsidizes these products. They optimize ChromeOS to run smoothly on low-end configurations, so manufacturers do not need to invest in expensive CPUs or GPUs. This philosophy helps reduce costs significantly.”

Chomebooks are usually beautifully designed, lightweight, and cheap.

There are many Chromebook models on the market that are suitable for students at affordable prices. In addition to the expensive Google Chromebook Pixel models, major manufacturers such as Samsung, HP, Acer, Dell all have Chromebook portfolios in both the low-cost and high-end segments, thanks to support from Google.

In particular, the HP Chromebook x360 14 costs about 9.6 million VND, has an 8th generation Intel Core i chip, a 14-inch Full HD touch screen, and 360° folding. The device has 8GB RAM, 128GB eMMC memory and 8.5-hour battery.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Go is officially sold in Vietnam for about 7.8 million VND, equipped with Intel Celeron N4500 CPU, 14-inch HD screen, 4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC memory. The battery lasts for 10 hours of use.

Acer Chromebook 516 GE - 1H stands out in the 9 million price range, the device owns an Intel Core i5 1240P chip, 16-inch WQXGA 120Hz screen, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet Gen 9 costs nearly 10 million, is a hybrid laptop with a detachable keyboard, uses MediaTek Kompanio 838 CPU. The device has an 11-inch WUXGA touchscreen, 4GB RAM, 128GB eMMC memory and battery life up to 15 hours.

Is the quality really “good”?

When it comes to “good - nutritious - cheap” quality, users often care about performance, stability, battery life, and overall experience. Many experts believe that in the under 10 million segment, Chromebooks provide a better experience than many cheap Windows laptops.

Master Tran Minh Khoi, an IT lecturer in Hanoi , shared: “Although Chromebooks do not have a strong configuration, they provide a smooth experience in basic tasks: surfing the web, editing, and online learning. The device boots up quickly in just a few seconds, and the battery usually lasts 8-12 hours. Compared to cheap Windows laptops that often lag after 2 to 3 years, Chromebooks remain more stable.”

The advantages of chromebooks that are often mentioned are long battery life: Many models last 10-15 hours, suitable for a whole school day; Extremely fast startup, only 5-10 seconds; High security: automatic ChromeOS updates, almost no worries about viruses; Chromebooks usually weigh only 1.1 to 1.3 kg, very convenient for bringing to school.

The ChromeOS platform operates primarily on the internet and cloud storage environment, so it does not require much hardware power.

In addition to office and cloud applications, a strength of Chromebook is that it can run all Android applications. Through that, tasks that Android smartphones or tablets can do can also be done with Chromebook. Popular photo and video editors such as KineMaster, Davinci, Capcut... Currently, Adobe also supports the full version of Photoshop for Chromebooks.

Chromebooks contribute to changing the mindset of buying traditional computers when they no longer need to rely too much on hardware power. All tasks are transferred to the Internet environment, so the computer is just a pure communication device, text editing or doing homework are all on built-in applications.

This is also a modern working trend when it brings a seamless experience on the Internet platform. The strength of this is that by simply manipulating and editing a document link, teachers can clearly grasp the implementation process of students. For office users who need to use applications on many different devices, working through online files helps units have an overview, update project adjustments in real time, ensuring work progress.

“If you pay attention, you can see that Chromebooks often have low memory capacity. Because ChromeOS mainly revolves around the Chrome browser, web and Android applications, data is stored in the cloud, and does not require powerful hardware. The device supports both Apple's iCloud and Google's Drive and popular cloud services well,” added Master Tran Minh Khoi.

In addition, Chromebooks are considered an ideal learning environment because this is Google's intention. Chromebooks are integrated with Google Classroom, Meet, Docs, Sheets Slides, Assignments, Groups, Drive - which are familiar tools for students and group work in the office. In Vietnam, Google also supports free Google workspace for education designed specifically for education.

Regrettable limitations

However, Chromebooks are not the perfect device for everyone. Engineer Dang Hoang Tuan, IT solution consultant at the Vietnam Information Technology Association, commented: “Chromebooks are suitable for students in social sciences, online learning, and light office work. But if you study engineering, architecture, need AutoCAD, SolidWorks, or video editing, Chromebooks will be powerless. That is the biggest limitation.”

First, Chromebooks cannot install Windows applications (.exe), because Chromebooks are designed to only run well when connected to the network, although there are some offline versions available.

Long battery life and smooth performance for years to come are the advantages that make Chromebooks suitable for learning.

Gaming on Chromebooks is extremely limited, the device is only suitable for Android games downloaded from CH Play, PC games are not feasible. Engineer Dang Hoang Tuan said: "Of course, a device line specializing in serving learning, the limitation of gaming capabilities is not too much."

Le Quynh Anh, a second-year student majoring in Linguistics in Ho Chi Minh City, shared: “I bought a Chromebook Spin 311, a hand-carried product, priced at only 8.5 million VND. It is more than enough for online learning, taking notes with a stylus, and doing homework. Editing, translating documents, or learning foreign languages ​​on Google Docs is very convenient. The downside is that when I need specialized software, I have to use a desktop computer.”

Although Chromebooks account for more than 50% of the market share of educational laptops in the US, in Vietnam, this line of laptops is still quite modest. The reason lies in the habit of users being familiar with Windows, along with the limitations of the service ecosystem. However, with the trend of online learning, along with the need to find cheap laptops, Chromebooks are gradually attracting more attention from parents and students.

According to Engineer Dang Hoang Tuan, Chromebook is an ideal second laptop, or the first laptop for social science students. But it cannot replace Windows laptops in professional fields."

As a low-cost device, Chromebook proves that “cheap” does not always mean “bad”. With the right needs and users, it is completely worthy of being a “cheap but good” computer, especially suitable for students entering the new school year.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/may-tinh-chromebook-duoi-10-trieu-co-ngon-bo-re-post2149047231.html