Google Chrome OS Review

Chrome OS is Google’s cloud-connected desktop operating system. This web-apps focused OS powers mostly inexpensive Chromebooks, offering a low-cost laptop option for people of modest means or basic needs. That affordability, along with tie-ins to Google’s online productivity apps, has made the OS popular in the education market. Chrome OS’s Android app compatibility has given the OS new life and millions of new software choices, though the support for those apps is inconsistent. In any case, Android apps are still mobile apps and sometimes not suited to high-power computing needs. Still, for the right users, Chrome OS is a strong choice.

Chrome OS has gotten more touch support since our last review update, though it still doesn’t deliver an ideal tablet experience. More importantly, Android apps are to some extent better integrated into the OS, almost to the point of not needing the increasingly irrelevant Chrome Web Store for the browser-based apps that used to be the only kind the OS offered.

The OS has indeed come a long way since the beginning. When Chrome OS first launched, it was little more than a version of Ubuntu that ran just one app: The Chrome web browser. Google’s desktop OS has added many capabilities since then, like resizable windows and decent printing options, in addition to the Android app support. Using a Chromebook while offline was problematic in the early days of the OS, but apps now offer decent offline functionality. That’s not to say my experience with Chrome OS has been completely hiccup-free: I occasionally encountered a blank white app or settings window.

Pricing and Hardware Options

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Microsoft Windows 10

Apple macOS High Sierra

Ubuntu Linux 18 Bionic Beaver

Apple iOS 11

Google Android 8.0 Oreo

Google does not make Chrome OS installation media available the way Ubuntu and Windows 10 do. It’s only officially available on Google-sanctioned devices, most of which fall into the Chromebook and Chromebox categories. Since the code of the operating system is open source as part of the Chromium OS project, other developers have produced installers, including (early on) Hexxen Flow and NeverwareCloudReady. You could, with a bit of gumption, try installing Chromium OS on standard PC hardware as well, since it’s freely available, but you might encounter hardware incompatibilities. The majority of users should buy hardware with the OS preinstalled.

For this review, I tested Chrome OS on a Pixelbook Go, a much better piece of hardware than the majority of Chrome OS users (who are usually drawn in by the low cost of Chromebooks) are likely to have. Most Chromebooks cluster around the $300 price point. The Pixelbook Go starts at $649, for a 13.3-inch HD display, 8GB RAM, 64GB storage, and an Intel Core m3. Google’s even-higher-end Pixelbook is a premium piece of hardware with a high-resolution (2,400-by-1,600 pixel) touch screen with stylus input capability, a Core i7 CPU, and 512GB SSD— it retails for a cool $1,649, though the lowest-specced Pixelbook starts at $999 list.

The move to keyboard-less tablets running Chrome OS started with the summer 2018 release of the Acer Chromebook Tab 10 for the education market. In the fall of that year, Google released its own Pixel Slate, along with some OS updates to accommodate touch-only users. In his review of the Slate, our hardware analyst Tom Brant says that it offers “superior hardware, but in practice, it falls short of topping the Apple iPad, Chromebooks, or Windows tablets.”

Since Chrome OS is primarily a cloud-connected OS, it’s surprising that it’s nearly impossible to find a Chromebook with LTE. Google’s earlier Chromebook Pixel included this capability, but the current Pixelbooks don’t. I couldn’t find any LTE-equipped Chromebooks for sale from other hardware vendors, either, though you can get the Samsung Chromebook Plus from Verizon with a mobile service contract.

Thankfully, Google has introduced Instant Tethering, which dispenses with the need for a mobile connection on the computer—you can just use your Android phone’s. Of course, if you use an iPhone, that doesn’t help you.

A couple more Chrome OS hardware options are Chromebases and Chromebits. The former are all-in-one PCs from LG and Acer, though they seem to be no longer in production. Chromebits are very small units similar to the Intel Compute Stick, designed to be plugged into an HDTV to give it computing capabilities.

Chrome OS and Peripherals

When it comes to peripherals, Chrome OS works with USB keyboards, mice, and hubs, as well as with select Bluetooth peripherals. The company recently launched the Works With Chromebook(Opens in a new window) program to make it easier for users to find compatible devices, which will sport a Chrome logo and the program’s name. Chrome OS supports monitors connected by DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, and VGA. The mouse and display support alone make Chrome OS a better choice for some business users than iPadOS on an iPad—though Apple recently added support (with limitations) for mice and trackpads with iOS 13.4. Be aware, however, that you may not find Chrome OS hardware drivers for some peripherals that don’t have the Works With logo.

Storage. When I plugged in a USB thumb drive (the Pixelbooks only have USB C ports, but luckily I have one USB-C storage key), the OS correctly identified the storage and opened a file-browsing window. Note that the OS mimics Apple’s macOS in that it annoyingly displays a notification whenever you unplug the USB key without first telling the OS you want to eject it. Windows just deals with the inevitable, without scolding you.

Chrome OS now supports the SMB 3.0 protocol, which means you can use network storage like that found in any of the popular Synology NAS devices, for example. This is especially important for people or organizations with large media needs like photo, video, and audio files that they want to store locally for fast access.

Monitors. Chrome OS has decent multi-monitor support. When I plugged the Pixelbook’s USB-C port into an HDMI adapter and a widescreen monitor in turn, the system instantly extended the display to the external monitor. It also lets you mirror or turn off the main screen.

Network Adapters. Most people will set up a Chrome OS computer with a Wi-Fi connection, but it supports Ethernet adapters for those who need a wired connection.

Printers. I had less luck with printers and Chrome OS, though Google has made efforts to beef up printer support. If it doesn’t find your Wi-Fi printer automatically, you can manually enter an IP address and download a driver. Unfortunately, a Chrome OS driver is not available for my Brother HL-4150CDN printer. Chrome OS supports five Internet Printing Protocols as well as Line Printer Daemon. It also supports Google Cloud Print-enabled printers, though that service is being retired at the end of the year. But on the positive side, word on the street is that Chrome OS will be getting printer management(Opens in a new window) functionality like that found on other desktop OSes.

What About Multiboot? You can boot Windows on a Mac using Boot Camp and you can boot Ubuntu on a Windows PC (or even macOS if you’re very brave and savvy). Chrome OS doesn’t officially support any form of multibooting; CloudReady’s Chrome OS distro supported the capability for a while, but retired it in June 2018. After reports that Google was working on a option for dual-booting Windows 10 in Chrome OS, that initiative is apparently dead(Opens in a new window). There are some workarounds and third-party utilities that can produces multibooting, but the capability is not part of the official OS. Using Chrome OS’s Linux core, however, is in beta (see Linux section below.)

Bluetooth and Miracast. In testing, my Chromebook identified smartphones, PCs, TVs, speakers, headphones and more over Bluetooth. You can sync a smartphone, as mentioned above, to use for quick two-factor authentication. Displaying your Chromebook or box’s screen onto a large TV is a cinch; just choose the Cast Devices Available option from the status tray menu at lower right.

Getting Started: Setting Up Chrome OS

To get going with Chrome OS, you simply charge your Chromebook and hit the power button. The first screen has you choose your language and accessibility options. The latter include ChromeVox (spoken feedback), large mouse cursor, high contrast mode, screen magnifier, and on-screen keyboard.

Connect to the Internet. As with most device setups these days, the first step is to connect to the internet. After you’re connected, you must agree to the license terms and decide whether you want to send usage data back to Google. I opted out; Google knows plenty about me already. The setup wizard then checked for, found, and installed updates.

Google Is Watching. Next, you have to sign in to a Google account. Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu all let you use the computer without an account, but that’s just not an option with Chrome OS. So, if you’re hesitant to have all your activity stored on Google’s servers, another OS is probably better for you.

After logging into a Gmail account, I saw a message that my settings would be synced and that my browsing history would be used to “personalize Search, ads, and other Google services.” You can change these settings on your Google Activity Controls(Opens in a new window) page.

Get Ready for Android. Next comes an Android app feature and accepting Google Play’s terms of service. This involves agreeing to store app data on Google Drive. It also involves sharing your location with Google location services and allowing apps to automatically download and update.

Next (and something new since my original review) the setup offered to install apps from my other devices, but it was unable to find these, even though I had logged into Android devices with the account I used for this testing.

The Google Assistant setup pops up, which involves a few more privacy permissions. One is to allow the tool to create a unique sonic model of your voice, using what it calls Voice Match.

Next comes connecting your phone to the Chromebook. This lets you conduct texting, unlock the computer using the phone, and best of all, get the phone’s mobile internet connection on the Chromebook automatically.

After allowing Assistant, Chrome OS takes you through a brief but enjoyable tour of all its charms, highlighting areas of interest along the way.

One feather in Chrome OS’s cap is the ease with which you can switch users, though macOS and Windows also make this easy. Chrome OS also adds the ability to easily log in as a Guest account. At the bottom of the lock screen are choices for Browse as Guest and Add Person. Guests cannot install apps, either web or Android, but interestingly, they can download files.

Like some Windows and macOS laptops, a few Chromebooks do support fingerprint biometric login, including the Pixel Slate and the impressive Samsung Galaxy Chromebook (which also sports a 4K touch screen). You can, happily, use a PIN to unlock the computer, and a beta feature lets you do the same with an Android phone. But you still must sign in with a full password on startup. Surprisingly, the PIN and passwords you choose have no security requirements—I was able to set mine as 123456 and 111111. You’ll want to use more secure passwords.

Once you’re up and running (and even before that), a well-designed and thorough Get Help app can assist you in moving to, setting up, and using your Chrome OS machine.

Interface and Windowing: Getting Around the OS

As you’d expect from Google, the OS’s interface is very search- and browser-centric. Unlike most desktop operating systems, Chrome OS doesn’t let you pin icons for apps and files onto the desktop. Instead, you use the Launcher or the Dock. The Launcher, a circular button at bottom left, is similar to the Windows Start button and macOS’s Launchpad.

The Shelf. The dock or taskbar along the bottom of the screen, which Google calls the Shelf, only contains some Google apps by default. In its last major UI update Google changed the shelf icons to be center-aligned rather than left aligned. After you run a Chrome app, such as Google Photos, from the app panel that slides up when you drag on launcher button, no separate icon appears for it in the dock. Only Android apps and web apps you pin appear there. Windows and macOS, by contrast, always show your running apps’ icons in the dock/taskbar. Gmail and Google Drive, however, doget icons by default, and it’s not possible to remove the Chrome icon from the Shelf.

Aside from a tiny underline to indicate an app is active, these shelf icons offer no functionality to speak of. For example, in Windows you can pause or skip back and forward from the Spotify app’s taskbar icon, or see the last several documents opened in a productivity app with Jump Lists. In Chrome OS, the only choices are pinning the app and autohiding the shelf. I do like that tapping a shelf icon a second time minimizes the app, a convenience not found in macOS but long present in Windows. Two-finger tapping an app icon in the shelf lets you see its info or uninstall it.

The Launcher. The Launcher is opened via a circular icon at the far left of the shelf. (I wish they’d moved this to the center, which would conform to the Android launcher and the new center-aligned shelf look.) This tool offers quick access to apps and search. But Chrome OS’s version of the launcher is less functional than Windows’ Start, which also gives access to settings, power, and larger tiles for your favorite apps, which is especially helpful with touch screens. The Launcher is more similar to macOS’ Launchpad. I wish that the Launcher had separate sections for Android apps and web apps, especially for cases where both types exist, such as Netflix and Spotify.

The Files Window. Chrome OS’s Files window has improved since my last look at the OS. Now you clearly see files stored on the local machine in the top section of its left navigation panel, which contains Audio, Images, Videos, and My Files choices. Google Drive locations are below that. Previously the only local files resided in the Downloads section, and that was under the Google Drive folder, so it wasn’t even clear that they were actually on the local computer. There’s also a new Play files folder, where Android apps may store their data in subfolders. The Files window helpfully shows a Recent section at the top; similar to Windows’ Quick Access folder, which I find indispensable.

The Status Tray Menu. This strip at the right of the Shelf shows the time, Wi-Fi status, and battery status. Clicking it lets you adjust volume, sign out of your account, and see VPN status (if you have one installed). Hardwired keyboard buttons, like those on Macs, make functions like adjusting volume and brightness easy. Windows 10’s similar Action Center adds a configurable Quick action tiles for making on-the-fly setting changes, such as airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a dozen more options, which I prefer.

Keyboard Shortcuts. The operating system supports most of the standard keyboard shortcuts, like Ctrl-F for find, Ctrl-Z to undo, and Ctrl-V to paste. The hardwired search key opens Google Assistant, but it doesn’t show recent and often used apps as the Windows key does, let alone open a touch-friendly tile menu. Two excellent keys are the task switcher and the full screen; macOS has the former, but the latter is unique and a great idea. Taking screenshots is as easy as in the two leading desktop OSes; you simply press Ctrl-Task Switcher, and a thumbnail appears in the lower-right corner, letting you open, annotate, or copy the resulting image to the clipboard. One disappointment there, however, is that you can’t change the default save location for screenshots as you can in macOS and Windows.

There’s no right-click functionality at all, but a lot of what you’d do with a right click can instead be accomplished with a quick two-finger tap on the touchpad. Hardwired keyboard buttons perform some tasks accessed with keyboard combos on other OSes.

Window Manipulation. Window behavior and manipulation works differently depending on whether you’re running a Chrome or Android app. For the former, you usually see browser tabs, though you can full-screen the view so the app looks like its own entity, without the browser tabs and menu. Compatible Android apps can run full-screen, but sometimes you need to restart the app to do so. When you resize them, these apps often revert to a smartphone-size window. Some Android apps let you resize to taste, but many are all or nothing—full-screen or phone size.

Chrome app windows can be dragged against the edge of the screen to fill half of it exactly—which beats macOS—but not so with most Android apps. And there’s no quarter screen view like you get with Windows by dragging a window header to any corner. You can’t drag a full-screen app down from its header, either. When using the app switcher (Alt-Tab) the app tiles don’t fan out as in Windows and macOS and instead scroll out of view.

As with all consumer OSes, you get to replace the desktop wallpaper with any image you like. There’s now a night view like Apple’s Night Shift and Windows’ Night Light, to save your eyes from sleep-ruining blue light during late-night computing. There’s no shortcut or control to show the desktop without the running apps, though that’s not as significant here, since you can’t pin icons for apps or documents to the desktop.

Chrome OS now offers multiple virtual desktops like those long in macOS and Windows. To be special and friendlier, Google calls them Desks, rather than desktops. Switching between multiple Desks is a snap, with either a keyboard shortcut, but unlike in Windows and Mac, there’s no touch gesture to switch among them.

All of this may be unimportant to students or new users of the operating system, but if you’re used to macOS or Windows, much of it feels limiting and inconvenient.

Touch Screen and Pen Support

I love to be able to tap a button on my Windows 10 touch screen now and then, saving me from the carpal-tunnel stress of moving the mouse to just the right spot and executing yet another click of the mouse button. That’s not an option on macOS, but Chrome OS offers that convenience, as do iPads.

I would, however, like to see more useful gestures, such as swiping in from the sides of the screen. When you do that on Windows 10, the left side shows your task switcher, any additional desktops, and the Timeline view. When you swipe in from the right, you see the Action Center. The same gestures in Chrome just go forward and back in browser history, which you can also do by swiping within the browser window in both OSes. macOS, too, is far ahead in gestures using the trackpad, including two-, three-, and four-finger operations.

I appreciate that the on-screen keyboard for tablet touch input supports swipe text entry. But I wish there were a split keyboard layout option, which is easier to use when holding the computer as a tablet with two hands.

Chrome OS now supports the cross-platform Universal Stylus Initiative, and some Chromebooks like the HP Chromebook x360now support that protocol. I tested the OS’s stylus capability with the $99 Pixelbook Pen. The system’s handwriting recognition is excellent and on par with Windows 10’s, but you can only use it on apps that support it. In Windows, handwriting is an on-screen keyboard mode, so it works with any text input field. You can also use the pen to circle on-screen objects and get info from Google Assistant about them after clicking the button on the pen. You can start a Google Keep note with the pen even from the lock screen.

As for more artistic pen work, the Infinite Painter Android app shows Chrome OS is up to the latest standards of computer drawing, for me, at least, matching the Surface Pro and iPad Pros pens, though I’m no artist. The app offers a wide variety of brush types.

Search and Voice Assistant

Like Windows’ Cortana and Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant lets you use your voice to play music and podcasts, ask general knowledge questions, and check the weather, calendar, stock quotes, or sports scores. You can open apps as either their web or Android versions—the Assistant’s sidebar lets you choose. Composing and sending an email with the Assistant worked flawlessly (an improvement over the last time I tested it, which required installing the Android Gmail app).

You can control all your smart home devices—turn on Philips Hue lights, set smart thermostat temperatures—as you can with other digital assistants such as Alexa, Cortana, and Siri. Google Assistant also lets you set reminders and timers.

A setting in Google Assistant now enables it to always listen for the OK Google phrase, equaling a capability of Siri on macOS and Cortana. The feature doesn’t, however, let you log out or shut down the computer using your voice as you can with Cortana on Windows 10. Conversely, Google Assistant can take a screenshot, whereas Cortana cannot.

Web Apps

Chrome OS has two types of apps and two app stores, which sometimes leads to weird behaviors. For instance, installing a web and Android version of the same app can result in two icons for two sometimes very different apps. An option in a Chrome OS apps’ Settings panel lets you open it as a window rather than a browser tab, but this sometimes shows the address bar at the top, destroying the illusion of it being a true app. Sometimes clicking an option in such an app goes back to opening the browser.

Just about any web app works on a Chromebook, but sometimes web apps aren’t as full featured as installed applications. For example, though Microsoft offers a near-parity version of Word for the web with Word Online, there are a few details that make the installed version preferable. In both I found selecting text less convenient than on other platforms. (Google Docs let me select text normally, so it’s evidently a Microsoft issue.) Another difference: You can’t zoom in on documents with the mouse wheel in a web-based document editor; instead, the whole interface zooms. The same holds for Google Docs. I also found that my document’s paragraph spacing didn’t appear correctly in the online version. I do like how maximizing the browser in the Chrome OS version does make the web app feel like a standard app, since it removes the browser’s title bar and menu along the top. But there are myriad little helpers, such as right-click formatting, that you have to do without.

Bona fide Chrome apps in the store are few and far between, and few are of AAA quality—there’s quite a bit of B-level chuff in there. Nor is there a way to sort by most popular or newest apps. I suppose Google feels that it must keep the Chrome Web Store up for backward compatibility, but some feel that it would do better just to ditch Chrome OS apps and turn Android into a desktop-plus-mobile operating system, as Microsoft attempted to do with Windows 10.

The browser is the centerpiece of Chrome OS, and while Chrome is a top choice among browsers, there are occasions when you might want an alternative. You can get Firefox in the Android store, but it’s not as functional as the desktop version on Macs and PCs. Edge, Firefox, and Safari also offer distraction-free reading modes for cluttered webpages.

Edge and Safari feature convenient share icons for quickly sending a page to Twitter, email, Messenger, WhatsApp, or any other communication app. Edge can read webpages aloud in surprisingly realistic speech. Privacy options also vary among browsers, with Firefox, Brave, and Opera all offering unique privacy tools. Another reason to browse with Firefox is its Containers feature, which lets you run different instances of different sites as distinct users (not available in the Android version).

Mail. An important built-in app in a desktop operating system is email. Windows, Mac, and iOS all include polished apps that let you manage and view multiple mail accounts, but Chrome OS points you to the browser by default. Of course, a wealth of Android mail clients stand ready to augment this.

Photo Editing. I was surprised not to find the impressive Google Photos app installed on my test Chromebook Pixel by default. Instead, the default photo editor and viewer is the extremely limited Gallery app, which only offers brightness, contrast, rotation, and slideshow capabilities. Both macOS’ and Windows’ included Photo editing apps are vastly more capable, as is Google’s online-only Photos app. Adobe made noises about building a streaming version of Photoshop for Chromebooks a few years ago, but shifted to its iPad version instead. There’s no full version of Photoshop you can run on Chrome OS, but there is a version of Lightroom for it.

Google Photos isn’t even included as a Chrome app in the Chrome Web Store, though you can install it as a website link. And the reasonably powerful Befunky, Polarr, and Fotor are in the store. The Google Play Store offers additional options. If you just want to snap a photo or video from your Chrome OS computer, the included Camera app, though more basic that what you get with macOS or Windows, can do the job.

Music and Video. The operating system comes with a basic music player, which started playing my MP3s from a USB drive without any fuss. You can also use Google Play Music to stream cloud-stored music. To play a downloaded .M4A file, I had to install a separate Music Player for Google Drive web app. You can, of course, watch Netflix and Hulu and listen to Pandora, Qobuz, and Spotify, all through their webpage interfaces.

Chrome OS preloads stores for entertainment media. These include Play Movies & TV, Play Music, and Play Books. They are all well stocked, and comparable with what’s available on macOS and Windows, though the latter discontinued its music store. I appreciate that Google’s bookstore offers audiobooks in addition to books you have to read yourself.

Chromebooks simply aren’t great for video editing. A search of the Chrome Web Store for “video editor” apps did not turn up anything useful, but the store’s landing page highlights WeVideo. This app lets you do some basic trimming and joining, as well as add background music and transitions. The OS itself offers absolutely nothing in the way of video editing, unlike Apple and Microsoft’s simple, but powerful built-in tools.

The Android app store offers more potential for would-be Chrome OS video editors. There, you find lightweight versions of PowerDirector, Filmora, and NCH VideoPad. But still, it’s a far cry from Adobe Premiere Pro or even Premiere Elements, which both run on Macs and PCs. To add insult to injury, Adobe’s one Android video app, Premiere Clip, doesn’t run on Chrome OS.

Video Calling. Windows has Skype, macOS has FaceTime, and Google Chrome OS, of course, uses Google’s Hangouts for video calling—with up to 25 people at a time. The service also connects voice calls to standard phones and mobiles, just like Skype. Unfortunately, you can’t start a call using the voice-responding Assistant.

Notes. Google Keep is your included note-taking app. It not only lets you type, but you can include colorful drawings, set reminders, and grab text from images—perfect for use with the Pixelbook Pen.

Maps. Windows and macOS both include excellent map apps, but Chrome OS sports the most dominant map service in the world, even if it’s not an app as such and isn’t installed by default. You can install the Android version of Google Maps, as well as Here, MapQuest, and more.

Offline Usage. Originally Chrome OS’s huge Achilles heel was its lack of offline functionality. In the past, Chrome OS devices were little more than a paperweight if you had no internet connection. The addition of Android apps and better offline support for Chrome Web apps address that issue.

Google’s apps in particular have been updated for offline use; Drive, Gmail, and other of the search company’s apps now work offline. You can also play locally downloaded or USB-connected media. In the Chrome Web app store, you can filter results by Runs Offline, though the only recognizable names I saw there were Pocket, useful for reading webpages offline, and Polarr, a fairly capable photo editor.

The emergence of progressive web apps, or PWAs, supported by most modern browsers, should be a boon to Chrome OS. These standard web apps take advantage of offline support, notifications, and custom window interfaces. And of course, you can use Android apps with offline functionality.

Running Android Apps

The Google Play store is far more robust than the Web Store, in terms of the number and quality of apps. Installing Android apps from the Google Play store on Chrome OS is a cinch, and thankfully, the store that appears on the desktop OS is customized for it. But there are no longer Chrome OS-specific sections in the store.

Another well-thought-out convenience when dealing with the two app types is that when you run an app that has both types, such as Word, you see a message asking which to run.

But not all is well in Chrome OS–land for Android. Many apps—even big ones like Instagram and NewsBreak—only appear in the small phone-size screen layout, some have draggable handles for resizing, while others still only work in full-screen mode. This time I didn’t encounter apps that require a restart just to switch between full screen and windowed modes, as I did the last time I reviewed the OS. Some occasionally displayed nothing but whiteness in their window.

A minor quibble is that the back arrow at top left in most app windows closes the app—not good if you expect it to work like every other such arrow and take you back. Another is that Android apps usually assume they’re running on a phone, so you likely need to use touch input rather than the keyboard. The list of minor irritations goes on. The short story is that, yes, you can run Android apps, some successfully and others not, but the experience is overwhelmingly inconsistent.

The biggest problem for Chrome OS users is the existence of two very disparate app systems. How do you know which app store to search in the first place when you’re looking for a new app, let alone how to distinguish between two identical app icons? It also means remembering two different places to manage the settings, two ways to update them, and so on.

Linux on Chrome OS

Chrome OS is based on Linux (on Ubuntu in particular) and it now offers an option in beta to run Linux software. The feature is intended for developers (a large percentage of whom seem to be Google devotees), as the help documentation states: “You can install Linux command line tools, code editors, and IDEs on your Chromebook. These can be used to write code, create apps, and more.” It also notes that “Linux (Beta) is still being improved. You might experience issues.” There are other ways for tech-savvy users to getLinux on a Chromebook, and even to multiboot.

Integration with Mobile Phone

When it comes to integration between mobile and desktop, Apple is the act to beat, but Chromebooks have gotten closer. Apple’s Continuity features let you move work and play seamlessly between iOS and macOS, and you can even text and launch FaceTime calls from multiple devices using the same account. Even though Windows no longer has a thriving mobile version, the OS offers a good deal of continuity between Microsoft’s Android and iOS apps and its desktop version through the Your Phone, Edge, Cortana, Skype, and Bing mobile apps.

As I mentioned above, you can use an Android phone to log in to your Chrome OS computer. You can also sync browser favorites, history; pretty much everything in your Google account—mail, docs, and YouTube videos—will carry over between your Android phone and Chrome OS computer. Android text messaging is now also possible, as is the Instant Tethering feature mentioned above. Of course, you can always use Android Messages on the web, WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger, to do messaging on your Chrome OS computer.

Windows 10’s Your Phone app actually offers a couple syncing features that are not available on Chrome OS: It lets you see photos instantly as you snap them on the phone, and mirror apps running on the phone as well.

Privacy and Security

Google states that Chrome OS boasts several levels of security, starting with verified boot, automatic updates, and sandboxing (running apps in a container that doesn’t have access to the rest of the system). That last applies to both web and Android apps. Recent Chromebooks now include the Google Security Chip, which encrypts data on the computer. Web apps take advantage of encryption, and simply having an app store like the Android one means that apps are vetted for security. Though OS updates take place automatically, you can check the Settings About panel to check if your version is the latest.

Simply the fact that Chrome OS devices aren’t a very large attack surface, with less than 2 percent of the desktop computer market (according to both StatCounter and NetMarketShare), offers a degree of safety. But no platform is 100 percent secure, and the addition of Android capability adds threats, as evidenced by Google’s occasionally purging rogue Android apps from the store. Those and Chrome extensions are the most likely malware vectors. There’s little third-party security software specifically for Chrome OS. Malwarebytes (Opens in a new window)offers a version, and I successfully installed and scanned with Android malware protection from AVG, which offers Android app install protection and phishing protection.

What happens if your computer is lost or stolen? Chrome OS features a decent set of recovery tools. If you lose your machine, you can find all your cloud-synced files and apps by simply signing into your Google account. That doesn’t, however, include any locally downloaded files. You can wipe the device remotely and remove it from your Google account, but you can’t pinpoint its exact location, as you can with Android phones, Apple Macs, and Microsoft Surface computers, since Chromebooks don’t include GPS hardware.

There’s no equivalent to Windows 10’s Refresh option, which clears out unnecessary muck in the system accrued over a period of computing—something also lacking in macOS. There are, however, Reset and Powerwash options in Settings. The first just resets browser options, and the second is a factory reset that removes all account and personalization info.

VPNs are a hot topic in security of late, and my esteemed colleague Max Eddy has explored how to use a VPN with Chrome OS. The picture has improved since then, with the operating system now offering built-in support for several VPN protocols. Nevertheless, Google’s support pages indication that you get more advanced features using Android VPN apps, and I found that using an Android app for your VPN works best on Chrome OS. I did find Pulse Secure VPN app in the Chrome Web Store, but it was four major versions old and didn’t actually let me connect to PCMag’s VPN.

Reliability is related to security, and this time around the system did mostly feel more stable, but occasionally I opened an app or Settings page to find a blank white screen and Call of Duty quit unexpectedly. One unique reliability characteristic of Chrome OS is that, as stated in the Google Blog, “Chrome OS devices always have two images of the system software on separate partitions,” so after an update, the startup partition switches for fast booting.

Gaming

Android app support has been a boon to Chrome OS gaming, but the Stadia streaming game service could take it to a whole new level, though early reviews are disappointing. There is a selection of casual games on the Chrome Web Store, but the Play store adds a vastly larger set of games. However, these are mostly not the AAA titles you find on consoles and PCs—Stadia intends to change all that. I did successfully run Call of Duty mobile, which, unlike many Android apps, filled the whole screen. It started out well, but then quit unexpectedly on the Pixelbook Go.

As is the case with macOS, forget about VR gaming on a Chromebook: It won’t support your Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, though Google is experimenting with adding AR via its ARCore technology. There’s no Steam for Chrome OS, but if you want to play Minecraft, Candy Crush, Roblox, or even Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes in the mobile version, you’re covered by Android versions.

I recommend sticking with apps designed for tablets (you can filter these in Play). Even better, only install those with Editors’ Choice designations. Some games simply don’t play nice on Chrome OS since they assume the end user’s device is a smartphone. For some help, read How to Play Games on Your Chromebook.

Managing Chrome OS Machines

Chrome OS is particularly popular in the education market and as such, you can easily manage multiple computers using the OS. The Admin Console lets managers set policies for all Chromebooks in their domain, but this requires a G Suite license for the group. Admins can even force or restrict the installation of Android apps—a must, given the store’s huge selection of apps, not all of which are benign. Google has published a deployment document(Opens in a new window) for managers who need these functionalities.

Of course, Windows has a long head start in machine management with granular control using Windows Domains and Active Directory, while Apple is light on these capabilities, requiring third-party software. It’s also worth noting that Windows is the only desktop OS with Mixed Reality capability, important for the education market. Google is working with device makers to include support for its ARCore augmented reality technology.

Another variety of management is that of parents managing their children’s computing activities. The cheap price of Chromebooks makes them appealing for supplying kids with computers, so strong parental controls would seem a must.

Parents can create child accounts in Google’s Family Link(Opens in a new window) service, and then sign the whippersnapper into the Chrome OS computer using those accounts. This way, the child can’t install any apps from either app store, can’t use private browsing mode, and can’t view adult sites that Google is able to block. The parent can also use a whitelist to only allow the child to visit specific sites. As for monitoring, you can see the child’s Chrome history and Android apps usage with the parental controls.

For troubleshooting and recovery, Chrome OS offers an app that lets you create recovery media, should the system become unusable. There is a Task Manager, accessible with Shift-Esc, that shows you memory, disk, and network usage for all running processes and lets you hard shut them down if you see something behaving badly.

Accessibility Features

Chrome OS is admirably equipped with accessibility features. Navigate to Settings > Advanced > Accessibility to get started. Here, you can enable text to speech with ChromeVox, which reads everything on the screen; ultra-high-contrast screen mode; screen zoom; sticky keys; and automatic clicking when the mouse cursor rests. But you can’t control the computer completely with your voice, as you can with macOS and Windows. You can add a few more accessibility features, such as caret browsing, from the Chrome Web store.

Is Chrome OS Shiny Enough?

Google’s desktop operating system’s support for hardware, applications, and interface niceties is hardly state-of-the art, but it’s actually possible to do most everyday business and personal computing with a Chrome OS device. Many essential apps are available as web apps—Asana, Slack, Spotify, Microsoft Word, Lightroom, some content management systems, and, of course, Google Docs. It’s mostly a matter of making do without some windowing and interface conveniences. For those who just want to browse the web, use online productivity tools, compose email, and maybe play casual games, Chrome OS is a usable and affordable option. macOS and Windows 10, however, remain PCMag’s desktop operating system Editors’ Choices.

Chrome OS offers an inexpensive way to browse the web and run web apps and some Android apps. It also integrates well with Android phones. But its two separate apps stores both have drawbacks, and app functionality is inconsistent.

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