Are Chromebooks right for Mom?

With Mother's day coming up, many people will be looking for that perfect gift which many times can be a new laptop. However, there are thousands of options based on size, color, storage capacity, ram, et cetera. The most important starting point is operating system.

Now, if you have a ton of money or just really love your mother (joking!), you could opt for the Macbook or iPad. They are excellent "computers" for everyday tasks that would be perfect, but unfortunately, that will set you back a few months of rent or mortgage or whatever. So, while I have no issue with Apple, and I actually love the simplistic design, I may advise against that.

So, that leaves you with either the old reliable Windows PCs of which there are many or the somewhat newcomer that is the Chromebook. Now, Chromebooks tend to be cheaper and run faster, but are they really the right choice for Mom (or you if you choose to treat yourself)?

The first question to ask is, "what do you do with your PC?" Chromebooks are getting better by the day, but they are certainly not the right choice as a primary driver for everyone. For instance, as much of a Google junkie as I am, I am currently not the target for a Chromebook. Why do you ask? Well, I need some hard programs. I love to take pictures as well as record video so Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop are my best friends at times; currently, those are not so friendly with Chrome OS. Could I learn new, leaner programs? Of course I could, but I like my friends and would like to keep using them. So, if there are specific programs that she may use, you may want to forget the Chromebook for now. Side note, truth be told, if those type of programs are what she is in to, you may want to forgo the cheaper Windows PC anyway.

Secondly, is storage of vital importance? Some people are shutterbugs, and they love to store everything they have on their computers. Chromebooks tend to run with roughly 32-64GB of storage so they are certainly not designed to hold 10 years worth of pictures. However, there is certainly an alternative: teach her how to use the cloud. Google Drive has tons of storage space (at least in terms of what Mom would need); you just need to teach her not to fear her files "floating around". In case you are wondering, yes I have heard that phrasing before.

Finally, and most importantly, does she have some pretty reliable internet connection? Chromebooks, for all intents and purposes, are internet-needy machines. The system itself runs inside of Chrome and needs stable internet connection for mostly everything. Now, thankfully, there are apps that are available for offline use, and even better, Android apps are not finding their way on to Chromebooks. This would mean that these devices now have even more offline capability. Even so, documents and pictures are primarily stored in the cloud so the lack of stable internet will still certainly be a problem.

So, are Chromebooks the right type of laptop for mom this Mother's Day? Well it depends. For someone like my mom that spends most of her computer-time just web surfing, it would be the right choice. The advantage of Chromebooks is that they are small, lightweight, fairly inexpensive (Pixelbook notwithstanding), and super fast. It would be a much more efficient machine than a similarly priced Windows PC. However, it is important remember that they are not for everyone so think long and hard about that decision. But remember, if you are buying mom a PC, I think she would be pretty happy either way.