So you’re working on getting everyone their Christmas presents, and you notice that your special someone wants a Chromebook. As it turns out, it seems that everyone and their grandmother wants a Chromebook (they ARE ideal for grandmothers, you know!) and suddenly there isn’t a Chromebook to be found anywhere!
Chromebooks sold out? Fear not! There’s great alternatives out there!
That’s when you turn to the time-honored practice of trying to find a gift that’s kind of the same. So, what choices do you have if you can’t get a Chromebook? Here are some to keep in mind.
ASUS X200MA 12-inch Touchscreen Laptop
This is, without question, a beautiful little system, and it comes in at $199, just like all of those Chromebooks that everyone fawns over. It has a 1.86GHz Celeron processor, 4GB RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. It’s billed as having a 12″ screen, though it’s more like 11.6″ screen, and it’s a touchscreen. It has the usual accoutrements like webcam, integrated speakers, and three USB ports, and it uses Windows 8. The only possible downside (aside from Windows 8 as the main OS), is it has a short battery life.
ASUS EeeBook X205
Let’s look at another ASUS, shall we? The EeeBook X205 has a 1.33GHZ Intel Atom processor, a 11.6″ screen, 2GB RAM, 32GB system storage, and a two year free subscription for 500GB ASUS WebStorage. Rather than Windows 8, it uses the Windows 8.1 upgrade, which is better than the original version. The really amazing feature is that the average battery life is listed as at 12 hours, which is very impressive. Once again, ASUS provides a cool alternative to Chromebooks, and at a comparable price.
HP Stream 11
This is another system that matches Chromebook prices ($199), but what sets it apart immediately is that it has a 14-inch monitor. In terms of power, it has a AMD A4 Quad-Core 1.6GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 32B Internal flash, webcam, and as finishing touch, 100GB of storage space in One Drive, free for the first two years. There’s been a lot of good buzz about the HP Stream 11, so consider this one a hot property.
Acer Aspire E
The Aspire E is a bit more expensive, but still in the same neighborhood. The Aspire E costs around $250, which is a mere (?) 25% of the classic Chromebook price. It’s powered by an Intel Celeron N2830 Dual-core 2.16 GHz processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, a 15.6″ HD monitor, and the Windows 8.1 Operating system. The Aspire E weighs 5.25 pounds, so that’s not a bad burden to carry. The Aspire E is a system that really does deliver a big bang for the buck.
Toshiba Satellite NB15t Netbook
Last but not least, we visit a pricier system, retailing for around $380. It’s equipped with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive and an 11.6″ touchscreen. On the downside, there have been accounts of battery life hovering around a mere six hours. Let the buyer be informed.
So there you go. Not being able to buy a Chromebook for Christmas is not such a bad thing after all, is it? Just for information’s sake, if you want to see how Chromebooks stack up to Macs, check out “Chromebook vs Mac: Who Wins?”.