How To Change Wallpaper On School Chromebook 2018 New Update

We've all heard about Chromebooks, and maybe you lot've even tried i. Chromebooks come in at an excellent price point, but get dissed by some for thin specs and dependence on an net connection.

Then what tin can yous do with a Chromebook today? Things have probably changed since you terminal tried ane of these versatile, affordable machines. You can now get 1 with beefier specs, better software picks, and a range of offline options.

Permit's get y'all going with a quick overview of how Chromebooks are unlike. So we'll reply questions like:

Tin can yous play games on a Chromebook similar Fortnite: Battle Royale and Call of Duty?
Tin can yous use Microsoft Office on a Chromebook?
Tin can you lot run Photoshop or work without an net connexion?
What about Skype or video editing?

We've got you covered in this commodity, and we'll as well show you how to download music on a Chromebook.

What can a Chromebook do?

Chromebooks won't ding your credit menu similar other laptops because they skip the expense of MS Windows and run on the Google Chrome OS. They as well get calorie-free on hard drive size because they store most of their data in the deject.

They kicking up faster than nigh laptops at about 8 seconds, and keep you working and playing all mean solar day with at present-legendary battery life.

Just what well-nigh the supposed dark side of Chromebooks? People used to say if all you lot do is surf the web and work with email, you lot should go one. And if yous wanted to practice more, you needed to spend more. Just times are changing.

Today's Chromebooks can pack Intel® processors and even entry-level models sport 4GB of RAM. You tin can even work and play offline when the internet is not an option. Plus, you can run Photoshop, MS Office, and a growing list of Chrome Bone games. So what can you do with a Chromebook? We'll become y'all started below.

ane. Tin you employ Microsoft Office on a Chromebook?

The total Microsoft Function suite runs on Chromebook, thanks to Office Online on the Chrome Web Store. An entry-level model like the HP Chromebook 11 can create, view, and edit Office documents right in the Chrome browser.

Want to give PowerPoint presentations for actress workplace traction? Chromebooks tin do that, accessing the full slate of features like animations and slide transitions.

Yous tin can also use OneNote to maximize your teamwork skills, or Microsoft Sway to create quick, attractive websites and presentations.

Word of caution: you'll demand to sign in to Microsoft with a valid personal, work, or schoolhouse account to use the software. If you already run Office on a desktop, you lot tin can as well tap into it with Chrome Remote Desktop (see #4 beneath).

two. Can y'all play games on a Chromebook?

Yes, yes you can. At that place's a list of the best Chrome OS games beneath, but hither'due south the large question: Tin can you get Fortnite on a Chromebook? Well - yes and no. That is, y'all can play information technology, but you tin't download information technology to a Chromebook.

You take to stream information technology from a home PC with Chrome Remote Desktop. With that hack, y'all can get Fortnite or any game or application you like, including Rainbow Six: Siege, the latest Call of Duty, and Command.

Do yous but desire to play native Chrome Os games? Hither's a list of the top 20. Desire more? Look in the Google Chrome Store or Google Play Store.

Chromebooks can play all the Android games you want to your heart's content. The best bet for gamers is the HP Chromebook 14 for its Full High Definition (FHD) brandish.

Best Chrome Bone games:

Alto's Odyssey
PUBG Mobile
Bullet Force
Baldur'due south Gate II
Entanglement
Heroes of Loot
Fallout Shelter
Agar.io
Quake
Polycraft
FTL: Faster Than Light
Funky Karts
Dominus
Spelunky
KingsRoad
Boondocks of Salem
Sonic the Hedgehog Classic
Asphalt 9: Legends
Arcane Legends

iii. Work offline, play offline

The big question for many users is, practice you have to be connected to the internet to use a Chromebook? Nope. Certainly for deject-based apps or remote desktop tricks, you will need an internet connection. But many applications, including Google Bulldoze, Kindle, Gmail, and Google Calendar, now allow yous store working versions of your files right on your Chromebook for offline use.

Only near any of the Android apps available through Google Play work fine without an internet connection. That includes Instagram, Dropbox, and Evernote. Want to watch movies, view your photos, or listen to your favorite music on your HP Chromebook? But download them.

Wondering how to download music to a Chromebook? If your tunes are stored on Google Play Music, but cull the song you desire, then Click More > Download.

Y'all'll be surprised at the sound quality also, specially with the thumping HP-tuned Blindside & Olufsen dual speakers in the HP Chromebook 14.

iv. Tap into your desktop PC with Chrome Remote Desktop

Hither's the existent kicker: remote desktop access. If you download Chrome Remote Desktop to a abode PC, then get out it running, you can run whatever program you lot like straight from your Chromebook. That includes Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, the total Microsoft Part suite, and even high-end apps like Blender or Apache Spark.

You can even run processor-heavy games like Stellaris or Assassinator's Creed from a Chromebook - if you've got a desktop at habitation to run the game for you. The trick is that the Chromebook's memory, storage, and processor do very little of the heavy lifting, since your habitation PC provides all the muscle. Either mode, this characteristic exponentially expands your list of things to practice.

5. Can you run Photoshop on a Chromebook?

You can employ Photoshop on a Chromebook, but not directly. Like we outlined in a higher place, you can utilize Chrome Remote Desktop to run merely about anything on a Chromebook, including Adobe programs.

In fact, Adobe and Google partnered dorsum in 2014 to create "Photoshop Streaming" which some may remember. For several years Google hosted Photoshop on its servers which allowed Chromebook users to admission information technology direct, but Photoshop Streaming is no longer live.

The skillful news? Adobe released a group of Photoshop Android apps that run on Chromebooks. From the Google Play Store, yous can install Adobe Photoshop Express, Photoshop Mix, Photoshop Gear up, and Photoshop Sketch.

So at present you tin use Photoshop Android apps to edit photos on Chromebooks. There are also Android app versions of Adobe Lightroom, Illustrator, and much more than.

Maybe y'all desire to edit photos, and desire some alternatives to Photoshop? In that case, there are several excellent Chromebook photo editing apps, including InShot's Photo Editor Pro and Meitu's AirBrush. The all-time HP Chromebook for Photoshop? The HP Chromebook Enterprise x360 14E for its 8GB of memory and FHD brandish.

half dozen. Picket movies on a Chromebook

You may think Chromebooks wouldn't exist ideal for watching movies, but y'all'd be flat-out incorrect. The HP Chromebook fifteen sports a surprisingly well-baked 15.six-inch FHD bear on screen to stream the latest episode of The Mandalorian. And dual Bang & Olufsen speakers brand the audio pop.

Out of pocket? Download your flicks for remote utilise. You tin can store movies and shows just similar y'all'd download music files to your Chromebook. Information technology's as simple equally 1, two, three:

With the Google Play Movies & Television set Chrome extension installed, click the Launcher
Then click Play Movies
Then, under any TV episode or movie in your library, click the lilliputian download icon (it looks like a downwards-arrow)

Yous can then add offline movie viewing to your growing list of things to do on your laptop.

vii. Utilise Android apps like Skype and Google Assistant

Now that Chromebooks can run all the Android apps, they've become the niggling computing engine that could. Yous tin can hold remote meetings with friends, family, and co-workers with Skype.

Of grade you tin use run-of-the-mill standbys like Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, WhatsApp, and all the Google Suite apps like Drive, Agenda, and Gmail, on or offline.

But you can too stone Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Music (yep!), dozens of news and sports apps, Kindle, Tumblr, WordPress, Steam, PlayStation Now, Twitch, Mint, PayPal, and thousands more than.

Accept y'all ever wanted a voice assistant? You're in luck because your Chromebook can run Google Assistant, with all the shopping-list, reminder-creating, and smart-dwelling-control that implies.

8. Edit video on a Chromebook

Some people may tell you that you lot tin can't edit video on a Chromebook, but they'd be wrong. There are actually 2 great ways yous tin do this. The beginning and easiest fashion is to option one of the highly-rated and like shooting fish in a barrel-to-use Android apps for video editing.

For case, try Video Editor & Video Maker from Inshot. It's got a 4.viii-star review from iv.two million users and counting.

Desire a more robust video editing feel? Yous can use Adobe Premiere on a Chromebook, with a little fudging. No, y'all can't download and install Premiere, but use Google Remote Desktop if you take Premiere on a home PC and y'all can work on the nigh involved editing jobs remotely. (See #4 above for details.)

nine. Employ it similar a tablet

A Chromebook that's a 2-in-1 convertible laptop? Yep, thanks to the HP Chromebook x360 14 G1. This one will wow you every bit you fold the screen effectually to work in tablet mode or pop it into tent or stand style for seamless binge-watching or collaboration.

The specs are pretty mind-blowing too, with an Intel Pentium processor, 8GB of RAM, and a xiv-inch FHD bear upon screen display. Want an Intel Core i5 processor instead? You tin can get that in the HP Chromebook Enterprise x360 14E. The downside of these 2 2-in-1s is that they'll pull you upward out of the Chromebook's traditionally low toll range.

10. Get where no laptop has gone before

I of the best things to do on a Chromebook is to take it with you where y'all wouldn't normally bring a laptop. Their low price indicate and solid durability means you won't worry anymore nearly it than you would an cheap smartphone.

A laptop's natural enemies are vibration, water, weather, dust, and grit. HP'due south total test process covers 120,000 hours of multi-tiered tests, including for dust, humidity, temperature, sand, vibration, and aye, even explosive atmosphere. HP Chromebooks score high for every mensurate, with available spill-resistant keyboards so a knocked-over coffee won't ruin your week.

Should you buy a Chromebook?

When it comes downward to it, a Chromebook is a solid option for the computer user on a upkeep who doesn't mind running Google'south Chrome OS instead of MS Windows.

While the hard drive sizes are on the smaller side, the deject storage options and plenty of cloud-based Android and Google apps fill up the void nicely. With and so many options for Chrome Bone games and Chrome Remote Desktop, you can run merely about any app you lot want, with a fiddling attempt.

Nevertheless, there are some options yous shouldn't miss if you lot're in the market place for a budget laptop from HP.

Alternatives to a Chromebook

HP Stream laptop

The HP Stream 11 fits nicely into Chromebook'south low cost range, but it still serves up a full Windows OS experience.

HP Pavilion laptop

They may be on the high terminate of the Chromebook cost range, but some entries in the HP Pavilion series are excellent picks with loftier-end processors, RAM, and storage options that can make you feel like you bankrupt the bank to get it.

In summary

Chromebooks accept come a long manner since they were introduced in 2011. They can be two-in-1s, run almost any app on the planet with Chrome Remote Desktop, play Chrome OS games, and run Google and Android apps like Skype, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Assistant, WhatsApp, and many more than.

Chromebooks are no longer a stripped-downward computing selection for those who can't afford a "real" reckoner. Increasingly, the "What tin can you do with a Chromebook" question has a growing library of answers. In fact, what can't you do?

About the Author

Tom Gerencer is a contributing author for HP® Tech Takes. Tom is an ASJA journalist, career expert at Zety.com, and a regular correspondent to Boys' Life and Scouting magazines. His work is featured in The Boston Globe, Costco Connection, FastCompany, and many more.