Chromebook vs. Tablet: Here’s What I Recommend

Whether you’re looking for a Chromebook vs. Android tablet comparison, or you’re thinking about buying an iPad, here are my recommendations on when you should use a tablet or Chromebook. All of these observations are based on personal experience.

When You Should Use a Tablet

Before we look at when you should use a Chromebook, let’s look at the reasons why you might want to consider using a tablet. Here are the top scenarios where I think a tablet would be a better purchasing decision.

1. When You Want to Perform Demanding Tasks

To be totally honest with you, I’ve disliked using any computer that isn’t a Mac to perform demanding tasks like photo editing. Even then, I’ve already stated that I would never buy a MacBook with 8GB of RAM again. When looking at choosing between a tablet or Chromebook for high-performance tasks, I can’t see any reason not to buy a tablet.

The disclaimer here is, however, that you do need to look at the higher-performing tablets. Apple’s silicon chip iPads are the best for this job; if you have a bigger budget, you should strongly consider getting the M4 iPad Pro. A device with an M2 chip will also perform pretty well for editing with tools like Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve.

If photo editing or graphic design is your priority over video editing, you can broaden your horizons. The S9 is a solid choice, for example. Even my 9th-gen iPad did a pretty good job with editing RAW files (one Lightroom mobile trick is to upload RAW files to your computer and then continue editing from your tablet).

2. You Need Portability

A tablet will typically provide more portability than any computer, Chromebook or not. So, if carrying your device around is a big priority, you’re much better off buying a tablet.

Tablets consume less real estate in your bag, and you’ll also find it easier to use them on the go (such as when you’re commuting on a train). You could always buy an external keyboard, but even if you don’t, it’s easy to do basic things like responding to emails or browsing social media via your touchscreen.

I also recommend a tablet if you’re going to travel by air a lot; it doesn’t matter if it’s Apple, Android, or something else. I can remember trying to work on my laptop while flying from Stockholm to Helsinki in December 2019 (which, for a start, was pointless as the flight is only an hour long). Beyond that, though, it felt very uncomfortable. Now, I just use my iPad if needed.

3. You Want to Use Your Tablet for Smart Home Purposes

Another strong reason to buy a tablet is if your main aim is to use a device for Smart Home purposes. It’s simply much easier to control all of your appliances from a tablet, and you can turn any old tablet into a Smart Home hub when you upgrade later.

You can control your home from a handful of apps, and unlike your Chromebook, you can keep it on all the time. To maximize your effectiveness, it’s also important to consider various other devices when building a Smart Home.

When You Should Use a Chromebook

While I’ve identified several reasons to buy a tablet over a Chromebook, you will encounter numerous scenarios in which you should consider using a Chromebook instead. Here are three of the main situations where I’d suggest buying a Chromebook over a tablet.

1. For Studying (in Most Cases)

If your studying mainly involves researching on the web and writing essays, you’re much better off buying a Chromebook instead of a tablet. It’s much nicer to write on a laptop in general, and you can keep everything more organized than you would be able to on a tablet. I used a Chromebook when studying to get into university with no problems whatsoever.

You could always buy both and use your tablet as a defacto external monitor; it’s possible to do this with an iPad if you use Windows or macOS, and you can also use an Android tablet as a second screen. However, it’s by no means necessary; switching apps is much easier on a Chromebook, and so are most other things for studying.

The only exception is if you study music production, videography, or another creative field. In these instances, I’d recommend buying a more powerful tablet.

2. You Just Want to Do Basic Browsing at Home

If you don’t care too much about portability, and your primary objective is to do some basic web browsing from your home, a Chromebook is—in my opinion—a better choice than a tablet. You don’t need any bells and whistles; you can simply put your computer on a desk somewhere and turn it on/off whenever you need to use it.

Even if you want to move around the house, a Chromebook will be portable enough for this purpose; the same is true if you’re only going from your home to a library or café to work from. For anything beyond this, though, a tablet will probably be what you’re looking for.

3. You Want a Keyboard

This one is perhaps obvious (though less so since you can now connect keyboards with tablets), but I 100% recommend buying a Chromebook instead of a tablet if you want a keyboard. I’m not the biggest fan of tablet keyboards, which is probably because both they and the screen I’m typing on are smaller.

You’ll almost certainly find it easier to type on a Chromebook, especially if you need a keyboard for long-form articles, essays, or other assignments. There are also plenty of Chromebook keyboard shortcuts for quicker workflows.

Chromebook vs. Tablet: My Recommendation

Whether a tablet or Chromebook is better for you depends entirely on what you plan to use your device(s) for. Tablets are better if you value portability, and I also suggest buying one for performing more complex tasks on software like DaVinci Resolve. Controlling your Smart Home devices is another good reason to get a tablet, especially if you want to keep apps for your various appliances off your phone.

However, Chromebooks are better if you need simple browsing and research functionality. Both of these are why I suggest buying one if you’re a student, as is using the keyboard to type out your assignments (coupled with a bigger screen).