When looking for a lightweight and portable laptop for multitasking, Chromebooks are usually at the top of our list. Being portable, these become just right for photographers who have to be on the move for their work.
Running on Chrome OS, these are handy for you if you are sure to be connected to the internet during use. While some see this as a problem, modern hotspot and Wi-Fi pretty much everywhere eliminates that small issue.
This brings us to the main question- What is the best Chromebook for photo editing ? You will find a plethora of models when looking, and a lot you will come to like too.
Well, we have made it easier for you to find one in this short read. A selection of top models from the market, product descriptions and highlights and even a comparison chart so you can see where the differences lie.
Contents
1. Google Pixelbook Go i5 Chromebook
3. Acer Chromebook Spin 13 CP713-1WN-53NF
5. Lenovo Yoga C630 Chromebook
6. 2020 Dell Inspiron FHD Chromebook
9. Acer Chromebook 714 CB714-1WT-3447
| Image | Name | Resolution (pixels) | RAM (GB) | Processor | Specialty Feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Google Pixelbook Go i5 Chromebook | 1920 x 1080 | 16 | Core i5 8200y | 128 GB SSD Hard Drive |
 | HP Chromebook 15.6 | 1920 x 1080 | 8 DDR4 | 3.4 GHz Core i5 8250u | 128 GB SSD Hard Drive |
 | Acer Chromebook Spin 13 CP713-1WN-53NF | 2256 x 1504 | 4 LPDDR3 | 3.4 GHz Core i5 8250u | 3.4 GHz CPU speed |
 | Chromebook x360 | 1920x1080 | 8 DDR4 | 2.2 GHz Core i3 | 2.20 GHz CPU speed |
 | Lenovo Yoga C630 Chromebook | 1920x1080 | 8 | 1.6 GHz Core i5 | 3.4 GHz Memory Speed |
 | 2020 Dell Inspiron FHD Chromebook | 1920x1080 | 4 | 8th Generation Intel Core i3-8130U | 128 GB eMMC Hard Drive |
| | ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 | 1920 x 1080 | 8 | 3.1 GHz Core M7 | 64 |
 | ASUS Chromebook C425 | 1920 x 1080 | 8 | Intel Core M3-8100Y | 64 GB Storage |
 | Acer Chromebook 714 CB714-1WT-3447 | 1920x1080 | 8 | 8th Gen Intel Core i3-8130U | 128GB MicroSD Card Included |
 | Lenovo Chromebook C340 | 1920 x 1080 | 4 DDR4 | 1.1 GHz Apple Ci7 | 1.1 GHz CPU Speed |
Weighing less than 2 pounds, this Google Pixelbook Go is the perfect device for those who are always on the move. First of all, it has a 12 hour battery life which lets you stay outdoors for long without having to worry about charging.
When do you need a quick charge though, 20 minutes will let you work for a whole 2 hours! Being lightweight isn't all, but it is also slim and has a grippable design which prevents it from slipping as you carry it.
Coming to the processor, you get an 8th Gen Intel Core Processor. From starting the Pixelbook to editing and getting work done, you will not experience any lag and can work smoothly. And this is not just at its beginning stages.
The Pixelbook unlike most, won't slow down over time. You will experience the same response and pace even after years of using it. Online security is becoming more and more important as time passes.
Thanks to The Titan C security chip along with the built-in anti-virus software, your data will be safe, even if you are working all day on the internet.
Lastly, you will feel comfortable using the Pixelbook and enjoy your leisure. Thanks to the 13.3 HD touchscreen and stereo speakers which really help to elevate your entertainment experience.
Highlighted Features
The HP Chromebook wants to be your productivity partner as you race through your projects. Created for all-day performance, this device is not limited to photographers or photo editing.
But thanks to the numerous features this is suitable for all. The 15 inch full HD micro edge display lets you see your work on a big screen.
This is helpful when editing as you can easily catch onto mistakes and edit them out, given the wide view you get. Portability is one of the features why we love this, and why this made it to the list.
Even though you get a wide screen size, the micro edge display makes sure it does not add to the screen. Being lightweight, you can throw this in a laptop bag and carry it wherever you go.
13 hours of battery life on top of that makes it ideal for long hours of work outdoors without needing to recharge. This also sports a touchscreen that lets you control and command straight from the screen.
This is a feature photo editors particularly love, for it lets them edit photos more precisely. Last of all the 3.4 GHz Core i5 8250U processor makes this a fast and reliable Chromebook for when you are in a rush to finish projects. It simply makes the experience seamless and smooth.
Highlighted Features
If you are keen on buying a Chromebook with a touchscreen, you are not the first photographer to do so. Besides having just a touchscreen, this one from Acer also has a stylus.
Coming with various modes, this is one of the most versatile Chromebooks you will find. It can be set as a tablet, a notebook, or even a display and tent mode for when you are feeling creative.
The last mode is often used by photographers when they need to edit pictures, as it provides a nice setting to do so. The 8th Gen Intel Core i5 processor makes this run super-fast so you do not hit any lags or slow down.
This Chromebook comes with a stylish exterior thanks to the aluminum chassis, but this also makes it lightweight and portable at the same time. Since this is a touchscreen, Acer has made sure to make it extra strong.
You get a Corning Gorilla Glass NBT touchscreen and Corning Gorilla Glass touchpad ensuring there are no scratches from all the stylus on screen action.
Other features that make this Chromebook worthwhile include the long battery life of 10 hours making it great for outdoors.
More vertical screen space, which makes reading long pages easy, and lastly the reversible USB 3.1 Type-C connector for fast data transfer like you have never seen.
Highlighted Features
Another one of those versatile Chromebooks, the HP Chromebook can flip back 360 degrees, form a tent for a more comfortable editing experience and can shift to a notebook for your ease as well.
This comes in a reasonable price but performs as well as any higher end model out there. The speakers on this Chromebook is one of its highlights which give you a brand new audio experience.
It comes with a 14 inch screen size, and then tops it off with ultra-thin bezels for an enhanced visual experience. This is always appreciated for you get to use a wide screen for your work, but don't have the burden of carrying around a large laptop.
Being small usually means lesser number of ports, but not on this. You get a microphone jack, a micro SD card slot, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C ports, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port as well as a Kensington security slot.
Although this is not as lightweight as a lot of the other models here, it is still pretty decent given it costs almost half of those that are lighter.
Lastly we would like to mention the sleek exterior that you get which really makes this Chromebook stand out from the crowd, thanks to the ivory lid.
Highlighted Features
The 4K display is one of the top features of this Yoga C630 that gives you the sharpest and clearest visuals you can expect. And having this on a 15.6 inch screen simply makes photo editing so much better due to all the screen space you get.
The variety of ports that are comfortably spaced makes it easy to have the Chromebook connected to multiple devices at once- something photo editors quite often need.
You get a USB-C on each side, one USB-A, microphone jack, a micro SD slot, volume buttons, and lastly a Kensington lock. Photo editors need their Chromebooks to be fast and reliable, and the 1.6 GHz Core i5 processor enables that.
You can go on editing using multiple software and still not experience a slow down or lag. This is a common concern amongst editors, but fortunately you won't face it here.
Highlighted Features
When you are looking for the best Chromebook for Photoshop, you need to have a strong graphic card capacity. It is also called the display or video card at times, and is what enables you to view high quality graphics.
Although it is a quality gamers look for in their laptops, for the finest quality photo viewing and editing, you too should look out for the capacity.
A high capacity will let you use professional applications like Adobe Photoshop and much more with ease.
This feature is a given. Since you want to edit photos on your Chromebook, you need one with high brightness.
It will let you pinpoint flaws, and make your editing job easier. Not to mention it is at the top brightness level that you can properly judge your photography.
If you are using your Chromebook for editing photos, we expect there will be a lot of software downloaded for this purpose. Besides editing, you will also need space to store your photos, both raw and edited.
This really makes it urgent that you opt for a high storage Chromebook. Otherwise you will have to look into alternate storage methods later on like a hard disk- which beats the whole purpose of having a hassle-free Chromebook to begin with.
Lastly, your Chromebook will also slow down over time if storage space is not adequate. So be sure to look into it.
Ports are important because when editing photos, sometimes you will need multiple ports at a time. You bring your Chromebook to work because it is easy to carry.
Similarly as your workplace changes, where and how you connect your Chromebook can also change. You might need to pair it with different devices at different times.
All of this makes the number of ports an important factor. Your Chromebook will be most flexible with a high number of ports. The minimum you should look for is USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI, if possible a sim slot too.
Obviously the higher the better. If you find that your desired Chromebook lacks a few ports, your last resort should be an adapter. You will need these for an optimum editing experience.
Chromebooks boot up extremely fast with just a few seconds to get online or into that project you were working on.
Chromebook's receive constant updates which means they always have the latest software and security measures. On Windows, I constantly find myself having to download new drivers and security updates every couple months (My Dell Inspiron has not received an update since it was released back in December 2012). So this is one less thing to worry about when owning a chromebook.
This is a big one for those using Photoshop as it uses a lot of system resources. For the price of a Windows laptop/desktop, you can get yourself a chromebook that will not only have that machine's processing power, but 5+ other Chrome OS devices to use as well.
This is ultimately where Chromebooks shine. A decent chromebook with 16GB of storage space and 4GB of RAM will usually set you back less than $300 USD. So if your needs are simple, then I definitely recommend thinking about getting a chromebook especially since they provide such an amazing value for what they offer.
With the limited amount of storage space on a chromebook, you will definitely want to use Google Drive to store and edit your photos in Photoshop. Google Drive offers 15GB of free Cloud Storage for all users, which is more than enough room to store your photo editing projects. There are also other Cloud Storage services that you can use for editing photos, such as DropBox and I also believe Amazon Drive has a photo storage option too.
The basic process of using a chromebook for photo editing follows the same steps that you would normally follow with any other type of computer, but with some minor changes here and there.
If you're used to downloading your photos onto your laptop/desktop before opening them in photoshop, then this will not work on a chromebook because there is no native file browser available when using Chrome OS. This means you have two main options when working with files stored on Google Drive.
Right click the desired image(s) in Google Drive and select "Download" or press Ctrl+S. I recommend renaming the file when saving it in either Windows/Mac OS. After you're done editing, go back to Google Drive and upload your changes.
This is a little bit more advanced but will save you a lot of time if you know how to use this feature correctly. Open Google Drive and login to your account. Once inside, open what is called a "Google Folder" which acts just like a folder on your laptop/desktop with files inside them. In this case, they'll be photos that you can click through containing all your images that are stored online. This means that once you've selected the desired photo(s), simply drag and drop them into photoshop from Google Drive.
I know this can be a little time-consuming in the beginning when you're learning how to use a chromebook for photo editing, but trust me it's definitely worth it once you get used to all of Google's files and folders.
Chromebooks are compact laptops that run on the Chrome operating system. It is a good device for photo editing while on the go since the Chromebooks are incredibly lightweight and feature an editor with a user-friendly interface.
However, it won't perform so well while editing high-resolution and superior quality pictures since Chromebook features only lightweight photo editors.
Usually, that is possible, yes. The Chrome OS of the Chromebooks makes the device accessible to all the apps on Google Play Store. You can easily download the Adobe Lightroom CC and start photo editing.
To do photoshop on a Chromebook, you might not even have to purchase a paid software for photoshop due to the fact that the Chromebooks come equipped with an editor. This built-in editor is relatively easy to use as it features an easy-to-navigate dashboard. Using a Chromebook, you can have a quality editing result with minimal effort.
Google Pixelbook Go - Lightweight Chromebook Laptop - Up to 12 Hours Battery Life[1] - - Walmart, Etsy, Ebay
ASUS Chromebook Flip C436 2-in-1 Laptop, 14" Touchscreen FHD 4-Way NanoEdge, Intel Core - Walmart, Etsy, Ebay
Acer Chromebook R 11 Convertible Laptop, Celeron N3060, 11.6" HD Touch, 4GB DDR3L, 32GB - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
2019 HP 14" HD Touchscreen Chromebook Laptop PC, Intel Celeron N3350 Processor, 4GB DDR4 - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
Amazon Basics 17.3-Inch Laptop Case Bag, Fits Dell, HP, ASUS, Lenovo, MacBook Pro and - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
2019 Newest HP 14" Lightweight Chromebook-AMD A4-Series Processor, 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, 32GB - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
Samsung Chromebook Plus V2, 2-in-1, 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC, 13MP Camera, Chrome OS, 12.2", - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 2-In-1 Laptop- 12.5” Full HD 4-Way NanoEdge Touchscreen, Intel - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 14" Full HD Touch-Screen Chromebook - Intel Core i3, 4GB Memory, - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
1. Google Pixelbook Go i5 Chromebook - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
2. HP Chromebook 15.6 - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
3. Acer Chromebook Spin 13 CP713-1WN-53NF - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
5. Lenovo Yoga C630 Chromebook - Walmart, Etsy, Ebay
6. 2020 Dell Inspiron FHD Chromebook - Walmart, Etsy, Ebay
7. ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
8. ASUS Chromebook C425 - Walmart, Etsy, Ebay
9. Acer Chromebook 714 CB714-1WT-3447 - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
10. Lenovo Chromebook C340 - Walmart, Etsy, eBay
The Chrome OS is essentially just Google's take on an operating system, and what it does is give us a quick and simple experience through Google's web services. Because it operates from the cloud, all of your files are actually stored online in either Google Drive or DropBox when using a chromebook. This means even if you have 0% battery on your chromebook, you can still access everything in Google Drive because they will always be there...unless you didn't save them to the cloud in the first place.
Photography is a profession of passion. You love what you do for a living and that means you want every step to be hassle-free. This is one of the primary reasons why photographers opt for Chromebooks.
Being versatile and mobile gives you the freedom to work from absolutely anywhere. Our article covers some of the top models today and we are sure a quick skim through will help you find the right one.
So if you want to find the best Chromebook for photo editing, take a few minutes to see the details and highlights. You will surely come across one to suit your needs.
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