Harder, better, faster, stronger isn’t just a great Daft Punk song or Kanye West sample, it’s arguably our 21st Century philosophy distilled down into a catchy little earworm. We’re all looking for solutions that can continue to help us do our work faster and better, which is exactly what Google has done with Chrome OS/Chromebooks. For those unaware, a Chromebook is a portable, light, long-lasting and fast laptop that’s primarily cloud-based and takes advantage of Google’s office products like Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc. That primarily cloud-based system means you don’t have a traditional hard drive to contend with: this helps to cut down not only boot-up times (most Chromebooks load in seconds, not minutes), but weight of the computer itself too. This helps with portability, making it so that a Chromebook is easy to toss in your work bag and keep it there should anything pressing arise–or to keep at home as a secondary laptop away from the office. And, god forbid, you should drop one or it should break, that cloud-based system means that everything is stored online, so you won’t lose files even if you lose your Chromebook.
While the tech was initially pretty limited, Chromebooks have come a long way since their introduction. So whether you’ve been eyeing one for a while or are brand new to them, there’s a good chance there’s something for everyone’s work and play style. Check out the seven best Chromebooks and get ready to fly through whatever you need to get done.