Welcome to Ask Jerry, where we talk about any and all the questions you might have about the smart things in your life. I'm Jerry, and I have spent the better part of my life working with tech. I have a background in engineering and R&D and have been covering Android and Google for the past 15 years.
Ask Jerry is a column where we answer your burning Android/tech questions with the help of long-time Android Central editor Jerry Hildenbrand.
I'm also really good at researching data about everything — that's a big part of our job here at Android Central — and I love to help people (another big part of our job!). If you have questions about your tech, I'd love to talk about them.
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I look forward to hearing from you!
Picking the right product is so hard
G. asks:
I've never used a Chromebook before but I think I'm interested in changing that. I'm looking for something affordable (under $800), durable, travel-friendly, with great battery life.
I like to draw, binge-watch series, and stream movies. I also do lots of sporadic web browsing so I may have multiple browser tabs open (usually a dozen or fewer). One of the main reasons I mention battery life is that I travel a lot. I'm not much of a gamer but I do play light or moderate games sometimes.
I just want something that can handle all this (and hopefully more). I've read reviews and seen videos and even asked people online and in person, and what I gather is that one of the newer Acer models would work for me.
I'm still not sure. Why is this so hard?!
Hi there, G.! I paraphrased your question a bit, so it's better formatted for the web, but I am so glad you wrote in and asked. This is hard. It's good, but it's hard because there is so much stuff out there to choose from.
I like to give a quick answer for anyone searching before I talk more about anything, so here's what I think might work best for you:
You mentioned the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (the older model with its own stylus that doesn't use a flawed Intel CPU) and it's the Chromebook that leaps to my mind based on everything you're looking for. It has a great screen, excellent stylus support, plenty of ports, and good battery life. No Chromebook is great at gaming, but a model with an Intel core CPU can play some light Steam games. For what you mention you need it fits the bill while still coming in under your price point.
But I also have to ask if you've considered a tablet. An iPad Air or a Galaxy Tab S9 is going to be better than a Chromebook when it comes to drawing, portability, and battery life. Of course, you don't have access to a desktop web browser like you would in a Chromebook and you're limited to mobile games. Either will also meet your set budget.
The point is that it's incredibly difficult to find a single device that can meet all of our needs, but there are usually choices out there that can come really close. In your case, you're not looking for something to use for office work or school work, prioritize usability over specs, and aren't trying to find some sort of tech unicorn that can do crazy things.
You want something good at the normal things a lot of us want out of our devices. Your needs are a lot like my own — I need to be able to work using the web browser, I want my battery to last, I love to kick back and stream a show or a movie, and I like to draw once in a while. I'm still using an ancient Google Pixelbook, and whenever I think about upgrading, I notice I'm flooded with good choices. Then I give up because I'm worried I'll make the wrong choice and complain that my Pixelbook battery isn't up to snuff.
Ultimately, you have to decide what's right for you and live with how you spend your money. I gave you a few quick, easy choices, but that's a lot more to consider: ARM Chromebooks have better app compatibility (important for gaming and drawing) and battery life, and tablets suck to type on and have a far worse web browser but are better than Chromebooks in some areas important to you, etc., etc.
One thing I think you absolutely should do is take the time to see these devices in person. Visit a store like Best Buy and see what's on display that you can play with for a bit to see if there is something you don't like.
In the end, I think you would be happy with either the Acer Spin 714 or the iPad Air/Galaxy Tab S9. If you want to stop trying to choose and start having fun, either is the way to go.
If you want to keep looking so you know you made the very best choice you could make, you're not alone. Having so many things to choose from makes this a really hard decision.
