You don’t have to be in Chrome all the time. Check out these great Android, web, and Linux apps for your Chromebook.
Whether you bought a new Chromebook to switch from a Windows laptop or just love ChromeOS, we have one piece of advice: You don’t have to use Google Chrome all the time.
ChromeOS has tons of great apps that can enhance your Chromebook’s day-to-day use, including Android apps, Linux apps, and advanced web apps. However, there are five apps, in particular, that will give you the look of a Chromebook, and there are some that I use almost every day.
1. Cog – System Info Viewer
As someone who reviews laptops for a living, I love getting into Chromebooks and how well they run. I like to see my CPU usage, temperature, and battery drain. I also like to see more information about the display, show me refresh rates, and more.
The best way to see all this is Cog – System Info Viewer. This is a traditional Chrome Web app that is lightweight and functional. It pulls system APIs from your Chromebook in an easy-to-understand way, like a CPU usage graph, which reminds me of Task Manager on Windows. It doesn’t go as deep as other apps, but it will show you everything you need in a clear way.
Download Cog- System Info Viewer
2. GIMP
The cool thing about Chromebooks is that you can run Linux graphical user interface (GUI) programs on top of ChromeOS. One of my favorite Linux GPU apps for Chromebook is GIMP, which is an image editing program similar to Photoshop where you can edit images, create designs, and more. Best of all, it’s free.
Installing this app requires you to open Linux mode on your Chromebook first and then run a command in the Penguin terminal, but once you get started, you’ll love it. I use it a lot to improve the images I use for reviews here on XDA. If you want to install GIMP, use the instructions below.
sudo apt install gimp
3. Sketchbook
I have many good Chromebooks in my collection, but one of my favorites is the original Samsung Galaxy Chromebook because of its impressive 4K OLED touchscreen, which is great for photography. I’m not very creative, but I like to write and draw sometimes. Many good ChromeOS tablets, such as the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5, can benefit greatly from Sketchbook, especially when drawing. The Android app (so yes, you can also install it on your phone) has a wide variety of brushes and other tools that you can customize. Combined with the right pen, it makes you feel like you are drawing on paper.
4. Steam
Chromebooks aren’t just for web browsing. Now you can play on your Chromebook, too. As long as your Chromebook has an Intel Core i3/AMD Ryzen 3 CPU and at least 8GB of RAM (most modern Chromebooks with Intel and AMD CPUs have this), you can switch your Chromebook to the Beta channel and install the Steam app. After changing it, go to chrome://flags and set #borealis-support to Enabled. From there, restart your Chromebook, search for Steam, and then follow the instructions.
You will have access to amazing video games. Basically, if the game is on PC, it’s probably on Steam. The sky is truly the limit, and the more advanced your Chromebook is, the better games it will play. You can check the official list of Chromebooks if you’re not sure if your device supports Steam.
5. LumaFusion
The latter app costs $30, but it’s worth a try if you’re a Chromebook user with YouTube access. LumaFusion is a video editor optimized for ChromeOS, so you know it will work. You can use the necessary video editing, but it also has more advanced features such as the ability to add effects and roles, split clips, and more.
I was very satisfied using it on my Chromebook. The interface is optimized for all Chromebooks and looks like iMovie on MacBook or Wondershare Filmora on Windows. Check out the live demo of the app in the video above and download it from the link below.
Although there are many other programs that I can recommend, such as Evernote to keep track of important documents or another browser such as Microsoft Edge, these are the top programs that you should use on your devices. The platform has evolved into more than just a browser, and if you want to accomplish a specific task on your Chromebook, there’s probably an app for you.
Categories: Reviews
Source: thptvinhthang.edu.vn
