Chromebook vs. iPad: Which Wins on Price and Performance? 💸✨
Summary
- Chromebooks are more affordable than iPads, offering affordable options for under $1,000. 💰
- Chromebooks include a built-in keyboard, while iPads require additional purchases. ⌨️
- iPads perform better for creative tasks and media consumption, offering a better software selection and display quality. 📱✨
These days, every student needs a device larger than a smartphone for their studies, and the two most popular options seem to be Chromebooks or iPads. But how do you decide between the two if your school doesn't choose one for you? Let's break down the key differences! 🤔
Chromebooks Are More Affordable
The base model iPad starts at around $1,350, though with an education discount it can be as low as $1,330. That's a fantastic price considering what even the most basic iPad offers! However, it's significantly more than the cheapest Chromebooks. 💸
In our selection of the best budget Chromebooks, there are several great options for under $1, and when you have to buy more than one device, that price difference can be significant! 📊
Chromebooks Come With a Keyboard
Chromebooks are laptops. You can buy a Chromebook in a traditional laptop format, although there are also convertible Chromebooks that resemble tablets. In either case, the keyboard and a pointing device like a touchpad are included in the price of a Chromebook. 💻
In the case of the iPad, you'll need to spend extra money to purchase a keyboard and (optionally) a mouse. While there are some types of students who don't really require a keyboard for their studies, in most cases, students need to type a lot, and a touchscreen isn't the best option for that. ✍️
There are Rugged Chromebooks
I want to clarify that I've dropped more iPads than I'd like to admit, and they all survived with little more than a couple of scratches. 🙈 That said, there are Chromebooks that have been specifically designed to be rugged for educational use, and it stands to reason that they'll withstand a lot more punishment than simply dropping an iPad off a table once a year. 💪
Of course, you can buy rugged cases for iPads, but in my experience, this significantly hinders the device's usability compared to a Chromebook, which has been designed from the ground up to withstand rough use. The key here depends on the type of student, of course. A college freshman is expected to take care of an expensive device, while a fifth-grader might be less cautious. 📚
iPads Perform Better
Even the cheapest iPad offers performance that exceeds what students will likely need with the 99%. The A14 Bionic chip in the 10th-gen iPad comes from the iPhone 12, and it's hard to argue that this flagship chip can handle almost any task. 😍 Though, for the same money, you'll likely get a slower CPU and inferior graphics performance on the Chromebook side.
However, if you spend further For more money than an iPad, you can get a Chromebook with considerably more powerful performance. However, I feel pretty confident in saying that the entry-level iPad offers better value than most Chromebooks. 💼
iPads Are Better for Creative Tasks
If your student needs to draw, edit videos, work with sound, music, or any other type of creative content, then overall, the iPad is the best choice. The Apple Pencil, combined with a ton of great drawing apps, means you can create just about anything on these little tablets. ✏️🎨 This is actually one area where the software gives the iPad a distinct advantage over Chromebooks, which are quite limited in terms of what software they can run.
Apple Pencil
The original Apple Pencil turns an iPad into a notebook or canvas with its unique pencil design, using pressure and tilt sensors to draw on your screen.
The iPad benefits from the vast amount of high-quality software found in the Apple App Store. Combined with the Apple chip's ability to run that software, it's unmatched in my opinion. 🤯
This applies to tablets in general, but iPads in particular have excellent sound and picture. They have good Wi-Fi hardware, and the way they're designed makes them easier to use without a flat surface like a desk. If you're eyeing a convertible Chromebook, some of this will also be true, but for the price, it's doubtful you'll find a Chromebook with the same screen quality or touchscreen performance. 📺
Both iPads and Chromebooks are extremely popular in the education sector, and there's no clear superior option here. It all depends on each student's budget, needs, and use cases. Both options require some compromise, but we hope you have a better idea of the broader and more important differences. 🎓
