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I've had the best luck with a used Chromebook that I purchased on eBay for $100 or so. It's not like I had to install any software for my classes. It was all Google docs and sheets.

And I didn't worry about someone stealing it.

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It really depends on what you're doing with your computer. For all of my computer science classes, a Chromebook would not have been sufficient. We did have a remote desktop server we could log into that had most of the tools we needed, but I don't even know if RDP runs well on a Chromebook. Even then, I found that I preferred developing locally so I didn't have to deal with shared computer bandwidth, which means a Chromebook would be completely inadequate.

For some of my friends outside of STEM degrees, a Chromebook would have (mostly) been fine. Given that our laptops were a major source of entertainment for us at the time, I think something with enough power for indie gaming and HD video is a must.

I did development on a Chromebook for two years in college and managed to get a degree, so I know for a fact this isn’t true. A more powerful computer is definitely better but Chromebooks work fine for many tasks.

It's true that the Chromebook isn't so good for many CS classes. But it is possible to start up Linux access on a Chromebook. So there's that.

My classes, though, didn't need them.

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