Microsoft Office Arrives For All Google Play Store-Enabled Chromebooks
Today's Chromebooks appeal to many consumers thanks to their low price of entry and lightweight form-factor. The big downside of the Chromebook is that you are limited to what software you can run on the machines; much more so than a typical Windows-based laptop.
If part of the software you were missing on a Chromebook that kept you from making the leap was Microsoft Office, we've got some good news for you today. When the first Android compatible Chromebooks came out, some were able to run Office apps, and some weren't. Reports also indicate that Office Apps would show up for some Chromebooks and then disappear. The only device that seems to consistently have access to working Office apps was Google's own Pixelbook.
While there hasn’t been any official word from Microsoft that Office is ready to go for all Chromebooks, there have been plenty of reports of the Office suite working on multiple devices. Reports indicate that Chrome OS devices now have access to every Office app in the Play Store.
For many people who needed Office for work or school and didn’t care for Google's own versions of Office, this is great news. This may clear the way for some people to begin using a Chromebook for their primary machine.
The last big Chromebook announcement that we talked about was back in September when the HP Chromebook x360 Convertible made the leap from classroom to the living room. Some of the notable features of that device include a rugged design originally meant to stand up to torture from kids. The machine has a dual-core Celeron N3350 processor with 4GB of RAM and either 16 or 32GB of eMMC storage. The display is an 11.6-inch unit with Gorilla Glass 3 over the top packing a 1366 x 768 resolution and Intel HD Graphics 500. This machine is at Walmart and other retailers starting at $299.99.