re: Chromebook vs laptop?

Several years back I was in the middle of studying for some professional exams when my PC died. I was broke, and I needed something quick and cheap to help me finish studying. I went with a $200 HP 11 chromebook. It worked great. I loved the little thing. Worked fine for in-flight entertainment, too. It even came with 10 free in-flight wifi logins. I still use it for my in-flight entertainment and it's got to be four or five years old now. The battery is obviously a little less than before, but it's still chugging along.

RAM was really the only issue I ever ran in to. It could easily get bogged down with too many things going on, but that'll be a problem on any cheap laptop.