For the longest time, my Chromebook was a Gmail-and-Netflix machine. I’d have Chrome open, a few tabs going, and that was the extent of it. After realizing some of the downsides of Chromebooks when I first bought one five years ago, I figured I should dig into the other side of that coin now. What I found surprised me. ChromeOS has grown up a lot when nobody was paying attention, and there are features buried in it that changed the way I actually use the thing.
You can connect multiple external displays
All you need is a USB-C dock or cables
Most people have no idea their Chromebook can power more than one monitor. Got USB-C ports? You might be able to push two or even three displays through a single dock. Google confirms support for up to three external monitors, though the exact number depends on your specific model.
Plug a USB-C dock into your Chromebook — one with HDMI or DisplayPort outputs — and head to Settings > Device > Displays (or use USB-C to HDMI cables). From there you can arrange screens, swap between extended and mirrored modes, and tweak resolution. ChromeOS figures out the rest on its own without any extra software.
A USB-C docking station from Plugable, Dell, or HP costs maybe $40–$60. For that price, you’ve got a multi-monitor workstation. I think about this every time I use my Chromebook as a travel laptop — dock it at a hotel desk or your home office, and you don’t need a second machine.
You can run full desktop Linux apps
Crostini turns your Chromebook into a real workstation
There’s a Linux development environment built right into ChromeOS. Google calls it Crostini. Barely anyone turns it on, and that’s a missed opportunity — the thing opens the door to real desktop software. You’ll find it under Settings > Advanced > Developers, where you enable Linux development environment. That gives you a Terminal app and Linux package managers ready to go.
VS Code, GIMP, LibreOffice, Audacity, VLC — all one terminal command away. It has image editing, coding, offline document work, and media playback. Your Chromebook does it all, and ChromeOS keeps running alongside everything.
Fair warning: apps run inside a virtual container. GPU-heavy tasks will feel sluggish compared to a bare-metal Linux install. But for day-to-day desktop software, it’s more than enough. You can install Ubuntu as a way to extend your Chromebook’s life beyond Google’s update window, and Crostini is the less intimidating starting point if you’re not ready to wipe ChromeOS entirely.
5 Chrome extensions I always keep installed
If you are using Google Chrome, these are the extensions you should install permanently.
There’s a built-in screen recorder
No extensions or third-party apps required
I see this come up on Reddit all the time — someone mentions the native screen recorder and half the replies are “wait, what?” Your Chromebook can record the screen without any extensions or extra apps. It has been able to since ChromeOS 89.
Hit Ctrl + Shift + Show Windows (that rectangle key along the top row) and the Screen Capture toolbar pops up. Switch to video mode with the camera icon, pick full screen, a single window, or a custom area, and you’re recording. There’s a mic toggle and a webcam overlay option too.
Recordings save as WEBM files in your Downloads folder. WEBM plays natively on Chromebooks, and if you need to share with someone on Windows or Mac, a quick conversion to MP4 sorts that out. I’ve used it for walking coworkers through processes, recording presentation dry runs, and documenting bugs.
Virtual desktops let you organize like a pro
Up to eight separate workspaces at your fingertips
Google calls them “Desks,” and ChromeOS gives you up to eight of them. Three-finger swipe up on the trackpad or tap the Overview key — you’ll see all your Desks laid out. Create new ones, name them, and drag windows between them.
The keyboard shortcuts are where it clicks. Search + Shift + [number] jumps straight to a specific Desk. Search + ] and Search + [ cycle through them. It takes about a day to build muscle memory, and after that, you won’t want to go back.
I rely on this more than almost anything else on my Chromebook. Writing goes on one Desk — Google Docs, WordPress, and notes. Research lives on another with all my reference tabs. My 14-inch screen stays clean instead of buried under a pile of overlapping windows, and jumping between the two is nearly instant.
Offline mode works for more than you’d expect
The “useless without Wi-Fi” myth is years out of date
Everyone’s heard the line: Chromebooks are useless without internet. That was closer to true five or six years ago. These days, not really — though the reputation sticks because few people bother to check.
Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides all work offline. Enable it once in Google Drive settings, and that’s it. Gmail has an offline mode too. Everything syncs back up once you’re connected again, no extra steps. On top of that, the Play Store has over 200 Android apps that run without Wi-Fi — media players, note apps, games, and more.
Local files and anything synced from Google Drive work just fine without a connection. PDFs, spreadsheets, downloaded videos — a typical workday’s worth of tasks. My Chromebook handles flights and coffee shops with spotty Wi-Fi without much fuss, and ten-plus hours of battery life means I rarely think about finding an outlet either.
That “basic” Chromebook has been holding out on you
The browser-in-a-box era ended a while ago. Linux apps, multi-monitor setups, screen recording, virtual desktops, and real offline functionality — Chromebooks do all of it now, and most owners have no clue. Google’s plan to merge ChromeOS with Android later this year should only add to that list. That Chromebook you only use for Netflix and email is capable of a lot more than you’ve asked it to do. Pick one of these features, spend five minutes setting it up, and see what you’ve been missing.
