Windows laptop or Chromebook?

Later this year I hope to replace my aging PC with something new.

I want something portable, and able to meet all my needs. However this lands me in something of a dilemma. Do I look to get a low-cost Windows laptop, or do I look to get a decent Chromebook?

I had concluded that a Chromebook would be the best option for the money. I am already entrenched in Google products (despite not being overly comfortable with that!) so that seemed like the logical choice. I am not a power user of Windows and the majority of my activities are online.

For work processing and spreadsheets I have been using Google Docs for many years.

So I thought the choice is pretty clear.

Then I started thinking about flexibility, and the fact that I have not actually used a Chromebook before (except for a few minutes in-store). Do I really want to be locked into this? I do like to use Firefox as my browser, but that will not be possible. Neither would be an alternative browser of any kind. And I am not sure either if my VPN tunnel would work. Hmmm.

But then this would make a great family machine. They also use Google predominantly. The machineesd are small, simple and fire up in a matter of a few seconds.

So then I thought then maybe a Windows laptop might not be a bad choice. As well as that I could dual boot to Ubuntu, which would be pretty useful. But then there is the issue of cost. I could get a reallt decent Chromebook for less than £300. I think I'll struggle to get a decent Windows laptop for that kind of spend.

So I'll keep debatinjg this in my head for now.