I've found my new favorite Chromebook, and it's a "budget" model

This cheap white knight is more useful to me than a $1,000 Pixelbook.

"The best camera is the one you have with you" is a phrase we toss out a lot on the age of smartphone photography. And while the adage isn't nearly as cut and dry with all computing, I've found it 110% true when it comes to Chromebooks. There's a $900 powerhouse sitting in my apartment — and a repaired $1,000 Pixelbook on a truck who knows where because Google Support shipped it to the wrong state after I told them six times I moved. But the laptop I've been using most is the laptop that's light and sturdy enough for my gear bag, and that's the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C330.

At the moment I'm writing this, I'm waiting for the fireworks at Walt Disney World. My C330 is in my lap as I wait in front of Cinderella Castle, banging away at articles, rants, and emails to pass the time. I've written many of my recent how-tos and case collections from this Chromebook while sitting on a bench at Epcot's America Gardens before or during the Disney Broadway Concert Series, because live music and editing are made for each other. The C330 is easy to grab and go in the morning when I head off to the parks, and most nights it still doesn't need a charger yet when I get home.

This Yoga may not be quite as rugged and rough-and-tumble as its education series counterpart, but it's more than sturdy enough to not worry as I throw it in my OnePlus Explorer and run off to the the parks. The C330's MediaTek processor is enough to get my writing done in Google Drive, my research done in Chrome, and my basic photo crops/tweaks done in Pixlr — in fact it was so competent that CrackBerry's Bla1ze remarked he was kinda jealous as he watched me zip around on it in the social suite at during a recent company all-hands meeting. (MonaCon!!!)

The Lenovo C330's list price is $300, but you can regularly find it for $250 or less — the 64 GB model is $220 on Newegg right now — and it zooms around with 10 tabs open just as well as Chromebooks two or three times its price. With a cheery look, a responsive touchscreen, and truly all-day battery life — this little trooper lasted through 10 hours of lectures, workshops, and redditing without crying for a charger each day of MoNaCon — this run-of-the-mill Chromebook ran off with my heart and my gear bag.

I didn't know I'd be getting the C330 until it was literally in my hands — thank you, Jerry! — but I'm gonna cry when Lenovo asks for it back because it's been a darling little workhorse and a perfect park companion. It's exactly the kind of Chromebook that proves everything I've been championing about the platform. It's the machine I should use more often, and more importantly, the C330 is the Chromebook I've been wanting to use more and more often, even at home.

It's my new favorite Chromebook. Just nobody tell my Pixelbook that before it gets home. I want to break the news to it gently.