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Whether you're a wide-eyed college freshman or a worldly senior, you're going to need a decent laptop to get you through school. But given the ludicrous cost of tuition these days, most students are left with little expendable income. Luckily, there are more options than ever before. Chromebooks, known for their low prices and long battery life, are really taking the budget laptop scene by storm.
Chromebooks stand as an affordable option for college students but are they worth the money? If you spend most of your time browsing the web, scrolling through Facebook, and the like, then yes. These cheap machines like these are ideal for light usage, which is why they've made such a dent in the education market. They're also at lower risk for security issues because they exclusively run web-based applications. Regardless of your needs, there's a Chromebook you can buy that'll keep you smitten for years to come.
We went hands-on with a slew of Chromebooks: from traditional 'books to versatile 2-in-1's, we checked performance, build quality, and everything else. If you want the Pixelbook Go's speedy performance and premium look without the hefty price tag, the affordable 2-in-1 Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 ended up nabbing our praise as the best overall Chromebook. Not your cup of tea? Don't worry. Everything on this list has something to offer buyers.
This is an excellent midrange Chromebook that succeeds as both a clamshell laptop and as a 2-in-1. It stands sturdy when I use it as a laptop, and the hinges snap nicely to make a seamless tablet configuration.
If you want a machine for your everyday load, where you just want something that will be a pleasure to write, watch, read, and play on, this device shines. It has a large, smooth trackpad with excellent tracking, a keyboard that I could easily type on for hours, and a touch screen that’s always sensitive to my fingertips.
I also had no problems with the screen, as it provided a picture that was great for Youtube and Netflix binging. It doesn’t have enough brightness to, say, read in a park on a sunny day, but it’s more than enough for use in a well-lit room.
Because this laptop runs ChromeOS, its 4GB of RAM and Intel Core i3 processor running snappy and flexibly no matter what I throw at it. However, while this device outperformed quite a few higher-end processors in single-core benchmarks, it did not manage to match Intel’s Core i5 or AMD’s Ryzen 5 processors multi-core benchmarks. That means it’s underpowered for the most intensive tasks, such as video editing and 3D modeling, but it can handle 3D gaming and bloated web browsers just fine.
If you want to take your Chromebook with you wherever you go, it will serve you for an afternoon or shorter plane ride, but you’ll want to have a USB-C charger on hand once you deplete its middling battery life of six hours. This is by far this Chromebook’s biggest flaw, as it falls well below the supple battery times seen in its similarly priced rivals.
Despite its mediocre battery life, it’s still great. Its construction feels solid and looks better than many other Chromebooks in this price range, and it packs enough power that I wouldn’t miss Windows and MacOS. I’d absolutely recommend this to the average home user.
Premium build quality
Excellent display
Fast performance
Middling battery life
While you can get more powerful Chromebooks for the same exorbitant price, you’ll have a tougher time finding something that feels this durable.
There’s quite a bit to like about the user experience. The display is a gorgeous glossy touch screen that is incredibly bright, vivid, and full of contrast. Screens that look this good are rarely seen in this price range on ChromeOS or on Windows. Its large trackpad feels just as good, with a smooth glass finish and flawless gesture recognition.
I have mixed feelings about its ultra-quiet keyboard. It does manage to make virtually no noise, but it sacrifices feedback and subsequently makes it difficult for my fingertips to feel when the keys register.
With 8GB of RAM and an Intel Core M5-8500Y, the Pixelbook Go packs more power than most people would ever need of their Chromebooks. If you’re looking to play fast, intense games on it, then you’ll have no trouble running anything at high frame rates from the Google Play Store.
Where this Chromebook lags a bit behind its competitors is in its battery life. In our web based battery test, this laptop cycled through pages for 7 hours and 45 minutes before saying good night. Many cheaper Chromebooks could go for anywhere between 8 and 10 hours, but they could not provide the power of this device in return.
Additionally, we found better battery life in some Ryzen-based Windows laptops in the same price range (the Asus Zenbook 14 and the HP Envy x360 13t both made it past the 8 hour 15 minutes mark). The Core M5 Pixelbook Go is a tough sell for anyone that isn’t looking for a top-line Chromebook and would settle for slightly less build quality or a different OS for a fraction of the cost.
Solid aluminum body
Snappy performance
Gorgeous display
Expensive
It comes with an optional stylus that really elevates the experience to something more organic, the pen gliding on the 4,096 levels of pressure like a pencil glides on photo paper.
This is a great tablet for students, as it allows them to take notes by writing them out or by typing them as they please. This Chromebook’s keyboard is surprisingly springy and stable for the price, and its touchpad is just as satisfactory. When you open your favorite video apps and sites, you’ll be treated to a bright, colorful display that looks much better than the price would suggest.
If you need a Chromebook that can handle a lot of tabs and programs simultaneously, this one may be a bit underpowered for you. However, if you’re looking for something a little more casual, maybe to check your email and read some ebooks, this little 2-in-1 has the perfect mix of features and functionality.
Snappy performance
Great battery life
Shallow keyboard
Its performance is good enough for everyday tasks like surfing the web and checking email, and its bezels are practically nonexistent (this means you’re getting a ton of screen). But what I like best is the sophisticated design. With its aluminum finish and chrome trim, this device looks and feels like a premium product (minus the premium price tag). It’s one of the most elegant-looking Chromebooks we’ve seen in a while.
The only thing that tripped me up was the trackpad. It’s not as responsive as a MacBook touchpad, and it took me some time to adjust to it.
Excellent battery life
A beautiful display and keyboard
Affordable price point
More expensive than most Chromebooks
Doesn't run full Windows or Mac apps
The machine has a large, 15.6-inch screen housed in a sleek, aluminum body. It feels like a premium machine.
This laptop did well in our tests, powering through benchmarks despite the older 8th-gen Intel Core i3 processor. The display was also pleasant to use, with a matte coating cutting down on reflections—even if it was a little dim overall. I also really liked typing on the keyboard, though the lack of a backlight was a constant struggle.
This laptop has all the makings of a really compelling laptop, but only if you can get the model we tested (4GB RAM, Intel Core i3, 128GB Storage). The more expensive configs aren’t worth it, and the cheaper options with Intel Pentium processors won’t be fast enough.
Aluminum body
Great keyboard
Large screen
No keyboard backlight
Whether you’re streaming Netflix or writing an email, the Duet just constantly chugs along. Its MediaTek brain feels no pressure to outcompete other, more powerful Chromebooks (and tablets!) in the same price range. That said, when videos and ebooks finally load, this device treats you to a bright, vivid, 1920x1200P screen that’s crisper than what you get on most mid-range laptops.
You’ll also be hard-pressed to find a lighter Chromebook than this one-pound wonder. When you add the beautiful denim-ish keyboard case that’s included with this laptop, it still only weighs a little under 2 pounds, and this 10-inch detachable hits 10 hours of battery life on our browser-based test (one of the best scores we’ve seen for Chromebooks). It doesn’t get much more portable than this.
But, is the detachable form factor worth the portability? It depends on what you consider. Because of limited onboard space, this laptop has a single USB-C port for both charging and accessories. Its cover, while elegant, is not all that practical, as its cardboard fold-back rear is prone to flopping over and causing repeated frustration when in “laptop” mode. When you manage to stabilize it, you will not be let down by its decent trackpad and keyboard.
I would skip this Chromebook for now, but I am excited to see what the next iteration of the Duet will look like. If it has more oomph and a sturdier case, it will make an awesome Chromebook and a worthy iPad rival.
Keyboard is detachable
Excellent battery life
Sharp screen
Very slow performance
Keyboard not very sturdy
I’m Ashley Barry-Biancuzzo, the former laptop reviewer here at Reviewed and an editor of our Best Right Now buying guides. Not only am I a huge fan of Chromebooks, but I also use one as my everyday laptop. They’re great because they’re largely virus-free and have fantastic battery life.
Hey there, I’m Emily Ramirez, tech staff writer and current laptop reviewer here at Reviewed. I’ve been working professionally with tech and PCs for six years, from game development to reviewing and everything in between. Before I came to Reviewed, I had worked with Lifewire and the MIT Game Lab. I’m passionate about all things tech, although I especially enjoy working with PCs. It takes a lot to make a great PC, and it takes a lot to know what a great PC looks like—it’s not just power. It’s also build quality, touchpad sensitivity, keyboard ergonomics, display accuracy, aesthetics, and more. We all want our laptops and desktops to last as long as possible while giving us all the performance and comfort we asked for. When I’m not testing and evaluating laptops, I plan a new keyboard, and small form factor desktop builds.
Our tests for these devices aren’t based purely on processing power. Instead, we look at the laptop's overall usability, which also depends on the screen's quality, the keyboard, what interfaces it offers, and many other factors. We test all of these factors and assign a score for each. Then, we rate the laptop's overall usability as a combination of these factors by creating an overall weighted score.
First, we look at how well each laptop performs. Because the laptops in this guide are mostly designed for running web applications like Google Docs, we use two web benchmarks: Basemark and Speedometer. These test the laptop's processing power in a web browser: we used Google Chrome for all of them.
Most laptop displays do well in a dark room, but what about outdoors? Is a glossy screen better than a matte one? To figure out this information, we test the brightness on display. We do this with a CS-200: it’s a handheld device that measures luminance. We measure the white levels and black levels at max brightness and then again at 50% brightness.
Next, we tested each laptop's battery life to see how long you can use them for between charges. With their displays adjusted to a brightness of 200 nits, we set them to continuously cycle through popular websites, simulating how you would use the laptop when idly browsing the web. We also look at how comfortable the screen is to look at, how easy the keyboard is to type, and other factors.
Running Chrome OS (aka Google's default browser), Chromebooks are inexpensive and largely virus-free, a great option for college students. Equipped with low-power processors, Chromebooks typically have good battery life and are fanless. That said, they’re not the most powerful laptops in the world. They can only handle everyday tasks like browsing the web, checking e-mail, and watching Netflix.
13-inch laptops: These smaller laptops are great for carrying around and more than suitable for light work like writing papers and browsing the web.
15-inch laptops: Mid-sized laptops are a bit less portable and won’t necessarily work in space-constrained spaces like airplane seats. But the larger display is useful for photo editing and watching videos.
17-inch laptops: This is very large and only recommended if you are doing video editing or other intensive work that requires a lot of screen real estate—and you don’t mind lugging it around.
There can still be varying sizes within those categories—for example, the XPS 13’s smaller bezels make it much smaller than most 13-inch laptops—and sizes in between, like the 14-inch Lenovo Yoga C930. But in general, picking a size range, you’re comfortable with can help narrow down the field.
You’ll also want to consider how many USB ports the laptop has, whether you need HDMI and Ethernet, and how comfortable the keyboard and trackpad are to use—this can vary quite a bit from model to model. It’s important to get something responsive and durable. Touch displays are generally reserved for more premium products.
Windows is still the dominant OS these days, and if you’re going to play games, edit photos and videos, or need certain software for work, you’ll probably stick with Microsoft’s offering. If you spend all your time on the web, though, a Chromebook may serve you better than you’d think—between Netflix, Gmail, Google Docs, and even online photo editors like Pixlr, you can do almost anything in a browser, and many of those web apps even work offline for those rare occasions you don’t have Wi-Fi. Chromebooks have the advantage of being cheaper (since they don’t need as much processing power) and virtually virus-free (since they run Linux under the hood).
Finally, you’ll need to consider the guts—the processor, graphics chip, RAM, and storage that determine your laptop’s capabilities. For browsing the web and using office software, lower-power chips like Intel’s i3 and i5 are more than adequate. 4GB of RAM is usable in a Chromebook, though even web browsing can eat up RAM these days, so 8GB is recommended if you tend to open lots of tabs, use lots of browser extensions, and want a laptop that’ll last you well into the future—I wouldn’t generally advise 4GB for most Windows laptops these days.
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