The best Chromebooks

Since its launch in 2011, Chrome OS has come a long way. Chromebooks are great PC alternatives today and the better choice of a general computing machine for most folks. They have gone from being the netbook alternatives that were cheap and underpowered to the versatile computers they are today.

There are a ton of Chromebook options available on the market across various segments. As such, we’ve rounded up the best Chromebooks to buy in 2023.

Buying the best Chromebook for your needs

Chromebooks are perfect for run-of-the-mill home, office, and educational use. And the good news is that there is something for everyone. You can find affordable Chromebooks, high-end ones, tablets, and even cloud gaming ones.

The screen size, weight, and form factor are important things to consider, depending on your portability and usage requirements. If you consume much media, a convertible two-in-one design or Chromebook tablet is the way to go. There are typical laptop design options also available, if that’s more aligned with your usage. For media consumption, a good display is also important, and there are quite a few options there, with some Chromebooks even sporting 4K displays.

These devices also come with a wide variety of spec configurations. You’ll want to focus on the processor and RAM for improved performance. If you plan on making one your primary computer, you’ll be better served by a more powerful CPU. However, having a more powerful CPU will likely come at the cost of lower battery life, so make sure you find the right balance for your needs. Some even come with included styluses, for the drawers and designers among us.

Many big computing brands make Chromebooks, so brand preference shouldn’t be a big issue while shopping for one.

If you’re still unsure which Chromebook would be the best for you, below are our picks of the best Chromebooks to buy in 2023 across multiple categories and price points.

The best Chromebooks to buy in 2023

• The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is the best Chromebook overall, with a solid build, punchy keyboard, excellent performance, and battery life.
• The ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 is the best convertible Chromebook, with a 2-in-1 design, a solid experience, and great build quality.
• The ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 is the best Chromebook on a budget, packing a great design and feel in a lightweight chassis. Its specs are also impressive for the price point.
• The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is the best Chromebook for students and professionals who want a good design, build, and a reasonable price.
• The ASUS Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip is the best gaming Chromebook. It is powerful, has a great screen, good audio, and fun gaming design.
• The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook is the best Chromebook tablet you can buy, with an excellent battery life packed into a flexible form factor.
• The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is the best-looking Chromebook, mixing an excellent design with a great screen and respectable performance.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714: The best Chromebook overall

Chromebooks are practical computing devices that get work done, and that’s what the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 does. It puts function over form and performs well enough to be our pick of the best overall Chromebook. It has an aluminum chassis that meets the MIL-STD 810H durability standard.

It’s a rather capable machine and packs a 13th-gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, 8GB RAM, and 256GB of storage. So far, the i5 version is the most widely available in the USA. We’re starting to see the i7 model popping up, though.

The screen is also good, with a 16:10 aspect ratio display running at 2,560 by 1,600 pixels. That’s for the higher-end model, though. The i5 version has a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. It has a flip design, which means you can turn this device into a tablet with a flip. You’ll also enjoy a backlit keyboard and 10 hours of battery life.

The i7 model costs $999.99 MSRP, and the i5 model goes for $699.99. This makes the Spin 714 one of the most expensive Chromebooks. It’s definitely a powerful, well-built, and overall great Chromebook, though.

Check out our hands-on review of the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 to learn more.

ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5: The best convertible Chromebook

Solid specs and a beautiful aluminum body are the names of the game with the ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5. It slots in just below our top overall pick but offers just as much flexibility in terms of the flipable design. The ceramic finish makes it more comfortable to use and hold, and the design is gorgeous.

The LED display is pretty large at 15.6 inches, and it has a Full HD resolution. Specs include an Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. You’ll enjoy other high-end features like a backlit keyboard, stylus support, and a 12-hour battery life.

The ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 is still a bit expensive at 859.66, but it is a very nice Chromebook inside and out.

ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34: The best budget Chromebook

Plenty of affordable Chromebooks are out there, but you don’t want to get one of the absolute cheapest either. All things considered, the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 is surprisingly good for a device that starts at just $439.99.

This is a Chromebook Plus device, so you know specs need to meet certain minimum requirements. This laptop comes with an Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Battery life is estimated at 10 hours, making it a great on-the-go device. And if you’re worried about damaging it on your adventures, this unit has a MIL-STD 810H certification.

Any downsides? There is no touchscreen, but the 14-inch Full HD display is pretty nice. It also doesn’t flip all the way, which would have been nice.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus: The best Chromebook for students and office dwellers

Lenovo has a strong presence in offices and schools, and the tradition continues with the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus. Though it’s pretty affordable, it touts a great-looking design that will look at home in any serious setting.

The unit has a fair MSRP of $499. And because it is a Chromebook Plus, it comes with some pretty nice specs and a pleasant overall experience, without going overboard. You’ll get an Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 14-inch FHD display. The screen also flips all the way back, so you can use it in multiple modes.

Overall, it is a capable Chromebook that should be great for most office tasks or homework. The design won’t stick out like a sore thumb, and it looks professional enough for any setting. You can definitely have some fun with it too, though. The large speaker grills, Full HD screen, and cloud gaming will work together awesomely.

Pros

• Solid design and feel
• Fair price
• Good display and speakers

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Check out our full review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus to learn more.

ASUS Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip: The best gaming Chromebook

ASUS has a long history of releasing gaming computers, peripherals, and other accessories. It’s a popular brand in the gaming world, so it’s no surprise to see it jump with both feet into the recent gaming Chromebook movement. The ASUS Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip is one heck of a machine.

For starters, it looks the part. You get a white design that is very nicely thought out, and the keyboard features colored WASD keys to identify the most commonly used keys in gaming. The company has also thought of other factors that make gaming more enjoyable. The Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip has a nice 1,920 x 1,200 LED display with a smooth 144Hz refresh rate. The panel can display 100% of the sRGB color spectrum, too. And the speakers are tuned by Harman/Kardon. Oh, and you get an included stylus!

You’ll also get plenty of performance, as you can get up to a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 chip, as much as 16GB of RAM, and Wi-Fi 6E. It’s pretty big and bulky, but it’s also as powerful as Chromebooks get. And it even has a MIL-STD 810H rating.

Check out our full review of the ASUS Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip to learn more.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook: The best Chromebook tablet

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook is a sequel to the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. The company has upgraded the display from a 10.1-inch to a 13.3-inch screen, and it is one of the best things about this Chromebook tablet. It’s a solidly built Chromebook tablet that uses high-quality hardware and gets a performance boost thanks to the upgrade to Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 SoC.

You can get 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage or 8GB of RAM with 128GB of storage. Both variants get eMMC 5.1 storage. It carries the same superb usability that the Chromebook Duet did, despite having a bigger footprint. It also has a 42Wh battery that gave between 11-12 hours of battery life during our testing, which is rather impressive for a device of this class.

You also get the promise of eight years of Chrome OS updates, so it’s safe to say this is a future-proof Chromebook tablet as well.

Check out our full review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook to learn more.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2: The best-looking Chromebook

Chromebooks aren’t exactly the most fashionable computing device, with most of them geared towards performance. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 thus sticks out, giving us a taste of what a premium Chrome OS device can be in a sea full of low-key devices.

It has an elegant design that exceeds expectations for a Chromebook but doesn’t look too flashy, even in the bright red colorway. You also get a rather great-looking QLED touchscreen display and a convertible design.

The hardware power on offer isn’t the best you can get, with options limited to Intel Celeron and i3 CPUs, a maximum of 8GB of RAM, and up to 128GB eMMC storage. It suffices for what it is, though, and in this case, the choice leans more toward form than function.

Check out our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 to learn more.

The best budget Chromebooks

We know many of you are specifically looking for the best Chromebooks at a lower price. Most options listed above are relatively expensive, so we thought creating a specific section for affordable Chromebooks was important. Here are some of our favorite picks.

• ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 ($439.99 at Amazon): If you want the best you can get for what we would still consider an “affordable” price, this is your best bet. It comes with an Intel Core i3, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. That is more than what many more expensive Chromebooks offer!
• Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 360 ($449.99 at Samsung): This is a great Chromebook for the price. It isn’t exactly cheap, but at $429.99, it is a great laptop with a nice design and fair specs.
• Lenovo IdeaPad Duet ($325 at Amazon): The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet is no powerhouse, and it is not the fastest, but it is excellent for casual tasks and is one of the very few actual Chromebook tablets. It also has a low $299 MSRP starting price, and we’ve seen it on special for as low as about $180.
• Lenovo Slim 3 ($169 at Best Buy): The Lenovo Slim 3 Chromebook has mostly gone unnoticed, but it is actually a pretty nice Chrome OS laptop. It has modest specs, but a really nice design and enough performance for most casual users. And while the MSRP sits at $319, we often see it discounted down to about $190.
• Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook ($579 at Amazon): Gaming Chromebooks are usually expensive, but this is the cheapest one you can find. It is nicely spec’d with an Intel Core i3, 8GB of RAM, and a large 16-inch display. It even has a colorful RGB keyboard! All for just $429.

The best touchscreen Chromebooks

A suitable multi-tasking device can often do more than your usual computing stuff. Because Chrome OS has Android app support, Chromebooks may also double as tablets. If you’re looking for a laptop that can work as a computer and tablet, you may want to look for the best touchscreen Chromebooks.

• Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook ($480 at Amazon): All in all, this continues to be the best Chrome OS tablet around. It is fairly spec’d for the $499 MSRP, has a nice design, is pretty slim, features a magnetic stand cover, and comes with a detachable keyboard.
• Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 ($589 at Amazon): The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is built amazingly, looks gorgeous, is pretty slim, and comes with competent specs. Not only that, but it is no longer as expensive as it once was, and you can easily find it at about $350 these days.
• ASUS Chromebook Vibe CX55 Flip ($699 at Best Buy): We would have picked the ASUS Chromebook CX34 Flip, but that laptop is a bit too bulky and heavy. The older CX55 Flip is significantly lighter and is better suited to be used as a touchscreen tablet when you flip the screen around. It is a gaming Chromebook with great spec options, a backlit keyboard, and an excellent design.
• Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus ($379 at Best Buy): This Chromebook offers a great balance between price, performance, and design. Because the screen flips all the way back, it’s also an awesome device to use the touchscreen with. It has stylus support, and offers an overall outstanding experience.

Chromebooks vs laptops

Chromebooks are great for light usage, but should you be picking one over a Windows laptop? The fact is that you get a lot more options with Windows, but Chromebooks have started getting more diverse in recent years. Chrome OS is still not a full equivalent to Windows, though.

Check out our detailed Chromebook vs laptop comparison. We go deep into all the differences, as well as the pros and cons of each ecosystem.

Picking the best Chromebook accessories

Now that you have a feel for the best Chromebooks to buy, you might want to check out some accessories to complete the setup. Here are some of our favorite Chromebook chargers. For more precision and productivity, you should also consider getting one of the best travel mice. And if you want to get gaming, here’s our list of the best gaming controllers.

Frequently Asked Questions