These three models are the cream of the ChromeOS crop.
All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
Table of Contents
The gap between the best Chromebooks and our favorite cheap laptops is more of a crevice than a canyon. For users with simple workloads, especially those who rely heavily on the Google Workspace suite, a competent Chromebook can provide just what you need at a very reasonable price.
When it comes to choosing the very best Chromebook for your specific budget and use case(s), most shoppers won’t be forced to make a terribly difficult or dicey decision: Google has introduced a new “Chromebook Plus” label to identify models with guaranteed performance standards and added software support. It’s also extended the lifespan of recent models (those released in 2021 or after) by offering a full decade of automatic updates. Still, it helps to have a nudge in the right direction if you don’t have your eye on a specific model yet.
With that in mind, we’ve overhauled this guide to the best Chromebooks for 2024 with new standards and freshly hands-on tested picks. We’ll continue to revisit it in the coming months with additional recommendations and new Chromebook reviews, so expect it to further evolve in the near future. (Next in our pipeline is the $399 ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34.)
Our Pick
Read Mashable’s full review of the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch.
Who it’s for:
The HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is a slick big-screener geared toward budget-conscious shoppers who need an under-$500 laptop for basic productivity and entertainment. It also has a built-in numeric keypad, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Why we picked this:
HP’s Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch proved itself as an efficient multitasker in our testing (though its battery life could use a bump), and its vivid display impressed senior shopping reporter Haley Henschel, a self-confessed MacBook loyalist; this is a laptop made for movie watching once you’re done Google Sheetsing. “The colors are intense, with good contrast and rich blacks, and an anti-reflective panel preserves that quality at most viewing angles, even in direct sunlight…It really has no right looking as good as it does,” Henschel wrote.
The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch’s low price point is evident in its plastic construction and crappy speaker quality, but we consider those pretty forgivable sins for 500 clams. If you’re still on the fence, look for it on sale for even cheaper at Best Buy — we’ve seen it hit $400 there.
Read Mashable’s full review of the HP Chromebook Plus x360 14c.
Who it’s for:
HP’s other Chromebook Plus is a flexible, stylish device for users who want a laptop and a tablet, but don’t have the budget for both. Keyboard snobs should also apply within.
Why we picked this:
The Chromebook Plus x360 14c is the most expensive Chromebook Plus model, but that’s not saying much considering it starts at just $699. Most of that money goes toward its construction: Its sturdy aluminum 2-in-1 design (no plastic!), snappy backlit keyboard, and smooth touchpad give it a premium vibe. “At a quick glance, [it] looks a lot like the HP Spectre x360 14,” said Mashable tech editor Kim Gedeon, referring to its brand-new Windows cousin that starts at $1,449.99.
HP’s Chromebook Plus x360 14c can’t compete with the Spectre x360 14 from a performance standpoint — absolutely no surprises there, are you kidding? — but it can certainly meet the light, undemanding needs of a student or office worker. It also has an adequate battery life of nearly nine hours. If you’re making any real concessions here, they’re in the realms of display and webcam quality.
Who it’s for:
The Acer Chromebook 516 GE (“gaming edition”) is an optimal machine for PC gaming dabblers who don’t want to invest in a full-fledged rig. Its also light enough to be a good on-the-go gaming solution, provided you maintain a strong internet connection and have a power source readily available.
Why we picked this:
All newer Chromebooks support cloud gaming services like Xbox Game Pass and NVIDIA GeForce Now. (In fact, they once came with a free trial of the latter, though that perk has since expired.) However, Acer’s well-built Chromebook 516 GE elevates the experience with special gamer-oriented features like an anti-ghosting RGB keyboard and a 16-inch, 1600p display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Lead shopping reporter Dylan Haas deemed the latter a “real showstopper.”
Performance-wise, all of the multiplayer and single-player games Haas ran on the Chromebook 516 GE (including Cyberpunk 2044) “ran swimmingly,” he said: There was “zero input lag or stuttering, an impressive feat.” Haas did experience some slight fidelity loss, but that’s a given for cloud gaming. The Chromebook 516 GE did underwhelm us with its battery life, offering only six hours of playtime in our testing. That number would be stellar if it were a regular Windows gaming laptop, but since it only streams games (as opposed to using beefy hardware to play them natively), it should really last a bit longer.
For all these reasons, this capable Chromebook also earned a spot in our guides to the best laptops for college and gaming.
Topics
HP
Mashable staff hands-on tested all of the Chromebooks featured in this guide, using them for work and entertainment for several weeks at a time. This involved inspecting their build quality, working in different kinds of documents, checking emails, watching videos, taking photos on their webcams, participating in video calls, listening to music (via Spotify), playing games, and experimenting with any unique software features or use cases they claimed to support.
Additionally, we ran two benchmark tests on the HP loaners. (We didn’t get a chance to put the Acer Chromebook 516 GE through the same paces during our limited testing period.) One of those tests was the Android version of Primate Labs’ Geekbench 6, which measures processor performance in a handful of common tasks. We recorded each of the HP Chromebooks’ multi-core scores in our reviews. The higher the score, the better.
We also had each of our HP testing units run the battery life portion of CrXPRT 2, a Chromebook-specific benchmark. (To measure the Acer Chromebook 516 GE’s battery life, we simply played games on it and monitored how long it lasted.) We look to see about nine to ten hours of battery life in the Chromebooks we review, with eight hours being our baseline.
After evaluating each model’s performance in these real-world and benchmark tests, we made our final recommendations based on whether we thought they offered a good overall value for the money.
It’s worth mentioning that the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch, the HP Chromebook Plus x360 14c, and the Acer Chromebook 516 GE are the only Chromebooks we’ve tested so far in 2024. While we believe all three of them are very solid purchases, we know there’s plenty of competition out there. As mentioned up top, expect this guide to evolve over the coming months as we test lots more models. (Next up: the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34.)
Frequently Asked Questions
A Chromebook is a subspecies of laptop that runs on ChromeOS and supports Android apps (as opposed to native Windows or Mac software). They’re designed for uncomplicated cloud-based work and come with several layers of built-in security, including automatic software updates. Because of this “online-first” approach, they’re typically equipped with basic hardware specs — think entry-level CPUs, 4 to 8GB of memory, and 256GB of storage at most. They’re also commonly made from plastic.
Simplicity and affordability have been the guiding principles of the Chromebook experience since its inception in the early 2010s, which initially translated to some dinky, practical-to-a-fault clunkers. However, many newer models are very capable and comparable to budget Windows laptops. For more intel, check out Mashable’s guide to Chromebooks versus laptops.
“Chromebook Plus” is a newer classification covering Chromebooks with certain standardized specs and added support for more advanced software (including two Adobe products and some exclusive AI tools). Google introduced it in the fall of 2023 as a way to help shoppers identify reasonably priced Chromebooks that perform well.
Chromebook Plus is available as an OS update for some older Chromebooks and in the form of eight brand-new models, including HP’s Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch and Chromebook Plus x360 14c.
Haley Henschel is a Chicago-based Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable who reviews and finds deals on popular tech, from laptops to gaming consoles and VPNs. She has years of experience covering shopping holidays and can tell you what’s actually worth buying on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. Her work has also explored the driving forces behind digital trends within the shopping sphere, from dupes to 12-foot skeletons.
Haley received a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and honed her sifting and winnowing skills at The Daily Cardinal. She previously covered politics for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, investigated exotic pet ownership for Wisconsin Watch, and blogged for some of your favorite reality stars.
In her free time, Haley enjoys playing video games, drawing, taking walks on Lake Michigan, and spending time with her parrot (Melon) and dog (Pierogi). She really, really wants to get back into horseback riding. You can follow her on X at @haleyhenschel or reach her via email at [email protected].
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Mashable – https://mashable.com/roundup/best-chromebooks
