1. The list in brief
2. Best Chromebook overall
3. Best budget Chromebook
4. Best value Chromebook
5. Best Chromebook for pros
6. Best Chromebook for students
7. Best business Chromebook
8. Best Chromebook for gaming
9. Best mid-range Chromebook
10. Best 1440p Chromebook
11. Best 17-inch Chromebook
12. How to choose
13. How we test
The best Chromebooks are excellent, wallet-friendly devices for productivity. Chromebooks are typically more affordable than their full-fat laptop counterparts, making them great for shoppers on a budget.
Unlike one of the best Windows laptops or best MacBooks, a Chromebook uses Chrome OS, which is based around cloud computing rather than locally installed files and software. This helps keep the pricing down, since the demands on the system's hardware are lower than other operating systems and allows for lower-end hardware to run smoothly. Because of how their system is designed, they are safe for kids and students to use. And while their operating system isn't as robust as a Windows or a macOS, it can see professionals and casual users through their daily needs - as long as they can perform most of those tasks on the Chrome browser.
Before you hit buy, it's vital to remember that they aren't necessarily the best device for all users. Those who need more power or more software functionality than a Chromebook can provide may want to look elsewhere. If you're unsure of whether that's you, check out our Chromebooks vs laptops page, where we break down the pros and cons of each.
We've tested dozens of Chromebooks, and we've put our expert knowledge to work here to compile the most ideal models for your needs and budget. With such an expansive range of Google-powered laptops on the market, we're here to make it easy for you to pin down the best Chromebook for you just in time for your back to school 2023 shopping. Be sure to also check out our back to school sales page as we've found to help you score a good deal.
You'll often see Chromebooks pop up on our best laptop and best 2-in-1 laptop lists for good reason. Here are the best of them below, along with the best Chromebook deals available for each of them, so you can save even more.
The quick list
Want to cut to the chase and find out what the best Chromebooks are? Below, you’ll find a roundup of our choices, and you can jump to a more detailed review of every pick, along with our price comparison tool to help you find the best deals.
The best overall
Featuring a gorgeously colorful OLED display and a nifty detachable keyboard, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook is also surprisingly affordable.
The best budget
The Acer Chromebook 314 Touch is compact, lightweight, and runs Chrome OS smoothly. It's an excellent choice if you're on a really tight budget.
The best for pros
Specifically geared towards freelance workers, the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook looks great and performs even better.
The best for students
The IdeaPad Flex 3 teams rugged build quality with a whopping 16-hour battery that's well-suited for students, especially younger ones.
The best for business
The HP Elite Dragonfly is one of the most powerful Chromebooks we've ever tested. If you want a machine that can cut it for work and play, it's this one.
The best for gaming
Can you game on a Chromebook? This Acer suggests you can, thanks to a QHD 16:10 display, gamer-friendly features and great battery life.
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The best mid-range Chromebook
The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (2022) is a very capable Chromebook that rivals pricier models in performance but keeps things affordable.
The best 1440p Chromebook
Pulling double duty as a compact laptop and a tablet, the x2 11's 1440p display in an 11-inch form factor really sets it apart from the competition.
The best 17-inch Chromebook
The Asus CX1700 is an excellent pick if you want a large screen for maximum productivity. It's wide and bright - and you get a full-sized keyboard, too.
The best Chromebooks in 2023
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Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best Chromebooks in our list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.
The best Chromebook overall
✅ You want an OLED Chromebook: It's not often you get a premium feature like an OLED display in a Chromebook, but boy howdy is it worth it.
✅ You want outstanding battery life: Very few Chromebooks get this kind of battery life, and with the right tweaks, you can easily get to 18-19 hours of battery life.
❌ You want a cheap Chromebook: There are some truly premium features on the Duet 5 Chromebook, and that does push the price up into the high end for a Chromebook.
❌ You want more of a tablet-first form factor: This 2-in-1 laptop puts a heavy emphasis on laptop. The 16:9 screen ratio and 13.3-inch display makes using it in tablet mode somewhat unwieldy.
A Chromebook with an OLED screen is a relatively novel idea, and the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook executes that idea to perfection, making a significant improvement to an already-impressive laptop. On top of that gorgeously colorful OLED display, it also packs a nifty detachable keyboard that has been enlarged from previous models.
There are a few things that a regular laptop user might find a bit of an adjustment here. During testing, we found that its keyboard and kickstand still feel a little flimsy - not to mention, not the most seamless to handle. Surprisingly, a stylus is still not included as standard (though Lenovo does sell one separately). However, that phenomenal battery life of up to 19 hours (our own battery life test gave a little over 16 hours) more than makes up for these shortcomings.
Wrapped up in an affordable package, you've got an absolute ace that we feel comfortable calling the best detachable tablet laptop on the market right now. And, with the best battery life to boot.
Read our full Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook review
The best budget Chromebook
✅ You're on a tight budget: If you're looking for a device that will do the job but won't hurt the wallet, this is the laptop for you.
✅ You play casual games: This is by no means a gaming laptop, but with ChromeOS, you'll be able to play a lot of app games to keep you entertained between classes or on commutes.
❌ You need serious processing power: If you need to run computing intense programs, you'll want something more powerful.
❌ You want to play games: If you want to play intensive games like CyberPunk 2077 or stream the latest AAA titles, you don't want a budget Chromebook.
If you're shopping for a laptop on a very tight budget, it can be hard to decide what to buy. Sure, you could pick up any old Chromebook for a hundred bucks, but be careful: these ultra-cheap devices are typically less powerful and hide older components inside their chunky chassis.
When it comes to picking a Chromebook for work or school that is both cheap and capable, the Acer Chromebook 314 Touch is a great pick. The display is relatively low-powered (with an 'HD ready' resolution of 768p) but that's not going to make a big difference for simple, everyday tasks such as sending emails or browsing the internet.
With an asking price of just $300, the Acer Chromebook 314 Touch is compact, lightweight, and runs Chrome OS smoothly on its Intel Celeron processor. The 64GB of flash storage isn't massive, but since Chrome OS is predominantly cloud-based, you'll be able to easily take advantage of Google Drive to store your files.
With Intel UHD 600 integrated graphics and the integration of the Google Play Store with Chrome OS, you can run a bunch of the best app games too - Pokemon Unite, anyone?
Our full Acer Chromebook 314 Touch review will be arriving soon.
The best value Chromebook
✅ You need longevity from a laptop: We’re pleasantly surprised by the Chromebook 515’s staying power. It might not keep going as long as, say, an ARM equivalent, but it’s also much more capable.
✅ You’re going to push ChromeOS hard: Even though its Core i5 cousin might be pennies more expensive, the processor and RAM combo here is enough to make things far smoother.
❌ You value aesthetics: We’re not saying this is ugly, because it’s not. But for all the very subtle sparkle of its plastic, it’s not pretty.
❌ You need to perform a lot of video calls: Acer pins this in the business bracket, but conferencing with this looks terrible.
It's easy to expect a lot from a Chromebook that comes from a brand that probably has the widest catalogue of ChromeOS devices. Luckily, the Acer Chromebook 515 somehow meets our expectations, thanks in large part to its internals, which are worthy of a budget laptop. Put it to work powered by the ChromeOS, and they are enough to make it really fly.
Not in a way that more premium Chromebooks can, but in a way that's more than acceptable. The Acer Chromebook 515 crosses the line between power and price, and it scored on both fronts during testing. Even its speakers, though not mind-blowing, were able to keep up with our media consumption needs. Its battery is also decent, and its large screen makes it a highlight against the competition.
This, in other words, is a Chromebook we'd recommend to casual users and those who can do their work mostly on the Chrome browser. Just bear in mind that its 720p webcam is terrible, so if you want to look good during video calls, be sure to purchase one of the best webcams instead.
Read our full Acer Chromebook 515 review
The best Chromebook for professionals
✅ You want the best performing Chromebook: This Chromebook wants to be taken as seriously as the MacBook Air and Dell XPS 13, and fortunately, it has best-in-class performance to help its case.
✅ You want dedicated customer service support: If anything should go wrong with this device, HP has people on hand to help you through your issue.
❌ You need to do visually creative work: The OS just isn't really there yet when it comes to professional visual workflows.
❌ You want a budget-y Chromebook: This is a premium item with premium specs, so expect to pay for all this hardware.
The HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is may be a premium option, but the internals definitely justify the price. This is easily one of the best Chromebooks right now, even with the Chrome OS' somewhat limited feature set. Specifically geared towards and marketed to the freelance worker, it doesn't necessarily need to be powerful, but it is with its Dell XPS-level components.
It's a top-tier performer in its class, even blowing its far more expensive older sibling, the Dragonfly Elite Chromebook, out of the water during our testing. So, you can rely on it meeting your productivity needs. And, its battery life delivered a solid all-workday when we were mostly doing web activities. You might even stretch it out to about seven hours of media consumption with the brightness down and the keyboard backlight off.
When it comes to features, HP offers dedicated technical support as a subscription service, with the first year included with purchase, which we think many professionals will find incredibly useful - though it's only available in the US at this time. We also appreciate the RGB backlighting on the keyboard, which changes in real-time to match the primary color on your desktop background.
Read our full HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook review
The best Chromebook for students
