The 5 Best Chromebooks - Fall 2024

The best Chromebook we've tested is the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 (2024). This 2-in-1 convertible feels surprisingly well-built compared to most Chromebooks, and its compact design makes it easy to carry around. It provides a great user experience, sporting a nice FHD+ display, an amazingly comfortable keyboard, and an excellent 1440p webcam. The display gets pretty bright, so you get good visibility in well-lit settings, and since this is a 2-in-1 convertible, you can flip the screen around and use it as a tablet. There's pen input support if you want to take handwritten notes or draw, but unlike the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2022) we tested, it no longer comes with a stylus, and there isn't a place to dock the pen for transport. The port selection is decent; it has two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, a USB-A, an HDMI, and a headphone jack.

Configuration-wise, although Acer had announced several Intel Meteor Lake CPU options (up to a Core Ultra 7 165U), it's only available with a Core Ultra 5 115U at this time. Don't worry, though, as the Core Ultra 5 is more than adequate to handle most productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, and video playback. Battery life is great at around 10 hours of light use, enough to comfortably get you through a typical school or workday, and the laptop charges over USB-C, so you don't have to carry around a proprietary charger. Unfortunately, there's no fingerprint sensor or facial recognition camera for quick logins, which isn't all that surprising for a Chromebook. If you're new to Chromebooks, know that most applications that run on Windows and macOS don't work on Chrome OS, so you must ensure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023) is our best budget pick. This affordable 14-inch model feels reasonably well-built and is easy to carry around. It's a good choice for younger students or anyone needing a simple device for light productivity tasks, web browsing, and video playback. You can configure it with an Intel N100, N200, or a Core i3-N305 CPU; we recommend the latter, as the N100 and N200 are much slower and only suitable for those with an extremely light workload. The Core i3 configuration (with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage) is often on sale for around $400 USD on Lenovo's website.

This model sports a 1080p touch-sensitive IPS panel. It looks very sharp, and unlike most budget-friendly Chromebooks, it gets bright enough to combat glare and doesn't look washed out. You also get an excellent 1080p webcam for video calls, another rarity among Chrome OS devices. The keyboard feels spacious but a bit mushy, and unfortunately, the touchpad is small and not always responsive, so it's best to use a mouse. The Intel Core i3-N305 can handle productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, and video playback; just don't expect to do anything remotely intensive. If you're a heavy multitasker and need even more processing power, you're better off getting the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 above. Battery life is excellent at around 13 hours of light use.

If you want to spend as little as possible, consider the Acer Chromebook 315 (2020). This 15-inch device is great for younger students or anyone needing a simple laptop for emails and web browsing. Its compact design makes it easy to carry around, and its battery lasts a full day of light use, so you don't have to worry about bringing a charger. It has a full-size keyboard with a numpad, a reasonably large touchpad, and a decent 720p webcam. Ports include two USB-As, two USB-Cs, and an SD card reader. The USB-Cs support charging and video output.

You can choose between a 720p or 1080p panel for the display (with or without touch input). We recommend the 1080p option, as the 720p resolution just doesn't look that great on a 15.6-inch screen. The 1080p panel looks decently sharp and provides plenty of space for multitasking, but it doesn't get very bright, meaning you might have some visibility issues in well-lit settings. This laptop is only available with Intel Celeron CPUs. They can handle light workloads just fine, but you'll likely experience some slowdowns, more so than on the models we recommend above.

One more thing to bear in mind: all Chromebooks have an expiration date, meaning the date at which they stop receiving software updates. This Chromebook's end of life is in June 2026. It'll still work after that date, though you'll miss out on important security updates and bug fixes.

For media consumption, we recommend the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 (2021), a 13-inch Chrome OS tablet with a kickstand and detachable keyboard. This form factor lets you take the keyboard off when viewing content, which is convenient in tight spaces like an airplane, and it also makes the device easier to hold and use as a tablet. You can pop the keyboard back on when you need to type something out; however, it feels cramped, so there are better options for typing long essays.

The feature that makes this device amazing for viewing media is its OLED display. It's sharp, bright, and colorful, and like all OLEDs, it displays deep, inky blacks. The speakers get reasonably loud. However, they don't have much bass and sound slightly unnatural. The battery lasts around eight hours of video playback or 10 hours of light use, and it charges over USB-C, so you don't have to deal with a proprietary charger. The display supports pen input if you want to take notes or draw, but you must buy the stylus separately.

The best gaming Chromebook we've tested is the Acer Chromebook 516 GE (2024). Chromebooks aren't typically associated with gaming, as, except for Android games from the Google Play Store, most games don't run on Chrome OS. Also, most Chromebooks lack the processing power to drive demanding titles. However, with increasing internet speeds, cloud gaming is a viable option, which is what this device is for. Services like NVIDIA GeForce NOW and Xbox Cloud Gaming (in Beta) do all the processing on their servers and stream the image to your device, somewhat like video streaming, thus removing the need for powerful hardware. Regarding Google Play Store games, some will run just fine, but some might not because these Play Store titles are primarily designed for Android smartphones and tablets. Also, you may come across titles with no keyboard, mouse, or controller support.

With all that out of the way, let's talk about the laptop itself. It feels pretty well built for a Chromebook, and while it's a little bulky, it isn't too heavy. It sports a 16-inch QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a good response time, so you get a clear image in fast-paced, movement-heavy games. There's Wi-Fi 6E support and an Ethernet port for a fast and stable internet connection, which is essential for a good cloud gaming experience (a slow connection will cause increased latency and a loss in graphical quality). Battery life will depend on the type of game; you can get about five hours when playing locally processed games, which is a gigantic improvement over the older model from 2022, but you can likely get around eight hours when playing via a cloud gaming service.