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8 best Chromebooks for 2024: the best for every budget

google chrome os steam support logo chromebook feature
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Chromebooks might have a hard time competing with Windows laptops and MacBooks, but that doesn't mean they don't have their place. We've reviewed hundreds of laptops over the years, testing for important qualities like performance, battery life, and display quality — and we've found that Chromebooks consistently excel at performance and reliability.

You can find Chromebooks from Google, HP, Lenovo, Acer, and many other branss, and we've dug through them to put together this roundup of the best Chromebooks on the market. They're incredibly accessible devices, and for the right person, a Chromebook can be the best laptop in terms of value.

The Chromebook laptops we've assembled here are something special. They offer solid performance, excellent functionality, and enough diversity to handle just about any need. Read on to see which models you should consider and maybe even acquire for yourself.

HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook
HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook
Most innovative and feature-packed Chromebook
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Acer Chromebook Spin 714 2023
Acer Chromebook Spin 714
Best 2-in-1 Chromebook
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Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i
Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i
Best Intel-based 2-in-1 Chromebook
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Asus Chromebook Plus CM34 Flip
Asus Chromebook Plus CM34 Flip
Best AMD ChromeOS 2-in-1
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Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3
A highly affordable Chromebook
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Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook OLED
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5
Best OLED Chromebook
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Acer Chromebook 516 GE
Acer Chromebook 516 GE
Best Cloud Gaming Chromebook
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Asus Chromebook Plus CX34
Asus Chromebook Plus CX34
Best budget clamshell Chromebook
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hp dragonfly pro chromebook review rear view
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends / Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook

Most innovative and feature-packed Chromebook

Pros
  • Extremely fast ChromeOS performance
  • Excellent, bright display
  • Good keyboard and superior haptic touchpad
  • Solid build quality
  • Convenient live support
Cons
  • Expensive
  • Below average battery life

Chromebooks haven't historically kept up with Windows and macOS laptops in terms of overall innovations and features. But HP set out to change all that with the Dragonfly Pro Chromebook, an expensive machine that serves as the new standard bearer for the platform.

First, it's well-equipped with Intel 12th-gen CPUs and 16GB of RAM, a lot of memory and power for the lightweight Chrome OS that makes it one of the fastest Chromebooks ever. It's built as well as any premium laptop, and it enjoys an impressive 14.0-inch 16:10 display at a high 2560 x 1600 resolution.

But then toss in one of the first haptic touchpads on a Chromebook and you're talking real innovation, with extra features that make the haptic engine even more valuable. The display is touch- and pen-enabled, and HP included a fingerprint reader that's also unusual for Chromebooks. The keyboard even has RGB lighting. The machine supports Chrome OS Enterprise, making it a secure and manageable choice for enterprises, and there's live 24/7 support available directly from the machine for small business users and consumers. Taking everything into consideration, the Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is the best Chrome OS laptop you can buy today.

HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook
HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook
Most innovative and feature-packed Chromebook
acer chromebook spin 713 review
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Acer Chromebook Spin 714

Best 2-in-1 Chromebook

Pros
  • Very good performance
  • Evo certification
  • Thunderbolt 4 support
  • Conservative good looks
  • Good touchpad
  • Excellent 3:2 display
Cons
  • Battery life took a step backward
  • Chassis could feel a little sturdier
  • Keyboard wasn't as crisp as some

If you're looking for a 2-in-1 Chromebook that's also powerful, you need the Acer Chromebook Spin 714. We reviewed the previous model, and the new version just ups the ante. It's also not an overly expensive Chromebook, and it's worth every penny.

An all-aluminum chassis reaches near premium laptop levels in terms of build quality, reminding you that you've bought something classy. Impressively, it has Thunderbolt 4 support which you don't normally see on Chromebooks along with the usual selection of USB ports, a full-size HDMI port, and 3.5mm audio jack. It's powered by Intel 13th-gen CPUs with plenty of RAM and storage, making it a very fast Chromebook.

The 14-inch display is a 16:10 aspect ratio with a resolution of 1920 x 1200, providing sharp text and images. Acer added an active pen that has its own silo, an improvement from the previous model. Don't count on it being an ideal display for working outdoors under a bright sun but for everything else, it's good quality with colors that seem natural and not oversaturated. The downside? Speaker quality is a little weak for listening to music but it's adequate.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 2023
Acer Chromebook Spin 714
Best 2-in-1 Chromebook
Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i tent view showing display.
Digital Trends

Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i

Best Intel-based 2-in-1 Chromebook

Pros
  • Fast 13th-gen CPU
  • Lots of RAM
  • Convertible 2-in-1 format
  • Touch and pen support
Cons
  • Just a FHD display
  • Not the best colors

Laptops under $500 are usually pretty flakey and not exactly what you want from a Windows 11 machine. That's why something like the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i is perfect if you're willing to switch to Google's world.

As with the other Chromebooks here, Lenovo has packed in a processor you'll see on many Windows systems — a 13th-generation Intel Core i3 processor. It also has 8GB of RAM, which is a ton given that Chrome OS runs fast on even less memory. Gaming is a reasonable proposition given Intel Iris Xe graphics, and performance for work tasks will be excellent. You'll be able to have a number of Chrome tabs open without suffering here. It'll also work well with Google apps. Similarly, battery life will be respectable, if not amazing. It offers about six to seven hours, which isn't far off a working day if you factor in breaks. Crucially, at this price, it's a fairly respectable figure even if it's not exactly exciting.

Its 13.3-inch IPS LED touchscreen display offers a standard 1920 x 1080 resolution. It won't offer the sharpest color quality and it only brightens up to 300 nits, so it's not great for outdoor use. Its upward-firing speakers are similarly fine and nothing more, but again, this is a budget Chromebook. On the plus side, you do get a great typing experience. Keycaps are large with plenty of travel and responsiveness. It's also a backlit keyboard and its touchpad is large, if a little sloppy at tracking. You can always switch over to the touchscreen if that feels more comfortable.

For anyone on a tight budget, the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i may never truly excite, but it gets the job done. Perhaps best suited for a student, it works well while you're on the move if you don't mind not quite getting a full day's worth of battery life.

Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i
Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i
Best Intel-based 2-in-1 Chromebook
Asus Chromebook Plus CM34 Flip front view showing display and keyboard.
Digital Trends

Asus Chromebook Plus CM34 Flip

Best AMD ChromeOS 2-in-1

Pros
  • Solid build quality
  • Fast AMD processors
  • Up to 16GB of RAM
  • Up to 512GB of SSD storage
  • Touch-enabled
Cons
  • FHD display only

Anyone who's been reading up on the differences between Chromebooks and laptops might be worried that they're getting an inferior product by steering toward Chromebooks. The Asus Chromebook Plus CM34 Flip demonstrates that this really isn't the case. It's the kind of Chromebook you could mistake for a Windows-based system. A flagship model, it offers phenomenal build quality. Its aluminum shell looks great while also feeling solid in your hands. Even its hinge opens smoothly with one hand and feels solidly reliable. It doesn't even shake when you switch it to clamshell, presentation, tent, or tablet modes — something you're likely to do often thanks to the touchscreen. Reasonably small bezels and an 85% screen-to-body ratio prove useful and enhance the device's good looks.

Elsewhere, port options are a little limited with just two USB-C 3.1 ports and no Thunderbolt support. The HDMI and USB-A ports help avoid the need for dongles, and there's also a microSD card reader and a 3.5mm audio jack. The keyboard feels great too with oversized keycaps, 1.2mm of travel, and a snappy feeling while you use it. A wide touchpad further helps with responsiveness. The 14-inch full HD display is sufficient with decent contrast, although it'll struggle under direct sunlight. It's matched up with some reasonable speakers for all your streaming needs.

Performance-wise, AMD processors provide good performance with a minimum of 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage. This is a Chromebook that can keep up with most of what you're doing. You'll be fine to open plenty of Google Chrome tabs at once, as well as switch between many different apps without an issue. Gaming is pretty smooth too.

Depending on what you're doing, you should be able to count on about 10.5 hours of battery life. For the average working day, you should be happy with these results even if it's not quite as impressive as the best Chromebooks. For anyone who needs a more high-end Chromebook, this is a great option.

Asus Chromebook Plus CM34 Flip
Asus Chromebook Plus CM34 Flip
Best AMD ChromeOS 2-in-1
lenovo chromebook duet 3 review front view
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends / Digital Trends

Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3

A highly affordable Chromebook

Pros
  • Good enough productivity performance
  • Excellent battery life
  • Surprisingly good display
  • Folio kickstand and keyboard included
  • Strong value
Cons
  • Keyboard is too cramped
  • Limited to Wi-Fi 5

The Lenovo's Duet 3 is a detachable tablet Chromebook for not a lot of money. That's precisely why Mark Coppock mentioned it was "$300 well spent" in his review. It got high marks for decent productivity performance, excellent battery life, a surprisingly good display, and the folio kickstand and keyboard it comes with — all of it makes for a very strong value. If you're a student, or on a budget, pay attention to that, because it means your money goes further here.

Inside the unit is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor and 4GB of system memory, which is reasonable given the price. The 64GB of eMMC flash storage offers space to store photos, documents, and offline files, but Chromebooks also benefit from Google's cloud storage solution and Google Drive.

With up to 12 hours on a single charge, you have plenty of power and support to get work done, do some studying, listen to music, watch some media, or do whatever else you want to do on the go. You also get WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, a 5MP user-facing camera for video calls, and an 8MP "world" or rear-facing camera for high-quality shots. Overall, it's a great little device.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3
A highly affordable Chromebook
lenovo ideapad duet 5 chromebook review
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5

Best OLED Chromebook

Pros
  • Acceptable productivity performance
  • Very long battery life
  • Excellent display
  • Solid build quality
  • Affordable
Cons
  • Display is in the old-school 16:9 aspect ratio
  • Limited to Wi-Fi 5
  • Kickstand add-on is inconvenient

Lenovo's Duet 5 is a Chromebook tablet with an OLED display, one of the first and also one of the most inexpensive. The beautiful 13.3-inch beautiful OLED display is definitely the tablet's highlight, providing the usual excellent colors and deep contrast that only OLED can provide. The tablet's portability pairs nicely with an impressive degree of power, thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon SC7180 octa-core processor and 8GB of system memory.

The 128GB of eMMC flash storage offers plenty of space to store photos, documents, and offline files when you need them. The Duet 5 has WiFi 6 onboard for faster, more stable wireless connections, but also offers wired connectivity too when you're near an Ethernet port.

The Lenovo Duet 5 offers acceptable productivity performance, long battery life, excellent display, and solid build quality. It also offers surprisingly good build quality for the price, along with an included keyboard that's comfortable and offers a usable touchpad. Overall, it's one of the better Chromebook bargains.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook OLED
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5
Best OLED Chromebook
acer chromebook 516 ge review on railing outdoors
Aaron Leong

Acer Chromebook 516 GE

Best Cloud Gaming Chromebook

Pros
  • Performance and endurance
  • Great display
  • Good price for the specs
  • Well-built
  • Play AAA games without your lap turning into lava
Cons
  • Gaming-related bugs and crashes
  • No touchscreen
  • Could use customizable keys

It's a bit strange seeing a Chromebook that's branded for gaming, especially since that's not what their core purpose is. However, Acer certainly pulled it off here. You can play AAA games without your lap turning into lava because the system is overheating. That's possible thanks to all of the power under the hood. Cloud gaming via GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Beta is the way to go, but this system is fully capable of that and more. Chromebooks also have access to Google Play and this thing will certainly handle any Android-viable games you throw at it.

It has an Intel Core i5 processor, running at a base clock speed of 1.7GHz, paired with 8GB of energy-efficient LPDDR4 system memory — expandable up to 16GB. Games, movies, and streaming media look fantastic on the 16-inch TFT LCD at a WQXGA resolution (2560 by 1600), with a brightness rating of 350 nits. The 256GB NVMe solid-state drive is faster and larger than what you get with most comparable systems.

Our review clearly lays out the details of using the system, especially for cloud gaming. It's also praised for being well-constructed with a durable chassis, has excellent specs for the price, and delivers great performance and endurance — battery life included.

Acer Chromebook 516 GE
Acer Chromebook 516 GE
Best Cloud Gaming Chromebook
Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 front view showing display and keyboard.
Digital Trends

Asus Chromebook Plus CX34

Best budget clamshell Chromebook

Pros
  • Fast Intel CPUs
  • Up to 16GB of RAM
  • Up to 256GB of storage
  • Solid build quality
Cons
  • Only an FHD display

Most of our budget Chromebooks have been 2-in-1s, but you can find very affordable clamshell Chrome OS laptops as well. The Chromebook Plus CX34 is one such laptop, offering a solid build that's backed up by MIL-STD 810H military certification for durability.

Toss in up to a 13th-gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage and the Chromebook Plus CX34 can burn through demanding Chrome OS workflows. The 14-inch display offers just FHD resolution, not the best colors, and just 250 nits of brightness, showing where a corner was cut to attain such an affordable price.

The keyboard offers a good typing feel and there are plenty of ports. The latter include two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. You don't have to spend a lot to get a great Chrome OS clamshell.

Asus Chromebook Plus CX34
Asus Chromebook Plus CX34
Best budget clamshell Chromebook
Mark Coppock

Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for technology into a marketing, consulting, and freelance writing career aimed at helping people use technology to enhance their lives. At Digital Trends, he reviews laptops and desktops, including the latest from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Apple, and more, and writes news and easy to understand how-to articles about the computing industry as a whole.

When he’s not writing, you’ll find him reading and watching science fiction, taking photos with his family, and obsessing over Indiana University basketball.

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This Asus laptop with an OLED display is $500 off right now
Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED sitting on a table top.

OLED technology, which has been making waves in the TV industry, has found its way into the laptop space through devices such as the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X. If you want this laptop with an OLED display, you can currently get it with a $500 discount from Best Buy that slashes its price to $1,300 from $1,800 originally. There's no telling how much time is remaining before this offer expires though, so you're going to have to complete your transaction for it as soon as you can.

Why you should buy the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X
The Asus Vivobook Pro 16X features a gorgeous 16-inch OLED screen with 3200 x 2000 resolution, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and a 120Hz refresh rate. Whether you'll be working on projects, creating presentations, or watching streaming shows, this display is perfect because of its deep blacks, amazing contrast, and warm tint. A screen of this quality is often only found in more expensive laptops, so it's a huge advantage for the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X.

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The Samsung Galaxy Book4 has a $300 price cut today
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 laptop on a white background.

Samsung is known as a reliable brand for all kinds of electronic devices and home appliances, particularly smartphones and TVs. You may also want to give it a shot if you're on the hunt for laptop deals, as the Samsung Galaxy Book4 is available from Best Buy with a $300 discount. From its original price of $900, it's down to a more affordable $600. We think the offer will only be up for a limited time though, so if you want to take advantage of it, you're going to have to complete your purchase as soon as you can.

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The Samsung Galaxy Book4 is a laptop that will help you finish your everyday tasks quickly and efficiently, with its Intel Core 7 Series 1 processor and integrated Intel Graphics. Its 16GB of RAM is comparable to top-tier machines, according to our guide on how much RAM you need. The device runs on Windows 11 Home, which should be a familiar operating system for most people, and it offers access to Microsoft Copilot, which is a powerful AI assistant that will further boost your productivity as long as you're able to create the appropriate prompts for the output you want to get.

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This HP Victus gaming laptop is down to $480 with this deal
HP Victus placed outside while displaying an attractive background.

Even with discounts, gaming laptop deals can still get pretty expensive. That's not the case with the budget-friendly HP Victus 15, which is currently even cheaper from Best Buy. From its original price of $800, it's down to only $480 for savings of $320. We're not sure how much time is remaining on this bargain though, so if you want to get this gaming laptop for a very affordable price, you're going to have to push through with your purchase within the day.

Why you should buy the HP Victus 15 gaming laptop
As a device that's designed for budget-minded gamers, you shouldn't expect the HP Victus 15 to match the performance of the most advanced models of the best gaming laptops. However, it's capable of delivering decent speeds when you're playing the best PC games with its AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS processor, AMD Radeon RX 6550M graphics card, and 8GB of RAM. You won't be able to play games at their highest settings, but that's an acceptable trade-off considering the cheap price of the HP Victus 15. Every purchase of the gaming laptop also comes with a one-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, for access to a massive library of titles.

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