The best Chromebook laptop or two-in-one for every Chrome OS fan
Chromebooks are no longer merely notebooks that run a few Google apps. Chromebooks can now handle a wide range of computing tasks, making a competent Chrome OS laptop or two-in-one more useful than a mediocre Windows or MacOS laptop. That’s why the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, which does almost everything well, is our pick for the best Chromebook of 2021.
The best Chromebooks are known for being inexpensive. The message to manufacturers that many people want good Chromebooks, not just cheap ones, has gotten through. Many are in the $500 to $600 range, but there are also nice selections in the higher and lower price ranges. The extra cash will go a long way toward getting you something you’ll like.
For the first time in this range, the quality of the finest Chromebooks has remained consistent. There are so many parallels between Asus, Lenovo, Google, HP, Dell, and Samsung’s offerings that a conspiracy theorist may believe they’re all sourced from the same factory. If you’re doing some comparison shopping, this is wonderful news; the bulk of the items on this list would be good buys if you could find them at a discount. They can even compete with some of the greatest laptops, cheap laptops, and student laptops available.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is our top pick for the best Chromebook, and the Lenovo Chromebook Duet is our cheap pick. The Google Pixelbook Go, Google Pixelbook, HP Chromebook x360, and Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 are among the other best Chromebooks of 2021.
Most customers seek the same qualities in a Chromebook as they do in a laptop: a good keyboard, robust build quality, extended battery life, a nice screen, and enough power to do what you want. More Chromebooks than ever before can meet those requirements, but these are the ones that stand out.
BEST CHROMEBOOK 2021
1. ACER CHROMEBOOK SPIN 713
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is the greatest Chromebook money can buy. You’ll get a ton of extra vertical room for your work and multitasking with a stunning 3:2 screen that beats some more expensive competitors.
The keyboard is wonderful, with a beautiful illumination and a comfortable, silent feel. There’s even an HDMI port, which isn’t always found on a slim Chromebook. And, most crucially, the 11th-Gen Intel processors can easily handle a large number of tabs. The speakers on the Spin aren’t excellent, and there’s no biometric login, but both are reasonable trade-offs for a laptop of this caliber at this price.
In a market where the major differences between Chromebooks in this price range are their screens and perhaps the inclusion of a stylus, Acer stands out by producing a budget laptop that is great in practically every regard.
2. LENOVO CHROMEBOOK DUET
If you’re searching for a low-cost tablet for on-the-go work, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet is a great option. It’s a 10.1-inch 2-in-1 laptop with a detachable keyboard and kickstand cover that’s ultra-portable.
The Duet has a MediaTek Helio P60T engine, 4GB of RAM, and up to 128GB of storage, and it works great if you’re just browsing and won’t be putting it through a lot of stress. It also runs a version of Chrome OS designed specifically for its convertible form factor, including the first Chrome version tailored for tablet use. When the Duet isn’t connected to its keyboard, it has an Android-style gesture navigation mechanism that makes switching apps a breeze. But the battery life is the most impressive aspect; I got close to 11.5 hours of moderate use.
There are, of course, disadvantages. The touchpad and keyboard are undersized, there’s no headphone jack (just one USB-C connector), and the 16:10 display is dull. But, for such a low price, those are reasonable trade-offs to make. It’s an excellent secondary device for schoolwork or browsing on the go.
3. HP CHROMEBOOK X360 14
The HP Chromebook x360 14 is a wonderful choice if you want more power and don’t mind purchasing a little larger notebook. HP offers a variety of configurations under this name, but we recommend the one we tested, which includes 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage in addition to the i3 processor.
While we chose the Asus because of its attractive look, the somewhat larger HP doesn’t have much to complain about. It has the same connectors, RAM, and storage as the previous model. The keyboard is excellent, and the sound quality is significantly improved because the speakers are located on the keyboard deck rather than on the bottom.