4 Best Chromebooks (2024): Tested and Reviewed

Chromebooks tin travel with a batch of antithetic hardware inside, truthful it tin beryllium hard to fig retired precisely what you need. Fortunately, the Chromebook Plus programme has made the jumble of specs easier to parse. ChromeOS is besides airy capable that it doesn’t necessitate incredibly beefy specs to get a bully experience. Here are immoderate wide tips connected what to look retired for.

Processor: For the champion experience, you should debar older Chromebooks with Intel Celeron processors. The Chromebook Plus specifications connection a bully baseline to warrant speedy performance, and I’d urge going with astatine slightest an Intel Core i3, Core i5, oregon AMD Ryzen 3 7000 processor. Just ticker retired for overspending connected configurations with Intel Core i7 processors unless you request the other horsepower for multitasking Android games, Linux apps, and dozens of Chrome tabs. While Intel and AMD predominate the processor scene, you’ll occasionally find Chromebooks utilizing ARM processors similar the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 successful the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 above. These tin beryllium good for precise basal tasks, but they won’t fare arsenic good nether sustained, aggravated loads (at slightest until thing newer comes along).

RAM: Always opt for astatine slightest 8 GB of RAM if you tin spend it. You won’t find 4 GB of RAM successful thing different than basic, super-budget Chromebooks, but it severely limits your quality to multitask. If you privation to debar slowdowns, 8 GB of RAM is the modular you should purpose for.

Storage: Unlike a Mac oregon Windows PC, a batch of your Chromebook enactment volition unrecorded connected the web. This means you tin typically get distant with little storage, but I wouldn’t urge going beneath 128 GB. If you tin spend it, you’ll beryllium overmuch much comfy with astatine slightest 256 GB. You’ll get the champion velocity retired of an NVMe coagulated authorities drive, truthful look retired for that connected the spec expanse erstwhile you’re comparing models.

Screen: The immense bulk of Chromebook displays you’ll find volition beryllium IPS LCD panels, and that’s conscionable fine. Until OLED displays marque much of a dent successful the Chromebook space, IPS LCD screens connection the champion opposition and colour accuracy. If you’re buying successful the utmost fund range, ticker retired for TN LCD panels, arsenic they’re mostly little prime and connection worse viewing angles. For resolution, a 1,920 x 1,080-pixel solution should beryllium your standard. You’ll get crisp visuals astatine 13- and 14-inch surface sizes and it’s passable astatine 15 inches. Higher resolutions volition look adjacent better, but beryllium wary of the artillery beingness tradeoff you’ll spot from pushing powerfulness to much pixels.

Ports: USB-C ports person go commonplace connected the newest Chromebooks, truthful there’s nary longer immoderate excuse to bargain 1 without them. Try to get 1 that charges implicit USB-C truthful you tin recharge with a portable powerfulness slope erstwhile you’re connected the go. A microSD paper slot tin besides beryllium beneficial if you privation an casual mode to grow your retention connected the fly. You’ll find that immoderate Chromebooks enactment Thunderbolt 4 implicit their USB-C ports arsenic well. While that’s an fantabulous enactment to person if you program to plug your Chromebook into immoderate high-end monitors, it isn’t indispensable for astir people. Instead, you tin get akin outer show enactment (and walk a batch less) with an HDMI larboard oregon DisplayPort implicit USB-C support.