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MagyarThe Best Chromebooks
The major manufacturers do not just sell Windows-based laptops, but have the rather inexpensive and frequently more portable Chromebooks with Google's Chrome OS in their portfolio. This particular operating system is based on the idea that most of the work a user encounters can be done using the browser. Chromebooks run a version of Linux with a very small footprint and utilize the Chrome browser running on top of the OS. Even though local web applications can be installed as well, the focus is clearly on cloud-based services accessed via the browser.
The notebooks in this category do not require a lot of processing power or hard drive space, so they are pretty stripped-down and carry a low price tag. Of course, there are drawbacks as well: popular applications such as Office or Skype will not run on Chrome. The only choice here is to use Google's own applications. Printing and hooking up USB devices can be a bit of a headache as well. Also refer to the following listings to find an affordable device:
The Best Chromebooks
Position | Total Rating | Date | Image | Model | Height | Weight | Size | Resolution | Screen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88 % | 11/2020 |  | Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise 2-in-1 Intel Core i5-10310U Intel UHD Graphics 620 16 GB Memory, SSD | 16.8 mm | 1.5 kg | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | glossy |
| 2 | 88 % | 10/2020 |  | Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise Intel Core i5-10310U Intel UHD Graphics 620 16 GB Memory, SSD | 18.3 mm | 1.4 kg | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | matte |
| 3 | 86 % | 04/2021 New! |  | Acer Chromebook Spin 713 CP713-2W-560V Intel Core i5-10210U Intel UHD Graphics 620 8 GB Memory, 128 GB SSD | 16.8 mm | 1.4 kg | 13.50" | 2256x1504 | glossy |
| 4 | 84 % | 05/2021 New! |  | Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 CB 13IML05 82B80010GE Intel Core i5-10210U Intel UHD Graphics 620 8 GB Memory, 128 GB SSD | 17.95 mm | 1.4 kg | 13.30" | 1920x1080 | glossy |
| 5 | 81 % | 01/2020 |  | Asus Chromebook Flip C434TA-AI0264 Intel Core m3-8100Y Intel UHD Graphics 615 8 GB Memory, 64 GB eMMC | 15.7 mm | 1.5 kg | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | glossy |
| 6 | 81 % | 12/2020 |  | Acer Chromebook 15 CB315-3HT-P297 Intel Pentium Silver N5030 Intel UHD Graphics 605 8 GB Memory, 128 GB eMMC | 20.3 mm | 1.9 kg | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | matte |
| 7 | 80 % | 01/2021 |  | Acer Chromebook 514 CB514-1HT-P1BM Intel Pentium N4200 Intel HD Graphics 505 8 GB Memory, 64 GB eMMC | 17 mm | 1.4 kg | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | glossy |
| 8 | 80 % | 09/2020 |  | Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook 10 Mediatek Helio P60T ARM Mali-G72 MP3 4 GB Memory, 64 GB eMMC | 18.2 mm | 920 g | 10.10" | 1920x1200 | glossy |
| 9 | 79 % | 12/2020 |  | Acer Chromebook Spin 311 CP311-3H-K2RJ Mediatek MT8183 ARM Mali-G72 MP3 4 GB Memory, 64 GB eMMC | 18.8 mm | 1.1 kg | 11.60" | 1366x768 | glossy |
| 10 | 75 % |  | Acer Chromebook 314 CB314-1H-C7SJ Intel Celeron N4100 Intel UHD Graphics 600 4 GB Memory, 64 GB eMMC | 19.7 mm | 1.4 kg | 14.00" | 1366x768 | matte |
The table above contains an overview over the best notebooks for less than 500 Euros reviewed by Notebookcheck over the course of the past 12 months as well as still relevant and available older products. In cases of identical score the more recent device is listed first. All prices in above table and price comparisons are updated daily and can thus differ.
Link: Link: all devices in this class reviewed
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Top 10 at the time of writing, current reviews first
Editors' Comments
1st - Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise 2-in-1
Even though its cumbersome name suggests otherwise the Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise 2-in-1 is not only made for businesses but can be a great Chromebook for consumers as well. That is if they are willing to spend much more than $1,000 for a Chromebook of course. At this price, a storage space of just 100 GB seems laughable, but keep in mind that ChromeOS is designed to work online and store files and data in the cloud instead of locally.
Downsides include its comparatively poor graphics performance as well as speakers that are simply too cheap for its price class.
In return, it does offer a plethora of features that are often missing from cheaper Chromebooks, for example a great case, a bright display, incredibly long battery life, and fast Wi-Fi. Its convertible nature brings even more flexibility.
Overall, it is not really surprising that the Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise 2-in-1 secured the top spot on our best-of Chromebook list. However, at this price point you can also find great Windows and macOS alternatives.
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2nd - Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise
The Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise lacks its sibling’s convertibility features but comes with the same high-quality lightweight carbon-fiber case, plenty of ports, and optionally even WWAN support.
Keep in mind though that you will be paying much more than $1,000 for a Chromebook, which will suffer from the same limitations as all other Chromebooks. Namely a meager 100 GB of storage space and the fact that you will be limited to web services and Android apps. And to add insult to injury Dell opted for a very spongy keyboard and a very inaccurate and hard to use clickpad.
Granted, if you are looking for a high-performance Chromebook the Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise may be a good choice. However, considering its high price, we would have expected much more.
Pricecompare
3rd - Acer Chromebook Spin 713 CP713-2W
At around $800, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is one of the more expensive Chromebooks currently available. In return, you get a nice metal case, fast storage, excellent battery life, fast Wi-Fi, a backlit keyboard, and many more things that most other Chromebooks fail to offer.
The display did not entirely meet our expectations as its contrast ratio was not particularly high and it suffered from major reflections but at least its color representation was very accurate and its 3:2 ratio is great for work.
Overall, the Spin is a highly versatile and well-equipped great Chromebook that comes at a high price.
Prices in the US start at slightly less than $540 for the lesser-equipped SKU and $740 for the higher-tier model, both of which are available on Amazon.
Pricecompare
4th – Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 Chromebook
The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 Chromebook is Lenovo’s attempt at introduction a more expensive high-quality 2-in-1 Chromebook. It offers fast Wi-Fi, fast storage, optional stylus input, a backlit keyboard, and a quiet and discreet mode of operation.
We were, however, disappointed by its battery life of no more than 8 hours in our Wi-Fi test, which may seem okay at first glance but are not particularly great for a Chromebook. We also did not like its dim display.
All things considered it is a highly versatile high-quality Chromebook available in various configurations, and therefore affordable for almost everybody. While the Celeron-powered SKU is sold through Lenovo’s own webstore the Core i3-powered SKU can be purchased on Amazon for $320.
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5th – Asus Chromebook Flip
Thanks to very narrow display bezels Asus Chromebook Flip manages to house a 14-inch display inside what would normally be considered a 13.3-inch convertible. Granted, the display was somewhat dim, but it offered a native FHD resolution and decent viewing angles in return. On top of the fairly good looking slim metal case you also get great battery life, a keyboard backlight, and USB-C with Power Delivery.
Thanks to a GPU-embedded video decoder video streaming is not an issue at all. Storage space on the other hand, like on so many Chromebooks, is. At 640 Euros it is also pretty pricey for a convertible Chromebook.
If you are in the market for a high-quality Chromebook and don’t mind spending that much money the slim convertible is worth a closer look.
Pricecompare
6th - Acer Chromebook 315
The Acer Chromebook 315 features a Touchscreen, is silent, and offers very good battery life of more than 10 hours. It should thus easily last all workday long. It supports an additional display via its USB-C port with DisplayPort signal.
At around $500 the notebook is not particularly cheap for a Chromebook. At this price point, we would have expected a backlit keyboard and a brighter display.
However, if you are looking for a Chromebook with Touchscreen and long battery life the Chromebook 315 will be a great choice.
Pricecompare
7th – Acer Chromebook 514
400 Euros are not necessarily cheap for a Chromebook. However, what once used to be the cheap low-end segment of the laptop market has broadened significantly to encompass increasingly more high-quality devices for more demanding users.
For example, the Acer Chromebook 514 comes with a backlit keyboard, a robust high-quality case, and even USB-C charging.
Nevertheless, the display is too dim for a 400 Euro Chromebook, the webcam was of rather poor quality, and the device cannot be upgraded retroactively. Despite these shortcomings we can still recommend the Acer Chromebook 514 for all users who are not looking for the best performance in a Chromebook world.
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8th – Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook 10
At slightly over $300 the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet is a quite interesting device. The small convertible is a laptop and tablet at the same time, and therefore even more flexible than most other Chromebooks.
As an alternative to ChromeOS the device also supports running Android or a Linux distro, although those have to be run under ChromeOS and are thus significantly slower than they could be were they run natively. As a result, gaming under Android is all but impossible.
Good battery life, low emissions, and Google’s promise of 8 years of operating system updates are great arguments in favor of the small Chromebook.
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9th - Acer Chromebook Spin 311
The Acer Chromebook Spin 311 can be purchased for around $300 and features a MediaTek SoC as well as 64 GB of storage. It offers a long battery life, the flexibility of a convertible, a touchscreen, and a silent mode of operation without getting particularly warm.
Its downsides include a dim and reflective display as well as its lack of keyboard backlight, although we are willing to look the other way considering its low price. Its connectivity is also far from great, and video output as well as power input have to share a single USB-C port.
Acer’s affordable Chromebook convertible may not be perfect, but for not a lot of money you get a highly flexible device with long battery life that may be worth a closer look if you want a Touchscreen on your device.
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10th – Acer Chromebook 314
Acer’s entry-level Chromebook 314 costs around 300 Euros. For that, you get modern USB-C connectivity as well as acceptable performance.
In return, the keyboard is only good enough to meet the lowest of expectations, and the TN display that should at this point have been a thing of the long gone past suffered from a visible blue tint. The webcam showed a blurry and poor picture, and the case was not particularly robust either.
And while you can purchase the 314 with a higher quality display as well we would much rather recommend the 100 Euro more expensive yet significantly more powerful Chromebook 514 instead.
If you can’t or don’t want to pay more and are willing to put up with the display the 13:32 hours of battery life in our Wi-Fi test might be an acceptable trade-off.
Pricecompare
Best Chromebooks in Comparison
Test Results
| Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise 2-in-1 | Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise | Acer Chromebook Spin 713 CP713-2W-560V | Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 CB 13IML05 82B80010GE | Asus Chromebook Flip C434TA-AI0264 | Acer Chromebook 15 CB315-3HT-P297 | Acer Chromebook 514 CB514-1HT-P1BM | Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook 10 | Acer Chromebook Spin 311 CP311-3H-K2RJ | Acer Chromebook 314 CB314-1H-C7SJ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | ||||||||||
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 54 (26, 28) | 41.2 (20.8, 20.4) | 36 (10, 26) | 47 (20, 27) | 48 (24, 24) | 20 (2, 18) | 44 (21, 23) | 40.1 (20.3, 19.8) | 45 (21, 24) | 46 (26, 20) |
| Response Time Black / White * | 39.2 (21.2, 18) | 31.2 (18, 13.2) | 12 (3, 9) | 30 (14, 16) | 34 (19, 15) | 24 (14, 10) | 27 (14, 13) | 27.5 (14.3, 13.2) | 29 (16, 13) | 17 (11, 6) |
| PWM Frequency | 1667 (44) | 25000 | 200 (40) | 250 | ||||||
| Screen | ||||||||||
| Brightness middle | 297.9 | 286.8 | 426 | 242 | 294 | 272 | 204 | 397 | 219 | 190 |
| Brightness | 293 | 262 | 388 | 232 | 272 | 229 | 190 | 360 | 214 | 167 |
| Brightness Distribution | 95 | 85 | 85 | 85 | 70 | 78 | 83 | 81 | 90 | 81 |
| Black Level * | 0.18 | 0.2 | 0.56 | 0.235 | 0.39 | 0.185 | 0.29 | 0.44 | 0.21 | 0.18 |
| Contrast | 1655 | 1434 | 761 | 1030 | 754 | 1470 | 703 | 902 | 1043 | 1056 |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 * | 3.29 | 2.05 | 2.25 | 1.99 | 4.44 | 14.66 | 3.19 | 4.87 | 21.82 | |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 max. * | 9.38 | 5.37 | 5.29 | 2.77 | 18.84 | 25.65 | 11 | 18.57 | 34.31 | |
| Greyscale DeltaE2000 * | 5.8 | 3.8 | 3.53 | 1.78 | 3.44 | 2.2 | 14.75 | 5.9 | 3.39 | 21.85 |
| Gamma | 2.245 98% | 2.201 100% | 2.32 95% | 2.31 95% | 2.51 88% | 2.44 90% | 1.69 130% | 2.61 84% | 1.97 112% | |
| CCT | 5957 109% | 7004 93% | 6368 102% | 6567 99% | 6486 100% | 6448 101% | 8907 73% | 7938 82% | 6941 94% | 16787 39% |
| Noise | ||||||||||
| off / environment * | 26.7 | 26.1 | 24.9 | 26.5 | ||||||
| Idle Minimum * | 27 | 26.1 | 24.9 | 26.5 | ||||||
| Idle Average * | 27 | 26.1 | 27 | 26.5 | ||||||
| Idle Maximum * | 27 | 26.1 | 29.9 | 26.5 | ||||||
| Load Average * | 30.1 | 30.2 | 26.8 | 32.6 | ||||||
| Load Maximum * | 30.1 | 30.2 | 32.9 | 35.5 | ||||||
| Heat | ||||||||||
| Maximum Upper Side * | 37.8 | 40.8 | 31.8 | 43.1 | 32.4 | 32.5 | 37 | 33 | 27.6 | 35.9 |
| Maximum Bottom * | 43 | 45.2 | 36 | 53 | 35 | 32.3 | 31.3 | 38 | 28 | 31.7 |
| Idle Upper Side * | 26.6 | 30 | 24.1 | 25.5 | 24.2 | 23.9 | 24.6 | 29 | 22.6 | 29.4 |
| Idle Bottom * | 27.8 | 31.4 | 24.6 | 28.5 | 23.8 | 24.5 | 24.6 | 28 | 23.4 | 28.2 |
| Battery Runtime | ||||||||||
| Reader / Idle | ||||||||||
| WiFi v1.3 | 942 | 748 | 619 | 457 | 598 | 618 | 604 | 758 | 781 | 812 |
| Load | ||||||||||
| Power Consumption | ||||||||||
| Idle Minimum * | 3.2 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Idle Average * | 5 | 7.1 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 11.3 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 |
| Idle Maximum * | 5.2 | 7.2 | 6.7 | 6.5 | 5.7 | 6.6 | 12.3 | 5.1 | 3.7 | 4.4 |
| Load Average * | 11.6 | 11.6 | 25 | 27 | 7.1 | 13 | 15.4 | 7.5 | 5.5 | 15.4 |
| Load Maximum * | 67.6 | 57.3 | 36 | 30.6 | 19.6 | 16.6 | 17.9 | 9 | 8.3 | 17.9 |
* ... smaller is better
Benchmarks
| WebXPRT 2015 - Overall Score (sort by value) | |
| Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise 2-in-1 | |
| Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise | |
| Geekbench 4.1 - 4.4 | |
| Compute RenderScript Score (sort by value) | |
| Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise 2-in-1 | |
| Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise | |
| 64 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise 2-in-1 | |
| Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise | |
| 64 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise 2-in-1 | |
| Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise | |
* ... smaller is better
