The Best Chromebooks For Students In 2023 Expert Reviewed

The streamlined Chrome OS makes it easy to navigate to popular apps like Google Docs, Google Drive, and email so students can stay on task and in touch with teachers and classmates. Chromebooks also have tons of security features like mic mute, camera shutters, and data encryption to keep students safe from digital spying and their personal information or classwork protected from theft or misuse.  You don’t have to worry about viruses, either. The Chrome OS was designed with the Linux framework, making it very difficult for hackers and digital criminals to create harmful software that targets Chromebooks. The biggest pro is that Chromebooks are way more affordable than a Windows or macOS-based laptop, often retailing for just around $300.  I’ve rounded up the best Chromebooks for students on the market today, from brands like Lenovo, Samsung, and, of course, Google. More:

The best Chromebook laptopsThe best Chromebooks for workThe best Windows laptopsThe best computers The best Macs

The Google Pixelbook Go is more than fast enough for most students. With its low-wattage 1.3GHz Core i5-8200Y processor, it came in with a decent score of 83 on Principled Technologies’ CrXPRT 2 Chromebook benchmark. The body of the black Pixelbook Go has a magnesium-alloy lid with an underside base featuring a ribbed easy-to-grip design. This makes this Pixelbook hard to drop. Speaking as someone who busted a laptop or two due to falls, this is a good thing. At 2.3 pounds and 12.2 x 8.1 x 0.5 inches, it’s also very light. The model I tested came with 16GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, and a 13.3 inch 1920x1080p touch display. To power the display, it uses Intel UHD 615 graphics.  Review: Pixelbook Go review: Google’s laptop is designed to please This is the one Chromebook I looked at that I’d enjoy watching a movie on. The Pixelbook Go’s 1080p webcam is also superior. I’d have no qualms about Zooming with teachers and classmates with this setup.   The keyboard, on the other hand, doesn’t have a lot of travel. I could work on it, but I’d prefer pounding on the keys of one of the other models. The touchpad, though, worked just fine for me. The ports, or rather the lack thereof, are annoying. All you get is a single USB Type-C port and headphone jack on the left and another USB-C port on the right – that’s it. To charge up your Pixelbook Go, you’ll need to use one of those USB-C ports, so anytime you’re charging, you’re down to just one available port. Still, when it comes to battery life, the Go’s a champ. With a four-cell, 47 W/H battery, it delivered 11.5 hours of useful life. If you want both a tablet and a laptop, get a 2-in-1 like the Asus Chromebook Flip C434. This Chromebook comes in several configurations, but I checked out the lower-end model. This came with a dual-core Intel Core m3-8100Y processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of eMMC storage. Despite its rather low-end hardware, it has a decent CrXPRT benchmark score of 75.  With its matte-silver aluminum finish and chrome trim, it’s also a very handsome machine. When you turn it on to work with its 14-inch screen, you’ll be pleased by its sharp, vivid display.  I’m not a big fan of touchscreens on laptops, but this one wasn’t just a pretty face. It was easy to work with, and, for once, I found myself often using it. Normally, I stop bothering with touchscreens. I found both the keyboard play and touchpad feel to be decent, but nothing to write home about. At 6 x 8 x 0.6 inches and 3.1 pounds, the Flip 434 is a bit heavier than most 2-in-1 designs, but I doubt most people will notice the difference. For ports, it comes with a USB 3.1 Type-A port, a USB-C port, and a headphone jack on the left, and another second USB-C port and a microSD card on the right. You can use both type Cs to power the machine.  With its Li-ion 48W/H battery, this Asus model came in with an honest 10 hours of battery life.  The Lenovo Flex 5i is a laptop that proves Chromebooks can be powerful. It’s built around an Intel Core i3-1115G4 CPU, giving you up to 4.1GHz of processing power, which is more than enough to tackle classwork and video calls with teachers.  It has 64GB of storage, giving you plenty of space for documents, photos, and files you need to complete coursework; but if you do run out of space, you can back up or save to Google Drive to free up room locally.  The 13.3-inch screen produces great 1080p HD resolution for video classes, educational videos, and creating slideshows. It also supports touch inputs, and the 2-in-1 form factor lets you streamline your workflow by eliminating the need for a separate tablet.  With Wi-Fi 6 compatibility, you’ll get blazing fast wireless internet speeds, and Bluetooth 5.1 lets you connect wireless peripherals like headsets and mice. The battery gives you up to 10 hours of use on a full charge, meaning you can go a whole day of class without needing to plug in. But when you do need to top up your new laptop, USB-C charging lets you charge up fast. The Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 is designed for students on the go. Not only do you get Wi-Fi connectivity, but you also get LTE cellular data to stay connected to the internet without a wireless connection. This is perfect for emailing professors or turning in assignments when you’re not at home or off-campus. The 2-in-1 form factor gives you the best of both laptops and tablets, and the included pen makes taking notes a breeze.  Its compact form makes it easy to slip into a backpack, and it weighs just over 3 pounds, making it lightweight enough to carry around all day. It only has 32GB of onboard storage, but you can save that space by working directly with GSuite apps like Docs, Sheets, and Drive to draft and store documents.  The battery gives you up to 8 hours of use on a full charge, so if you have night classes or after-school study groups, you may want to pack your charging cable to top up. Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet 5 is a perfect option for someone who lives and works inside Google’s ecosystem of services and products. It’s a full-fledged ChromeOS device, but instead of having a permanently attached keyboard, it’s a tablet that docks into the keyboard that comes in the box. Finally, there’s a tablet that comes with a keyboard.  When it’s docked, you’ll get a standard Chromebook layout and interface. You can access all of your Chrome apps, visit websites, and the like. You can also install Android apps directly from the Google Play Store. These are the same apps you can install on your phone, some of which are optimized for tablets.  Review: Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5: Great Chromebook, great tablet When you disconnect the keyboard from the Duet 5, the interface will slightly adjust and adapt to a touch-first approach, ideal for a tablet. If you live and work in Google’s ecosystem, then the Chromebook Duet 5 makes a lot of sense.  Generally speaking, the older the student, the more power they can use. On the other side of the age gap, so long as a Chromebook can take a beating and keep on running, it’s fine for a younger kid. 
Personally, just like with any computer, I’ll take all the power and screen real estate I can get. But, for the students in your home, you don’t need to spend a lot of money for them to go to school virtually. 
This test tells you how fast a Chromebook handles things you do every day. This includes doing work as well as more fun activities such as playing video games, watching movies, and editing pictures.  This benchmark consists of six scenario tests:

Photo Effects: Applies three effects (Sharpen, Emboss, and Glow) to two photos each, a set of six photos total.Face Detection: Checks for human faces in a set of five photos (low resolution).Offline Notes: Measures the time to encrypt, store, and display notes from local storage.Stock Portfolio Dashboard: Calculates and displays different graphical views of a stock portfolio.DNA Sequence Analysis: Measures the time it takes to process eight DNA sequences for open reading frames and amino acids.3D Shapes with WebGL: Generates equation-based 3D shapes and displays them with WebGL.

The performance test gives you an overall score. With this benchmark, the higher the score, the better.  CrXPRT includes a battery test. In this test, all six workloads from the performance benchmarks are run, plus realistic periods of wait time and three additional scenarios: 

Video Player: Plays a two-minute 1080p H.264 video clip in a browser from the local system.Music Player: Plays an audio clip for three minutes.HTML5-based game: Runs an impact.js-based game for about two minutes.

All tests were run using ChromeOS 89. Wi-Fi was on, but Bluetooth was disabled during the benchmarking. The screens were set to 80% brightness. For teachers and school administrators, Google also provides G Suite for Education and Google Classroom to help them make remote learning as easy as possible. The main point is that if you’re short on cash, a cheap used or older model Chromebook will work just fine. And, since it’s trivial to erase a Chromebook and then reset it to your account, it’s much safer than buying a used Windows laptop. A Chromebook’s battery life is its biggest selling point, with many models sporting at least 10 hours of use on a full charge. This means your kids won’t have to keep track of charging cables in order to use their Chromebook throughout the school day.