Which is the best Chromebook right now? Expert picks the top 3 available
There are lots of Chromebooks around – so which are the best options?
If you've been shopping for a Chromebook lately, you'll know there are a lot of them around – and quite often they'll have similar specs and prices, which makes picking out the best model for you rather challenging (though it's nice to have a lot of choice).
Here we're going to save you a substantial amount of time clicking through pages and pages of listings by directing you straight to the best 3 Chromebooks you can buy right now. These laptops offer the most appealing mix of affordability, power, and ease-of-use.
T3's top 3
A superb all-rounder that will suit most people, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 offers a large 16-inch screen, superior build quality, and specs that are going to be able to handle all your everyday computing needs. There's nothing bad to say about this laptop, and it's available for a really competitive price considering everything you get back in return.
Chromebooks are best known as budget machines, but premium models are around if you look for them, and the Galaxy Chromebook Plus is the best in this category. It comes with a really impressive set of specs, a gorgeous design, and of course the knowledge and expertise that comes with Samsung's many years experience.
For those who want something a little different from their laptop, there's the HP Chromebook Plus x360: the 14-inch display folds right back against the keyboard, so you can use it as a makeshift tablet too, if you want. Aside from that party trick, the laptop brings with it decent performance and stylish looks, all at an appealing price point.
How these Chromebooks compare
The categories we've put these Chromebooks into in our top 3 ranking should give you an idea of which one is best for you, but it's worth digging a little bit deeper into the prices, specs, and features involved here.
At around around £300 / $400 at the time of writing (check the widgets on this page for the latest online deals), the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 is the most affordable model here, followed by the £500 / $550 HP Chromebook Plus x360 and the £749 / $999 Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus.
The Samsung is significantly more expensive, but that shows in the specs too. The Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage is a step above what other Chromebooks offer – including the Intel i3-powered Acer and HP models here. Still, all these laptops are perfectly capable of keeping dozens of browser tabs running at once.
For most people, the Acer is the ideal Chromebook. If you want something a little smaller and with a 360-degree screen, then consider the HP. If you're keen to get more in terms of performance and style, and you're ready to pay for it, the Samsung is a great choice.
The history of the Chromebook
While you deliberate over the right choice for your Chromebook shopping spree, we should remind ourselves of how we got here. The very first Chromebooks showed up in 2011: they were made by Acer and Samsung (both mentioned in this guide too), and they were unveiled at the Google I/O event in May of that year.
Manufacturers including Lenovo, HP, and Google itself joined the party soon afterwards, but these laptops weren't immediately beloved: a lot of the initial coverage focused on the limitations of a Chromebook and on everything they couldn't do (more on this below).
We're rather sad that Google seems to have given up making flagship Chromebooks of its own. The Google Pixelbook Go (launched in 2019) was great and the Google Pixelbook (launched in 2017) was really, really great. For now though, it seems Google isn't interested in making another Chromebook of its own.
Other laptop manufacturers continue the good work, however. In 2023, Google and its partners introduced the Chromebook Plus branding, indicating a certain level of minimum hardware specs that ensure a decent user experience: these specs include 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, and a screen with a resolution of at least 1080p.
What Chromebooks can and can't do
As we've already mentioned, Chromebooks weren't welcomed by everyone when they first arrived: ChromeOS is essentially just the Chrome browser, and many a reviewer pointed out that Windows and macOS laptops give you the Chrome browser plus a whole lot more – so why would users want to limit themselves?
Chromebooks can't run fully fledged desktop apps, and rely heavily on an internet connection. While online versions of programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Word exist, they're quite restricted in terms of what they can do, and any kind of top-tier PC gaming is out of the question as well.
As time has gone on though, the limitations of Chromebooks have come to be seen as strengths: They're fast and lightweight, and aren't burdened by dozens of applications running in the background. Files are instantly saved in the cloud, and you can even use some web apps offline (including Gmail and Google Docs). What's more, they're often cheaper than the Windows or macOS equivalents.
Modern Chromebooks also have an extra trick: the ability to run Android apps. This means that some of the drawbacks of web apps can be overcome: you can use Android apps to edit photos and videos for example, and install Android games (or stream games from the cloud). For a lot of people, they make a lot of sense.
How we test the best Chromebooks
T3 takes its gadget reviews very seriously indeed, putting every laptop on the test bench through its paces, and treating each product as if it were our own – and of course this extends to the best Chromebooks too.
That means we have the real-world experience to test out battery life, the in-depth knowledge to contextually compare and contrast other products on the market, and the historical experience to evaluate how ranges have evolved – for better or worse.
When it comes to Chromebooks, the ChromeOS software is standard – so we're looking particularly at aspects of the laptop including battery life, design, and internal specs. These are the key characteristics you need to weigh up if you're in the market for one.
As with any T3 review, each Chromebook is awarded an overall score out of five stars, which helps justify where a product sits within our rankings. For more details, check out our How We Test page.
Reviewer panel
Dave has been reviewing laptops for more years than he can remember – since way before Chromebooks even existed – so he knows what to look for in these portable computers, and he always makes sure review units are tested thoroughly.
Andrew is a freelance tech journalist with bylines at a variety of major tech outlets, including T3. With many years of experience to draw on, you can trust that Andrew will guide you towards the right Chromebook for whatever your requirements are.
