If you are a student and you are planning to buy a new laptop then there is a good chance that the right device for you is actually a Chromebook. In this article, we are going to check out the five best Chromebooks for students of 2021. I made this list based on my personal opinion in hours of research and I listed them based on build quality, features, hardware, and of course price.
I have included options for every type of consumer, so if you are looking for a cheap on-the-go Chromebook or convenience-pack option, we will have the product for you. If you want more information and updated pricing on the mentioned products, be sure to check the link in the description.
- Best excellent choice - Google Pixelbook Go
- Best Good performance - Asus Chromebook Flip C434
- Best overall - Acer Chromebook 15
- Samsung Chromebook 3
- Lenovo Chromebook C330
- Acer Chromebook 15
- Asus Chromebook Flip C434
- Google Pixelbook Go
- Up to 11 hours of battery life on a single charge
- Built-in security Features ensure you’re protected from viruses and Malware
- 11.6 inches HD anti-reflective Display
- Spill-resistant keyboard protects against accidental Damage
The fifth product on our Best Chromebook for Students list is the Samsung Chromebook 3. This is our best budget Chromebook coming in at $185. The simple and straightforward Chromebook is not much better than the Samsung Chromebook 3, which costs $ 185 and provides a solid amount for your everyday tasks.
The Chromebook 3 is powered by an Intel Celeron N3060 CPU with 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of internal storage, which is enough to do its job without any hassle. It also includes Bluetooth 4.0 for the pairing of mice, keyboards, earbuds, and other Bluetooth peripherals. It complements an 11.6-inch anti-reflective HD display and surprisingly excellent build quality while giving it a bit more composure with an anti-flexing keyboard for durability.
The Port in the Chromebook 3 provides a combo audio microphone jack with a USB 2.0 port, USB3.0 port, HDMI port, and a microSD card. It is also light at just two and a half pounds. This Chromebook offers a beautiful screen which is surprising for laptops of this price. It is 1366 by 768 resolutions giving a brightness level of 259 NITS which is not half bad.
Samsung’s penchant for color accuracy is on full display here with excellent color accuracy focused on the board and more realistic tones. This is thanks in large part to its Delta E rating of 0.2 which is embarrassing to perfection. It comes with a trade-off, though the Chromebook 3 supports only 63% of the SRGB color gamut.
The keyboard is spill-resistant during typing and gives a slightly higher response to the curved keys. This makes it easy to type the email, take notes, or chat. Battery life for the Chromebook 3 in this price range is excellent. When doing tasks that do not do much work in the way of media or Wi-Fi web surfing easily completes a day’s time which reduces the number to about 9 to 11 hours which is not bad.
The only embarrassing drawback of the device is its lack of speakers which do not work well at all. The Samsung Chromebook 3 is perfectly suited for those who do light work and nothing else. It is great for school, it is well suited for writers and it can serve as a great option for those who travel a lot and want a simple straight forward device to work on.
Key Features
- Good Battery: This Chromebook 3 gives up to 11 hours of battery life on a single charge.
- Good Quality Display: 11.6 inch HD anti-reflective display with excellent image quality and colors.
- Build Quality: Its spill-resistant keyboard prevents accidental damage.
- Well Powered: The Intel Celeron N3060 processor with 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage, Bluetooth v4.0 makes this Chromebook more than 3 capable of handling tasks.
Pros
- Display Quality
- Strong Battery Life
Cons
- Poor sound quality
Display Quality: Surprisingly bright screen for its class with superb image quality.
Strong Battery Life: This Chromebook 3 makes it easy to get through the days and complete your tasks.
Poor sound quality: This laptop does not have a very good sound quality and should not be relied on as a primary sound device.
- Get high performance when you need it – the Chromebook C330 boots up in seconds* and features easy-to-use Chrome OS, plenty of memory and storage, and so much more.
- Sleek, stylish, and secure, this 360⁰ convertible laptop is less than 1-inch thin and about the weight of a hardback book, with an 11-inch touchscreen display .
The C330 offers an 11.6-inch IPS display at 1366 by 768 resolutions, Quad-Core CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage. It combines it equally with the Samsung Chromebook 3 but the two-in-one format of Lenovo’s Chromebook offers more versatility. The device is well built with a distinctive white shade that is different from most laptops on the market today.
Unfortunately, the screen bezels are very thick which does not translate well into a good viewing experience. It is also about 3 pounds which makes it slightly heavier than others in its class. The panel rotation is strong and smooth and shows no signs of poor quality which is important for its two-in-one design. The connectivity options are great for charging, including USB C port, HDMI port, USB 3.0, and SD card slot, which covers everything a Chromebook user needs.
There is a headphone jack, volume buttons, and a security lock input. The display is great for its price. Even though color accuracy and brightness are not up to mark with competitors like the Samsung Chromebook 3. This is an unfortunate trade-off for the C330, with 75% SRGB color gamut coverage which is great.
A major downside is the lack of an anti-glass screen that raises a lot of reflections. The Lenovo Chromebook C330 keyboard is excellent with good touch response and small travel depth and the 2.4-inch touchpad is strong and responsive with gesture support. Unfortunately, the speakers on this particular Chromebook is not much better than the Samsung Chromebook 3, which offers mediocre quality.
It is not very powerful and can conflict with multitasking that sits for single tasks. However, a full-day battery life with regular usage is excellent. Sacrifices are made to the Lenovo Chromebook C330’s two-in-one form factor but it’s a great option for office workers who want to show content to people with the ability to switch to meetings or to a tablet-style interface.
Key Features
- Nice Design: It is sleek, stylish and safe. This 360-degree convertible laptop is less than 1-inch thin and weighs about a hardback book with an 11-inch touchscreen display that is perfect for day-to-day computing and multimedia.
- Ease of use: Lenovo Chromebook C330 is easy to use to provide built-in virus protection and is running with long battery life, no setup required, just log in with a Google account so that e-mail, Maps documents, and photos live through you via cloud storage.
Pros
- Two-in-one design
- Nice design
Cons
- Mediocre Display
- Under Powered
Two-in-one design: This Chromebook uses a hybrid laptop-tablet two-in-one designed for easy use.
Nice design: This Chromebook makes it easy to incorporate responsive touchpads with gestures for easy typing.
Mediocre Display: This Chromebook’s display quality is below that of many competitors.
Under Powered: Multitasking is made more difficult due to lower power hardware components.
Chromebook runs on Chrome OS: An operating system by Google that is built for the way we live today. It comes with built-in virus protection, updates automatically, boots up in seconds, and continues to stay fast over time. (Internet connection is required)
The third product on our Best Chromebooks for Students list is the Acer Chromebook 15. This is our best value per dollar Chromebook. Acer’s Chromebook line offers great value for money and the Chromebook 15 doesn’t offer much power and quality for a price tag of $ 260, making it an attractive bargain for those who want more features for their purchase.
The Acer Chromebook 15 runs on an Intel Celeron N3350 CPU with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a full HD touch display, housed in an attractive silver full aluminum casing. It looks iconic and high-quality, even if the bezels are slightly larger. The screen has 41% more pixels than traditional HD displays that display for more densely high-quality images.
This particularly adds to the fact that it is a 15-inch display in the Chromebook area, mostly populated by an 11-inch display and the Chromebook 15 actually offers a lot for the money. It comes with something particularly weighty of 3.7 pounds, which is less handy than a smaller Chromebook.
This is 32 gigabytes of storage when low-priced competitors are offering 64 gigabytes as a standard, so keep in mind that the device’s storage space is already much less. The Chromebook 15 has two USB C-ports and a USB 3.0 port as well as an audio jack and micro SD card slot, but it covers all the basics.
The Display quality is a mixed bag with underlining brightness and colors, which is particularly problematic. If you’re using this Chromebook as a tool for a day-to-day workhorse or school, then you shouldn’t have a problem, but looking at the 15-inch display, it’s disappointing that you cannot use the device for media playback without sacrificing the process where the Chromebook 15 really shines, though it will easily end up in battery life with regular usage and up to nine hours of heavy usage.
The Acer Chromebook 15 is best suited for those who want a good value per dollar Chromebook and those who prefer a larger screen than the comparable 11-inch variants from that perspective are the winners.
Key Features
- Google OS based: It has access to over 2 million Android apps from Google Play to learn and do more.
- Online storage: These Chromebooks come with built-in storage for offline access to your most important files and an additional 100 GB of Google drive space to ensure that all your files are automatically backed up.
- Good hardware: It comes with 15.6-inch full HD touch display, Intel Celeron N3350, 4GB LPDDR4 memory, 32GB EMMC, Google Chrome, aluminum cover, 180 degree late flat design, and battery life of up to 12 hours.
Pros
- Beautiful design
- 15-inch screen
Cons
- Bad Brightness
Beautiful design: This Chromebook is incredibly built quality with an aluminum body for added durability.
15-inch screen: It provides a 15-inch screen in the Chromebook arena, mostly from an 11-inch display.
Bad Brightness: It has more brightness. Even the brightness of this Chromebook is lower than many other models.
14-inch touchscreen Full HD 1920×1080 4-way NanoEdge display featuring ultra-narrow bezels (5millimeter thin) around each side of the display that allows for a 14-inch screen to fit in the body of a 13-inch laptop footprint
The second product on our best Chromebook for students list is the Asus Chromebook Flip C434. This is a great two-in-one Chromebook option that comes for $540. If a two-in-one Chromebook option is still your thing, the Asus Chromebook Flip C434 offers a more premium option for the Lenovo Chromebook C330.
The Chromebook Flip is a 14-inch two-in-one and 1920 by 1080 resolution with a 4-way nanoEdge display that features ultra-narrow bezels on each side of the display which is great for viewing from edge to edge. This allows the 14-inch screen to fit the 13-inch laptop format. The display rotates on a 360-degree hinge that can flip the touchscreen to tent mode or tablet mode and lock at 180 degrees depending on your preference.
The Chromebook Flip guts have an Intel M3-8100Y processor at 3.4 GHz and 4GB of RAM with 64GB of internal storage, while all of its aluminum body construction makes it no less than three pounds. It is clearly aimed at those who are looking for a more luxurious Chromebook with a premium feel.
The Chromebook Flip features a USB 3.1 port, two USB Type-C ports, a headphone jack, and a micro SD card slot to cover all your angles, making it excellent for business employees and students. The main draw of Chromebook Flip is its display. Asus Chromebook covers all angles here, with an astonishing 93% SRBG color gamut coverage and better than average brightness rating of 286 nits.
However, the screen is reflective which disappoints, especially for those who want to use their Chromebook outdoors. Keyboard and touchpad responsiveness is beautifuly thanks to beautiful layouts and designs. Equally enjoyable are the speakers who are above the rest in terms of quality. It is also no shortcoming in the performance department, which is able to multitask efficiently due to its good hardware set which is beyond the highest in the Chromebook class.
Battery life averages about 10 hours during moderate day-to-day use, which is good for students. Especially the tuned ones don’t come better than this in a Chromebook apartment and it is best suited for those who like the hybrid functionality of both tablets and laptops in one convenient package.
Key Features
- Beautiful Display: It has a 14 inch touchscreen, full HD 1920 by 1080, 4-way NanoEdge display with ultra-narrow bezels that are 5 millimeters thin around each side of the display which allows for a 14 inch screen to fit in the body of a 13 inch laptop footprint.
- Two-in-one design: The Full HD display has a durable 360-degree hinge, which can be used to flip the touchscreen display into tent, stand, and tablet modes.
- High power: Intel Core M3-8100Y processor powered by 4M cache, up to 3.4 GHz for super-fast and fast performance. If you use a ton of tabs or run a lot of apps, it holds the power to complete easily.
- Excellent Build Quality: The lightweight (3 pound) all-aluminum metal body makes the C434 both durable and beautiful for a timeless look that will never go out of style.
Pros
- Quality
- Excellent screen
Cons
- Price
Quality: The Chromebook Flip is made of excellent materials with high-quality hinge for durability and longevity.
Excellent screen: This display is more bright and colorful than many in its class.
Price: However it is a great two and one option that comes with a higher price than most Chromebooks.
Pixelbook Go starts up in seconds and makes working a breeze. The 8th Gen Intel Core Processor is quick and responsive, powering everything you do. And Chrome OS doesn’t slow down over time so it always feels like new.
The first product on our Best Chromebooks for Students list is the Google Pixelbook Go. This is our best overall Chromebook for $650. Look no further than Google PixelBook Go for the best balance between features, quality and price. It is designed to make the day last and to surprise any task, which is an easy offer worth only $650.
Google Pixelbook Go offers an Intel Core i5CPU with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage which is a cut above all others on our list from the hardware list. Multitasking is not a problem here and goes a long way in saving additional storage files, documents, and media without having to resort to external or cloud storage.
Google Pixelbook Go is designed with portability in mind ways to scan 2.3 pounds and it is only half an inch thick, excellent for those who travel a lot or for students who do not want to look around the beef Chromebook. Its chassis is made of magnesium alloy with a matte black finish that is resistant to both pressure and flex.
The Google Pixelbook Go’s keyboard is glowing due to a hush design and means that no matter how fast or intense you are, whisper-quiet. It is also backlit for additional visibility and low light conditions. This Chromebook offers two USB Type-C 3.1 ports for a headphone jack for both charging and display.
There is no micro SD card slot which is a letdown. It has a streamlined interface and bare-bones connectivity designed for heavy performance and handles Android gaming with ease thanks to a good hardware set, but its real purpose lies in multitasking where it uses 8GB of RAM. It shines because of inclusion which really makes a difference.
It is one of the best-performing Chromebooks in the market, which exits without cheating anyone to do more than one task at a time. This also makes it a great media machine. Battery usage is maximum in 11 hours through normal use. This is great for those who need a reliable machine for all day’s work or school.
Even better, the Google Pixelbook Go can get two hours of battery life with just 20 minutes of charging, which is great for emergencies. It is clearly a top contender in the Chromebook category and Google definitely wants the top spot on our list. For those who want the best Chromebook for the reasonable price of PixelBook Go, they have to be defeated.
Key Features
- Good to go: Google Pixelbook Go lets you stay unplugged for 12 hours, so you don't need to carry a charger and when you need a charge, use 2 hours in just 20 minutes so you can leave.
- Made to Move: Google Pixelbook Go is lightweight barely 2 pounds. It is 13 millimeters thin, with an attractive design, making it easy to carry.
- Speed it up: Google Pixelbook Go starts in seconds and works like a breeze. The 8th Gen Intel Core processor is quick and responsive, whatever you do and doesn't slow Chrome OS down over time, so it always feels new.
- Made for Comfort: A backlit keyboard and hush keys are comfortable and quiet using Google Pixelbook Go. The touchpad is spacious and precise, so you only need to use light touch. The fanless design keeps you cool to use comfortably on your lap.
Pros
- Top-Shelf Performance
- Hush Keyboard
- Portable
Cons
- Price
Top-Shelf Performance: It provides some of the best hardware on the Chromebook line that makes it easy to multitask and perform simple tasks.
Hush Keyboard: Whisper-quiet keys make typing a joy on this Chromebook.
Portable: This Chromebook weighs so little and is slim enough to carry without any issues, perfect for traveling to school.
Price: Pixelbook Go offers a lot but at a price tag that is significantly higher than Chromebooks.
