The best Chromebooks for students meet the demands of everyday college work. Powered by Google’s Chrome OS, Chromebooks are easy to use, energy efficient and boot up quickly. Combine these qualities with automatic updates, built-in virus protection, and secure logins, and it’s easy to see why Chromebooks are such popular Windows and macOS alternatives.
We find 2-in-1 Chromebooks to be the best value for K-12 and college students. Convertible laptops are great because you get a flexible device that you can use to take notes or read on your lap in tablet mode. Although these Chromebooks are a bit more expensive than your average budget Chromebook, it’s the ticket Chromebook deal can bring you big savings.
The best Chromebooks for students
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is our top pick for best student Chromebook, and with good reason. It has a beautiful 2K display, a powerful 11th Gen Intel chip and reliable battery life. When students aren’t doing homework or studying for exams, the Iris Xe GPU makes it a great Chromebook for gaming.
The Chromebook Spin 713 has numerous connections for connecting a monitor or a hard drive. It has two USB-C ports, a USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port and a headphone jack. You also get a microSD slot, which is handy for expanding storage or transferring files between systems.
During testing, we loaded 20 Chrome tabs (including 7 YouTube tabs playing music videos simultaneously) and the laptop showed no signs of lag.
And that’s just one of our top-recommended Chromebooks for college students. Learn more about the excellent Acer Chromebook Spin 713 and our other favorite Chromebooks for students below.
Starting at $699, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is a versatile 2-in-1 laptop running Chrome OS. The base model has a 13.5-inch 2K (2256 x 1504) touchscreen, a 2.1GHz Intel Core i5-1135G7 4-core CPU, 8GB RAM and Intel Iris Xe graphics, as well as a 256GB SSD.
The Chromebook Spin 713 is ideal if you’re looking for a laptop that turns into a tablet for taking notes or sketching out ideas. We “tested” it and were impressed by its stunning display, durable build quality and strong performance. After extensive real-world and general performance testing, the Chromebook Spin 713 received a 4 out of 5 star rating and our Editor’s Choice Award.
If you’re looking for a flexible notebook with GeForce Now cloud streaming support, the Acer Spin 713 is worth considering.
Read our full Acer Chromebook Spin 713 review
For students on a tight budget, the popular Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 is the best 2-in-1 laptop for the money. The base features a 13.3-inch (1920 x 1080) OLED 400-nit touchscreen, a 2.55GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon SC7180 8-core CPU and 8GB of RAM. Rounding out the specs are Qualcomm Adreno graphics and 128GB of eMMC storage.
We love the Chromebook Duet 5’s bright, vibrant OLED display and 2-in-1 design. It also impressed us with its long battery life — 13 hours and 31 minutes on our Laptop Mag Battery Test. We gave the IdeaPad Duet 5 an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars and our coveted Editor’s Choice Award.
If you’re looking for a more affordable Surface Pro alternative, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 might be for you.
Read ours Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 review
Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook 2 is the world’s first QLED Chrome OS laptop. It’s also one of the best Chromebooks for college students. Period.
Starting at $699, the base model Galaxy Chromebook 2 runs on a dual-core 2.1GHz Intel Core i3-10110U CPU coupled with 8GB of RAM. Its 13.3-inch QLED touchscreen (1920 x 1080) delivers lifelike images with bright colors. It offers you 128 GB of storage space which can be expanded via the laptop’s built-in microSD slot.
In our Galaxy Chromebook 2 review, we loved its vibrant, colorful display and ultra-thin, lightweight design. During testing, rotating the Galaxy Chromebook 2 into tablet and tent mode was hassle-free.
If you’re looking for an ultraportable notebook that won’t weigh down your backpack, consider the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 review
The base model Asus Chromebook CX9 has a 14-inch touch display (1920 x 1080), an Intel Core i3-1115G4 CPU, 8 GB RAM, Intel UHD graphics and a 128 GB SSD. That’s plenty of momentum for fun gameplay on a Chromebook.
In our Chromebook CX9 review, we praise the dazzling display and strong performance. We gave this Chromebook an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on the above attributes and long battery life.
Our review unit had an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and Iris Xe graphics. In our lab’s Geekbench 5.0, a synthetic overall performance test, it achieved an overall score of 4,747. This beats the Chromebook category average of 2,666.
Built to military specifications, the Chromebook CX9 can take a beating. It is shock, drop, water and moisture resistant. Choose this laptop if you are looking for a robust, powerful device with plenty of power for cloud gaming.
Read ours Asus Chromebook CX9 review
Digital art students looking for a portable easel should consider the HP Chromebook X2. Prices for the HP Chromebook x2 start at $569 for this compact, Surface-like, detachable 2-in-1.
It features an 11-inch 2K (2160 x 1440) touchscreen, 2.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c 8-core CPU, 8GB RAM, Adreno 618 graphics and 64GB eMMC storage. If you buy the Best Buy model, it comes with a stylus.
We reviewed the HP Chromebook X2 and found its stunning, super-portable design with a 2K display to be impressive. Despite their compact size, the stereo speakers, tuned by audio experts Bang and Olufsen, deliver great sound. So if you’re studying or creating, you can boost your productivity with your favorite music playlist.
Read ours HP Chromebook x2 review