Bear in mind when Chromebooks first launched with the pitch that they’d be low cost and all they’d must run was an online browser, so you did not have to fret about specs? Yeah. Properly, they mostly lived up to a budget half, however the specs … these are hit and miss. To deal with this, Google just lately rolled out a big upgrade called Chromebook Plus, an umbrella class for a brand new class of units from varied producers.
The “Plus” stands for higher efficiency—sooner processors, extra reminiscence, extra storage, and higher video cameras. The suprising factor is that the costs … are nonetheless low cost. Much more superb than the already low costs (most of them are beneath $400) is the truth that this week, Best Buy is running a sale on a few of these Chromebook Plus fashions, together with two we have examined positively.
Particular provide for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This consists of limitless entry to WIRED.com, full Gear protection, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions assist fund the work we do on daily basis.
That is the fastest Chromebook we’ve tested. It encompasses a 3.75-GHz Intel Core i3-1315U CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of flash storage. The Flex 5i has two USB-C ports (one is used for charging) plus one USB-A port. You additionally get a microSD card slot for increasing the storage functionality, making this a sensible choice for individuals who do not wish to maintain the whole lot within the cloud. The 14-inch touchscreen makes use of a 2-in-1 design, making it ideally suited for media streaming. As on most Chromebooks, the display is not the very best, with mid-level brightness and a normal 1,920 x 1,080-pixel display decision.
Acer’s 15-inch Chromebook Plus (8/10, WIRED Recommends) comes with a Twelfth-generation 3.85-GHz Intel Core i3-1215U processor with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of flash storage. One of many good issues about these new Plus fashions is that the groan-inducing slowness that after low cost Chromebooks is nowhere to be discovered. Even this base mannequin is a lot quick, and battery life is a stable 8.5 hours of full-screen video playback time.
This Acer affords two USB-C ports (with DisplayPort supported), one USB-A port, and an HDMI 1.4 output jack. The latter takes the place of the microSD card discovered within the Lenovo above, making this one a more sensible choice when you steadily want to present shows or in any other case use the HDMI port. The one factor to notice right here is that this isn’t a touchscreen.
Now we have not but had an opportunity to check Asus’ Chromebook Plus, however a number of the finest benchmarks we have ever recorded in a Chromebook got here from fashions utilizing AMD Ryzen 3 chips. Provided that the Ryzen 3 is the centerpiece right here, I’ve no downside recommending it. You additionally get the usual 8 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD.
Just like the Lenovo, this can be a 2-in-1 flip (convertible) Chromebook, with a touchscreen. The display is on the brighter facet for a Chromebook at 300 nits (in comparison with 250 for a lot of the others). Additionally observe that whereas this mannequin helps a stylus, it doesn’t embrace one.
