I used to be delighted to see that the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 did not skimp on a crappy touchpad. That goes a great distance towards enhancing the experiencing of really utilizing the laptop computer on a moment-by-moment foundation. I wasn’t irritated each time I needed to click-and-drag or choose a little bit of textual content. This one’s greatest weak spot is certainly the display screen, which is true of nearly each low-cost Chromebook I’ve examined. The colours are ugly and desaturated, giving the entire thing a sickly inexperienced tint. It is also not the sharpest on this planet, because it’s stretching 1920 x 1200 pixels throughout a big, 16-inch display screen. However by way of usability and efficiency, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 is a good worth, combining an Intel Core i3 processor with 8 GB of RAM and a 128 GB of storage. For a Chromebook that is usually on sale for $350, it is a steal.
Whereas we’re right here, let’s go even cheaper, lets? Asus has two dirt-cheap Chromebooks that I examined final 12 months that I used to be mildly impressed by. The Asus Chromebook CX14 and CX15. Discover within the title that these aren’t “Chromebook Plus” fashions, which means they are often configured with much less RAM and storage, and even use lower-powered processors. That is precisely what you get on the cheaper configurations of the CX14 and CX15, which is the way you generally get costs right down to as little as $130. I undoubtedly suggest the model with 8 GB of RAM, however no matter which you select, the each the CX14 and bigger CX15 are mildly enticing laptops. You’d know that is an enormous praise should you’ve seen simply how ugly Chromebooks of this worth have been prior to now.
With these, although, I recognize the comparatively skinny bezels and chassis thickness, in addition to the bigger touchpad and cozy keyboard. The CX15 even is available in a hanging blue coloration. The touchpad is not nice, neither is the show. Just like the Acer Chromebook Plus 516, it suffers from poor coloration replica and solely goes as much as 250 nits of brightness. It solely has a 720p webcam too, which makes video calls a bit tough. However that is going to be true of practically all of the competitors (and there is not a lot).
Of the 2 fashions, I undoubtedly desire the CX14 although, because it would not have a numberpad and off-center touchpad, which I’ve all the time discovered to be awkward to make use of. Look—nobody’s going to love utilizing a pc that prices the lower than $200, but when it is what you may afford, the Asus Chromebook CX14 will a minimum of get you by with out an excessive amount of frustration.
No matter you do, don’t just head over to Amazon and purchase no matter historical Chromebook is promoting for $100 to your child. It is value the additional money to get one thing with higher battery life, a extra trendy look, and respectable efficiency.
Different Good Chromebooks We have Examined
We have examined dozens and dozens of Chromebooks over the previous years, having reviewed each main launch throughout the spectrum of worth. In contrast to Macs and Home windows laptops, Chromebooks tends to stay round a bit longer although, and are not refreshed as usually. I stand by my picks above, however listed below are a couple of standouts from our testing which might be nonetheless value shopping for for the appropriate particular person.
{Photograph}: Daniel Thorp-Lancaster
