Chromebooks are now a staple of American education. If your child needs one for schoolwork or playtime, here's help with the specs, the features, and everything else you need to know before you buy.
I’m the deputy managing editor of the hardware team at PCMag.com. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of laptops, desktop PCs, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.
I was picked to write the "20 Most Influential PCs" feature for PCMag's 40th Anniversary coverage because I remember them all—I started on a TRS-80 magazine in 1982 and served as editor of Computer Shopper when it was a 700-page monthly. I was later the editor in chief of Home Office Computing, a magazine that promoted using tech to work from home two decades before a pandemic made it standard practice. Even in semiretirement in Bradenton, Florida, I can't stop playing with toys and telling people what gear to buy.
Want an ideal schoolwork and play partner for kids of all ages? Chromebooks are laptops famous for low cost and simple operation, based on Google's ultra-friendly, browser-centric Chrome OS operating system. With Chromebooks, parents don't need to worry about a spilled juice box ruining a significant investment, nor do they need to provide much in the way of tech support—Chromebooks automatically update themselves and don't require antivirus software.
Their simplicity and economy have made Chromebooks a hit in K-12 classrooms, with school districts large and small issuing them to students at little or no direct cost. Paired with specialized apps like Google Classroom, they’re used for everything from pop quizzes to virtual art museum visits, with teacher-friendly tools such as plagiarism detection. Below, we've made a roll call of our favorite kid-suitable Chromebooks from recent reviews. Check them out, then keep reading to learn what you need to know when shopping.
Best Overall Chromebook for Kids
Like many Chromebooks, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 lacks an HDMI port, so you have to fuss with a USB-C adapter to connect an external monitor. Otherwise, it's hard to fault this $549.99 compact—not only is it a 2-in-1 convertible whose 13.3-inch screen flips and folds between laptop and tablet modes, but its Intel Core i3 CPU and solid-state drive (instead of the usual smaller, slower eMMC flash storage) deliver lively performance, and it limbos under the three-pound line.
Students who divide their time between writing reports and other homework, and sketching or scribbling with a stylus (unfortunately not included), or tapping and swiping to play Android games, will appreciate a convertible that weighs little more than a tablet. The Flex 5 is an admirable example.
Best Durable Chromebook for Smaller Kids
The Apple iPad is a fine tablet for classroom use, but good luck finding an iPad plus keyboard cover with the $239 price tag of Dell's Chromebook 11 (3100) laptop. For that matter, good luck finding an iPad that's built to take the abuse this sturdy 11.6-inch system can, thanks to a textured black plastic chassis with rubber bumpers and recessed ports rated to withstand a 30-inch drop onto a steel surface. Dell adds that the keyboard can shake off 12 ounces of spilled liquid, too.
Obviously there are faster and fancier Chromebooks with bigger, better screens (the Dell's 1,366-by-768-pixel resolution isn't much). But the 3100's rugged construction and low cost make it a splendid pick as a child's first laptop.
Best Convertible 2-in-1 Chromebook for Kids
A 2-in-1 Chromebook convertible that flips between laptop and tablet modes for just a bit over 300 bucks? Now that we've got your attention, let us add that HP's Chromebook x360 14a has a 14-inch instead of squinty 11.6-inch screen (although it has the low 1,366-by-768 resolution of smaller models) and offers snappy performance in a handsome 3.3-pound package. Three USB ports (two Type-C and one Type-A) and a comfortable keyboard round out its attractions.
A low price has its tradeoffs, in this case a somewhat dim display and an awkward touchpad, but the HP is a solid solution for families on tight budgets. It'll serve students and casual web surfers well.
Best Compact Detachable 2-in-1 Chromebook for Kids
Lenovo's 2020 Chromebook Duet, a 10.1-inch tablet with detachable keyboard cover, was one of our favorite 2-in-1 bargains. It's no longer for sale, but its spirit lives on in the company's IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook, a slightly larger (11-inch) tablet with a snap-on keyboard that offers surprisingly comfortable typing (as well as a rear cover with kickstand). Slotting in nicely under the 13.3-inch IdeaPad Flex 5, the Duet 3 offers 5-megapixel front and 8-megapixel rear cameras; a bright, colorful 2,000-by-1,200-pixel touch screen; and a snappy Qualcomm CPU.
We can't say it better than our reviewer did: The IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook is "a great option to consider if you're in the market for a smart little tablet that doubles as a laptop." Students especially should find it a handy grab-and-go accessory.
Best Detachable 2-in-1 Chromebook (With Built-in Stylus) for Kids
Two-piece swimsuits are irresistible, so how about a two-piece Chromebook? The Asus Chromebook Detachable CM3 is a 10.5-inch high-res tablet that weighs just 1.12 pounds (in the same size and weight ballpark as Apple's iPad Air) and comes with a magnetic snap-on keyboard for times you need to do some text entry. It has two cameras, the usual webcam facing you and an 8-megapixel "world-facing" camera on the back for snapping a photo of a whiteboard or classroom experiment. And at the risk of ruining our two-piece metaphor, it's actually a four-piece Chromebook, since you also get a rear kickstand and a rechargeable stylus that stashes in a slot at top left.
The Asus CM3 is a clever, affordable iPad alternative for conferencing, pen-based apps, and keyboard productivity. Like all detachables, it's happier on a desk than in your lap when propped up with the kickstand in laptop mode, but it'll serve a variety of students' needs.
Best Jumbo Stay-at-Home Chromebook for Kids
Kids are burdened enough with heavy books and school supplies in their backpacks, so we don't suggest they cram in the heftiest Chromebook you can buy, the 5.2-pound Acer 317. But while it isn't very portable, this Acer is the only Chromebook with a spacious 17.3-inch screen instead of the usual 13.3- to 15.6-inch panel, so it's an unbeatable pick for watching streaming videos or as a movable-from-room-to-room alternative to an inexpensive all-in-one desktop PC. Priced under $400, the Chromebook 317 boasts a full HD (1080p) display, four USB ports, and Wi-Fi 6.
Built for the family room instead of the classroom, the Acer 317 is low on frills (it has a Celeron processor and 64GB eMMC storage) but a handsome homework station or browser kiosk for shared surfing or email. And even though it's likely to stay plugged in, it delivered nine hours of battery life in our video playback test.
Best Big-Screen Chromebook for Older Kids
Though it's a 2-in-1 convertible, the Asus Chromebook Flip CM5 has a 15.6-inch full HD screen, so it's too heavy (4.3 pounds) to hold comfortably in tablet mode. But as a desktop replacement that can fold into kiosk or easel mode for presentations, the Flip CM5 is a lively performer with a peppy AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 128GB solid-state drive, and two features that are rare on Chromebooks: an HDMI port (so you can plug in an external monitor without a USB-C dongle), and a keyboard with real Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys (so you needn't learn new navigation-key combos for Chrome OS).
Big-screen convertibles are always overweight for tablet use, but that and a punk webcam are the only things about the Asus we don't like. It's a well-equipped, value-priced alternative to a low-end to midrange Windows laptop for older kids.
Best Chromebook for Long Battery Life
Starting at $649 with an Intel Core m3 processor and climbing to $999 with a Core i5 and extra RAM and storage, Google's Pixelbook Go is an unabashedly premium Chromebook. But this 13.3-inch laptop is impressively sleek and light (2.3 pounds), thanks to magnesium alloy construction; boasts a beautiful Corning Concore Glass screen; and combines quick performance with exceptional stamina—it lasted 16 and a half hours in our battery test. If you want your child not only to get through a full day of schoolwork but be the envy of her classmates, it's worth considering.
Few machines make Chrome OS look better than the elegant and well-engineered Pixelbook Go. If portability and panache are your priorities, your kid will be delighted with this marathon runner.
Best Kid Chromebook for Pen Note-Taking
At around $400, Lenovo's Flex 5 2-in-1 is neither a budget-first nor fancy-schmancy Chromebook, but it does a great job of playing the Goldilocks role: not too cheap, not too costly, not too heavy (under three pounds), not too sluggish (it has an Intel Core i3 CPU and lasted almost 14 hours in our battery test). It flips deftly between laptop and tablet modes and works beautifully with Lenovo's optional digital pen, with a snappy backlit keyboard for when you'd rather type than write longhand.
We appreciate the Flex 5 Chromebook's SD card slot (especially since it comes with only 64GB of eMMC flash storage) and three USB ports. Its 13.3-inch 1080p screen is clear and colorful. We'd like it more if it were slightly brighter or if there were an HDMI monitor port, but you can't have everything. The Lenovo is a first-class Chromebook convertible.
Even if your child's school doesn't deploy Chromebooks, the pandemic-accelerated demand for remote learning and virtual get-togethers may well be tempting you to buy one (or one per child). In addition to web surfing with the Chrome browser and keeping in touch with Gmail, they're capable productivity platforms with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides (or the online or Android versions of Microsoft Office) and ready for relaxation with YouTube, Netflix, or online or Android games.
Here's what to look for before you buy your child's (okay, we won't tell if it's your) next Chromebook.
You and your kids might have never used a Chromebook before, but you’re almost certainly familiar with how one works. That’s because the Chrome operating system is based on the same Chrome web browser that your kids already use when you let them borrow your existing laptop, smartphone, or tablet. If all your child needs is a portal to the internet, you don’t need to install anything—just launch a browser window.
You can install apps on Chromebooks if you want to, however. The process is much like installing apps on your smartphone, involving little more than a visit to the Google Play Store(Opens in a new window) or the Chrome Web Store(Opens in a new window) . Even apps designed for Android phones will work on late-model Chromebooks. You will also find a considerable library of kid-friendly apps designed for Chromebooks, and not just games: tools for note-taking, podcasting, book publishing, drawing, screencasting, and other 21st-century schoolwork.
The simplicity of Chrome OS means that it allows fewer openings for bugs and security risks. There are no drivers to update, and no sluggish antivirus software suites to buy and maintain. Kids won’t keep up with these tedious computing chores, and you probably don’t want to, either. Assuming it’s got an internet connection, a Chromebook will keep itself secure and updated.
The disadvantages of this simplicity? They include less flexibility and the occasional frustrating compatibility issue. Now and then, Chromebooks can trip you up with minor hurdles, like incompatibilities with in-flight streaming entertainment systems that use digital rights management (DRM) software, whereas these systems work just fine with iOS or Android devices. Larger issues include missing capabilities that have been a staple of modern computing for years. Chrome OS, for example, offers nothing in the way of out-of-the-box video editing, unlike the simple but powerful tools built into Windows and macOS.
In short, the advantages and drawbacks of Chrome OS mean that a Chromebook is as well-suited to child-friendly computing as it is ill-suited to the needs of power users.
As a result, your main consideration when buying a Chromebook for a child is not how powerful the machine is, but what kind of physical features it has. Somewhat ironically, the younger your child is, the more features he or she might need. That’s because younger students are typically the target audience for augmented reality (AR) or drawing apps that require multiple cameras, touch screens, and digital pens. Older students who are primarily taking notes and writing term papers may not need these features as often.
Some of the most innovative Chromebook designs we’ve seen recently are actually tablets, not laptops. They’ve been slow to catch on among mainstream buyers, but they have great potential as a classroom learning tool. They’re much smaller and lighter than laptops, so they’re easier for younger kids to hold. They also typically have front-facing cameras, which are required for some AR apps and great for capturing a picture of the blackboard before the teacher erases it.
Inexpensive Chromebook tablets from Acer, Asus, CTL, and other companies are usually sold directly to school districts and therefore difficult to find in retail, but they’re worth a look if you happen to find one in stock. Convertible Chromebooks with 360-degree hinges, however, are good alternatives, since they include a physical keyboard but can still be used as a tablet if needed.
A Chromebook tablet or 2-in-1 convertible will have a touch-enabled screen by necessity, since their keyboards aren’t always at hand. But most conventional laptop Chromebooks have non-touch displays, at least in their default configurations. Now that Google has greatly improved the touch capabilities of Chrome OS versus its early versions, touch screens are at least worth considering.
Another consideration for your kid’s Chromebook display is its resolution. As with any laptop screen, you’ll want to avoid displays with resolutions below full HD (typically 1,920 by 1,080 pixels, or 1080p) if you can. There are inexpensive full-HD Chromebooks out there, but they’re sometimes hard to find among the sea of others with lower-resolution displays. (Lower resolution usually manifests itself as a screen with a 1,366 by 768 resolution.) Your kids’ eyes will thank you for going with full HD, especially if the Chromebook has a screen 13 inches or larger. A 1,366-by-768-pixel resolution is only acceptable nowadays in an extreme budget Chromebook with a screen in the 10-to-12-inch range.
And, while your schoolkids may not need it, gaming on a Chromebook is a possibility they'll want—though one most schools disable, for obvious reasons. Whether it's an educational game, like Minecraft, or a popular Android game, you can do some basic gaming on most Chromebooks. A few are even capable of working with game streaming through services like Google Stadia and Steam, though we'd recommend checking out our guide to the best Chromebooks for gaming, since the hardware requirements are a bit more stringent than what your child will need for schoolwork.
It’s always a good idea to choose a Chromebook that’s designed to withstand bumps, bruises, and the occasional liquid spill. And it’s a requirement if your child will be lugging his or her Chromebook to school every day. You might not be able to find a Chromebook in your budget that passes true MIL-SPEC testing, but you can find other rugged options. Look for water-resistant keyboards, keys with anti-wear tops, and non-slip chassis textures or coatings.
In addition to being sturdy, a kid-friendly Chromebook should also be made of materials that are easy to clean. Look for darker colors, and choose a metal finish over a plastic one if you can. A few past Chromebooks have even included innovative materials like display lids that double as scrawl-on whiteboards, giving kids additional creative leeway to customize their Chromebooks without leaving permanent damage.
Since your kid will mostly use a Chromebook to connect to the internet wirelessly, it doesn’t require a lot of ports for peripherals or Ethernet connections. The most important connectivity consideration is Wi-Fi. Look for the 802.11ac or 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) standards, and avoid the older 802.11n standard. Bluetooth is also nice to have for connecting a wireless mouse or streaming audio to external speakers.
Many inexpensive Chromebooks have proprietary charging cables, which could be difficult to replace if they’re lost. A USB Type-C charging cable is better, especially if you have other USB Type-C devices, since you can usually swap charging cables between them in case your kid loses one.
Simple software needs only simple hardware to run. It’s a key reason why most Chromebooks are less expensive than Macs and Windows PCs—you don’t need tons of CPU cores or a powerful graphics processor to write essays and browse the web. Nor do you need capacious hard drives to house tons of video files when you’re using Google Docs and streaming multimedia content from the internet.
You can find "prestige" Chromebooks with Intel Core i7 processors and 256GB solid-state drives (SSDs) if you want them, including models from Samsung and Google itself. But these machines, which hover in the $1,000 range, are overkill for most users, especially children.
Instead, we recommend spending $400 or less on a kid’s Chromebook. That amount should get you at least 4GB of memory and at least 32GB of storage space. It will also get you a Chromebook with an Intel Pentium or Celeron processor, or an ARM processor.
If you’re used to buying Macs or Windows laptops, you might balk at those specs, but they really are all your kid needs, and you should resist the urge to upgrade. A $300-to-$400 Windows laptop with a Celeron processor and 4GB of memory might be unpleasantly sluggish in everyday use, but a Chromebook with those same specs should offer an adequate experience for kids who are generally doing just one thing at a time on the machine. Even demanding apps that use ARCore, Google’s platform for building AR experiences, work on devices with as little as 4GB of memory and a dual-core processor.
We’ve outlined our favorite kid-friendly Chromebooks we've tested below. Click through for deep-dive reviews of each. Thinking about buying one for yourself, too? Check out our guide to the best Chromebooks overall. If you’d like to consider Windows laptops, as well, check out our complete list of best laptops for kids (incorporating both Chrome OS and Windows models), as well as our top laptop picks for college students.
Other shopping and advice resources you might want to check out include our general roundup of budget laptops, as well as our roundup of Android, Apple iOS, and Amazon Fire OS tablets for kids.
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I’m the deputy managing editor of the hardware team at PCMag.com. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of laptops, desktop PCs, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.
I’ve evaluated the performance, value, and features of hundreds of personal tech devices and services, from laptops to Wi-Fi hotspots and everything in between. I’ve also covered the launches of dozens of groundbreaking technologies, from hyperloop test tracks in the desert to the latest silicon from Apple and Intel.
I've appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.
Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rain forests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.
I was picked to write the "20 Most Influential PCs" feature for PCMag's 40th Anniversary coverage because I remember them all—I started on a TRS-80 magazine in 1982 and served as editor of Computer Shopper when it was a 700-page monthly. I was later the editor in chief of Home Office Computing, a magazine that promoted using tech to work from home two decades before a pandemic made it standard practice. Even in semiretirement in Bradenton, Florida, I can't stop playing with toys and telling people what gear to buy.
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