Finding the best Chromebooks for students is easier said than done. After all, you have to consider the age of the student and the type of work they'll be completing before you can pick a particular device. Luckily, there are plenty of Chromebooks out there that balance class-ready performance with enough durability to be carried around in an overstuffed backpack.
Student Chromebooks are typically designed to withstand the use and abuse of a classroom full of kids, complete with reinforced hinges, water-resistant keyboards, and enough battery life to last well beyond the confines of a school day. Our overall favorite choice is the Lenovo Flex 5i, due to its refined balance of portability, performance, and bang for the buck.
Which Chromebook is best for students?
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When we’re rounding up our list of the best Chromebooks that money can buy, the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i is almost always near the front of the pack. This is especially true when we’re considering the needs of the modern student, as the Flex 5i boasts all the power, sturdy construction, and portability that a young learner could ever want in a laptop.
The Flex 5i comes complete with Intel's 11th Generation i3 processor with 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, as well as USI stylus compatibility, impressively loud up-firing speakers to capture every word from those virtual lectures (or, let’s face it, your heavy metal study playlist), and a 360-degree hinge that lets you turn the laptop into a tablet in an instant. The Chromebook also comes with a 13.3-inch 1080p display and an ultra-thin frame that weighs a mere three pounds, light enough to throw in a backpack.
Last but certainly not least, the Flex 5i is set to receive updates until June 2029, which means your high school freshman could be using this laptop well into their college career (and possibly beyond).
Check out our Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i review for more info.
The ASUS Chromebook Flip C214 is the best Chromebook for students because it provides an excellent experience in a compact, durable package. The 11.6-inch screen is easy to see in a wide array of angles — even in the Florida sunshine — and the zinc alloy hinge allows you to rotate the screen around 360 degrees into tent or tablet mode as needed. A 2-in-1 Chromebook lets your student interact with lessons and content however they want: with the keyboard and mouse or directly with the touchscreen.
The C214 lasts about 10 hours on a single charge, meaning it should last the whole school day and some homework before you need to seek out a charger. There are also USB-C ports on each side of the C214, along with one USB-A port and a microSD slot to help expand the 32GB of storage the C214 comes with. The corners of the Chromebook have rubberized edges, and the outer shell is covered with non-slip textures that are scratch-resistant. The keyboard is spill-resistant, and the ports are reinforced, too, so hopefully, it should be able to withstand a few years of chaos with your child.
Check out our ASUS Chromebook Flip C214 review for more info.
The Spin 311 isn't as rugged as the ASUS C214, but what it lacks in durability it makes up for in loads of battery life. While most Chromebooks have a decent level of durability, there's no replacement for buying an Education model, so be sure your kid won't do anything like throw their laptop or stick crayons in the USB-C port.
That last bit is especially important because, unlike some of the best Chromebooks for students from the last few years, the Spin 311 (3H) only has one USB-C port and one USB-A port. I usually prefer Chromebooks with USB-C ports on each side of the laptop so that you can charge from either side, but it's easy enough to get by on just one. Unfortunately, there's also no microSD card slot, so you'll need to figure out the storage level you'll need before buying since there's no expanding it. For this reason, I highly recommend grabbing the 64GB option, especially since few 11.6-inch Chromebooks have 64GB options. In addition, more internal storage is extremely important when it comes to Android apps, as most can't properly utilize external storage due to quirks in Chrome OS's permission structure.
Check out our Acer Chromebook Spin 311 review for more info.
If you absolutely need all the power you can get in a Chromebook but don't have buckets of money to spend on a new laptop, turn your attention to the Acer Chromebook Spin 713. This Chromebook has an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, capable of handling what you need to throw it, 8GB of RAM so you can multitask all the live-long day, and a 256GB NVMe SSD. That's important because it's faster and longer-lasting than the eMMC storage most Chromebooks use. This power also means that the Spin 713 is perfect for those who want to install Linux apps, which is good news for STEM kids who might need to run CAD software or a programming IDE.
The Spin 713 also sports dual Thunderbolt 4 ports for faster charging and transfer speeds. Oh, and there's a full-size HDMI port, 3.5mm audio jack, and even a microSD card reader. The only downside is that the Spin 713 only has a single USB-A port on the right side. Then, of course, there's the feature that you'll adore every single day whether you're working hard or hardly working: the 13.5-inch touchscreen, which gets to a bright 450 nits — so you can use it outside more easily — and features a 2K resolution, so videos and classroom handouts alike will look absolutely stunning.
Check out our Acer Chromebook Spin 713 review for more info.
There are different configurations available when it comes to the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5, but we highly recommend going for the 8GB/128GB version when you can find it. This gives the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 a bit more room to breathe, while handling multi-tasking like a champ.
Alongside the Chromebook Duet 5, Lenovo ships a detachable keyboard and kickstand case, but stops short of including a USI stylus in the box. You'll also get the power of the aforementioned Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor, a chipset that's more than capable of handling most educational workloads. The laptop also boasts up to 12 hours of battery life and weighs just 2.2 pounds, making the Duet 5 one of the most versatile and portable Chromebooks of the bunch.
Check out our Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 review for more info.
What makes the best Chromebook for students?
When picking a Chromebook for a student, you may be tempted to go with a non-touch model, but fight this urge! Touchscreen Chromebooks aren't actually much more expensive these days. They are far easier to interact with, especially for students who play educational games or use artistic apps to doodle away their boredom. An included stylus, like the one on the ASUS Chromebook Flip C214 can be great for art apps, but it's alright to skip it if you don't think you need the extra (and easy to lose) piece.
As far as screen size goes, 11.6 inches is the standard size for most Chromebooks, because it's small enough to be easily portable while still being big enough to get your work done on. While 13-14 inch laptops make sense for teachers that stay in one room most of the day, for students lugging laptops between periods, smaller and lighter is better. Of course, quality 14-inch touchscreen Chromebooks will also strain your wallet, but if you want something larger than a standard spiral notebook, head on over to our best Chromebooks guide for those recommendations.
Why use a Chromebook for students in the classroom?
There are several reasons, so many schools use Chromebooks in the classroom, and each one is just as important as the next.
- Powered by Google — Google is a household name for technology, and school districts know the company will be around to offer support for the life of the product.
- Ease of use — Chrome OS is a lightweight system that's easy to find your way around, even for younger users and parents that aren't tech-savvy.
- Security and administration tools — Chrome OS is designed with security at the forefront (since Chromebooks are also aimed at the Enterprise space), and a G Suite administrator can lock things down to meet the needs of a school system's IT policies.
- Price — Chromebooks designed for classroom use can be bought in bulk for hundreds of dollars less than other devices like iPads and Windows laptops.
- Parents can provide a Chromebook, too Because they are inexpensive and easy to use, parents can provide a Chromebook for a child who isn't in a 1:1 school program or during the summer recess.
School systems are notoriously cash-strapped and understaffed, yet they are responsible for shaping the next generation through their formative years and beyond. School officials have told me that this can be the most frustrating part of their job because sometimes they can't provide teachers and other hands-on educators with the tools they need to teach our children. Because Chromebooks are inexpensive to buy and support, they are a welcome option for frustrated, underfunded school districts.
Chromebooks provide a gateway to everything a student needs to learn and everything a teacher needs to guide them in the classroom. A consumer may take for granted little things, like automatic updates and the ability to sign in to any device and have your profile available, which means more time to dedicate to studies instead of administration.
Chromebooks are designed to be used with Google's educational suite of applications.
Chromebooks also work seamlessly with Google's educational software: Google Classroom, G Suite for Education, and even Google's consumer applications like Gmail or Google Keep. With these apps and services, students and teachers can work online or offline, seamlessly syncing with Google's servers.
It's tough to tell if you're working with an app that stores its data in the cloud because the experience is so good, but you'll know it did when you pick up a completely different Chromebook, and everything is just as you left it. This is great for students, allowing them to get back to work after they spill water all over their Chromebook and have to be issued a new one.
Chromebooks and Google's educational application suite are simple to use, well integrated into inexpensive Chromebooks, and are the perfect foundation for education.
