What to look for in a cheap Chromebook

Is a cheap Chromebook good enough for distance learning and homework? Definitely, depending on what’s inside.

As a parent or student, you may have already weighed the pros and cons of Windows Laptops vs. Chromebooks. One of the attractions of a Chromebook is cost, especially if a family has to buy several. But some of the cheapest Chromebooks we’ve seen come with some serious caveats. We will go over the key factors to consider before buying. Please consider these while reviewing our the best Chromebook deals for Black Friday.

Check the automatic update expiration

The first thing to do when considering any Chromebook, especially one that is attractive and cheap, is to compare it to Google’s. Automatic update expiration ready. While Microsoft supports Windows PCs for a long time, Google sets a limit: Currently, about six years from the original product ship date for most consumer models, although some (especially educational and business models) get some. More years.

When a Chromebook is no longer supported, Google doesn’t update the Chromebook’s ChromeOS any more, which means there are no new features or security patches. If you buy an older Chromebook, it’s already a few years closer to expiration than a new model would be. Retailers do no post this, so it’s worth checking out.

My son spent most of the last school year doing homework on an original 2013 Chromebook Pixel, which was path outdated, no issues whatsoever, but no guarantees.

Display quality: resolution and brightness.

A classic feature of cheaper Chromebooks is a lower-quality screen. Whether you’re young or old, staring at a small, low-resolution screen for hours can be tiring at best and damaging at worst. This is why you should buy a Chromebook with a Full HD (1920 × 1080) display if possible. An HD display (1366×768), often found on cheaper Chromebooks, can be tolerated on smaller 11.6-inch displays, but we don’t recommend it. Eye fatigue can affect both children and adults.

Cheaper Chromebook displays may also be on the dark side. They may be sufficient for indoor use, but the light outside will wash the screen. If you can find a brightness spec, look for something 250 nits or more.

Memory matters more than storage

While Chromebooks can store data locally, the vast majority of school work is done online. To my knowledge, none of my kids have saved anything to a Chromebook directly, so Size Onboard storage rarely matters. PC enthusiasts may also prefer faster SSDs over an eMMC flash drive, but for a Chromebook? It doesn’t really make any difference, and you shouldn’t even pay attention to how much storage a Chromebook has if your work is primarily or always online.

Memory plays a bigger role, because that’s where your browser data is loaded. More memory means that you can have more browser tabs available for browsing the web.

Most Chromebooks come with at least 4GB of memory. Anything less than that (such as 2GB) can have a detrimental effect; in fact, Zoom recommends 4GB of memory. A kid in elementary school may not be using a Chromebook for more than Google Classroom, Zoom, and some other app. An older child may need to have multiple tabs open to investigate. With older students, teens, and adults, consider a Chromebook with a little more memory. (Unfortunately, Chromebooks aren’t usually designed to be upgradeable.)

Connectivity

As with any laptop, the smaller, slimmer models tend to skimp on ports. Think about what you need to connect, such as a USB drive, a headset, or a display. In general, look for an HDMI port (for an external display option), a microSD or SD card slot for uploading photos, and a USB-A port (ideally more than one) for connecting peripherals. You’ll also see USB-C ports on some Chromebooks, but generally not the cheapest ones. (We see a lot of discounted Chromebooks completely ignoring HDMI ports, especially ones that are being sold for Black Friday or the holidays.)

Choosing an older, cheaper Chromebook can mean suffering with an older Wi-Fi radio. However, generally, 802.11a / b / g / n Wi-Fi or better, plus Bluetooth, should work, even for Zoom 2.5Mbps bandwidth requirements for group video conferencing at 1080p resolution.

Webcam – just make sure there is one

No well-meaning teacher will care about the quality of a child’s webcam as long as one exists. A better webcam can make your child easier to see or make your work more visible if you hold it up for inspection, but a well-lit room can probably make up for any shortcomings.

Processor performance: Zoom requires more

Chromebooks designed for browser-based school work traditionally didn’t require a lot of processor power and often cost savings with low-end chips. Now, however, both Zoom and YouTube play a bigger role.

YouTube shouldn’t do a lot of exercise or cheap old Chromebooks, especially since YouTube automatically scales the resolution for a good experience. But with Zoom becoming more prevalent, it might be worth leaning towards a Chromebook with an Intel processor, be it a Celeron or a full Core chip. Zoom system requirements require a “1 GHz” processor for Zoom calls.

You’ll typically find Chromebooks that offer Core chips (much more horsepower than needed), modern Celeron or Pentium chips (probably enough), and Arm chips from Qualcomm and Mediatek. Generally, we’d agree that even an Arm chip can run a Chromebook without a hitch (there’s one on your smartphone, after all), but a quick web search for the processor can’t hurt. If the chip was made more than five years ago, you may want to consider a newer model.

This story was updated with additional information on November 25.