Everybody loves getting a great deal. Whether it’s on a purchase as large as a house or something as small as a pair of shoes, we all love getting more than what we paid for. And many companies are betting on this. And this also applies to the best Chromebooks under $200.
Whether it’s Samsung, HP, or Lenovo, they all are attempting to deliver a device that’s usable in pretty much every function while still maintaining a very very low price point. Does it succeed, the short answer is YES!
These Chromebooks do everything okay. They get by just fine and they are in the low-price range of under $200. These Chromebooks deliver quite a bit of bang for the price point.
What to expect from the best Chromebooks under $200?
We all know that Chromebooks are an excellent solution for students and businesses. These are compact and lightweight laptops, yet packed with quite a lot of power to get your day-to-day jobs done. This makes them a great choice for those who want their tasks to get done without spending a lot of money.
Powered by Google’s Chrome OS, these laptops come with a lot of useful apps and features which always keep you synched with the work and improves your productivity.
But there are a lot of Chromebooks available in the market with different specs and choosing the right one for you can be a little confusing task. So to help you choose the perfect Under $200 Chromebook for you, I’m listing these few features & specs that you should look for before buying a Chromebook.
If you do this, then I’m sure you won’t regret your purchase and will have a pleasant experience with your new Chromebook.
Battery Life
The top Chromebooks under 200 claims that their battery life would last for around 12-14 hours.
But while browsing the web, viewing YouTube videos, streaming music, and otherwise going about your business, you should expect a battery life of at least 7-10 hours and in some cases even more.
Display
You can find Chromebook under $200 with screen sizes ranging from 11-inch to 15-inch, so there is something for everyone!
And the brightness in these Chromebooks is also good enough. But remember that you might come across a Chromebook under 200 that would have poor brightness, leading to bad viewing angles and not a pleasant viewing experience.
So I would suggest you to check that before making your purchase.
Sound Quality
You wouldn’t expect booming audio from a laptop, and the Chromebooks under 200 are no exception to this rule.
The built-in stereo speakers are tinny and hollow-sounding, but they’re satisfactory.
On the positive side, the audio is loud and clear. But if you’re an audiophile, then you’ll need a decent pair of headsets.
Processor
Chromebooks under $200 come with processors like Celeron & Pentium.
They are decent processors and will allow you to install apps, that can be used offline, and you can even do casual gaming and light creative tasks like photo editing and designing, smoothly.
RAM
Expect a RAM of around 4 GB in a Chromebook under $200. This amount of RAM is sufficient for your normal tasks and it will offer you a fine hassle-free user experience.
Internal Storage
In the case of internal storage, these Chromebooks are no less than any other expensive Chromebook. They will offer you an internal storage of 16-62 GB.
Recommended for you:
Specs for the Top 6 Best Chromebooks under 200
Graphics 11 to 15-inch Processor Celeron, Pentium RAM 4 GB Storage 16 to 62 GB Battery life 7 to 14 hours OS ChromeOS Thickness / Weight 0.7 to 0.9″ / 2.5 to 11.8 lbs Price Range $
Top 6 Best Chromebooks under 200
1 – HP Chromebook 11 G5 – 11″
“Good performance & Responsive touchscreen”
The HP Chromebook 11 G5 is an interesting Chromebook because of several factors. For one, it is one of the cheapest touchscreen Chromebooks that you can find in the market.
The HP Chromebook 11 G5 is a professional-looking under $200 Chromebook which has a decent sleek build quality. It’s made out of polycarbonate plastic material, that’s surprisingly hefty, weighing in at roughly 2.5 pounds. Flipping things open, you have access to an 11.6″ IPS display, which is pretty rare for a Chromebook under 200 and as a result, you get better viewing angles on the G5 as compared to its competitors. With this Chromebook, you also get a very responsive, precise & lucid experience of a touchscreen.
A couple of downsides, however, are that the hinge only opens up to a certain limit, so you can neither lie it completely flat nor you can rotate it 360 degrees, and also the speakers could have been a little louder.
Overall, it’s good quality and low-priced Chromebook that will help you with both entertainment as well as productivity.
Pros
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Cons
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Buy on NewEgg
Graphics | 11.6″ screen (1366 x 768) |
Performance | Pentium N3060 with 4 GB of RAM |
Storage | 16+ GB eMMC |
Battery life | Up to 7 hours |
OS | ChromeOS |
Thickness / Weight | 0.72″ / 2.5 lbs |
Price Range | $ |
2 – Samsung Chromebook 3 – 11″
“Simple look & Basic performance”
With the Chromebook 3, Samsung has managed to pack in a pretty decent experience in a device that costs less than 200. Its low price will make you feel comfortable even while using it quite roughly. It is cheap but the experience that it gives you is really amazing.
The Samsung Chromebook 3 comes with a 1366×768 LED TN display, 4,GB of RAM, 16GB of eMMC storage, Pentium N3060, and USB 2.0 ports. It surprisingly has a battery life as long as 11 hours and also a water-resistant keyboard. The keyboard and trackpad are decent with the overall build quality. It is all plastic but does not feel cheap. The screen resolutions are all you really need in an 11.6″ display.
But it is important for you to know that this device won’t do much out of the ordinary and also its display is notoriously bad at viewing angles.
Pros
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Cons
|
Buy on online
Graphics | 11.6″ screen (1366 x 768) |
Performance | Pentium N3060 with 4 GB of RAM |
Storage | 16 GB eMMC |
Battery life | Up to 11 hours |
OS | ChromeOS |
Thickness / Weight | 0.7″ / 2.5 lbs |
Price Range | $ |
3 – Asus Chromebook C300SA – 13″
“Clean build, portable but Chrome apps restriction”
On the first encounter itself, you’ll be greeted by its looks. It has a brushed aluminum finish, both outside as well as inside, and even though it is plastic, it looks very premium. So I like to call it plastic with a purpose.
It has a good battery performance and it does last for a long time. It comes with a decent processor but I would definitely recommend you to get a 4 GB of RAM version.
The keyboard feels really good and you won’t have any issue with it. The trackpad also doesn’t have that rough feel to it, it’s pretty much a smooth glass type trackpad.
But I was disappointed by its webcam. It is not that great, it’s just 480p. I would say, it would have been better if it had an HD webcam.
Overall, I would say it’s a nice clean looking Chromebook with decent specs to support your everyday tasks.
Pros
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Cons
|
Buy on online
Graphics | 13.3″ screen (1366 x 768) |
Performance | Pentium N3060 with 4 GB of RAM |
Storage | 16 GB eMMC |
Battery life | Up to 10 hours |
OS | ChromeOS |
Thickness / Weight | 0.86″ / 2.97 lbs |
Price Range | $ |
Recommended for you:
# 4 to 6 Best Chromebooks under 200
4 – Acer Chromebook 315 – 15″
“Large touchscreen, decent specs but not precise touchpad”
The Acer Chromebook 315, with a 15.6″ display, is of course a little bit larger than your usual Chromebook. It has a nice 1366×768 IPS display with 180 degrees rotation which is pretty amazing for a Chromebook under 200 and what’s surprising to me is that the display is a touchscreen, however, not that precise.
Inside, it has a Celeron N4000 processor, 4GB of RAM, 62GB of eMMC storage, and is on the larger and a bit heavier side of Chromebooks.
The casing is all plastic but it has a good feel to it, you’ll get a nice texture on the top of the display and overall it feels pretty decent for the price point. It is fanless, so it will operate silently which might be a plus to some of you. You also get pretty big, nice & loud speakers with good stereo separation. But remember that you won’t get a lot of bass out of these.
At this price range, Acer compromises with its processor and it’s a lower-end chip, so you’re not going to get any real super performance out of it.
Pros
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Cons
|
Buy on online
Graphics | 15.6″ screen (1366 x 768) |
Performance | Celeron N4000 with 4 GB of RAM |
Storage | 62 GB eMMc |
Battery life | Expect 10 hours |
OS | ChromeOS |
Thickness / Weight | 0.8″ / 3.59 lbs |
Price Range | $ |
5 – HP Chromebook 11 G5 – 11″
“Good audio, responsive touch but poor viewing angles”
The design of the HP Chromebook 11 G5 is pleasing and it is all well put together. Compared to the other Chromebooks under 200, the audio quality of the G5 is pretty good.
With the HP Chromebook 11 G5, you’ll get a full-size keyboard with island-style keys, there’s nothing fancy about it but there’s nothing to complain about either.
It comes equipped with an Intel Celeron dual-core processor, has an 11.6″ 720p screen but doesn’t have an IPS display. So you’re going to have poor viewing angles and the color saturation will not be as rich as an IPS screen.
Pros
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Cons
|
Buy on online
Graphics | 11.6″ screen (1366 x 768) |
Performance | Celeron N3350 with 4 GB of RAM |
Storage | 16 GB eMMC |
Battery life | Expect 7 hours |
OS | ChromeOS |
Thickness / Weight | 0.72″ / 2.5 lbs |
Price Range | $ |
6 – Lenovo Chromebook N22 – 11″
“Spill & Drop-resistant with standard specs”
Unlike many other cheap Chromebooks, the Lenovo Chromebook N22 does show some potential.
It has an 11.6″ HD mat screen and it can handle the beating well. Even after you drop it several times, you won’t see any cracks on it and it will work just fine. Surprisingly, it has got better io than some other high-end laptops.
Another feature that the Lenovo built-in is the Handle. Honestly, this is a bit of a gimmick but it doesn’t take away from the overall experience, so I’m completely fine with it.
Despite its ability to survive drops and spills, the Lenovo Chromebook N22 can’t even handle more than around 7 chrome tabs. And Lenovo could have also done better with its colors, viewing angles, and keyboard.
Pros
|
Cons
|
Buy on online
Graphics | 11.6″ screen (1366 x 768) |
Performance | Celeron N3060 with 4 GB of RAM |
Storage | 16 GB eMMc |
Battery life | Expect 14 hours |
OS | ChromeOS |
Thickness / Weight | 0.9″ / 11.8 lbs |
Price Range | $ |
Erik is the owner and main editor of lptps.com. He has been working in computers and information technology for more than 20 years. He’s a business analyst, developer, and avid traveler.