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The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Fanless and Powerful Work Machine

  • Incentivized
  • Verified Purchaser
  • Owned for 2 weeks

  Pros: I'm glad we finally have an ARM-based Chromebook Plus. The MediaTek processor on this Chromebook is completely fanless, silent and power efficient while being faster and more powerful than previous MediaTek processors. You can easily go an entire work day without charging, since the battery life lasts over 10 hours with moderate use. The unit has a backlit keyboard and a 14-inch touchscreen that is a bright 400-nits. Another perk is the 16 GB of RAM which allows you to run as many tabs as possible and comfortably run Android apps and some Linux apps side by side without taxing the system. There is a fingerprint reader for extra security, a camera privacy shutter, two USB-C ports, a headphone port, and a USB-A port. The speakers are decent upfiring speakers. Like most Chromebooks, boot-up is almost instant and since I mostly use web apps (Google Docs, Zoom, Meet, Microsoft Office 365, Discord, Google Keep, and WhatsApp), it makes a fast productivity and office machine. The web apps feel like regular apps since they open in their own separate window as PWAs. Cons: Some web apps like Zoom unfortunately have less features than their desktop counterparts (but still work well), such as annotation during share mode. Another downside is that it doesn't run Steam (which runs on some Intel-based Chromebook Plus machines), but this is mostly due to the ARM processor. At the end of the day, as long as you know ChromeOS' strengths (lightweight, secure and speedy) and limitations (no heavy apps or gaming), it makes for a great machine that I find myself using more often than my PC or Mac.

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  Posted 4 months ago by ProfessorB

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Dare I say it? The best Chromebook you can buy

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  It's amazing how far Chromebooks have came. Throughout the years, I have had the opportunity to explore a variety of Chromebooks across different platforms, ranging from Google's own Pixelbooks to HP and other devices, but this particular model distinguishes itself from all of those in so many ways. Dare I say it, Lenovo and Google may have created the perfect Chromebook. This thing excels across virtually every category of what a Chromebook is supposed to be. What exactly is a chromebook supposed to be, you may ask? Well, think of a chromebook as a minimal, yet powerful Macbook Air that does the daily tasks efficiently, easily and well. Sure, a Chromebook may not play your favorite game on Steam or help you edit a mass amount of photography photos, but other than those GPU intense tasks, a Chromebook is supposed to make everything else much easier. And this one does. ChromeOS is a minimal, yet robust OS that was built from the ground up to be easy to navigate. Starting with the build quality, it feels exceptionally high-end. The laptop is not only lightweight but also crafted in an efficient way, avoiding any awkward hinges or cheap-looking shapes and textures that often plague lesser models. It's not trying to win any style awards. Instead it's trying to up the quality not seen in Chromebook before. The keyboard offers a satisfying typing experience with clear tactile feedback, optimal key depth, and a backlighting feature that makes it convenient for late-night sessions. The trackpad is both responsive and smooth, steering clear of the tinny or hollow sensations that are frequently associated with budget laptops priced under $1,000. Speaking of price. This is $750, which does seem like it would be steep for a Chromebook, but the difference between the quality in this and my son's $200 HP Chromebook is night and day. And that's across every single category. Think about it this way: if you are happy with a $1000 laptop, that's great. But know that if you had the chance to go with a $2,500-3000 laptop, you would notice a lot of difference in quality, and that's the same idea here with a $750 Chromebook. Or if that comparison doesn't work for you, compare this thing with a MacBook Air. Both machines are powerful, but only one has the quality and power to outperform their asking price. When it comes to audio, the speakers deliver an impressively robust sound profile, hitting a fine balance between depth and clarity while maintaining good volume levels without distortion. While they may not completely match the audio fidelity found in a robus laptop, they still offer a notably superior experience for most users. This is especially true when compared to a tablet. The display, another standout feature, is an OLED panel that provides vibrant colors, deep blacks, and outstanding contrast. It achieves sufficient brightness for outdoor use in direct sunlight, although optimal visibility is maintained in indoor or shaded conditions. The resolution is at 2K. And that is where you'll find the one and only con (which isn't too big of a concern to me thanks to the great screen). We all love resolution, and once you experience 4K OLED or even 2.5-3K OLED, you may notice that 2K could be improved. But like I said, with the true blacks, vibrant colors, the OLED technology makes this a screen you won't complain about on its own. It offers 12 hours or more of battery life even under heavy usage, showcasing exceptional power management capabilities, thanks in large part to the powerful ARM chip that competes closely with Apple’s M-series processors. The laptop’s most outstanding qualities are undoubtedly its performance and battery life. Equipped with 16 GB of RAM and a high-speed MediaTek ARM chip, the laptop handles demanding tasks with ease. You will not have to worry about any slowdown with this machine. If you're an avid abuser of open windows you don't close, then you'll be enabled to keep doing you with this thing. ChromeOS, offers a clean, uncluttered user interface designed for maximum productivity and it shines with this powerful Chromebook. As with any Chromebook, the set-up process is super easy and quick. You'll be enjoying this thing within just a few minutes. If you're looking for either a productivity machine that can also be a great entertainment tool, but don't want to fork over $2K+ for a powerful traditional laptop, you will be happy with this Lenovo Chromebook Plus machine. It does everything you need it to do (unless you're a professional photographer or gamer).

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  Posted 4 months ago by Bryan

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  A smarter laptop replacement

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 250 Contributor

  ChromeBooks used to be just large Android tablets with a built-in keyboard. The category has steadily improved and they are now viable alternatives to a full Windows or Mac laptop for many uses. The lines are further blurring between traditional laptops and alternative models like this ChromeBook Plus with its powerful AI capabilities. They remain easier to set up and maintain than laptops, and this ChromeBook Plus is the fastest and most functional one I have used. The price is starting to creep into the mid-tier laptop range but for those who don’t need to run apps that only install on Windows Macs, this Lenovo Chromebook run longer and get the job done faster and easier. Highlights: * Thin and light with a cool metal lid. * Beautiful 14” OLED touchscreen. * Fingerprint reader for screen lock and authentication in supported apps. * Fast with plenty of storage. * Very good audio (Dolby Atmos with 4-speakers and downward firing woofers). * Roomy backlit keyboard with helpful function keys. * Compact 65W USB-C power adapter. * 1440p video camera for clear video calls. * 2x USB-C, 1x USB-A, 1x 3.5mm audio in/out jack. * Tons of on-device AI features that don’t require a subscription. Room for Improvement: * Folding prongs on the charger and a cable wrap would be nice. * Sliding camera cover is a challenge to use. * Price is getting close to or even surpassing full laptops. Setup Experience: There are only two items in the main box; the Chromebook itself and the charger. The charger plugs into either USB-C ports on the sides but only the port on the left side has a charging status light next to it. Plug it in and you should see a yellow light by the left port indicating that the notebook is charging. That light turns green once the battery is fully charged. Open the lid and press the power button. All further setup is done within ChromeOS and is pretty typical of other Chromebooks. If you already have a Google account or are upgrading from an older Chromebook, just sign in and your new ChromeBook will be set up to join your other Google devices. You can use either the trackpad or the touchscreen to continue setup and the keyboard makes it easy to type in passwords and other credentials. Once setup is complete, you can start browsing the built-in apps, download your favorites (if not already installed based on a previous account), and check out the various perks included with your new Chromebook such as the free 12-month subscription to Google AI Pro. Hardware Experience: The sleek metal lid is cool to the touch and easy to open using the bump that houses the camera. That cool metal touch continues down to the area surrounding the keyboard and trackpad giving the whole chassis a feeling of quality that plastic doesn’t typically convey. Starting at the top and working down… above the screen is the QuadHD (1440p) front-facing camera with dual microphones, an LED to indicate when the camera is in use and a mechanical shutter for privacy. The video quality is quite good even in moderate light and the microphones work well as long as you’re not in a public space where you really should be using a headset anyway. The camera can be blocked with a mechanical shutter by sliding a switch but that switch is really small and hard to see. Lenovo put a sticker on it to bring it to your attention, but that doesn’t make it any easier to slide even after you know where it is. When set for privacy, the lens is covered by a red disc that is more visible than the black lens normally is. I found it a tad distracting but nothing I couldn’t get used to in the name of privacy. The star of this Chromebook is the beautiful 14” OLED touchscreen. The bezels are slim but not the smallest I’ve seen. Regardless, you probably won’t care about bezel sizes since the colors are so vibrant and the contrast is so high. The screen maxes out at only 400 nits of brightness which isn’t quite enough to use it direct sunlight like outside, but it’s still bright enough to work well in a well-lit room or in the shade outside. The ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the screen and keyboard backlights as needed to balance clarity and battery life while ensuring comfort in dimly lit rooms. The keyboard is roomy and easy to type on with helpful special function buttons to do things like refresh the page, maximize the window size, take a screenshot, turn on dictation, mute the microphone and the usuals like adjusting the volume and brightness. Near the spacebar is the “G” key which opens the main system menu where can immediately type to search for files, settings or even Gemini. It’s super convenient to just tap that G key and type your question for a quick answer. The typical Caps Lock key can be set by default to instead be the “Quick Insert” function. The last thing copied is in there as well as the most recent files, the clipboard and quick ways to access other things that you might want to insert into whatever you’re working on. There’s an easy way to switch to the usual Caps Lock function if you prefer, but this Quick Insert menu seems far more useful to me. The stereo speakers flanking the keyboard face upward and the audio is licensed by Dolby Atmos. It was definitely loud enough to hear for close-up enjoyment but if you want a more private listening experience or need to amplify for a large or noisy room, you can pair any suitable Bluetooth headphones or speakers or plug in a wired headset via the 3.5mm jack on the right side. That 3.5mm jack also supports a wired microphone if you have one. The whole ChromeBook feels solidly built yet lighter than your average full notebook. The metal lid and keyboard feel cool and “genuine” versus plastic. The entire underside of the unit is ribbed rubberized plastic that should reduce sliding around on a table and be a bit more insulating on your legs. The feet are long strips which should aid in stability and make the whole thing more comfortable to use. The quoted battery life is 17 hours on a full charge. Of course, your mileage may vary based on how bright the screen is set to, how loud the speakers are playing, how strong your WiFi signal is and what tasks you have it doing, but that’s still a great number to aspire to. Software Experience: This particular Chromebook Plus has plenty of RAM and power under the hood - more than your typical Chromebook. It’s powered by the new MediaTek Kompanio Ultra chip which enables a suite of cool AI-based features that process locally for privacy and for use when the notebook is not connected to the ‘net. Sure, this thing performs when doing anything I threw at it including apps designed for Chromebooks as well as apps designed for Android phones or tablets. With its windowed interface, you can have multiple apps running at the same time and overlap or tile their windows to suit your working style. Like browsing the web and keeping an eye on TikTok at the same time? Set them up side-by side. Browsing your favorite teams while watching the latest game? Tile 4 different pages or apps on the screen at the same time. You have the freedom and flexibility to work or play as you want. The MediaTek Kompanio Ultra chip also beefs up some of the standard apps with new local AI features. In YouTube, you can ask questions about the video and the AI will essentially watch the video for you and answer your question based on the content. In YouTube Music, you can do fun stuff like ask for music that answers odd questions like, “Play that song with lyrics that are confused with Lucy is this guy with diamonds.” The Smart Grouping feature is currently exclusive to this Chromebook. Let’s say you’re researching an upcoming trip and you’re trying to decide between two places. You have tons of web browser tabs open; some for each city, some about hotels and some about things to do. This feature will automatically group things together by topic into virtual desktops named for that topic. Another fun trick by the local AI is on-device image generation. Updating your social media and need that perfect image of a Hedgehog making pizza? Just ask for it and paste it in. The audio Recorder app is super useful if you want to get your thoughts down by dictating them. With your new AI superpowers, now this app can listen for multiple voices, label who said what, provide a transcription of exactly what was said and even give you a summary of the whole conversation including who said what. The beefed up Gallery app now has the ability to remove backgrounds, erase objects, make a sticker out of something from the image, or even do web searches of anything from the image using Google Lens. Another super helpful thing for me is the ability to extract text from an image. Video calls on this Chromebook are really great. The higher-resolution video camera on the lid, the good microphones and the Dolby Atmos speakers really let the video call shine. Now you have some extra fun features to put you in new backgrounds during the call. Summary: This Chromebook Plus has all of the ease and familiarity of an Android phone or tablet with the power and flexibility of a traditional notebook computer. Powered by the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra, super helpful features are now possible in both new apps and apps you already use. The bright 14” OLED display and Dolby Atmos speakers make your content shine. How you get your stuff done is more flexible than ever between the roomy keyboard and trackpad and the touchscreen. For most people, this Chromebook Plus will more than get the job done faster and easier than a traditional notebook while being easy to carry and lasting long on a charge.

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  Posted 4 months ago by gadgeTT