Chromebooks are known as those cheap laptops that allow you to do almost anything you can do on a regular laptop, but at a fraction of their price. Pretty cool, right?
It’s true that Chromebooks have their disadvantages, but for those who only need a highly portable device that will mostly be used for internet browsing, writing and streaming movies, videos or music, they are a great choice and their generally lower prices makes them an even better option than traditional laptops.
In today’s article, we’re going to find out which are the best Chromebooks under $200 in 2022. Because, even though Chromebooks are known to be the cheapest laptops available on the market right now, it’s still pretty difficult to find some really good ones if you’re on a really tight budget.
But worry not! We’ve checked and tested a lot of Chromebooks so you don’t have to waste several hours doing all the research, and we’re here to share with you the best Chromebook under $200 in 2022.
Do have in mind that prices change constantly, so do your own due diligence and double check the prices.
So let’s not waste any time and let’s check out below the best Chromebooks under $200 for 2022! We’ll start by listing them all in case you don’t want to go through the detailed reviews below and you just want to quickly get this done!
Please note: We get commissions for purchases made through links in this article.
| Chromebok model | Details |
|---|---|
Lenovo 3 11.6″  Check the price | Best Budget award Pros: Cheap, durable, USB-C ports Cons: HD-only |
HP Chromebook 14″  Check the price | Editor’s choice Pros: Best price/quality, faster, durable, larger screen Cons: Not full HD |
Asus C223NA 11.6″  Check the price | Pros: Fair price, nice design, anti-glare Cons: Older Processor (slower) |
Samsung Chromebook 4 11.6″  Check the price | Pros: Good combo of specifications, renowned brand Cons: HD-only, just 1 USB port |
Now let’s get a bit more in depth and see what each of them has to offer in terms of performance and quality!
Lenovo 3
The cheapest Chromebook on our list comes with specifications that can easily compete against the slightly more expensive products below. All in all, this makes Lenovo 3 a really solid choice for the budget Chromebook category.
This model is actually powered by a solid CPU – the AMD A6-9220C processor that has a base speed of 1.80 GHz, but goes up to 2.7 GHz. It’s not Intel – which we’re usually used to seeing, but it is a really solid processor.
Pair that up with 4GB of RAM and a super-fast, 32GB eMMC storage drive and you have a really nice combo that will keep you really happy performance-wise and on a low budget.
We tested this model with Spotify running in the background and 8 tabs open in Chrome and it still handled things pretty well, without any noticeable lag.
A great thing about this model is the fact that it has multiple ports for increased connectivity, including 2 USB-C ports. This means that you can connect more modern peripherals to it – which is always a bonus.
The laptop is small and pretty much unspectacular in terms of design, to be honest, but it doesn’t look bad either. It has a 11.6″ screen with only HD resolution (but all models on the list “suffer” from this). The truth is that on such a small screen, its 1,366 x 768px resolution won’t really look bad and you can still enjoy solid image quality.
As extra bells and whistles, it has an SD card reader, as well as a security slot. It has a decent battery life of around 6-7 hours on a single charge (but this varies greatly with usage). All in all, the best choice if your budget is extremely limited and even a few dollars make a difference.
Click here to check it out on Amazon.
HP Chromebook 14 – Editor’s Choice
Our top choice when it comes to Chromebooks under $200 is this HP model, mainly because of the larger display size. At 14″, it is the largest on our list and a bigger screen is always better in our opinion.
So if you want a larger display – 14″ in our case – this is your best bet when looking to buy a budget Chromebook.
It still doesn’t offer full-HD resolution, being HD-only (1,366 x 768px), but at least the display is anti-glare, so you get better image quality even if tougher light conditions. The screen is pretty good too, offering a solid image quality with fair colors.
But you also get a slightly better processor – the AMD Dual-Core a4-9120 CPU which runs at a base speed of 2.2 GHz, but can go up to 2.5 GHz. This is a minor improvement in terms of speed, but anything extra is better.
Apart from this, the other specs are identical to those of the other models on our list: 4GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage. We can consider this the norm for our low budget.
It looks really nice and classy, with that chalkboard gray chassis really making a difference in my opinion, and offers around 9 hours on a single charge. It is durable and nice, perfect for those who want to get themselves a larger, yet cheap Chromebook.
It also have a decent and modern offering of ports, including 2 USB-C slots, 2 regular USB ones and an SD card reader.
Click here to check it out on Amazon.
Asus C223NA
The next product on our list of the best Chromebooks under $200 is an Asus-made device, and one with personality! A red color design that makes it stand out and look different. Sometimes, that’s all that you want!
And it’s good that we have the color to make it feel different, because in terms of specifications, it’s not as impressive, being an older model: we get the decent Intel Celeron N3350 processor (running at speeds up to 2.4GHz), 4GB RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage.
It’s also a 11.6″ Chromebook, so you don’t get a ton of screen space from it – and still not a full HD resolution – but it gets the job done and looks really, really nice.
The main reason why it doesn’t get our top pick award is the fact that there are several customers who complain on Amazon that it’s not extremely durable. We had no problems with it, but we also didn’t get to use it for several months or more, so we can’t really say.
But Asus is a really solid manufacturer with quality products all over the place, so we would take the complaints with a pinch of salt. But in the end, it’s up for you to decide if you want to risk it or not. There are other really good options on our list today if you don’t want the blazing red Chromebook here!
Click here to get it on Amazon
Samsung Chromebook 4
If you’re looking for a renowned brand, we have this Samsung-made device that won’t disappoint. Their Chromebooks are actually some of the most popular on the market, enjoying glowing reviews from users and experts alike, so you know for sure that you get a product that has been thoroughly tested and improved over the years to deliver the best experience for the lowest possible price.
This one – which is an older model actually – comes with 4GB of RAM and is powered by an Intel Celeron N4000 Dual-Core processor, with a base frequency of 1.1 GHz but which can go up to 2.6 GHz when turbo boosted.
This is not insane performance by any means, but it will get the job done and you will be able to enjoy a generally smooth experience and nice performance when browsing the web, streaming movies and whatnot. You won’t really have many reasons to complain!
It also has a decent storage when it comes to Chromebooks: 32GB of fast eMMC storage, as well as a Media Card Reader, so you can increase your storage capacity with an SD card if you need more.
It’s extremely thin, light and portable thanks to its smaller size: 11.6″ display, 0.66″ Thin, 2.6lbs Weight.
A big con, we would say, comes from the fact that it only has one USB port. If you use an external mouse, you will already have all ports filled. Not ideal.
It doesn’t have a full HD resolution, offering HD instead (1366 x 768 pixels), but on such a small screen, you won’t really feel the difference. You will appreciate the fact that the battery can last up to 12 hours on a single charge.
All in all, this Samsung-made Chromebook is backed up by glowing reviews and an increased popularity thanks to its brand. So if you prefer going for an established brand, this is the purchase you should make.
Click here to check it out on Amazon
Can you get a good Chromebook for under $200?
A few years ago, when I first wrote this article, you had a lot of really good models to choose from, some of which surprisingly good in terms of performance.
Unfortunately, over the years, the prices have gone up and right now we can safely say that Chromebooks under $200 are a bit outdated. They don’t offer a lot in terms of performance or physical storage – but you can still make them work if your expectations are not really high.
After all, $200 is a very low amount for a laptop. Even phones are generally more expensive than this, so you can’t expect them to be out of this world good.
Our recommendation would be to consider increasing the budget a little bit. If possible, we shared a list of the best Chromebooks you can buy – those are over $200 (but some not by much) but much better.
But if the budget is really tight, any of our recommendations above will still work.
Conclusion
While we don’t have a lot of variety when it comes to a really low budget – even if we’re talking about Chromebooks – you still have some solid choices available. And it’s nice to see – comparing with the offers of last year – that we also have a larger display available on our budget.
Also, the general storage space has doubled compared to last year (when most Chromebooks in this price range only offered 16GB), while the processors are also better. So nice improvements, after all – and any of the products above will definitely keep you happy.
So these would be our recommended Chromebooks under $200 in 2022. Just pick your favorite on our list and I’m sure you’ll be very satisfied with the product you’ll get!