“Which Chromebook has the best battery life?” is a question I often get as Chrome OS systems explode with popularity. Well, you’re in luck because I have the answer. Laptop Mag tests and reviews countless Chromebooks each year, and of course, we test their battery endurance and record our findings.
I totally understand the Chromebook appeal. They have a clean, minimalist interface, are less susceptible to malware, are typically budget-friendly and are perfect for users who are interwoven into the Google ecosystem. Most importantly, Chromebooks usually have excellent battery life.
We’ve tested a cornucopia of Chromebooks and have the scoop on which Chrome OS devices lasted the longest. We’ll also make sure the Chromebooks on this list offer the total package. After all, what good is a long-lasting Chromebook if it operates like an old, dilapidated clunker, right?
Which Chromebook has the best battery life?
The average Chromebook lasts 9 hours and 58 minutes, according to the data we’ve collected on the Chrome OS devices we’ve reviewed thus far. There are plenty of Chromebooks that offer above-average battery life, but there’s only one that currently holds the longest-battery-runtime record: The HP Chromebook x360 14 G1.
The HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 lasted a whopping 12 hours and 54 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test, which consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. That’s long enough for you to enjoy a full eight-hour workday and still have almost five hours left before running to an outlet.
Along with its epic endurance, the HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 is a svelte convertible that can transform into several different modes: tent mode for hands-free entertainment, tablet mode for scribbling notes and sketching, and the conventional clamshell mode for productivity. It also has a familiar design that mimics the traditional MacBook aesthetic: a silver-aluminum chassis with a black keyboard. The Chromebook x360 14 G1 is also super sturdy with excellent build quality. If you’re accident-prone and have a bad habit of dropping your laptop, you don’t have to worry about this Chromebook being fragile. The HP convertible passed several MIL-STD-810G tests, which means it can absorb shocks and drops while still remaining functional.
Though the HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 has the longest battery life, the configuration we tested launched in 2019, which may be too out-of-date for some. The Chromebook sitting on the throne with the second-longest battery runtime is the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. It lasts 12 hours and 46 minutes. The 10.1-inch Duet is also 2-in-1 (like the Chromebook x360 14 G1), but not in the same fashion. It’s a tablet that can be transformed into clamshell mode via a detachable keyboard and a kickstand cover. However, the Duet has a small form factor. If you’re looking for a Chromebook that is comfortable for heavy-productivity sessions, the Duet may not be for you due to its cramped keyboard. If not, take a look at our full list of the top six Chromebooks with the longest battery runtimes.
The best Chromebooks with battery life you can buy today
- HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 — 12 hours and 54 minutes
- Lenovo Chromebook Duet — 12 hours and 46 minutes
- Acer Chromebook Spin 713 — 11 hours and 54 minutes
- Google Pixelbook Go — 11 hours and 29 minutes
- Dell Latitude 5400 Chromebook Enterprise — 11 hours and 29 minutes
- HP Pro C640 Chromebook Enterprise — 11 hours and 7 minutes
The HP Chromebook x360 14 G1’s battery runtime is just six minutes short of 13 hours, which is spectacular. It’s 2021 — and still — no Chromebook has succeeded in outperforming the Chromebook x360 14 G1 on the Laptop Mag battery life test. On the plus side, the HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 has held on to its “best battery life” title since it hit the market in 2019. On the downside — well — it launched in 2019. The internals are a bit passé. The unit we reviewed came with 8GB of RAM, 64GB of eMMC flash storage and an Intel Core i5-8350U CPU.
Still, we praised the HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 for its understated, business-friendly design that would look good on your office desk, whether you work from home or commute to a cubicle every day. It’s a 2-in-1, so it also offers versatility; you can transform it into a tablet, enjoy hands-free entertainment via tent mode, or dive into a high-productivity session with the clamshell position.
On top of offering nearly 13 hours of battery life, the military standard-tested Chromebook x360 14 G1 is also ideal for users with butter fingers.
See our full HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 review.
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet was just nine minutes short of snatching the HP Chromebook x360 14 G1’s longest-battery life crown. It lasted 12 hours and 46 minutes, according to the Laptop Mag battery test.
The Duet sports a 10.1-inch display and comes with a kickstand cover and a detachable keyboard. You can use the Duet as a tablet or you can attach it to the keyboard when you’re ready to type away. The configuration we reviewed comes with a 2-GHz MediaTek Helio P60T octa-core processor, an ARM G72 MP3 GPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB eMMC flash storage.
Weighing only two pounds and sporting 0.7 inches of thickness, the Duet has an ultra-portable form factor. There is one downside of the Duet’s small footprint, though: the keyboard is cramped. It may not be ideal for users with heavy workloads. Still, the Duet reminds us of the much-loved Microsoft Surface Go, but Lenovo’s version has a far more palatable sub-$300 price tag than the $500 Surface Go.
See our full Lenovo Chromebook Duet review.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 lasts nearly 12 hours — almost half of the day — before the battery drains out. On top of that, the Chromebook Spin 713 is one of our favorite Chrome OS devices, garnering an Editor’s Choice badge and an impressive 4.5-star rating.
Aside from its long battery life, the Chromebook Spin 713 also impressed us with its bright, 13.5-inch display. The average Chromebook emits 274 nits of brightness, but according to our testing, the Chromebook Spin 713 is far from average with its 445-nit screen. Packed with an Intel Core i5-10210U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, the Chromebook Spin 713 whizzed past its fellow Chrome OS rivals, including the Google Pixelbook Go, on performance tests such as Geekbench 5.0 and Jetstream 2.0.
Like the Chromebook x360 14 G1 and the Duet, the Chromebook Spin 713 is a 2-in-1 (yes, Chromebook convertibles are totally killing it in the battery-life game). If you love tablets, but still want access to a keyboard, the Chromebook Spin 713 is the ideal laptop for you. With its speedy performance, bright display, versatile design and long battery life, the Chromebook Spin 713 is the total package.
See our full Acer Chromebook Spin 713 review.
As we mentioned in our review, the Google Pixelbook Go is a total badass when it comes to battery life. Although it’s fourth on this list, 11 hours and 29 minutes of battery life is nothing to scoff at. Besides its solid battery runtime, the Pixelbook Go earned a solid 4-star rating for its ultra-slim, lightweight chassis (it only weighs 2 pounds and it’s 0.5 inches thick), decent performance and bright display.
Chromebooks are typically dim with an average brightness of 274 nits, but the Pixelbook Go isn’t your run-of-the-mill ChromeOS device. It has a 368-nit, colorful panel that covers a whopping 108% of the sRGB color spectrum. One downside of the Pixelbook Go, though, is its shallow keyboard. And since it’s a 2019 Chromebook, the unit we tested has outdated internals: an Intel Core i5-8200Y CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. Still, the Google Pixelbook Go is one of the most highly praised Chrome OS devices to date — it’s no wonder it landed a spot on our best Chromebooks page.
See our full Google Pixelbook Go review.
The Google Pixelbook Go may not want to share its glory with another Chromebook, but it has no choice but to scoot over on its throne and make room for the Dell Latitude 5400. The Latitude 5400 served up the same battery runtime as the Pixelbook Go, lasting 11 hours and 29 minutes.
The Latitude 5400 isn’t as sleek and slim as the Pixelbook Go with a weight of 3.4 pounds and a thickness of 0.8 inches, but a little chunkiness never hurt anybody. The sturdy Latitude 5400 passed 17 MIL-STD 810G tests, proving that it can endure shocks, drops and extreme temperatures. Unlike the Pixelbook Go with its stingy port offerings, the Latitude 5400’s thicker body allows for a wider selection of I/O options, including one Type-C port, two Type-A ports and a microSD card reader. The Pixelbook Go could never. The Latitude 5400 won’t turn heads with its design, but that’s expected since it is a business-oriented Chromebook — equipped with Chrome Enterprise — that targets organizations, not your average Joe. The unit we tested features an Intel Core i5-8365U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
See our full Dell Latitude 5400 Chromebook Enterprise review.
The HP Pro C640 Chromebook Enterprise is another business-oriented laptop that aims to catch the attention of organizations that want to arm their employees with productivity-boosting laptops. With the Pro C640, there’s one thing employers don’t have to worry about: battery life.
The HP Pro C640 Chrome Enterprise lasted 11 hours and 7 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test. It earned 4 stars in our review for its military-grade durability (it passed a 19 MIL-STD 810G tests), a wide variety of ports, speedy web-browsing score and impressive security features such as its fingerprint scanner and the Chrome Enterprise software.
The Pro C640 unit we reviewed came equipped with an Intel Core i5-8365U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. One downside of this HP laptop, though, is that its display isn’t the brightest, which is par for the course for a Chromebook. However, with the Pro C640 offering more than 11 hours of battery life, some would be willing to bite the bullet with a dim display for an untethered experience.
See our full HP Pro C640 Chromebook Enterprise review.
How to choose the best Chromebook with long battery life
Long battery life is a desirable feature in a Chromebook, but you should also make sure that your Chrome OS device fulfills your other needs, too. Are you a student who loves sitting outside and can’t stomach a dim display? Are you a business organization looking for a Chromebook that will produce the highest levels of productivity from your employees? Are you a parent seeking a simple-to-use Chromebook for your little one? These are some of the questions you should ask yourself before committing to buying a Chromebook.
Here’s an easy-to-understand, Chromebook guide that will help you make an informed purchase.
How much does a Chromebook cost?
Chromebooks surged during the 2020 pandemic. This was, in part, due to their budget-friendly price. As work-from-home and remote-learning mandates went into effect, parents scrambled to purchase inexpensive laptops for their children and employees rushed to snag a device that wouldn’t break the bank. As such, Chromebooks were in high demand.
Although Chromebooks are typically inexpensive (the HP Chromebook 14 is less than $300), premium Chromebooks exist, too. The Google Pixelbook, for example, is a Chromebook that will set you back more than $1,500. The good news is that, no matter what your budget is, there is a perfect Chromebook out there waiting for you.
Are Chromebooks portable?
Though most OEMs tend to make ultra-slim, portable Chromebooks, there are some Chrome OS devices that are on the chunky side. As a prospective buyer, make sure to research the screen size, dimensions and weight of your desired Chromebook. Most Chromebooks fall between 11 and 13 inches, so lugging Chromebooks around at school, the office and at home should be a breeze.
You can also snag a 2-in-1 Chromebook, which can shape-shift into different modes like the Acer Spin Chromebook 713 and the HP Chromebook x360 14 G1. If you spot phrases such as “Spin” and “x360” in the Chromebook’s name, there’s a good chance that it’s a convertible. Chromebook 2-in-1s are typically inexpensive while many Windows convertibles will show no mercy to your pockets.
How well does a Chromebook perform?
Chromebooks are lightweight laptops that run as smooth as butter. Chrome OS devices keep it simple: they offer users easy access to their favorite Google productivity apps. Windows, on the other hand, can be a minimalist’s nightmare with its deluge of bloatware apps. If you need additional apps, you can download them from the Google Play store. Because many applications on Chrome OS operate using the cloud, this means more free space for your laptop and speedier performance. However, beware that Chromebooks aren’t offline-friendly laptops — you’ll always need to be connected to the Internet to access your cloud-stored files.
Are Chromebooks secure?
Chromebooks are ideal for security-minded users. Chrome OS shuts out most traditional entryways for malware. Each web page and Chromebook app is compartmentalized inside its own virtual “sandbox,” which means that other aspects of the Chrome OS device won’t be compromised by a single infected app or page. Chrome OS also installs security updates automatically. Thirdly, whether you set your Chromebook on fire or throw it inside a volcano, your files will still be protected because all of your data is stored online.
Lastly, many Chromebooks offer biometric-authentication features such as fingerprint scanners, so you don’t have to worry about infiltrators attempting to access your Chrome OS device behind your back.
How we test Chromebooks
We test Chromebooks for performance, battery life, display quality, multitasking muscle and more. When a Chromebook is brought into our labs, we use a number of industry-standard benchmarks such as Geekbench 5.0 and Jetstream 2.0, but we also dive into real-world testing so that you, as the buyer, can make an informed decision about which Chromebook is best for you.
To measure battery runtime, the Laptop Mag Battery test surfs the web at 150 nits of brightness until the Chromebook runs out of juice. As mentioned, to test the Chromebook’s processing power, we use the Geekbench synthetic test.
We also use a colorimeter to measure Chromebooks’ screen brightness and color gamut while another instrument helps us determine its thermal levels while streaming a 15-minute video. Be sure to check out our how we test laptops page for more details on our benchmarking procedures.
