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Head-to-head · Best Chromebooks Under $500

ASUS Chromebook CX15 vs HP Chromebook Plus 14a

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

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The short answer

ASUS Chromebook CX15 comes out ahead by a narrow margin (3.9 vs 3.7). ASUS Chromebook CX15 is best for: Budget buyers and households who need a cheap, large-screen second laptop for casual browsing, streaming, and light tasks. Read the strengths below before deciding.

ASUS Chromebook CX15
Higher ratedRanked #2 in Best Chromebooks Under $500
ASUS Chromebook CX15
3 sources$239as of Oct 11

The ASUS Chromebook CX15 is the budget pick: a 15.6-inch ChromeOS laptop that often sells around $159-199, with a crisp matte 1080p display, a decent keyboard, and about 11 hours of battery. Reviewers are clear about the trade-offs, PCWorld (3.5/5) and Tom's Guide (80%) both call it good value but slow, and the entry-level 4GB RAM bogs down under multitasking. As a minimum-viable, casual-use Chromebook it delivers a lot for the money, but it is the slowest option here.

Strengths
  • — Outstanding value, often around $159-199
  • — Large 15.6-inch 1080p matte display that resists glare
  • — Decent keyboard with good travel for a budget machine
Watch-outs
  • — Entry configs ship with only 4GB of RAM, which fills up fast
  • — PCWorld calls it the slowest ChromeOS machine it has reviewed in years
  • — Best treated as a basic, casual-use second laptop
$239 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →
HP Chromebook Plus 14a
Ranked #4 in Best Chromebooks Under $500
HP Chromebook Plus 14a
1 source$429.95as of Oct 11

The HP Chromebook Plus 14a is a sturdy everyday Chromebook built around its keyboard and its cool-running chassis rather than its spec sheet. Laptop Mag rated it 3.5 out of 5, praising the typing experience while flagging a dim display and middling performance from the Intel Core i3-N305. It is a dependable clamshell for browsing and schoolwork that the higher picks here beat on screen, storage and speed.

Strengths
  • — Chassis is thick and heavy enough to survive a school bag
  • — Underside measured 77.5 degrees Fahrenheit after streaming video
  • — Battery ran 8 hours 50 minutes, enough for a school day
Watch-outs
  • — Intel Core i3-N305 performance trails the best at this price
  • — The 14-inch 1920x1080 panel is dimmer and duller than average
$429.95 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →

How they stack up

ASUS Chromebook CX15

The ASUS Chromebook CX15 is not a Chromebook Plus device, unlike the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34, Acer Chromebook Plus 514 and HP Chromebook Plus 14a. Its 15.6-inch matte display is larger than their 14-inch panels and it costs less than all three, but its two-core Celeron N4500 is slow next to the eight-core Core i3-N305 in the Acer and HP. Its battery lasts around 11 hours.

HP Chromebook Plus 14a

It shares the Intel Core i3-N305 with the Acer Chromebook Plus 514 but pairs it with 128GB of UFS storage rather than the Acer's 512GB SSD. Its battery ran 8 hours 50 minutes, short of the more than 13 hours recorded for the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34. It has an eight-core processor and 8GB of RAM, where the budget ASUS Chromebook CX15 uses a two-core Celeron N4500 and starts at 4GB.

Specs side-by-side

SpecASUS Chromebook CX15HP Chromebook Plus 14a
CPUIntel Celeron N4500 (2-core)Intel Core i3-N305 (8-core)
RAM4GB-8GB LPDDR5X (config dependent)8GB
Storage128GB eMMC128GB UFS
Display15.6" 1920x1080 matte IPS14" 1920x1080, 16:9
Weight3.51 lb3.2 lb
OSChromeOSChromeOS (Chromebook Plus)
PortsUSB-C, USB-A, HDMI—
Battery—~8 hours 50 minutes
Webcam—1080p
← See the full ranking of best chromebooks under $500