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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 and HP Chromebook Plus 14a score essentially the same (3.8 vs 3.8). Pick the one whose trade-offs match your priorities — the strengths and watch-outs below are where they actually differ.

ASUS Chromebook CX15
Ranked #3 in Best Chromebooks Under $500
ASUS Chromebook CX15
3 sources$299as of Aug 23

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
  • — Celeron N4500 is slow once you open more than a few tabs
  • — PCWorld calls it the slowest ChromeOS machine it has reviewed in years
$299 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →
HP Chromebook Plus 14a
Ranked #5 in Best Chromebooks Under $500
HP Chromebook Plus 14a
3 sources1 derived$429.95as of Aug 23

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
  • — Keyboard is comfortable enough to be the reason to buy the laptop
  • — Chassis is thick and heavy enough to survive a school bag
  • — Underside measured 77.5 degrees Fahrenheit after streaming video
Watch-outs
  • — Intel Core i3-N305 performance trails the best at this price
  • — The 14-inch 1920x1080 panel is dimmer and duller than average
  • — Only 128GB of UFS storage, a quarter of the Acer 514's 512GB
$429.95 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →

Derived means the reviewer published no score, so one was inferred from their written verdict. Everything else is a number the publisher printed. How we rank.

How they stack up

ASUS Chromebook CX15

The CX15 is by far the cheapest and largest-screened option here, but its low-power Celeron processor and entry-level 4GB RAM make it markedly slower than the Intel Core i3 and i5 machines: the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus, ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34, Acer Chromebook Plus 514, and HP Chromebook Plus 14a. It is not a Chromebook Plus device, so it lacks their AI features, but its 15.6-inch matte panel and ~11-hour battery are genuine strengths.

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 14-inch panel is dimmer than the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i and ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 screens, and the 16:9 shape shows less than the Flex 5i's 16:10 display, though it is faster and better built than the budget ASUS Chromebook CX15.

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
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