I reviewed Lenovos new Chromebook Plus and was enthralled by its design and performance but Im not sure its worth its Windows-laptop price tag
Date:
Wed, 17 Sep 2025 10:15:49 +0000
Description:
Can any Chromebook really be worth what the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch costs? We find out.
FULL STORY ======================================================================Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch review: Two-minute review
The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch is a high-end device, featuring a premium build and spec - with a price tag to match.
It looks very elegant, more so than other Chromebooks. It apes Apples MacBook line in all the right ways, with its sleek, rounded chassis and delectable materials. Its also very thin and reasonably light, making it a cinch to
carry around.
This really is one of the best Chromebook constructions Ive seen. Every
aspect screams quality, and there are a few atypical touches, such as the central protrusion on the top of lid to help with opening, and the wavy contours of the underside panel.
The lid is as smooth and as stable as I couldve wished for, too, although it doesnt open to a full 180 degrees. The bezel around the display is incredibly thin, which is always a positive.
You dont get many interfaces on the Chromebook Plus 14-inch, although I was glad to see two USB-C ports, both of which can be used to charge the device and connect to external monitors, and placed either side for improved convenience. A USB-A port and a headset jack are the only others.
The Chromebook Plus 14-inch performs as well as its state-of-the-art design suggests. It can handle all manner of tasks, from light productivity to gaming, and the 16GB of RAM in my review unit made light work of
multitasking.
Complementing this performance is the brilliant OLED display, which provides plenty of clarity, vibrancy, contrast, and brightness, with the latter
helping to keep reflections at bay. It also has touch functionality, which works very well, if not quite on par with those on tablets and phones.
The touchpad, however, is the best Ive used on a Chromebook: its unbelievably smooth, while its large dimensions and responsive inputs make navigation as easy as can be. The keyboard is also great to use, although I did have to acclimatize somewhat to the solidity of the keys themselves, but once I did, typing was an equally enjoyable experience.
Battery life is also superb, lasting about 14 hours in our movie playback test. Not many other Chromebooks can beat this, barring the odd few. Its also very quick to charge.
All of these class-leading elements come at a price, however. The Chromebook Plus 14-inch is one of the most expensive Chromebooks around, straying into Windows-laptop territory and ChromeOS simply cant compete with these
machines in terms of sheer versatility.
For this reason, its hard to recommend the Chromebook Plus 14-inch outright, unless you manage to catch it in a generous sale. But if you have your heart set on a Chromebook Plus and the money to spend, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch wont disappoint. Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch review: Price and availability (Image credit: Future) $749.99 / 699 / AU$1,197 Available now High end of the market
The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch costs $749.99 / 699 / AU$1,197 and is available now. Models with differing RAM and storage capacities are also available.
This is one of the most expensive Chromebooks on the market. At this price, the Chromebook Plus 14-inch rubs shoulders with some of the best laptops running Windows, which have far greater compatibility and customizability.
The best value laptop as far as were concerned is the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441, which we also compared favorably to a MacBook (specifically the Air model), owing to its thin and light design and commendable speed.
Theres also the HP Chromebook Plus 15, which we rate as the one of the best Chromebooks for students , thanks to its blistering performance by the standards of the sector. While its also expensive for a Chromebook, its still considerably cheaper than Chromebook Plus 14-inch, despite having a larger display. Value: 2.5 / 5 Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch review: Specs
My Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch review unit had 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
Price:
$749.99 / 699 / AU$1,197
CPU:
MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 (8 cores, 2.1GHz)
Graphics:
Integrated Arm Immortalis-G925 MC
RAM:
16GB LPDDR5x
Screen:
14" WUXGA (1920x1200) OLED 400nits Glossy, 100% DCI-P3, 60Hz, Glass, touchscreen
Storage:
256GB UFS 4.0
Ports:
2x USB-C (3.2 Gen 1, PD 3.0, DisplayPort 1.4), 1x USB-A (3.2 Gen 1), 1x headset jack
Wireless:
MediaTek Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Camera:
5.0MP with privacy shutter
Weight:
2.78lbs (1.26kg)
Dimensions:
12.37 x 8.63 x 0.62in (314 x 219 x 16mm) Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch review: Design (Image credit: Future) Fabulous construction Takes cues from MacBooks Not many ports
The Chromebook Plus 14-inch is expertly crafted. Its Apple-inspired
appearance is more than surface-deep; its build quality rivals that of the best MacBooks , even featuring its own fingerprint scanner. Further similarities lay in the Chromebook Plus 14-inchs thin and light body, which makes it easy to travel with.
But the Chromebook Plus 14-inch has some unique aspects that set it apart slightly. Theres a bulge in the center of the lid that makes it easier to open, while the underside is crinkled quite why, Im not sure; but I appreciated it nonetheless, as it feels oddly satisfying to hold.
The lid hinge is engineered to a high standard as well, offering smooth yet sturdy adjustments. The bezel around the screen is minimal, which Im always pleased to see as it allows the display to make full use of its allotted space.
Even the power adapter is well designed, forgoing the mid-cable brick that many others are saddled with. Its still something of a wall wart, though, and the length of brick directly behind the plug might make it unsuitable for certain setups.
Thankfully, it should prove thin enough to avoid infringing upon adjacent sockets. Its a shame the cable itself isnt that long, but it should suffice for most setups.
There are only four ports on the Chromebook Plus 14-inch, but two of them are USB-C, and both support charging and external display connections, which
helps to make up for the lack of dedicated ports for these. Theyre also located on either side, which makes the Chromebook Plus 14-inch conducive to
a wider variety of setups. The other two interfaces are a USB-A (on the left) and a headset jack (on the right), which are always useful additions. Design score: 5 / 5 Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch review: Performance (Image
credit: Future) Fast all-round performance Sharp and vibrant display Super smooth touchpad Benchmarks Here are the benchmark results for the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch: TechRadar Battery Life Test: 14 hours and 4 minutes
Jetstream2 Benchmark: 288.364
Kraken Benchmark: 398.8ms
Speedometer 3.1: 26.6 (0.45)
The Chromebook Plus 14-inch is an excellent performer. It can handle light productivity with ease, while the 16GB of RAM in my review unit (quite a lot for a Chromebook) meant it could multitask without issue.
It can also stream 4K content seamlessly without endless pauses for
buffering, as well as run some reasonably demanding mobile games. I played Asphalt Legends on high settings and Call of Duty: Mobile on max settings,
and both ran as smoothly as I couldve wished for. Alien: Isolation was a slightly less impressive experience, but it was still just as playable.
The OLED display is glorious, and easily among the best in this sector, rendering colors with fantastic vibrancy. It also has great contrast, and although reflections can reveal themselves at points, I found theres enough brightness to eliminate the worst of them. The 1920 x 1200 resolution is pleasingly sharp, too, especially within its 14-inch frame. (Image credit: Future)
Whats more, the Chromebook Plus 14-inch also has touchscreen functionality. This works very well, thanks to how responsive and precise it is. Its
slightly more grabby than some of the best tablet screens, but only marginally, so keen illustrators and other stylus users will still find it smooth enough. Its only a shame that a stylus isnt included.
The keys on the Chromebook Plus 14-inch feel very tight and solid when pressed, which did take me some time to get used to. However, theyre incomparably stable, and their relatively deep indentations provide plenty of security and tactility.
With all this said, they still have a short and snappy actuation, and offer plenty of feedback thanks to their dampening. Theyre also backlit, which is somewhat of a rarity on Chromebooks.
If anything, the touchpad on the Chromebook Plus 14-inch is even better. It has the silkiest surface of any Chromebook touchpad Ive used, which makes gestures and navigation effortless. The latter is further aided by its relatively large size, too. Performance score: 5 / 5 Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch review: Battery life (Image credit: Future)
The Chromebook Plus 14-inch has an exceptional battery life. It managed to last 14 hours when I played a movie on repeat from a full charge. This eclipses many of its rivals, including the HP Chromebook Plus 15, which only managed close to 11 hours.
However, it cant beat the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook with its score of 16-plus hours, nor can it outlast the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441, which achieved over 18 hours. Its quick to charge, though, taking just 100 minutes to top up completely. Battery life: 4.5 / 5 Should I buy the Lenovo
Chromebook Plus 14-inch?
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Price
Its one of the most expensive Chromebooks around, and comes dangerously close to mid-range Windows laptops.
2.5 / 5
Design
Its hard to fault any aspect of its construction, and there are a few unique touches that only make it better.
5 / 5
Performance
Theres little the Chromebook Plus 14-inch cant handle, from productivity and browsing to streaming and gaming.
5 / 5
Battery life
The Chromebook Plus 14-inch can outlast many of its rivals, with only a few exceptions.
4.5 / 5
Total Score
Chromebooks dont come much better than this, but youll have to pay dear for the privilege at which point non-ChromeOS devices might make more sense.
4 / 5 Buy it if...
You want the best Chromebook design
I havent come across a Chromebook built as well as this before; its just so thin and so premium.
You want the best Chromebook performance
Its powerful ARM CPU and 16GB of RAM make light work of all kinds of tasks, including 4K streaming and light gaming. The keyboard, touchpad, and touchscreen are all excellent to use as well. Don't buy it if...
Youre on a budget
The Chromebook Plus 14-inch tops the Chromebook Plus market, and even encroaches on the Windows laptop space, which is a daring move.
You want plenty of connections
With only four ports three of which are USB those after more dedicated interfaces will be disappointed. Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch: Also
consider
Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch
HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441
Price:
$749.99 / 699 / AU$1,197
$549.99 / 449.99 / AU$749
$949.99 (about 760 / AU$1,470)
CPU:
MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 (8 cores, 2.1GHz)
Intel Core i3-N305 (8 threads, 3.80GHz)
Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100
Graphics:
Integrated Arm Immortalis-G925 MC
Integrated, Intel UHD Graphics
Qualcomm Adreno GPU
RAM:
16GB LPDDR5x
8GB LPDDR5
16GB LPDDR5X
Screen:
14" WUXGA (1920x1200) OLED 400nits Glossy, 100% DCI-P3, 60Hz, Glass, touchscreen
15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080), 144Hz, 16:9 aspect ratio, non-touch screen
14 QHD (2560 x 1600) @60Hz touchscreen
Storage:
256GB
128GB
256GB
Ports:
2x USB-C (3.2 Gen 1, PD 3.0, DisplayPort 1.4), 1x USB-A (3.2 Gen 1), 1x headset jack
1x USB-A, 2x USB-C, 1x microSD, 1x 3.5mm audio
2x USB-C 4, 1x USB 3.2, 1x microSD, 1x 3.5mm audio jack
Wireless:
MediaTek Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
MediaTek Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Camera:
5.0MP with privacy shutter
1080p FHD camera with privacy shutter
1080p at 30 fps FHD RGB,720p at 30 fps IR
Weight:
2.78lbs (1.26kg)
3.81lbs (1.73kg)
3.17lbs (1.40kg)
Dimensions:
12.37 x 8.63 x 0.62in (314 x 219 x 16mm)
14.28 x 9.5 x 0.78in (363 x 242 x 20mm)
0.58 ~ 0.0.62 x 12.36 x 8.81in (14.69 ~ 15.64 x 314 x 223.75mm)
Here are some equally-capable alternatives to the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch:
HP Chromebook Plus 15
If youre in the market for a similarly capable Chromebook Plus, but dont want to spend quite as much, the HP Chromebook Plus fits the bill. It matches the Chromebook Plus 14-inch for performance, and while its design and display arent quite as spectacular, the HP Chromebook Plus is still at the top of its class.
Read our full HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch review
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441
The premium price tag of the Chromebook Plus 14-inch means it competes with some Windows machines, including the Inspiron 14 Plus 7441, which is one of the best value laptops around. It has a similar spec to the Chromebook Plus 14-inch it likewise utilizes an ARM chip and 16GB of RAM which means it can handle the same tasks. However, its display is even sharper, and crucially it runs Windows, which is far more versatile than ChromeOS will likely ever be.
Read our full Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441 review How I tested the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14-inch Tested for two days Used for various tasks Experience with Chromebooks and other laptops
I tested the Chromebook Plus 14-inch for a couple of days, during which time
I used it for all manner of tasks, from productivity and browsing to
streaming and gaming.
I also ran our series of benchmark tests for Chromebooks, and put its battery life through its paces by running a movie on a continuous loop.
I have plenty of Chromebook experience, having owned and reviewed a number of them. Ive also owned and reviewed other laptops and even tablets, so I know how they compare to Android, Windows, and macOS devices. First reviewed September 2025 Read more about how we test
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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/computing/chromebooks/lenovo-chromebook-plus-14-inch -review
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