7 Best Chromebooks for Middle Schools [Lightweight & Powerful]

Parents don’t want their middle school kids to have a full-fledged laptop for various reasons.

Kids can spend their time playing useless fighting games and may access the content that they should not at that age.

But laptops and computers have become an essential part of education even for kids.

From home assignments to virtual class attending, taking notes, online research, and many more. 

So, what can be the right option for middle school students?

The option that helps them flourish in their studies, learn how to research online, attend distance learning classes and contribute to society in better ways?

Chromebooks….!

Yes, it seems like Chromebooks have become standard education computers.

During covid, many top institutes recommended parents buy their kids Chromebooks for their cheap price range, high efficiency, and powerful parental control over devices.

So, if you are a middle school student, or a parent, looking into buying a Chromebook for Middle school students, you are at the right place.

We are here going to make a list of top Chromebooks Kids can use for their studies. These Chromebooks are personally tested and used.

The information we are providing here is based on personal experience, consumer reports, or experts may have a different experiences than ours.

Best Chromebooks for Middle School Reviews 2022:

If you are looking for a convertible Chromebook, a laptop that converts into a tablet to help you take notes on the screen, or draw on the screen for digital arts students, Asus Chromebook Flip C434 is the best option to go with.

I would not say this is the most powerful Chromebook or the fastest Chromebook, but for the tasks a middle school student has to handle, it got more than the required power.

It is a 14-inches Chromebook that shares an FHD 1920X1080 Pixels Four-way nano edge touchscreen display.

The bezels around the corners are tiny, which enhances the overall screen area, it is around 5mm.

So, technically you get a 14-inches screen in 13-inches footprints.

Again, it is a convertible Chromebook, supports 360-degree rotation, and easily transforms into a tablet to fits your computing needs. In my tests I find this Chromebook good for regular home use due to its smooth performance, and bright display.

It is a good powerful Chromebook, enough good to easily suits students’ everyday computing needs. It comes powered by an Intel Core m3-8100Y processor.

Well, I can’t say this processor is as powerful as Core i3, or corer i5, it is a mobile processor, designed for compact small laptops.

But it is good and powerful and helps you open multiple apps or programs at one time.

You can open as many tabs as you want for your online research for your assignment preparations. I tried around dozens of tabs on Chrome, but it did not freeze.

The most prominent aspect, and worth mentioning is its keyboard. It has an excellent keyboard that supports backlighting.

Keys are excellent and provide you with smooth typing performance for long-hours tying. The keys with the backlight on are hard to see in daylight, so I turn the keys off in daylight.

In storage, it comes in two variants, 64GB and 128GB.

I don’t like big storage in Chromebook, as the Google driver storage is enough for me to store my files most of the time. Or I use a pen drive to store files or transfer data, so I preferred a 64GB variant.

And 4GB RAM, in my view, is more than sufficient for a Chromebook, especially for a middle school or high school student.

What makes this Chromebook stands out from the rest of affordable Chromebooks is its 2 USB Type-C ports and one USB Type-A port.

Yes, most of the time, students prefer using their dedicated keyboards and mice, that’s why having a good range of ports makes them more efficient, compared to those that don’t.

Bottom Line:

I highly recommend ASUS C434 Chromebook for middle school as well as other students such as PA school students, medical students, business majors students, and many others. I found that many parents purchased this Chromebook for their kids for homeschool or distance learning too.

If you are looking for the best all-over Chromebook for your middle school studies, taking online classes, distance learning, or in-person learning, Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 is the best option.

It is the best bang for your back and comes with all the beauty of high-end Samsung and ASUS Chromebooks.

You can use this Chromebook for anything related to computing; such as Browsing, attending online classes, Google classroom classes, taking notes, regular home use, and many more other operations.

Its screen is the most prominent feature that I liked the most in my use. It comes with a 13.3 inches Full HD IPS touchscreen display with almost no bezels on the sides.

The narrow bezels make it more impressive for watching movies, YouTube videos, and taking online classes without any distractions.

Its IPS screen provides wider viewing angles, to help you share your ideas with your loved ones.

Acer Chromebook Flex 5 is one of the affordable cores of i3 processor Chromebooks. It comes powered by an Intel Core i3-10110U processor, enough powerful even for professionals to do their tasks.

You would not feel lagging or freezing issues doing anything you like.

I am amazed at its backlit keyboard performance. It comes powered by an unbelievable keyboard, that makes the typing super-impressive and fast.

The keys are perfectly spaced, making it good for small as well as large-handed users to carry on their typing work without having to attach an external keyboard.

Yes, the keys support backlighting too, good bright to help you type in a dim environment.

According to the consumer report, the keys are especially quiet, no one will get disturbed by your typing now.

The keys get dimmed off when not pressed for 10-seconds, but when you hover your fingers never, they again turn on.

In our tests, its battery performance makes it one of the go-to laptops for students.

It lasts for around 10 hours in one charging, which means, one-time charging and you are all set to use it for an entire day without looking for a power socket.

Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 shares 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C ports with fast data transfer and multimedia streaming, battery charging on one port, and one USB Type-A 3.1 Gen 1 Port.

With this Chromebook, using the Type-C port, you can connect external monitors, to get a bigger screen multimedia consuming experience.

Bottom Line:

If you are a student who has to handle relatively high-end computing operations, such as lots of browsing, docs handling, typing, and others, I highly recommend buying Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5.

It costs around 400 dollars, but one of the best Chromebook for Middle school students.

If You are a student on the go, and looking for a Chromebook that offers you an interrupted performance even when there is no WI-FI, buy Samsung designed Chromebook Plus V2.

I find this Chromebook a good package for middle school students, it got a good screen to help them watch their favorite movies or web series.

It comes powered with an intel core m3-7y30 processor, definitely one of the powerful processors for a Chromebook.

This processor does not perform well with Windows laptops, but with a ChromeOS, it put even many high-end processors on shame, due to its power efficiency.

This too comes with 2-in-1 functionality and provides you with the ability to convert it into a tablet form.

It is a Chromebook with a stylus pen, the pen comes included in the package, no need to buy a separate pen. The pen helps you take notes on the screen, or draw on the screen if you have drawing taste.

Well don’t expect a premium scale drawing performance, it is good for a Chromebook.

It is a 12.2 inches screen size a Chromebook, enough for the students to handle their regular tasks. It is an FHD IPS display screen with touchscreen support and a Digital Pen.

It is a convertible Chromebook, got the touchscreen support, to help you enjoy tablet performance, along with digital pen support to easily draw anything on the screen or take notes.

It comes powered with an m3 processor, got 64GB built-in storage, and 4GB RAM to help you tackle the tasks you have to do in your everyday computing life.

If you have to take online classes, distance learning classes, or use a Chromebook for zoom use, this Chromebook got great power for you.

It comes with dual cameras, has a 13 MP world-facing camera with autofocus, and a front-facing camera to help you take online classes. I especially recommend this Chromebook for senior citizens, for its amazing camera support.

As long as the keyboard is a concern, as per my experience it got a good keyboard, with soft keys, and good travel speed.

The keys have tactile feedback, just to let you know the key is pressed or registered. But it does not have backlight support, definitely a negative point.

Bottom Line:

I like Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 because of its super portability. It is a 12 inches FHD screen laptop with a convertible screen and digital pen support.

Its 13 MP webcam, a super-efficient processor which consumes less power, makes it one of the most obvious options for middle schoolers.

If you are a big fan of Chromebooks and have been using them for a long time you would know how big a hit was Samsung Galaxy Chromebook.

But there were some flaws in it, like expensive price, and embarrassing battery backup.

With this upgraded model, Samsung Chromebook 2, the brand fixed the flaws and offered one of the best Chromebooks for students.

If you love bright clear and color-rich displays, I am pretty sure you would love this Chromebook. It shares a 13.3 inches QLED FHD display.

Although it is not a 4K display like its bigger brother, you would not notice the difference, as the QLED FDH display fills the bills and provide what is needed the most; a super-smooth viewing experience.

Don’t forget that it supports 360-degree conversion. You can convert the screen into a tablet, and get the right use of it, as per your requirements and needs.

Use it as a tablet, although it does not come with a digital Pen, you can use a digital Pen, and draw on the screen.

From the power front, the model would not let you down. It comes with a Core i3 processor, to help you tackle the workload of students and professionals.

With 8GB RAM, it handles multiple browsing tabs seamlessly, and 128GB SSD storage helps you store your data without any big trouble.

Samsung Chromebook 2 got an amazing keyboard. The keys are a little shallow though but softer and support long hours of typing, especially for students for their assignment preparation.

From its port selection too, it wins the heart. It has two USB Type-C ports and one SD card, reader. Yes, we miss one USB Type-A, and if possible, an HDMI port too. The presence of an SD card reader though is a great help, especially for photographers and editing photos.

As I mentioned, the first Samsung Galaxy Chromebook had an embarrassing battery, with this one, you can rely on it for a day-long performance. It lasts around 10-12 hours in one charging; the shift is because of its FHD display in place of a 4K display.

Bottom Line:

I find Samsung Chromebook 2 all in all a student laptop. It has everything a student can ask for. It is a lightweight and portable model, got a great colorful Display, 2 USB Type-C ports, a comfortable to-type keyboard, and above all faster processing.

Also read: How Much RAM is good for a Chromebook

If You give me an option to buy a Chromebook today, for me, HP X360 is a no-brainer option.

Let me explain, I agree, that Google Pixelbook or Pixel slate is better in performance and looks.

But there are some very serious concerns about them, and their price range too makes them untouchable for students.

But this one, HP X360 is a total package and offers you everything you can ask for as a student.

Talking about the display, I would not say that, it got the world’s best display, what I can say is, that it got a standard display.

The display exceeds the expectations if you look at the price, and it feels really awesome to get such a good display.

It is a 13.3 inches FHD IPS wide viewing angle supporting display, with 300 nits of brightness.

And don’t forget that it supports 2-in-1 convertibility, converts into a tablet, and helps you draw on the screen, take notes, and control it using your fingertip.

I really loved its keyboard. Yes, I really mean it, it got one of the best-backlit keyboards under a 300 Chromebook.

Not just in an affordable Chromebook range, the only keyboard I can compare with it is the PixelBook keyboard.

In my tests, the Keys are perfectly spaced in between, got great travel, and tactile feedback, and are soft too.

If you get this one, I can assure you that, during the typing, you will stop, and Thank God for having such an amazing keyboard in a Chromebook.

Don’t forget its near-perfect glass trackpad. The trackpad is larger than Pixelbook and responds better than any Chromebook.

HP X360 Chromebook comes with two USB Type-C ports on either side, one USB Type-A port, one SD card reader, and a Kingston lock to fits your connectivity needs.

It is not just the extra nuts and bolts this Chromebook stands out at, it got real speed too.

Yes, with its 8th Gen N4000 employed by Intel, it makes your tasks as smooth and error-free as you expect from a regular powerful laptop or a desktop.

It comes with 4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC storage. About the RAM, it fits the needs, and for storage, I don’t think Chromebook users require bigger size storage, even if they need it, the 100GB cloud space or extra SD Card reader is there to help them.

Bottom Line:

If you are looking for an affordable 300 dollars Chromebook for your middle schooler kid, I reckon this is the best you can have.

HP offers a complete package, it got a great battery life, FHD display, splendid keyboard, 2 USB TYPE-C ports, an excellent trackpad, and much more.

Also read: Best Laptops for Photo storage

If you know your kid takes care of his/her stuff, I recommend buying Acer Chromebook Spin 311. The reason why I mentioned taking care is, that the laptop is delicate, it is not as rugged and tough as other Chromebooks.

But if you compare the performance and other aspects, it stands heads and shoulders above the rest.

Not just for the students, I used this laptop as my full-time laptop and used it for almost everything I take my desktop for.

It provides me with the right power and efficiency needed, in my experience, the MediaTek processor runs as fast as you can imagine with ChromeOS and provides you with the real speed.

It easily handles 6-10 tabs, Google Meet calls, photo editing, basic video editing, Android gaming, and many other things students take a laptop for.

It is the best fit for high schoolers because of its small and compact screen. It has 11.6 inches HD IPS screen with an IPS display and a wide viewing angle.

It is a touchscreen Chromebook under the 200 price range, which helps you touch, swipe, and scroll without putting damage to the gorilla glass.

With 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage, it fits the needs of students as a Chromebook. If you prefer more storage, go get the cloud space used, and store your files there, as it also has an SD card support to help you expand your storage.

In terms of connectivity, it has two USB Type-C ports on the other sides, 2 USB Type-A ports to help you connect multiple computer peripherals, as well as charge using the type-c and connect multimedia too.

Bottom Line:

For students, I think this is the best convertible Chromebook, good for the students to take care of their stuff. It is not as rugged as other models but got the power of a regular Laptop.

Also Read: Best Chromebooks with Number Pad

If Your computing needs are high, and an average Chromebook does not satisfy you with its performance, that’s the only reason you buy a laptop, you should go and check Pixelbook Go.

It checks almost all the boxes of what you like using a Windows laptop or a regular laptop. It has a bright FHD screen, stunning keyboard, and trackpad, weight under 2.5 pounds, and handles even a professional’s everyday computing like a pro.

PixelBook Go shares a stunning metal construction build. From its keyboard to trackpad and screen it all looks brilliant and pleasant, rendering a premium experience.

Pixelbook Go comes powered by a 13.3 inches FHD IPS display. It also supports a wider viewing angle, just the right display for students and professionals to help them do their regular tasks and watch movies without any distraction.

I was only concerned about its outdated bezels, fat bezels are a point of concern, but it seems like Google prefers bezels over no-bezels.

Its battery backup is insanely impressive. Yes, for students, a dead laptop is no laptop at all. It stays with them for around 14 hours in one charging, which makes it a go-to laptop not only for studies but for binge-watching.

Its keyboard is another super awesome feature that makes it stands out in the crowd. The PixelBook go has a quiet keyboard and backlight-supported keyboard with good tactile feedback and response that is going to blow you away with its performance.

Google Pixelbook is very lightweight. Yes, with just 2.3 pounds of weight, it stays with you in your backpack without being noticed due to its weight. It remains there, a silent companion, and helps you wherever you needed it.

If you talk about the specs, it comes with multiple options. Like, it has an m3 processor, an i5 processor, and an i7 processor. For me, I think a core i5 processor with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD storage is more than enough.

It is an 8th Gen processor; helps you go through regular computing operations without freezing or rendering issues.

It comes integrated with a Titan C security chip and built-in anti-virus software.

This Titan security chip automatically gives you the latest security features and protects your data and passwords from possible theft.

It is rare to see a fingerprint reader in a Chromebook, the security chip though to adds an extra security layer.

Bottom Line:

I find Google Pixelbook go is a complete laptop without Windows OS. It got all the power of a regular laptop, without making you mess with the extra function of Windows OS.

It has a stunning FHD display, 2.3 pounds of weight, two USB Type-C ports, a Security chip, a powerful processor, a quite impressive keyboard, and above all an a12-hours-long marathon battery backup.

Also read: Best Chromebooks with an ethernet port

Top Features to Look in a Chromebook for Middle Schools?

Buying a Chromebook is easier than ever before. Now, you have more than one option with lots of advanced features to support your computing.

Chromebooks are now way more modern than when they were launched. But for middle schoolers, there are some features one should look into before deciding on buying a product.

Weight:

In my view, not just for middle schoolers but for all students and professionals included, weight has become one of the core aspects or features we look into. Chromebooks are particularly lightweight, small, and compact devices, easier to take around.

So, look at the weight of the Chromebook, it should not exceed 4-pounds. The Chromebooks we have reviewed, are even around 2-pounds in weight, which makes them an instant go-to option. As Pixelbook Go, is a 2.3-pound weight device, stunning looking too.

Battery Backup:

For students, a dead laptop is no laptop at all. With a dead laptop, looking into charging it up, you may miss the important points in a lecture. So, the battery is the biggest factor that should influence your purchase.

Chromebooks are smaller and portable and share a smaller screen area thus consuming less power.

So, for a Chromebook, the minimum criterion I have set is around 6-hours. If it does not last at least 6-hours, don’t buy it.

If the battery is your biggest Concern, I think Acer Chromebook Spin 311 is the best Chromebook. It lasts around 14-hours in one-time charging and stays there with you all the time when you needed it.

Display:

Those who have been using Chromebooks for the longest time know that Chromebook did not have FHD displays in starting. It is not that long, check before covid-19 Chromebooks, you will hardly see an FHD display Chromebooks.

But now things are changed, almost every new launch shares an FHD Display, even a 4K display too, which in my view is an exaggeration for a Chromebook, as it consumes way much more.

So, for display, the minimum criterion should be FHD display. If you watch lots of movies, also check if the display has the right brightness, colour-covering, and IPS panels.

If the display is your biggest concern, I recommend Samsung Chromebook 2 Chromebook, it has a great display to suit your viewing and streaming experience.

Also Read: Best Brightest screen Laptops 2022

Processing Power:

Yes, processing power matters a lot. If you have to do lots of tasks at one time, customers complain that they freeze. Keep in mind, that Chromebooks are not designed for high-end computing operations, such as

How much does a Chromebook cost?

People buy Chromebooks for their efficiency and affordability. Chromebooks are not expensive; they are affordable and accessible. Especially for students, budget is a bit concerned.

They can buy a good Chromebook for a price of around $200-$300. Yes, there are some high-end models such as Pixelbook Go and Slate, but they are expensive and cost easily around $600.

What is the best Chromebook for Middle Schools?

Schools and colleges are now opting-for Chromebooks than Laptops and desktops. Chromebooks are cheaper and fit the needs of a student education needs. They are considered an education device, and that’s why during Covid-19 times, Chromebook sales were sky-high.

For middle schools, if you can’t afford a bigger price range, I think HP X360 is the best Chromebook. If you prefer a convertible Chromebook, go with Lenovo Flex 5. If you attend online classes, or attend distance learning classes, buy a Google Pixelbook Go Chromebook.

Are Chromebooks good for middle school students?

Yes, Chromebooks are the best device for middle school students to help them in their studies. Chromebooks prevent students from distractions, and no Windows games and other prohibited content can be accessed on Chromebooks with the Parent control feature enabled.

They have all the features and power of a regular laptop, you can use them for browsing, assignment preparation note-taking, video and photo editing, zooming, distance learning classes, and binge-watching too.

So, Chromebooks are the best computers for middle schoolers, and they would not put an extra financial burden on parents too, as they are cheap.

Final Thoughts:

Chromebooks are impressive, they are the go-to laptop for education and students. Chromebooks are superb and safe options for parents to buy their kids attending middle school studies.

Don’t take Chromebooks as inferior to laptops or computers, they are as good as laptops, but in some areas such as affordability, accessibility, and efficiency they go one step ahead of laptops and computers.

In this guide, we recommended the best Chromebooks middle schoolers can buy to help them in their studies.