I spent a week with Lenovo's AI Chromebook and I don't want to give it back

Price When Reviewed

$649

Best Prices Today: Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14

$749

I’ve used plenty of Chromebooks through the years, and most of them are inclined to fall into considered one of two classes: both very reasonably priced and generally forgettable or tremendous premium with a price ticket to match. The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 needs to land someplace within the center. It’s acquired an OLED show, a model new MediaTek chip with AI capabilities, and a design that’s subtle and understated. 

So I spent per week utilizing it for work and play to see if it really holds up and I’ve acquired ideas. Let’s get into it.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Specs

The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is available in two configurations. Both embody the brand new MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 chip and UFS storage, however the base mannequin gives 12GB of RAM and a non-touch OLED show, whereas the upgraded model (the one we reviewed) bumps that as much as 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It additionally provides touchscreen help. While the $649 beginning value could seem steep, it’s a great worth for what you’re getting. Most Chromebooks, as an example, include solely 8GB of RAM, and UFS storage is faster than eMMC. It’s additionally future proof due to Wi-Fi 7.

But the actual standout is the 14-inch 1920×1200 OLED touchscreen show. You don’t see many laptops with OLED panels (contact or not) at this value.

• Model quantity: 83MY0000US
• CPU: MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910
• GPU: Immortalis-G925
• RAM: 16GB RAM
• Storage: 256GB UFS
• Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 OLED touchscreen, 16:10, DCI-P3
• Ports: 2 USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C, 1 USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, 1 audio jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7
• Dimensions: 12.37 x 8.63 x 0.62
• Weight: 2.78 kilos
• Price: $649

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Unboxing

The unboxing expertise can set the tone if finished effectively. Though I’d prefer to see fewer packaging supplies (I’m a stickler for sustainability), the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 made it clear from the beginning: it is a extra premium machine, the place design and person expertise matter. 

The field jogged my memory a little bit of those Google PixelBooks normally are available. It’s principally white with lilac-purple borders, giving it a clear and easy look. Inside you’ll discover the laptop computer securely tucked into place. There’s additionally a separate compartment containing a visible overview of the scale and port sorts. 

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Exclusive new ChromeOS AI options

Ah, AI. Hello once more, previous pal? Nemesis? 

Since the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is the primary Chromebook to characteristic a processor with an NPU, I needed to give the new ChromeOS AI features a strive. That mentioned, I centered on options I’d really use, beginning with Live Captions. I used this characteristic throughout a gathering I used to be main and located it useful, particularly when the landscapers had been outdoors my window and the roar of their leaf blowers sometimes drowned out what my colleagues had been saying. Having the phrases pop up on display screen in actual time helped me keep on observe and never miss something necessary.

I additionally tried Smart Grouping, which organizes your tabs and apps for you in a digital desktop. Again, this is among the extra helpful AI options. The thought is to cut back visible muddle so that you don’t have to pull issues round your self or go trying to find a tab you possibly can’t discover. Admittedly, it was form of good having an invisible assistant that tidied up my private open tab chaos.

The Quick Insert button, which replaces the Caps Lock key, brings up a instrument that allows you to drop AI-generated pictures into no matter you’re engaged on. It additionally gives writing options, so if you wish to sound extra formal or shorten a sentence, you are able to do that with this instrument. I performed round with it some, however there was no place for it in my day-to-day workflow. Local AI is a cool addition, however a lot of the options felt extra like bonuses quite than must-haves.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Design, construct high quality

The design is exactly the type of minimalism I gravitate towards, so it’s incomes main brownie factors from me. Lenovo calls the colorway “Seashell” and it’s genuinely distinctive—it modifications barely relying on the lighting. At first look, it seems normal silver, which is ok, however it’s nothing distinctive. It wasn’t till I used to be trying on the lid close to an open window that I seen the gold undertone within the chassis. It’s delicate, however it’s there and it’s actually lovely. But essentially the most attention-grabbing factor about this design just isn’t on the highest of the laptop computer, however on the underside.

Underneath the laptop computer you’ll discover a 3D wave corrugated sample, which feels good to run your fingers alongside–I’m an enormous textures individual. It seems cool, however it’s additionally useful: the design helps you get a greater grip on the laptop computer. This is nice, as a result of there’s nothing fairly just like the horror of dropping a laptop computer onto the ground.

The metallic construct high quality feels sturdy, too. You can inform right away that it’s fabricated from aluminum. The display screen hardly had any flex once I gave it a mild twist and the keyboard deck didn’t creak or groan once I pressed my fingers down on it. This is precisely what I anticipated from a Chromebook on this class and it undoubtedly lives as much as these increased requirements. 

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Keyboard, touchpad

The keyboard feels good to kind on for prolonged intervals, and I discovered that I adjusted to it shortly. However, in comparison with my common laptop computer, this one skews somewhat extra to the appropriate, which threw me off at first. While the typing expertise is certainly comfy, I had a couple of tiny gripes with the keys themselves.

Why are the perform keys (F1 to F12) so itty bitty? I imply, they’re actually small in comparison with the opposite keys. Any time I used them, I needed to lean ahead and squint a bit to see the icons on them. I’d additionally sometimes fats finger them due to their measurement. My different gripe is that the keys themselves entice some smudges. This is minor, because it’s nothing a microfiber material can’t repair. 

I favored the touchpad quite a bit. Not solely did it really feel good and easy, like glass, beneath my fingertips, however it additionally shortly registered all my faucets and swipes. I tailored to it fairly immediately and I don’t suppose I ever by accident triggered it with my palms. 

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Display, audio system

The 14-inch 1920×1200 OLED show produces a luscious-looking image that blew my socks off. It’s not completely surprising, although, as OLED panels produce deeper blacks and richer colours. The Chromebook Plus 14’s OLED show additionally gives 100 p.c DCI-P3 shade accuracy, that means extra saturated colours, particularly reds and greens. When I re-watched Netflix’s Titan documentary, I used to be impressed by the depth (ugh, sorry) of distinction within the many darkish scenes—unsurprising in a documentary a couple of submersible. Image editors would love this display screen.

I’m additionally loving the 16:10 facet ratio, which this Chromebook has. It’s far superior to the same old 16:9 and I’m not afraid to shout it from the rooftops. The additional vertical area makes an enormous distinction as a result of you possibly can see extra of a webpage or extra of a doc with out scrolling. This is particularly helpful for somebody like me, who writes and edits on the every day.

The 5MP RGB webcam is good, too. I’ve acquired particularly reasonable pores and skin, so I normally seem lifeless—or so pale I glow—on video, however that wasn’t the case right here. I used the webcam for a piece assembly and I used to be stunned at how heat (shade temperature, not physique temperature) the image regarded. It made me look extra pure and in no way like some sun-starved vampire.

The Dolby-certified audio system are shockingly loud and punchy. When I performed Jack White’s Archbishop Harold Holmes, his edgy guitar taking part in sounded incredible. I didn’t need to crank up the quantity a lot–I might nonetheless hear the music from a room or two away. What can I say? Upward-firing audio system simply sound higher than the downward-firing form.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Connectivity

I’m so glad there’s USB-C ports on ether facet of the laptop computer (a hot-button subject here at PCWorld). They each help charging, too–this could all the time be the usual. Lenovo even managed to incorporate USB-A, which is spectacular given how slim and light-weight this machine is at simply 2.78 kilos! I all the time prefer to see extra port selection, however that is advantageous for an on a regular basis machine. 

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Performance

The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is among the first Chromebooks to rock MediaTek’s new Kompanio Ultra chip. It’s constructed on Arm’s environment friendly structure, so it will probably run full steam forward without having any followers. Under the hood, you’ve acquired an 8-core CPU with high-performance Cortex-X929 cores and an 11-core Immortalis-G925 GPU that may deal with ray tracing. There’s additionally a Neural Processing Unit (or NPU) packed in there delivering 50 TOPS of AI energy — the important thing to unlocking the particular AI options I discussed above.

I undoubtedly had excessive (however not unrealistic) expectations of the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14. Luckily, it met them with actual aplomb. When I ran the CrXPRT benchmark, which measures how briskly the machine handles on a regular basis duties, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 turned in a rating of 199. That’s about 17 p.c sooner than the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34, which comes with an Intel Core i5-13335U chip and at the moment ranks as our prime choose for Chromebooks. 

I’ll say that it’s a lot sooner than the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, which sports activities an older MediaTek Kompanio 838 chip. The Basemark Web 3.0 rating of 1,151 completely crushes the Duet’s rating of 502.99–a benchmark that measures total internet efficiency. This means it’s greater than twice as quick because the Duet. That’s an enormous leap in efficiency between the 2 chips.

The solely factor that’s giving me pause is the considerably low Speedometer 3.1 rating of 25.2. That’s advantageous for informal and day-to-day productiveness, however the machine may battle a bit with heavy-duty multitasking. That mentioned, the Chromebook Plus 14 felt snappy, even with a bunch of tabs open. 

• CrXPRT 2: 199
• Speedometer 3.1: 25.2
• Basemark Web 3.0: 1151
• Kraken: 407.0ms
• Jetstream 2: 344.875

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Gaming

I had a chat with my coworker Michael Crider (you may know him!) about taking part in Minecraft on this machine even earlier than I acquired the unit. He’d been hands-on with the laptop computer and noticed Google demo Minecraft running on it, which acquired us curious, particularly since he struggled to run Android video games on the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. So naturally, the very first thing I did once I turned on the machine was load up Minecraft to see if this new MediaTek chip might run Android-based video games higher.

Fortunately, it does!

I recorded a fast video of my Minecraft session so others might see how easy the gameplay is on this Chromebook. You can see me flying round in Creative Mode with none lag or stuttering. In the background, you’ll additionally hear ABBA taking part in, which wasn’t intentional, however who doesn’t love jamming out to Swedish pop stars whereas taking part in Minecraft? The entire factor felt informal and straightforward.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Battery life

Lenovo says the Chromebook Plus 14 will get round 17 hours of battery life, however I clocked it at 19 hours utilizing CrXPRT 2’s battery benchmark. That’s an outstanding outcome and one which traces up with different Arm-based machines. To be honest, that was with the display screen brightness turned down. If you crank the brightness as much as max, you’ll possible see a bit much less, however that’s anticipated (as brightness all the time impacts the battery life). In phrases of utilizing it unplugged, I by no means felt like I needed to dash for an outlet stat.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Conclusion

After spending per week with the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, I can confidently say it’s among the finest Chromebooks I’ve used. It’s quick, the design is gorgeous, and that OLED display screen? Still can’t recover from how good it seems, particularly on a tool underneath $750. Battery life is excellent as effectively–it simply retains on chugging alongside. Yeah, the AI options are nice-to-have greater than must-have, and the tiny perform keys take some getting used to, however these are small complaints in an in any other case killer package deal.

Lenovo crushed it. This Chromebook hits arduous on efficiency, show, and battery life. It additionally simply feels nice to make use of day in and time out. If you’re purchasing for a Chromebook, this one must be on the prime of your listing. That Editors’ Choice badge up prime? It’s well-earned.