new hardware unveiled at the Chromebook 2024 event

Last week in New York, Google hosted a Chromebook event that showcased a wide range of new, updated Chromebook models, as well as some really useful new software features. While most of them are versions of existing Chromebook Plus models, there were also a few new standard Chromebooks introduced at the event, and we wanted to shoot a quick review video to show them all off.

A quick note before we dive into the details: we’ll definitely be reviewing most of these Chromebooks in the coming weeks. It will take some time to get them into the office and get them ready, but as with the first batch of Chromebook Plus devices, we will do our best to reach out to each one individually.

This video isn’t everything though and we just wanted to give you a quick overview of all the new gear at the event. Prices for the new Chromebook Plus range from $349 to $699, so we have quite a wide selection here. In our video, we discuss each Plus model, but I promise that we will devote much more attention to each of them soon.

High-end Chromebooks

At the top of the spectrum are three new Chromebook Plus models. The first one is ASUS ExpertBook Chromebook Plus CX54. This device debuted in January and we were lucky to get a chance to try it out earlier, but it hasn’t been officially launched yet. But consider this a coming out party for the CX54 the device, which we think will definitely be in the $1,000 range, debuts at just $699. I raised this as a possibility at the beginning of the year, and it is indeed the case It’s truly amazing that such a well-made Chromebook has achieved such a reasonable price.

Next up is the Chromebook, which is closest to my heart: Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE. Sure, we’ve known about it for weeks and it showed up at Best Buy last week, but the new version of this device is gorgeous in its all-black finish, and Acer has updated the internals (Intel Core 5-120U) as well as the brightness of the RGB keyboard. All the good stuff is still available, and with these updates, I’m very excited to spend some time with this monster Chromebook, which still has the same starting price of $649.

Finally, in the high-end segment we have another iteration Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714. Like those that have come before, the new 714 packs a variety of high-end hardware while still keeping the budget at $699. With a 14-inch 16:10 screen, a fingerprint scanner, Intel Core Ultra internals, and a QHD webcam, Acer’s latest convertible has a lot to offer, and I can’t wait to get my hands on our review unit.

Mid-range Chromebooks

In the mid-range we have several well-known entities from ASUS and HP, but these three are famous for different reasons. From ASUS, we technically have the “new” Chromebook Plus CX34, but it’s less of a repeat of last fall’s CX34 and more of a simple spec change. The chassis, screen, keyboard, trackpad, and ports remain the same, but the internals are significantly superior to the 13th Gen Core i5 compared to the existing model’s 12th Gen Core i3. Prices start at $499.

In HP’s case, they simply showed off new devices that HP officially announced about two months ago. If you remember, this included two foldables and two convertibles: two of them as regular Chromebooks and two as Plus models. We looked at the Plus models of both models in our video and they are quite good.

Both have decent build quality, solid keyboards/trackpads, 250-nit screens, and tested components, including the Core i3-N305, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for the x360 model and 256GB for the clamshell model. The x360 model starts at $429, while the clamshell model with more storage costs $449. It’s worth adding that non-Plus models were also there, but we didn’t spend much time with them.

Affordable Chromebooks

Finally, in the more affordable category, we have the other two HP devices that were announced in early April (the clamshell models and the non-Plus x360 models), but as I said earlier, we didn’t get a chance to spend much time with either of them. These devices – as noted in our initial report on them – start at $299 and share many of the features of their non-Plus brethren, but come with an Intel N100 or N200 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage.

What’s more, the newer ASUS CM30 Chromebook tablet has arrived along with an interesting update to the Acer Chromebook Plus 514. We’ve talked quite a bit about ASUS’ latest tablet, but we managed to leave the event with a production-level model for a review, so more on this $299 device soon .

However, the Acer Chromebook Plus 514 is an interesting machine at a crazy good price, and it’s the device I last used before our trip to New York. It retains many of the features of the previous AMD-based 514 model and can be replaced with the proven Intel Core i3-N305 processor with a 300-nit touchscreen and other Chromebook Plus requirements. It’s a really solid device it’s currently just $349 at Costco: and it’s not on sale.

Of course, we’ll have plenty of work to do in the coming weeks with the onslaught of new Chromebook hardware. Once the event videos are published, our next task will be to start creating videos showing off all the new hardware and all the new software features. It’s going to be a busy summer for us, but we can’t wait to share our thoughts on all the new things Google has unveiled. Stay tuned for further information!