Hands-on with the new devices launched at the 2024 NYC Chromebook Showcase

Last week in NYC, Google held a Chromebook-focused event that introduced a wide range of new, updated Chromebook models and some really useful new software features as well. While most of these are iterations on existing Chromebook Plus models, there were a few new standard Chromebooks at the event as well, and we wanted to quickly make an overview video to showcase them all.

A quick note before diving in: we absolutely will be reviewing most of these Chromebooks in the coming weeks. It will take time to get them in the office and properly put them through the paces, but like we did with the first batch of Chromebook Plus devices, we’ll do our best to get to each one of them individually.

This video is not that, however, and we simply wanted to briefly highlight all the new hardware at the event. With the new Chromebook Plus prices ranging from $349 – $699, there’s a pretty wide selection on hand, here. Our video walks through each Plus model, but I promise we’ll give way more attention to each of them very soon.

Higher-end Chromebooks

At the top of the spectrum, we have three new Chromebook Plus models to talk about. The first is the ASUS ExpertBook Chromebook Plus CX54. This device debuted all the way back in January and we were lucky to get an early hands-on, but it has yet to officially launch. But consider this the CX54’s coming out party as the device we thought would most definitely be in the $1000 range is debuting at just $699. We hinted at this as a possibility earlier in the year, and it is pretty amazing to see such a well-crafted Chromebook hit this sort of reasonable price point.

Next up is the Chromebook that is most near and dear to my heart: the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE. Sure, we’ve known about it for weeks and it arrived at Best Buy last week, but the new iteration of this device is gorgeous in the all-black finish and Acer upgraded the internals (Intel Core 5-120U) as well as the brightness of the RGB keyboard. All the good stuff is still on board as well, and with these updates, I’m so excited to start spending some time with this monster of a Chromebook that still hits the same $649 starting price.

Finally, in the high-end range we have yet another iteration of the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714. Like the ones that came before it, the new 714 packs in all sorts of high end hardware while managing to keep the budget at $699. With a 14-inch 16:10 screen, fingerprint scanner, Intel Core Ultra internals, and a QHD webcam, there’s a lot to like in the latest convertible from Acer and I can’t wait to get our review unit in-hand.

Mid-range Chromebooks

In the mid-range, we have a few known entities from ASUS and HP, but these three are familiar for different reasons. From ASUS, we technically have a “new” Chromebook Plus CX34 model, but it is less of an iteration on last fall’s CX34 and more of just a spec bump. The chassis, screen, keyboard, trackpad and ports all remain the same, but the internals get a solid bump to a 13th-gen Core i5 versus the existing model’s 12th-gen Core i3. Pricing starts at $499.

For HP, they simply showcased the new devices that HP officially announced about a two months ago. If you recall, that included two clamshells and two convertibles: two of those as regular Chromebooks and two as Plus models. For our video, we looked at the Plus models of both, and they are pretty nice.

Both have decent build quality, solid keyboard/trackpads, 250-nit screens, and tested internals that include 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 and the clamshell with the higher storage is $449. It is worth noting that the 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 (a clamshell and an x360 non-Plus models), but as I said before, we didn’t get to spend much time with either. Those devices – as noted in our initial report on them – start at $299 and share many of the traits of their non-Plus brethren, but with the Intel N100 or N200 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage.

More notably, the newer ASUS CM30 Chromebook tablet was there alongside the interesting update to the Acer Chromebook Plus 514. We’ve talked quite a bit about ASUS’ latest tablet, but we did get to leave the event with a production-level model for review, so more on that $299 device soon.

The Acer Chromebook Plus 514 is an interesting machine at a wildly-good price, however, and it is the device I’ve been using most recently before our trip to New York. It keeps many of the traits of the outgoing, AMD-powered 514 and swaps to the tried-and-true Intel Core i3-N305, a 300-nit touchscreen, along with the other Chromebook Plus requirements. It’s a really solid device that retails for just $349 at Costco right now: and that’s not on sale.

Obviously, we have our work cut out for us in the coming weeks with this onslaught of new Chromebook hardware. After getting these event videos out, our next task is to start making videos to highlight all the new hardware and all the new software features as well. It’s going to make for a busy summer for us, but we can’t wait to share our thoughts on all this new stuff Google has unveiled. Stay tuned!