The best all-around Chromebook Plus is down to just $389 right now

As far as the new Chromebook Plus models go, I clearly have my favorites. The Lenovo Slim 3i Chromebook Plus would go down as my personal favorite overall in this new wave of Chromebooks, but there are also two well-rounded devices that sit right behind it in my eyes: the ASUS CM34 (which is on sale, too) and the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus.

While I’d still prefer the Slim 3i for my daily tasks, both the ASUS and Lenovo offer up a wider use case than the Slim 3i does; and for the money, you can get more utility out of these devices than you can with a Chromebook that is clamshell-only.

Of the two of them, it’s a close call, but I think I like the Flex 5i a bit better than the offering from ASUS. The internal processor is faster, the device is lighter, and the screen, speakers and keyboard/trackpad are on par with what you get in the comparable ASUS CM34, and with the 13th-gen Core i3-1315U, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, things are smooth and fast all the time with solid battery life of 8-10 hours of real use.

There’s so much to like about the Flex 5i Chromebook Plus, and it only gets sweeter when it goes on sale. At just $389 right now, you’re getting a lot of great stuff for a very small amount of money. The 16:10 14-inch screen (at 300 nits, by the way) makes this Chromebook feel larger in use than it really is and the 3.5 pound weight makes it pretty easy to take on the go. With the backlit keyboard and nice-sounding upward-firing speakers, this is a very solid package all around, and I think you’d be very happy with it at this sale price for certain.