Some schools and parents swear by the Apple iPad, but Chromebooks have tons of appeal as go-to tech tools for school-age children thanks to significant buy-in from charitable foundations and school districts. Many of them gravitate toward specialized devices like the Dell Chromebook 11 (model 3100; $239 as tested). This inexpensive, rugged, no-frills laptop with an 11.6-inch screen is nearly everything a kids’ computer should be. Aside from some Wi-Fi issues we experienced in testing, it’s the best Chromebook you can buy for your youngsters without upending your budget.
Not Your Average Cheap Chromebook
Any cheap Chromebook can serve as a homework and remote learning platform in a pinch, and there are a ton of them. But many laptops in the $200-to-$300 range that run Google’s pared-down operating system feel cheaply made and skimp on features. The Chromebook 11 is one of the rare models in this price range that is actually pleasant to use.
The little Dell is not snazzy by any means, but it’s well-engineered. The exterior is made of textured black plastic that would look more at home in a corporate conference room than an elementary school classroom. That’s OK, though, because the plastic feels reassuring to the touch, like it’s going to shrug off a week’s worth of tiny, not-so-clean fingers pawing at it. Dell says the system is tested to survive 30-inch drops onto a steel surface, a standard that goes above and beyond the MIL-SPEC drop testing some premium laptops are subjected to.
Rubber bumpers protrude significantly from the bottom of the Chromebook 11, which help minimize the impact of inevitable bumps and drops. There are more protrusions around three of the four edges, which means the USB ports and headphone jack are recessed and thus further protected from damage. The rounded edges contrast with the staid black color to soften the Chromebook 11’s appearance somewhat. So does the bright, colorful Chrome logo recessed in the upper left corner of the display lid.
All of these physical protection features mean that the Dell is significantly larger and heavier than some other Chromebooks with screens that measure less than 13 inches. With the lid closed, it measures 0.82 by 12 by 8.2 inches and weighs 2.85 pounds. That’s a cinch for even a first-grader to pick up, but slightly overweight for its category. The Acer Chromebook Spin 311, for example, measures 0.8 by 11.7 by 8.1 inches and weighs 2.6 pounds. And of course you can get a much sleeker Chromebook if you stretch your budget to models that cost $400 and up. The premium 13.3-inch Google Pixelbook Go, for instance, measures 0.5 by 12.2 by 8.1 inches and weighs just 2.3 pounds. That’s nearly two more inches of screen real estate than the Chromebook 11 in a smaller package, though without the Dell’s durability.
The Chromebook 11 is also available in a 2-in-1 convertible version, which lets you rotate the screen 360 degrees to use it as a tablet. However, if you think your kids will primarily be using their Chromebook as a tablet, you may want to go with the detachable Lenovo Chromebook Duet instead.
Rugged Inside and Out
Crack open the Chromebook 11’s pleasingly sturdy hinge, and you’ll find more ruggedness inside. The keyboard features the same layout that you’ll find on nearly all Chromebooks, with oversize Control and Alt keys on the lower left and shortcut keys for browser and system commands instead of the function keys that comprise the top rows of most PC or Mac laptop keyboards. Most of your kid’s time spent using the Dell (like any Chromebook) will involve using the Chrome web browser, so these keys will come in handy.
Like the chassis, the keys are made of rough, rugged-feeling plastic. Dell claims that the keyboard can withstand up to 12 ounces of spilled liquid, so any small glass of milk or juice that gets tipped over shouldn’t be a problem. If there is more significant damage, the self-contained keyboard can actually be lifted right out of the laptop without replacing the palm rest. This feature is mainly for IT staffers at schools, since service for an individual Chromebook 11 that you buy yourself wouldn’t likely be cost-effective given the low list price.
That said, you can add accidental damage coverage to the standard one-year warranty for a reasonable additional amount. Four years of damage coverage is just $60, which could be a bargain if your kids are especially hard on their equipment. (And what kid isn’t?)
After testing the Chromebook 11 for a few days, I’m a fan of the sturdy keyboard, but I found the buttonless touchpad to be more problematic. Its bottom half wiggles a bit as you trace your fingers across it, and the clicking mechanism is far too stiff even for my adult hands. Your kids will likely tap to click exclusively, or use an external mouse. It’s too bad the touchpad isn’t more refined, since the touch-screen option for the Chromebook 11 costs extra. (Touch models of this clamshell start around $275, and the 2-in-1 versions, touch-screen by nature, are above $300.)The screen you do get is satisfactory for the money. It’s a twisted nematic (TN) panel with 1,366-by-768-pixel resolution, which we normally recommend avoiding at all costs. Most people looking for a 13-inch or larger laptop should insist on at least a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel resolution to ensure that the picture quality isn’t annoyingly fuzzy. On a screen this small, however, the lower resolution actually works fine. The backlight is rated for just 200 nits, but at maximum brightness, you can easily see the contents of the screen even in a sunlight-flooded living room (or a fluorescent-lit classroom).
Above the screen is a front-facing webcam that shoots video at 720p resolution. It’s a bog-standard laptop camera, and while its quality isn’t amazing (video is noisy at times, even in good light), it isn’t any worse than similar cameras on Windows laptops that cost three times as much.
Plenty of USB Ports
The Chromebook 11 comes with a total of four USB ports, an impressive amount for a Chromebook at any price. There are two USB-C ports on our review unit, either of which can accept the power adapter plug. There are also two USB Type-A ports, useful for connecting a wired mouse or perhaps an external drive to supplement the Dell’s internal storage. Unfortunately, there’s no SD or microSD card slot, so you can’t expand storage that way.
Wireless connections are critically important to a Chromebook, since Chrome OS is designed to work with always-on internet connectivity. Unfortunately, this is one area where the Chromebook 3100 suffers a bit. Its dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi failed to reliably connect to the internet in my testing at home unless it was in the same room as the router, while my other devices saw a strong connection a few rooms further away. Substandard Wi-Fi components are a hazard of any cheap laptop, but they’re especially worrisome on a Chromebook whose raison d’être is constant web connectivity.
Dell does offer an LTE-equipped version of the Chromebook 11 that works with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. This is something we don’t often see on consumer Chromebooks, and is a noteworthy perk if you can afford it. It does add $150 to the price, which means it’s out of reach of buyers who need to stay below $300.
The only other configurable option is upping the internal storage from the standard 16GB of eMMC flash to 32GB. We highly recommend this upgrade, which only adds $20 to the price, since you can’t pop in an SD flash card.
Sufficient Power for Online Homework
All configurations of the Chromebook 11 come with 4GB of memory and a dual-core Intel Celeron N4020 processor. That’s hardly enough computing power to run Windows, but it’s plenty for the web-based tasks that kids need to perform in the Chrome browser. I experienced no issues over several days of testing.
How does this adequate performance translate to benchmark results? Compared to competitors, the Chromebook 11 offers middling performance on tests like WebXPRT 3, CrXPRT, JetStream 2, and PCMark for Android. That’s exactly what we expect from a Chromebook at this price. (See more about how we test laptops.)
The Chromebook 11 is comparable with the Acer Chromebook Spin 311 and Samsung Chromebook 4, both of which are similarly priced systems with the same screen size. The Dell is significantly faster than the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, which is a detachable tablet with an ARM rather than x86 processor, but much slower than the more expensive Pixelbook Go, which boasts an Intel Core CPU.
Lasting for almost 10 hours in our video playback test, the Chromebook 11 offers decent battery life.
One of the Best Kids’ Chromebooks
Ultimately, the Chromebook 11 (3100) is one of the best Chromebooks you can buy for your kids to use for work and play. It’s specifically designed to deal with everyday bumps and modest abuse in a way that similarly priced competitors aren’t. True, it’s not as polished or versatile as a tablet; if you’re considering one of those, the Chromebook Duet and its detachable keyboard likely makes more sense.
That the Chromebook 11 doesn’t earn an Editors’ Choice award recommendation is solely because of the Wi-Fi misfires we experienced. A good internet connection is critical for a Chromebook at any price. If your kids will only use the Dell in robust Wi-Fi settings, or you can spring for the LTE upgrade, it’s a no-brainer. Otherwise, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet remains our Editors’ Choice pick for best budget Chromebook.
