Sound Matters: Best Chromebooks for Audio [2023 Edition]

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Chromebooks have slowly but surely grown to be the devices of choice in 2023, hailed remarkably for their speed, security, and simplicity across the board. From the Chromebooks with the best display to those with blazing-fast performance levels, you’ll find a unit catered to your use case easily in the realm of ChromeOS.

In this guide, we’ll take a close, hard look at the top 10 Chromebooks with the best speakers. Please note that these speakers, save for some of the truly great ones on devices like the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook, still won’t be hitting that top standard if you’re picky about your audio.

Therefore, if you’d like a step above the regularity here, we recommend opting for any of these top-notch Bluetooth speakers for your Chromebook to pump life into whatever room you’re sitting in. With that said, let’s get started with the guide right away.

10 of the best Chromebooks with high-quality speakers

The following is our cherry-picked list of Chromebooks that come with quality speakers. Whether you enjoy your Meet conferences more crisply or want additional clarity for your podcast listens, these forthcoming units will get the job done for you.

1. Acer Chromebook 516 GE

The ever-amazing Acer Chromebook 516 GE is starting this list, which is well-reputed for its proclivity toward gaming, among other use cases. This is one of the world’s first-ever authentic gaming Chromebooks with horsepower and the punch to back up its stature. That is why the 516 GE is a pricy endeavor as well.

The base model of the device will set you back about $649, including a 12th-generation Intel Core i5-1240P processor, 256 GB PCIe NVMe SSD, and 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM. As you can expect from the specs sheet alone, this is one killer of a Chromebook, made to run Steam alpha right out of the gate and, subsequently, a myriad of A-grade video game titles.

Another prominent highlight of the 516 GE is its set of two upward-firing speakers that sound loud, crisp, and full. This component has minimal voice distortion, and you cannot go wrong with it if you’re looking for a highly balanced experience. You’re getting a lot more with this device in terms of value for $679.

2. HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook

The HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is the #1 Chromebook on the planet, revered for its exceptionally well-done build. There are so many good things to talk about this one we’d instead nudge you to our dedicated Dragonfly Pro Chromebook review for extra detail.

For now, though, you must know that this device packs some of the best speakers we’ve ever heard on a Chromebook—just downright mind-blowing. They’re exceptionally loud with high clarity and even sustain the same quality on low and high pitches. If speakers matter to you that much, get the Dragonfly Pro with your eyes closed.

We say “with your eyes closed” because, for $1,000, this Chromebook is simply unmatched on the market right now. The haptic feedback-enabled trackpad, mesmerizing RGB keyboard that feels great to type on, terrific 14-inch WQXGA touchscreen display, and killer specs that involve 16 GB RAM, a 12th-gen Intel Core i5 processor, and 256 GB SSD storage.

But this is only one part of where the magic of the Dragonfly Pro is all stored. The true value of the device is how it feels when being used. Specks of premium material are dispersed all over the unit’s chassis, given how the device’s lid is CNC milled. It is a little heavy, weighing about 3.33 pounds, perhaps because of that.

3. Asus Chromebook Flip CX5

Next, we’ve got the remarkable Asus Chromebook Flip CX5 to talk about, enamored with a striking color scheme and admirable tech specs for a ChromeOS experience that feels true to its core. Labeled as one of the best Chromebooks for remote workers, the Flip CX5 brings reliability and consistent performance.

Not just that, but the Chromebook at hand takes pride in its excellent speakers that have been engineered to hit that sweet spot in terms of loudness and clarity. Couple that part with the decent port selection of the CX5, and you have an almost complete Chromebook ready to soar through graphically intensive Linux programs and Android apps.

It also boasts a convertible form factor, given the “Flip” moniker, and sports a touchscreen for responsive and fluid feedback. Lastly, the battery runtime of the Asus Chromebook Flip CX5 is fairly appreciable as well, lasting about 8-10 hours regularly on a single full charge.

4. Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2

If you’re purely after aesthetics with a touch of great speakers latched onto the device, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 can be your best bet. The device is a major step up from its predecessor—the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook—in terms of its pricing, which is $549 compared to the latter’s near $1000 price point.

Although the original Galaxy Chromebook comes with a sensational 4K resolution screen with astonishingly bright colors, it fails to come up to the mark in terms of its battery runtime, which is no more than 4-5 hours on a full charge. Of course, this is not doable for a Chromebook, which is supposed to be lightweight and readily available on the fly.

That is why the Korean industry giant decided to dish out the successor of that otherwise brilliant device and slapped a much more reasonable battery life onto the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2. It’s a dependable Chromebook with good-quality speakers for daily use, at least much better than most devices in this price bracket.

5. Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630

The Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630 is a flat-out premium unit known for its robust build quality, top-tier performance, and exceptional visual quality thanks to its 15.6-inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen-enabled display, fast charging, and plenty of ports. There are many things that the C630 gets right, and is hence highly recommended.

As far as its speakers are concerned, they’re of decent quality and sound good enough to enjoy Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Crunchyroll without resorting to other measures. In addition, one of the most sought-after features of the Yoga C630 is its fantastic keyboard and trackpad combo, which are utterly high in quality.

Along with those positives, the performance is another facet where the Chromebook takes off, coming in hard with its 8th-gen Intel Core i5-8250U processor, 8 GB RAM, and 128 GB of hard drive storage. Couple that with the 4K resolution screen of the device, and you’ve got a machine that’s nothing short of a tireless workhorse.

The device is mid-range and falls in the upper level on the price spectrum. It’s not budget-friendly, retailing for about $679 for its base version but providing remarkable value for money. The Auto Update Expiration (AUE) date for the Chromebook is slated for June 2025, which still gives you a couple of years of official ChromeOS support.

6. Dell Inspiron Chromebook 14

Next up, the Dell Inspiron Chromebook 14 doesn’t just have great-sounding speakers; it has been made versatile enough to be a part of our list of the top 10 best Chromebooks for movie streaming. Retailing for about $629—you can probably find it for much cheaper now, though—the Inspiron 14 is something you can rely on daily.

It’s no secret at this point that Dell is one of the best manufacturers ever to gain a foothold in the ChromeOS space, pushing out one desirable Chromebook after the other. The Inspiron 14 is yet another showcase of the US-based creator’s expertise that ChromeOS enthusiasts can use and enjoy a backlit keyboard, great display, and stunning performance.

You’re looking at a high-end Chromebook here by opting for the Dell Inspiron Chromebook 14, enjoying specs such as an 8th-gen Intel Core i3-8130U processor along with 4 GB RAM and a 128 GB SSD. There is also an array of ports to enhance your connectivity, whether you’d like legacy peripheral support or storage expansion with a microSD card.

Although there are multiple ways to use a Chromebook that has arrived at its end-of-life date, you still have two more years remaining on that front with the Inspiron 14 since its AUE is slated for June 2025.

7. HP Chromebook x360 14c

The HP Chromebook x360 14c is one of the best Chromebooks you can invest your money in now, given how it blends affordability and quality in a single package. Although the unit retails for about $449 for its base model, you can find the device at a much-reduced rate if you’re lucky.

Talk about an excellent build quality that feels premium and flat-out well put together, considering the aluminum top lid and the plastic matte-type finish on the bottom. The cover and keyboard frame are also sandblasted, so you’ll easily find the chassis remarkably smooth.

In our review of the device, we’ve mentioned that the “brilliant upward-firing speakers are loud, crisp, and enjoyable to listen to,” that’s what we have to say in this listicle. HP, otherwise a top-level Chromebook manufacturer, isn’t exactly known for the quality of its Bang & Olufsen speakers, but with the x360 14c, the story is entirely yet positively different.

The AUE date for this one is also comparatively more than some of the other options you’ve seen on the list so far—June 2028—so this gives you more time to enjoy the Chromebook with official updates rolling out from the side of Google. And as for the performance, expect top-notch subsequent results whether you try resource-intensive Linux or Android apps.

8. Asus Chromebook CX9

Regarding personal preference, the Asus Chromebook CX9 is the apple of our eye. This is one devil of a stylish Chromebook, with its overall quality further reinforced with a swath of high-end hardware components. The CX9 is not a cheap Chromebook, so let us clear that out immediately.

No thanks to inflation and other factors, you’ll find its MSRP of $749.99 to have been relatively raised. For instance, one of the top-tier configurations of the CX9 currently costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,200 on Amazon, but its specs do look great, to be fair. Talk about an 11th-gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor and 16 gigs of RAM.

Moreover, this variant also sports a 512 GB SSD, decent I/O, and a great-looking FHD screen. However, the real beauty of the CX9 lies in how it feels and looks while sitting on a workstation. The device even has a specialized numpad that magically appears over the trackpad upon pressing a dedicated button. No other Chromebook has this feature.

And the speakers are nice and tight, too, on this unit. The device runs a Harmon-Kardon dual-speaker audio system that is nowhere near below average. The sound coming from the CX9 is pretty loud and subsequently enjoyable. Couple that with the cutting-edge hinge design of the Chromebook, and you’ve got something that genuinely impresses you.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that the CX9 offers military-grade durability, so even if you’ve got kids in the house who like to play dodgeball with anything they can get their hands on, you’ve got a little less to worry about with the Chromebook at hand. We recommend reading up on our dedicated review of the Chromebook for more details.

9. Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook

Lenovo is one of our favorite Chromebook creators because it knows how to make great Chromebooks while throwing an affordable price tag. The most upfront example of this is the original Lenovo Chromebook Duet, costing about $250 and offering a legitimate ChromeOS experience with a 1080p screen.

The Duet 5 Chromebook is a significant upgrade, also touted as one of the most pocket-friendly Chromebooks you can get if you’re a schoolgoer. It comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon SC7180 processor and a 13.3-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) OLED, 100% DCI-P3, 400 nits, touch-enabled display accompanying the convertible form factor.

Hence, the Duet 5 is a highly flexible venture that brings forth a memorable ChromeOS tablet experience, and we all know how many prefer those over an Android tablet for many reasons. It also features impressive battery runtime, allowing the Chromebook to last over 16 hours, more than a day’s worth of work.

The four stereo-quality speakers on the Duet 5 sound tremendous and are polished enough to accommodate its use as a tablet and a regular laptop. It’s a great all-in-one package that’s not only priced competitively but raised to a high standard for ChromeOS enthusiasts around the world.

10. Asus Chromebook Flip C436

Last, we’ve got the Asus Chromebook Flip C436 topping off the article. Hailed as one of the best Chromebooks for video editing and content creation, the device in question has several features and is no ordinary premium Chromebook. It sports a fingerprint reader, a 128 GB SSD, a backlit keyboard, and even Wi-Fi 6, among other noteworthy highlights.

The display of the Flip C436 is nano-edge and exempt from bezels, so you truly receive a full-screen experience here that’s second to none in terms of overall quality. Multiple speakers are etched onto the device, thanks to its convertible form factor that allows it to turn into a tablet on a whim, and the sound is a lot above average.

It’s a sturdy, well-built machine that can stand the test of time if you’re willing to give it a go. The 10th-gen Intel Core i3 processor with 8 GB RAM and plenty of storage are all positive traits that make the Flip C436 more than just buy-worthy. Make sure to read our review of the Chromebook for a more in-depth analysis of its pros and cons.

Conclusion

Audiophiles looking for nothing but commendable speakers on their Chromebooks now have a list of hand-picked devices to look forward to. We’ve laid out devices from varying budgets, such as the affordable Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook to the more expensive but also relatively premium Asus Chromebook CX9.

It’s highly advised to check out the in-depth review of each Chromebook before plunging in for the purchase. That way, you can get to acknowledge all of the pros and cons associated with each device outside of the quality of their speakers. Before you leave, comment below and tell us what Chromebook you ended up going with then.

As always, Chrome Ready wishes you good luck!