I was delighted to see that the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 didn’t skimp on a crappy touchpad. That goes a long way toward improving the experiencing of actually using the laptop on a moment-by-moment basis. I wasn’t annoyed every time I had to click-and-drag or select a bit of text. This one’s biggest weakness is definitely the screen, which is true of just about every cheap Chromebook I’ve tested. The colors are ugly and desaturated, giving the whole thing a sickly green tint. It’s also not the sharpest in the world, as it’s stretching 1920 x 1200 pixels across a large, 16-inch screen. But in terms of usability and performance, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 is a great value, combining an Intel Core i3 processor with 8 GB of RAM and a 128 GB of storage. For a Chromebook that’s often on sale for $350, it’s a steal.

While we’re here, let’s go even cheaper, shall we? Asus has two dirt-cheap Chromebooks that I tested last year that I was mildly impressed by. The Asus Chromebook CX14 and CX15. Notice in the name that these are not “Chromebook Plus” models, meaning they can be configured with less RAM and storage, and even use lower-powered processors. That’s exactly what you get on the cheaper configurations of the CX14 and CX15, which is how you sometimes get prices down to as low as $130. I definitely recommend the version with 8 GB of RAM, but regardless of which you choose, the both the CX14 and larger CX15 are mildly attractive laptops. You’d know that’s a big compliment if you’ve seen just how ugly Chromebooks of this price have been in the past.

With these, though, I appreciate the relatively thin bezels and chassis thickness, as well as the larger touchpad and comfortable keyboard. The CX15 even comes in a striking blue color. The touchpad isn’t great, nor is the display. Like the Acer Chromebook Plus 516, it suffers from poor color reproduction and only goes up to 250 nits of brightness. It only has a 720p webcam too, which makes video calls a bit rough. But that’s going to be true of nearly all the competition (and there isn’t much).

Of the two models, I definitely prefer the CX14 though, as it doesn’t have a numberpad and off-center touchpad, which I’ve always found to be awkward to use. Look—no one’s going to love using a computer that costs the less than $200, but if it’s what you can afford, the Asus Chromebook CX14 will at least get you by without too much frustration.

Whatever you do, don’t just head over to Amazon and buy whatever ancient Chromebook is selling for $100 for your kid. It’s worth the extra cash to get something with better battery life, a more modern look, and decent performance.

Other Good Chromebooks We’ve Tested

We’ve tested dozens and dozens of Chromebooks over the past years, having reviewed every major release across the spectrum of price. Unlike Macs and Windows laptops, Chromebooks tends to stick around a bit longer though, and aren’t refreshed as often. I stand by my picks above, but here are a few standouts from our testing that are still worth buying for the right person.

Two of Big Tech’s most influential billionaires, Sam Altman and Elon Musk, will go head-to-head in a highly anticipated trial beginning April 27. In Musk v. Altman, a judge, advised by a jury, will ultimately determine whether OpenAI has strayed from its founding mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits humanity, and the ruling could influence how the world’s leading AI developer controls and distributes its technology. For now, you can learn more about the trial here.

On the Panel

On May 8, a panel of WIRED experts will go live to answer your questions about this consequential case.

• Zoë Schiffer: WIRED’s director of business and industry, who oversees coverage of business and Silicon Valley.
• Maxwell Zeff: a senior writer at WIRED covering the business of artificial intelligence. He writes the weekly Model Behavior newsletter, which focuses on the people, communities, and companies behind Silicon Valley’s AI scene.
• Paresh Dave: a senior writer at WIRED covering the inner workings of Big Tech companies. He writes about how apps and gadgets are built and about their impacts while giving voice to the stories of the underappreciated and disadvantaged.

Ask a Question

Submit all your burning questions about this historic legal battle at WIRED’s next, subscriber-only livestream scheduled for May 8 at noon ET / 9 PT. To leave questions in advance as the trial unfolds, head to the comment section below.

Become a Subscriber

The event will be streamed right here. For subscribers who are not able to join, a replay of the livestream will be available after the event. Not a subscriber yet? Subscribe now to get access to this livestream, plus full access to WIRED.

In the meantime, check out past livestreams on Big Tech and the military, the future of electric vehicles, and more.

Service provider Blackbox Hosting has consolidated storage from two full racks down to just 8U of rack space following migration to Everpure FlashArray hardware. The move has allowed the provider to deliver “sovereign” cloud services with a 10:1 data reduction ratio and an 85% reduction in power utilisation.

Blackbox Hosting evolved over 14 years from a single rack to supporting more than 1,500 virtual machines (VMs), and has datacentre capacity at Canary Wharf with a secondary site in Slough.

The company operates a fully managed, sovereign (see box) model for major software suppliers including Iris Software Group, which supports payroll and financial management for approximately 60% of UK academies.

Blackbox previously relied on HPE 3PAR 8400 all-flash arrays. However, as the hardware approached end-of-life, the company faced mounting challenges. 

“Support renewal costs were significant, and we had issues with HPE support,” said Matthew Burden, CEO at Blackbox Hosting. “We had a power supply failure in a DR site, and despite a four-hour SLA [service-level agreement], it took nearly two weeks to replace. They also began charging for firmware updates that were previously included.”

The 3PAR environment was cumbersome, said Burden, and required two full racks of hardware to manage the company’s near-petabyte scale.

When it looked for a more performant and dense alternative, Blackbox turned to Pure Storage, which recently rebranded as Everpure.