The best Chromebooks for Cricut machines

The best Chromebooks for Cricut will often save you a little money while still providing what you need to run Cricut software. You can now use your Chromebook to design projects, work on uploading designs from websites and to help edit your final masterpiece. 

Note that Cricut Design Space is not directly compatible with ChromeOS (see our pick of the best laptops for Cricut for Windows and MacOS options), but it can be run via Android. Also, there are lots of different Cricut machines available (see my guide to the best Cricut machines to see what each does), and from my experience I've found some of the best Chromebooks work best with particular machines. For example, the smaller Cricut Joy and a Chromebook are perfect bedfellows. 

Below, I've picked the best Chromebooks for Cricut based on our own testing and an extensive evaluation of specs. I’ve looked at Chromebooks that come with styluses, and I've evaluated the quality of the display, compatibility with Cricut add-ons, and the battery life.

The best Chromebooks for Cricut available now

The Acer Swift Edge 16 is an superb Chromebook that can muster enough power and speed to handle almost all design tasks, so can easily handle Cricut Design Space. The extra power you get from the latest AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and 16GB of RAM means this can even handle more advanced design software, ensuring your crafting can really take off.

As well as its speed and flexibility the standout is the sharp and bright 16-inch, 16:10 OLED display that we loved in our Acer Swift Edge 16 review, finding it just as good for design tasks and 3D rendering as it is for 4K gaming (Chromebooks are good cloud-gaming laptops if you have Xbox Game Pass, Nvidia GeForce Now or Amazon Luna). The only downside is the lack of touchscreen, which I find good for digital crafting, but connect this to a drawing tablet and its perfect (read my Xencelabs Pen Tablet Small for an ideal companion tablet).

You can take the Acer Swift Edge 16 anywhere too, because it ways a mere 1.1kg and is incredibly slim. If, like me, you like to take your projects to a friend's house then this is ideal and the fact you can have dozens of tabs open with now slowdown is a real must if you like to design and browse for inspiration. This is a pricey option, and there are good PC laptops in the same price range, but if you're hooked on the ease of Chromebooks, this is an excellent one.

The Acer Chromebook Vero 514 is one of the newer Chromebooks on the market and has one big selling point: this is an eco-friendly laptop made from recycled sea plastic and OceanGlass, and it's a looker. Chromebooks can be a little dull but the Vero 514 is a swish laptop that will have you're friends asking questions the moment you pull it from a bag.

It's a little chunky compared to some Chromebooks and unlike the older Acer Chromebook 514 Spin above it can't fold into a tablet, so the lack of touch screen crafters could put some digital crafters off. However, the light grey chassis is covered with yellow and blue flecks and a tactile canvas-like texture that demands you hold it; it's almost warmer and more comforting than the cold silver of most Chromebooks.

The 14-inch Full HD display has a 100 percent sRGB rating, so it's nice and crisp. Inside is a decent Intel Core i3 CPU and 8GB of RAM, and a speedy 128GB SSD. It's just fast enough to handle most design tasks, and more than enough for Cricut Design Space. In my Acer Chromebook Vero 514 review I found it faster than a comparable Windows laptop, such as the Surface Go 3, and for a sub-$500 / £500 price point, it well worth consideration. But, I would recommend going for a slightly more expensive Intel Core i5 build, to guarantee speed and longer term use (there's also an Intel Core i7 model but this feels like overkill).

If you're looking for a fun Chromebook with a unique look and eco-friendly design that can handle most tasks, and is good for Cricut use, then the Acer Chromebook Vero 514 is a good choice.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is one of the newer Chromebooks on the market and as such has plenty of high-spec features that make this ideal for use with Cricut. Inside you get the excellent Intel i5, which delivers 2.4GHz of performance. This means multitasking is easy for this Chromebook.

There's also enough storage and RAM to save your designs natively and handle most tasks, with 64GB of SSD storage (can go up to 256GB) and 8GB of RAM, exceeding the minimum you need for using a Chromebook with Cricut.

The star here is the 13.5-inch touchscreen and 2-in-1 design of the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, which means you can flip it out to use as a tablet. It can be a little heavy but used in a table, and with an accurate and vibrant touchscreen, it's ideal for Cricut Design Space. An excellent all-round Chromebook that's ideal for craft designs, web browsing and more.

The Acer Chromebook 314 represents everything we've come to expect from a top Chromebook, including speed and reliable performance at a budget price. The is the laptop I consider to be the best Chromebook for Cricut because you need a dependable workhorse, with a speedy CPU and large touchscreen for seeing you designs in detail.

I would rather it had a Full HD screen, instead its HD, 768p resolution. Which is fine for working out the finer details of your Cricut designs. For under $300 / £250 you expect some cutbacks, so there are large bezels to contend with. Yet, it's silver metallic casing feels nice to the touch; the Acer Chromebook 314 is solid and lightweight, and will take a bump or two.

Performance is good, and as speedy as you'd expect from a ChromeOS laptop. The 64GB memory is enough to store designs and reference images locally too. Every Chrome user gets free cloud storage too (my account is coming up to full after six years of use, so it's workable). 

If you're looking for an affordable workhorse laptop and don't want to pay too much,  the Acer Chromebook 314 is a good choice that will do for everyday Cricut use.

This Google Pixelbook Go is the brand's flagship Chromebook and while it may be pricier than others on my list, it does come with several brilliant features. With a great battery life (12 hours), a stellar performance from its Intel chips (up to an overpowered i7) and crystal clear UHD display, you'll be hard pressed to find a higher quality Chromebook that feels like a laptop.

Quite a high end Chromebook, the Google Pixelbook Go is perfectly compatible with Bluetooth and the Google Play Store, so using Cricut on this device shouldn’t be a problem for keen crafters. The LCD touch screen makes things really easy when it comes to designing, and the battery life means that those travelling about can keep their designs going on-the-go.

It's a little pricey to the point you may question why buy this over a Windows laptop or, say, an Apple iPad Air 5th gen. It also can't be used in a tablet mode, so despite the touchscreen you are still using it as a traditional laptop.

If money is no option then the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook really is the laptop for you. This is a high-end configuration that can sit comfortably next to the best PCs and MacBooks for speed and power. It features up to 2th-gen Core i7 (i5 models are naturally more budget-friendly) and will easily outshine some PCs on the market.

It feels premium, as you would expect of a Chromebook that costs around $2,165 / £2,014.80 for the high-end spec (i5 models are around $250 / £200 less). The all-aluminium casing is sturdy, light and feels quality. The keyboard is backlit and accurate, and features a haptic touchpad – Apple knows how good this tech can be.

The large and sharp 13.5 inch screen is a good addition for crafters, and the fact it's touchscreen and comes packaged with the accurate HP pen stylus. This Chromebook features a number of high-spec security features too, such as a fingerprint reader, so it's good for crafters on the go or a multiple-account household.

The HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook is a high-end Chromebook that comes with a high-end price, and is really for those who have fully moved away from Windows and iOS and are looking for a Chromebook with power and reliability. If you're serious about using a Chromebook with Cricut, this is a great option. It's lower on the list not for quality but because it's a very expensive option, and the power isn't essential purely for Cricut.

The ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 is another 2-in-1 Chromebook that can flip from laptop to tablet format, but this one makes my list because it's the best large-screen Chromebook around. With a clear and glossy 15.6-inch display that supports touch and stylus, this is an impressive Chromebook that is perfect for Cricut Design Space.

The screen is backed by a choice of either an Intel Core i5 or i3 chip and up to 256GB of fast SSD storage. In fact, the ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 performs excellently and manages to offer Windows-like specs in a Chromebook shell. This will handle multitasking with ease but it's that screen which continues to impress – it could be a little brighter, however, as it only has 250 nits of brightness.

The HP Chromebook x2 11 is an excellent little tablet Chromebook that comes with an attachable keyboard, stand and stylus. While its screen may not be 4K it is QHD and features a decent 400 nits of brightness and 100% sRGB. Being 11-inches is also a little small for many Cricut projects, but it's ideal for Cricut Joy's focus on card and sticker designs.

In fact, I had some issues getting Design Space to run smoothly on the HP Chromebook x2 11, despite it technically supporting the Android app. However it runs the Cricut Joy app perfectly. If you're looking to take your designs to a friend's house for some cards, making the HP Chromebook x2 11 is perfect.

The addition of 128GB of storage and the use of a stylus and keyboard helps too. In my HP Chromebook x2 11 review I found this to be an incredibly smooth and effortlessly enjoyable Chromebook to use, and its 11 hour battery life is ideal for a day of crafting.

For a relatively decent price, those in the market for a Chromebook can get their hands on this Lenovo 14e Chromebook Generation 2, that comes with a superb keyboard – which many Chromebooks are lacking. 

Designed for those who work in a fast-changing environment, this Chromebook is tough and portable, and great for those who want to pick up their work and get going. With battery life that lasts all day, you won’t have to worry about this Chromebook shutting down mid-design.

Users have complained of the Chromebooks speakers not being the best quality, but they’re nothing less than what you would expect from a device not designed for music, and for this price. If you’re looking for a budget friendly Chromebook for Cricut use, then this Lenovo model offers many of the same features as the Google Pixelbook Go, but for a fraction of the price.