Top five 2015 Chromebooks for students (and the rest of us)

Don't think you can get useful work done with an 11-inch screen? Give the Dell Chromebook 11 a try. This Chromebook retails for $219 comes with a 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Celeron Bay Trail-M N2849; Intel HD graphics, 4GBs of RAM, and a 16GB SSD. What impressed me the most about this model is that it's rugged enough to take a licking and keep on ticking.

For a bigger screen and about the same price, it's hard to argue with the Acer Chromebook 13, This model lists for $229. At this price-point it comes with a 2.1GHz Nvidia Tegra K1 CD570M-A1, quad-core CPU and relies on Nvidia Keplar for its graphics. While it only has 2GBs of RAM and a 16GB SSD, that's more than enough for Chrome OS. It also has 802.11ac Wi-Fi, which really boosts Wi-Fi performance if your office or school supports it.

While it's not as cheap as the first two, the Toshiba Chromebook 2 at $279 works well. It comes with an Intel 2.16GHz N2840 BayTrail processor and 4GBs of RAM. It also has an excellent 13.3-inch display backed by Intel HD graphics. Like the Acer model it comes with 802.11ac Wi-Fi. What I like most about this model is its graphics for the price.

Do you want a Chromebook or a tablet? Why not both, Asus asks with the $229 Asus Chromebook Flip. You can use this one either way. It feels good, it looks good, and my only problem with it is that it's a wee bit slow. That's not too surprising because it uses a Quad-Core 1.8GHz ARM processor. On the plus side, this also gives it excellent battery life. This model comes with 2 GBs of RAM, 16GBs of SSD, decent graphics, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. This wouldn't be my first choice, but if you like the idea of having a tablet or a laptop, go for it.

If you want the best of the best, if you want a Chromebook for your MBA program at the Wharton School, then get the latest Chromebook Pixel. Yes, starting at $999, it's the most expensive Chromebook out there. It's worth it. Four ZDNet writers love it. And why not? The lowest-end model has an Intel Core 2.2Ghz i5 CPU, 8GBs of RAM, a 32GB SSD, 802-11ac Wi-Fi, and the best screen, 1,560-by-1,700-pixel resolution, with 3:2 aspect ratio, I've ever seen on any laptop.