ASUS Chromebook 15.6" CX1505CTA-AS88F-PG, Intel N50, 8GB, 128GB SSD, Pure Grey

The ASUS Chromebook CX15 is a budget 15.6-inch Chromebook with a big Full HD screen, 8GB of RAM, and military-grade durability. It's great for students and casual users who mostly browse, stream, and write. But the Intel N50 processor is extremely weak, so don't expect to do any gaming or heavy multitasking.

Let's be straight about the Intel N50. It's a 2-core processor that lands in the 8th percentile for CPUs in our database. That's not a typo. This chip is built for light browsing, Google Docs, and video streaming, not heavy multitasking. With 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, you can keep a reasonable number of Chrome tabs open, but don't expect to run a dozen tabs plus Android apps without some stuttering. The RAM itself is fast, but it's still only 8GB, which puts it in the 21st percentile among laptops we track.

The integrated Intel graphics are even less impressive, sitting in the 28th percentile. That's fine for YouTube and Netflix, but gaming is basically off the table. Our data gives this Chromebook a 4 out of 100 for gaming, which is about as close to zero as it gets. The 128GB SSD is also on the smaller side, landing in the 7th percentile for storage. ChromeOS is light, so it's workable, but you'll be leaning on cloud storage more than you might like. The one bright spot is boot speed. ASUS claims under 10 seconds, and in practice ChromeOS machines like this do wake up fast.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Pro M1 Pro, this ASUS Chromebook isn't even playing the same sport. The MacBook Pro has a vastly more powerful CPU and GPU, a better screen, and more storage. But it also costs several times more. That's not a fair fight. A more realistic comparison is something like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which is a premium business laptop with a much stronger processor and better build quality, but again, you're paying a premium for it. The HP OmniBook X Flip and Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge are also in a different tier entirely, with ARM-based chips that run circles around the N50.

Where the CX15 makes sense is against other budget Chromebooks. It's not trying to beat a MacBook. It's trying to be a cheap, durable machine for students and casual users. In that context, the big 15.6-inch screen and 8GB of RAM are decent selling points. But if you can stretch your budget even a little, a Chromebook with an Intel Core i3 or a MediaTek Kompanio chip will feel noticeably snappier.

At $310 in the US, the ASUS Chromebook CX15 is priced to move. Our database puts its affordability in the 90th percentile, which means it's cheaper than most laptops out there. But pricing gets weird if you're shopping in Europe. We're seeing EUR listings ranging from EUR 462 to EUR 847 across German, Spanish, French, and Italian retailers. That's a EUR 385 spread, which is wild for the same machine. If you're in the EU, shop around and don't pay anywhere near the top of that range. The lower end, around EUR 462, is much closer to what this Chromebook is actually worth. For comparison, a used or refurbished Windows laptop with a better processor can sometimes be found in that same price band, but you'd lose the simplicity and security of ChromeOS.

The ASUS Chromebook CX15 sits in that budget-friendly Chromebook bracket, the kind of machine you grab for schoolwork, email, and streaming without thinking too hard about your wallet. At around $310 in the US, it's a 15.6-inch ChromeOS laptop with an Intel N50 processor, 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 128GB of storage. That's a pretty standard recipe for this price point, but the big screen and military-grade durability claim make it a bit more interesting than your average cheap Chromebook.

People searching for a Chromebook under $400 will find this one checks a lot of boxes on paper. It boots in under 10 seconds, promises up to 10 hours of battery, and comes with a 3-month Google AI Pro trial thrown in. The 15.6-inch Full HD anti-glare display is the main draw here if you want more screen real estate without paying for a premium laptop. But the Intel N50 chip is a low-end processor, so you'll want to keep expectations realistic.

For students and casual users, this is a solid daily driver. For anyone hoping to edit video, run Linux apps heavily, or play games, this isn't the Chromebook you're looking for. We'll dig into why below.

Skip the ASUS Chromebook CX15 if you need any real processing power. Developers who want to run Linux containers or compile code will find the N50 chip painfully slow. Anyone who edits photos or videos should look elsewhere, as should gamers. The 128GB storage is also a dealbreaker if you like to keep lots of files locally. If you fall into any of those camps, consider a Chromebook with an Intel Core i3 or better, or a budget Windows laptop with a Ryzen 5. You'll spend a bit more, but the performance jump is worth it.

Should you buy the ASUS Chromebook CX15? If you need a cheap, big-screen laptop for writing papers, browsing the web, and watching videos, yes, it's a reasonable pick. The 15.6-inch Full HD display is genuinely nice at this price, and the military-grade durability means it can survive a backpack tumble. The 8GB of RAM is also a step up from the 4GB you often see in budget Chromebooks.

But if you're hoping to do anything beyond the basics, this machine will frustrate you. The Intel N50 is one of the weakest laptop processors we've tracked, and the 128GB storage fills up fast. For the same money, you might find a refurbished Windows laptop with a better CPU, or you could save a bit more for a Chromebook with an i3. This is a machine for light tasks only, and as long as you know that going in, it does the job.