Teachers and students alike have a lot to get through on any given school day, so usable time and attention spans come at a premium. While potential distractions abound, learning environments don’t need frustrating focus-breakers like laggy devices and low-battery warnings, especially when students forget their Chromebook chargers or have to share them. Today’s students need technology that can handle complex multitasking, such as keeping Google Classroom and Google Meet open while writing documents, browsing the web, viewing videos, and using other creative or educational apps, often away from an outlet.  

For many of the school systems investing in one-device-per-student policies, Google Chromebooks can fit the bill. Chromebooks that last a long time on battery power while handling a mix of workloads can contribute to smoother and more productive in-person or virtual classroom experiences. It could be tempting for school IT teams and buyers to view most Chromebooks and their processor platforms as essentially the same, but there are significant performance and battery life differences between them, even among Chromebooks in the same class.  

MediaTek designed the Kompanio 540 processor for thin-and-light mainstream Chromebooks and everyday education tasks such as browsing, streaming, and multitasking. For school fleet managers comparing the 540 to familiar Intel N-series options, the key question is practical: Will Kompanio 540 processor-based Chromebooks give students a responsive, long-lasting device for the way they actually work? We went hands-on with three Chromebooks to find out.  

How we tested Chromebook performance and battery life 

We tested the performance and battery life of three similarly configured Chromebooks from different OEMs: a Lenovo Chrome 100e G5 M89 with a MediaTek Kompanio 540 processor, an ASUS Chromebook CR11 with an Intel N100 processor, and an Acer Chromebook 511 C737 with an Intel N150 processor. Each system had 4GB of memory. The Lenovo and ASUS Chromebooks had 50Whr batteries, and the Acer Chromebook had a 53Whr battery.  

We ran three types of tests on each system:  

  • Benchmark performance. We used the PassMark PerformanceTest 11 and Geekbench 6 Pro benchmarks, which employ real-world scenarios to measure overall system performance.  

  • Application responsiveness (plugged in and on battery). On each system, we timed how long it took to start up and complete operations in Minecraft, Adobe Photoshop, Tinkercad, and Prodigy. First, we ran the tests while the devices were plugged in, with no applications running in the background. Next, we performed the same tests in a multitasking scenario, with Google Meet and Google Classroom in the background, all while each Chromebook operated on battery. 

  • Battery life measurements. We timed how long each Chromebook took to run down a fully charged battery while streaming an online video. 

What the testing found 

In our tests, the MediaTek Kompanio 540 processor-based Chromebook: 

  • Achieved system-level benchmark ratings that were higher than or comparable to those of the Intel N100 and Intel N150 processor-based Chromebooks. 

  • Completed app tasks faster than the Intel processor-based systems we tested in most multitasking-on-battery scenarios and needed up to 64 percent less time for Minecraft operations. 

  • Exhibited more consistent performance when shifting from plugged-in to unplugged multitasking use: running on battery with background apps added 47 percent to its total task time versus plugged-in runs with no background apps, compared to additions of 143 percent and 195 percent for the Intel N100 and N150 systems, respectively. 

  • Lasted 15 hours and 44 minutes while streaming video, giving it the longest battery life of all three Chromebooks on that test, despite the Acer’s larger battery. 

What this means for schools 

Our testing showed that among the three Chromebooks, the MediaTek Kompanio 540 processor-based Chromebook paired competitive system performance with fast, consistent multitasking on battery and the longest unplugged runtime on a streaming video test. For students, that may mean less waiting when they switch between class tools and more time working before they need a charger. For teachers, it may mean fewer device slowdowns pulling students’ attention away from instruction. That combination of capability and endurance makes MediaTek Kompanio 540 processor-based Chromebooks a strong choice for schools building student device fleets. 

For more in-depth information about our Chromebook performance and battery life comparison tests, check out the detailed report below.