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Category: Chromebooks

WebXPRT can help you choose the right back-to-school tech

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on August 7, 2025

For many students, the excitement and anticipation of a new school year is right round the corner! In addition to being an opportunity to dive into new subjects, meet new people, and make progress toward learning goals, the back-to-school season often provides students and teachers with a chance to shop for new technology to meet their needs in the coming year. The tech marketplace can be confusing, however, with a slew of brands, options, and claims competing for back-to-school dollars.

Never fear: WebXPRT can help!

Whether you’re shopping for a new phone, tablet, Chromebook, laptop, or desktop, WebXPRT can provide industry-trusted performance scores that can help give you confidence that you’re making a smart purchasing decision.

And in this age of AI, WebXPRT performance scores do account for specific AI tasks. The benchmark includes timed AI tasks in two workloads, which reflect the types of light browser-side inference tasks that are now quite common in consumer-oriented web applications and extensions. You can read more about that in previous blog entries on the “Organize Album using AI” and “Encrypt Notes and OCR Scan” workloads.

To see how devices stack up, the WebXPRT 4 results viewer is a good place to start. The viewer displays the WebXPRT 4 scores of over 975 devices—including many of the hottest new releases—and we’re adding more scores all the time. To learn more about the viewer’s capabilities and how you can use it to compare devices, check out this blog post.

Another way to find WebXPRT scores is to go directly to the tech press. If you’re considering a popular device, there’s a good chance that a recent tech review includes a WebXPRT score for that device. There are two quick ways to find these reviews: You can either (1) search for “WebXPRT” on a tech review site or (2) use a search engine and enter the device name and WebXPRT as search terms, such as “Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon” and “WebXPRT.”

Here are a few recent articles and tech reviews that used WebXPRT:


If you’re excited about the opportunity to buy new tech for school, WebXPRT can provide you with the information you need to make more confident tech purchases. As this new school year begins, we hope you’ll find the data you need on our site or in an XPRT-related tech review. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about WebXPRT or WebXPRT scores!

Justin

Posted in AI, Apple, ASUS, benchmark, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, browser performance, Browser-based benchmarks, Chromebooks, Cross-platform benchmarks, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, OCR, Performance benchmarking, Samsung, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

CrXPRT 2 functionality is ending with ChromeOS 139

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on July 24, 2025

Back in January, we discussed the ChromeOS team’s decision to eventually end support for all user-installed Chrome Apps—including CrXPRT 2—upon the release of Chrome 138 in July of this year. As best we can tell, the move is part of their overall strategy of transitioning all support to Chrome extensions and Progressive Web Apps. We knew that after the support cutoff date, we would not be able to publish any fixes or updates for CrXPRT 2, but we weren’t exactly sure how the transition would affect the app’s overall functionality.

We’ve now confirmed that while CrXPRT 2 still functions normally through Chrome 138.0.7204.255 (beta), the app does not launch at all on Chrome Canary 139. Consequently, we expect that stable channel system updates will disable CrXPRT 2 on most systems after Chrome 139 goes live on August 5th. We will initially leave CrXPRT 2 on our site for those who want to use it on older versions of Chrome, but over time we will archive it as an inactive benchmark.

We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the many people around the world who used CrXPRT 2 for lab evaluations, product reviews, and individual testing over the past several years. We’re grateful for your support! We will update readers here in the blog if we decide to pursue new ChromeOS benchmark development work in the future.

Justin

Posted in benchmark, Benchmarking, Chrome, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, Chromium, CrXPRT, Future of performance evaluation, Google Chrome, Performance benchmarking, Progressive Web Apps | Tagged , , , , , , |

Recent XPRT mentions in articles, reviews, and more!

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on April 10, 2025

Here at the XPRTs, our primary goal is to provide free, easy-to-use benchmark tools that can help everyone—from OEM labs to tech press journalists to individual consumers—understand how well devices will perform while completing everyday computing tasks. We track progress toward that goal in several ways, but one of the most important is how much people use and discuss the XPRTs. When the name of one of our apps appears in an ad, article, or tech review, we call it a “mention.” Tracking mentions helps us gauge our reach.

We occasionally like to share a sample of recent XPRT mentions here in the blog. If you just started following the XPRTs, it may be surprising to see our program’s global reach. If you’re a longtime reader and you’re used to seeing WebXPRT or CrXPRT in major tech press articles, it may be surprising to learn more about overseas tech press publications or see how some government agencies use the XPRTs to make decisions. In any case, we hope you’ll enjoy exploring the links below!

Recent mentions include:

If you’d like to receive monthly updates on XPRT-related news and activity, we encourage you to sign up for the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community newsletter. It’s completely free, and all you need to do to join the newsletter mailing list is let us know! We won’t publish, share, or sell any of the contact information you provide, and we’ll only send you the monthly newsletter and occasional benchmark-related announcements, such as important news about patches or releases.

If you have any questions about the XPRTs, suggestions, or requests for future blog topics, please feel free to contact us.

Justin

Posted in AI, benchmark, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Chromebooks, CrXPRT, Dell, iPhone, Laptops, Simplified Chinese, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

An update on CrXPRT support in ChromeOS

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on January 16, 2025

CrXPRT users may remember that back in 2022, we discussed the ChromeOS team’s decision to end formal support for Chrome Apps and instead focus on Chrome extensions and Progressive Web Apps. This decision meant that we would not be able to publish any future fixes or updates for CrXPRT 2, although moving forward, we weren’t sure how it would affect the app’s functionality.

After receiving a lot of feedback regarding their original timeline, the ChromeOS team decided to extend Chrome App support for Enterprise and Education account customers through January 2025. Because we publish CrXPRT through a private BenchmarkXPRT developer account, we assumed at the time that the support extension would not apply to CrXPRT.

Recently, the ChromeOS team released new information about their scheduled support timeline. Now, they plan to end formal support for all user-installed Chrome Apps in July 2025 (Chrome 138). In February 2028, the Chrome 168 release will mark the end of life for all Chrome Apps.

The good news is that—in spite of a lack of formal ChromeOS support over the past couple of years—the CrXPRT 2 performance and battery life tests have continued to run without any known issues. As of today, the app functions normally up through the Beta release of ChromeOS version 132.0.6834.52.

We will continue to run the benchmark on a regular basis to monitor functionality, and we will disclose any future issues here in the blog and on CrXPRT.com. We hope the app will continue to run both performance and battery life tests well into the future. However, given the frequency of Chrome updates, it’s difficult for us to predict how long the benchmark will remain viable.

If you have any questions about CrXPRT, please let us know!

Justin

Posted in battery life, benchmark, BenchmarkXPRT, Chrome, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, CrXPRT, Google Chrome, Performance benchmarking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , |

Shop confidently this holiday season with the XPRTs!

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on November 14, 2024

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and trying to find the right tech gift for your friends or loved ones (or yourself!) can be a daunting task. If you’re considering new phones, tablets, Chromebooks, laptops, or desktops as gifts this year—and are unsure where to get reliable device information—the XPRTs can help!

The XPRTs provide industry-trusted and time-tested measures of a device’s performance that can help you cut through the fog of competing marketing claims. For example, instead of guessing whether the performance of a new gaming laptop justifies its price, you can use its WebXPRT performance score to see how it stacks up against both older models and competitors while tackling everyday tasks.

A great place to start looking for device scores is our XPRT results browser, which lets you access our database of more than 3,700 test results—across all the XPRT benchmarks and hundreds of devices—from over 155 sources, including major tech review publications around the world, OEMs, our own Principled Technologies (PT) testing, and independent submissions. For tips on how to use the XPRT results browser, check out this blog post.

Another way to view information in our results database is by using the WebXPRT 4 results viewer. The viewer provides an information-packed, interactive tool that we created to help people explore data from the set of almost 800 WebXPRT 4 results we’ve curated and published to date on our site. You’ll find detailed instructions in this blog post for how to use the WebXPRT 4 results viewer tool.

If you’re considering a popular device, it’s likely that a recent tech press review includes an XPRT score for it. To find those scores, go to your favorite tech review site and search for “XPRT,” or enter the name of the device and the appropriate XPRT (e.g., “iPhone” and “WebXPRT”) in a search engine. Here are a few recent tech reviews that used the XPRTs to evaluate popular devices:

In addition to XPRT-related resources in the tech press, here at PT we frequently publish reports that evaluate the performance of hot new consumer devices, and many of those reports include WebXPRT scores. For example, check out the results from our extensive testing of a Dell Latitude 7450 AI PC or our in-depth evaluation of three new Lenovo ThinkPad and ThinkBook laptops.

The XPRTs can help you make better-informed and more confident tech purchases this holiday season. We hope you’ll find the data you need on our site or in an XPRT-related tech review. If you have any questions about the XPRTs, XPRT scores, or the results database, please feel free to ask!

Justin

Posted in Acer, Apple, ASUS, benchmark, Benchmark metrics, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, browser performance, Chromebooks, CrXPRT, Dell, Google, holiday shopping, HP, iPhone, Lenovo, PCs, Phones, Samsung, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Shopping for back-to-school tech? The XPRTs can help!

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on August 8, 2024

For many students, the first day of school is just around the corner, and it’s now time to shop for new tech devices that can help set them up for success in the coming year. The tech marketplace can be confusing, however, with so many brands, options, and competing claims to sort through.

Fortunately, the XPRTs are here to help!

Whether you’re shopping for a new phone, tablet, Chromebook, laptop, or desktop, the XPRTs can provide industry-trusted performance scores that can give you confidence that you’re making a smart purchasing decision.

The WebXPRT 4 results viewer is a good place to start looking for device scores. The viewer displays WebXPRT 4 scores from over 700 devices—including many of the latest releases—and we’re adding new scores all the time. To learn more about the viewer’s capabilities and how you can use it to compare devices, check out this blog post.

Another resource we offer is the XPRT results browser. The browser is the most efficient way to access the XPRT results database, which currently holds more than 3,700 test results from over 150 sources, including major tech review publications around the world, manufacturers, and independent testers. It offers a wealth of current and historical performance data across all the XPRT benchmarks and hundreds of devices. You can read more about how to use the results browser here.

Also, if you’re considering a popular device, there’s a good chance that a recent tech review includes an XPRT score for that device. There are two quick ways to find these reviews: You can either (1) search for “XPRT” on your preferred tech review site or (2) use a search engine and input the device name and XPRT name, such as “Dell XPS” and “WebXPRT.”

Here are a few recent tech reviews that use one of the XPRTs to evaluate a popular device:

Lastly, here at Principled Technologies, we frequently publish reports that evaluate the performance of hot new consumer devices, and many of those reports include WebXPRT scores. For example, check out our extensive testing of HP ZBook G10 mobile workstations or our detailed comparison of Lenovo ThinkPad, ThinkBook, and ThinkCentre devices to their Apple Mac counterparts.

The XPRTs can help anyone stuck in the back-to-school shopping blues make better-informed and more confident tech purchases. As this new school year begins, we hope you’ll find the data you need on our site or in an XPRT-related tech review. If you have any questions about the XPRTs, XPRT scores, or the results database please feel free to ask!

Justin

Posted in Acer, Apple, ASUS, benchmark, Benchmark metrics, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, browser performance, Browser-based benchmarks, Chromebooks, Cross-platform benchmarks, CrXPRT, Dell, Education, Laptops, Lenovo, Macbook, PCs, Performance benchmarking, results, tech press, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Check out the other XPRTs:

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