Simple Guide: Checking Chromebook Specs and Usage for Peak Performance

Is your Chromebook feeling sluggish? Want to understand its capabilities better? This guide provides easy steps to check your Chromebook's CPU usage, RAM, storage, and more, helping you optimize its performance and understand its hardware. Let's dive in!

Chromebook logo on a laptop

Monitor CPU Usage on Your Chromebook

If your Chromebook is running slowly, identifying which applications are using the most processing power can help. Check CPU usage through these simple steps:

Diagnostics Page: Type "Diagnostics" in the ChromeOS search bar. The Diagnostics page displays a live graph of CPU usage, temperature, and current speed.
ChromeOS Task Manager: Press Search + Esc to open the Task Manager, providing insights into CPU, memory, and network usage. Alternatively, access it via Chrome's three-dot menu -> More tools -> Task Manager.

This Chromebook's CPU is at 5 percent usage.

The Task Manager shows you exactly which processes are hogging resources, allowing you to close unnecessary apps and browser tabs.

Enable or Disable Hyper-Threading for Enhanced Performance

Hyper-threading, available on some Intel Chromebooks, can improve performance by allowing a single processor core to act as two virtual cores. However, it's often disabled due to security concerns.

**How to enable Hyper-threading (at your own risk): **

Ensure you're running Chrome OS 74 or later.
Type chrome://flags#scheduler-configuration in the Chrome browser.
Change the "Scheduler Configuration" setting from "Default" to "Enables Hyper-threading on relevant CPUs."
Restart your Chromebook.

If you're okay with the security risks, you can change the scheduler configuration from "Default" to "Enables Hyper-threading on relevant CPUs."

Consider the security implications before enabling this feature, especially on work devices.

Use GPU Rasterization to Boost Performance

GPU rasterization shifts workload from the CPU to the GPU, potentially improving performance, but may reduce battery life. Enable it via chrome://flags:

Type chrome://flags in the Chrome browser.
Search for "GPU rasterization."
Enable the feature and restart your Chromebook.

The Chromebook's rasterization settings.

Experiment to see if this improves your Chromebook's responsiveness.

Find Your Chromebook's CPU Model

Knowing your Chromebook's CPU helps when troubleshooting or comparing its performance. Here's how to find it:

Diagnostic Page:* As mentioned earlier, the Diagnostics page (accessed via search or Settings -> About ChromeOS -> Diagnostics) displays your CPU model and thread count.

This Chromebook is using an Intel Core i5-1245U processor.

Chrome://System Page:* Type chrome://system in the Chrome browser and expand the "cpuinfo" section. This reveals the processor name and other details like cache size.

You can find a lot of information about a Chromebook on its About System page.

Digging into the chrome://system page provides extensive hardware information.

Determine RAM Usage for Smooth Multitasking

High RAM usage can cause slowdowns. Monitor RAM usage in the Task Manager (Search + Esc) to identify memory-intensive processes.

Not surprisingly, Chrome is using the most CPU resources on this Chromebook.

Consider using tab management extensions like OneTab or The Great Suspender to conserve memory by suspending unused tabs. Always verify the safety of extensions before installing them.

Check Total and Available RAM

Knowing your Chromebook's total RAM helps you understand its multitasking capabilities. Find this information on the Diagnostics page.

Type "Diagnostics" in the ChromeOS search bar to find total and available RAM.

This Chromebook was specced with 7.55GB of memory and has 1.61GB currently available.

Discover Your Chromebook's Storage Type

Chromebooks use various storage types, like SSDs or eMMC. To find out what type your Chromebook uses:

Type chrome://system into Chrome's address bar.
Scroll to "storage_info" and click "Expand...".
Search the storage model name online to learn more about its specifications.

A quick search of the storage model name told me that this Chromebook has an NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD from Western Digital.

Knowing the storage type can help you understand its performance characteristics.

Find Available Storage Space

Quickly check available storage via Storage Management in ChromeOS settings:

Search for "storage" in the ChromeOS search bar and select "Storage Management."
Alternatively, go to Settings -> Device -> Storage Management.

This Chromebook has 194GB of storage available.

This page shows total storage, used space, and remaining space. Understanding your Chromebook's specifications and resource usage ensures optimal performance and helps you make informed decisions about apps, files, and usage habits.