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Whether you’re buying a Chromebook for school or as an inexpensive device to use with the family, Black Friday can be a great time to shop for Chromebook deals. We’ll tell you which Chromebooks to buy, where to find them and, of course, the best Chromebook deals currently on offer from major retailers.
Yes, the Chromebook Black Friday deals are already available now! If you want advice on which Chromebook to buy (do I really need an Intel chip or can I buy a Chromebook with an Arm chip instead?) You will find buying advice and links to Popular retailers under our Chromebook Sales list. There are a ton of deals right now, but our buying guide below points to a number of pitfalls you might not be aware of.
Chromebook deals may also appear on our Best Laptop Deals for the Black Friday page.
Best Black Friday Chromebook Deals
Samsung 4+ 15.6 inch Chromebook
From: Best Buy
Was: $ 319.00
Now: $ 199 ($ ​​170 off)
We like the fairly expansive 15.6-inch screen, and Samsung’s screens are generally pretty good. This Chromebook offers 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage, which is pretty normal when it comes to SSDs. A pair of USB-C and USB-A ports round out the I / O capabilities. We’re a little less excited about the N4000 Celeron, a chip made in 2017, which could be a bit slow if you’re used to having a lot of tabs open at once. But the price is right and the support is expected to last until June 2026. Walmart also offers this same Chromebook for the same price: $ 199.00.
Meet Samsung’s 15.6-inch Chromebook 4+ at Best Buy
Samsung Chromebook Plus V2
From: Amazon
Was: $ 499.99
Now: $ 272.37 ($ 227.62 off)
This Chromebook has some cool features, including a 12-megapixel rear camera (facing the world) that kids could use to take pictures. With a 12.2-inch (1080p) screen, however, it can be a bit small for some users, and at three pounds it can be a bit heavy to lug around. It folds up to create a tablet mode, which is great for Android games. And it includes a stylus! This is a very low price (with an additional $ 5 discount starting Tuesday!), So if you can live with its mix of pros and cons, this deal is worth checking out. studied. Support lasts until June 2024.
Buy the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 on Amazon
Lenovo IdeaPad Duo
Lenovo
From: Walmart.com
Was: $ 299.99
Now: $ 229.99 ($ ​​70 off)
If you like the concept of a Chrome OS tablet but think the Chromebook Plus V2 is priced too high, consider the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet, which we reviewed last year. You can buy the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet for $ 229.99 at Walmart.com, $ 70 off the MSRP of $ 299.99. This tablet comes with 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of built-in storage.
Support runs through June 2029, which could be the longest support lifespan for this holiday’s offerings.
Buy the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook at Walmart
HP Chromebook x2 (11-da0013dx)
From: Best Buy
Was: $ 599
Now: $ 399 ($ ​​200 off)
It’s discount season for Chrome OS tablets! If you’re looking for an Arm-powered Chrome OS version of the Microsoft Surface Pro line, the HP Chromebook X2 Chrome OS tablet is on sale. It has a small (11 inch) but high resolution (1440p) display and comes with a detachable keyboard and stylus. While we haven’t personally tested this tablet, we did try the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c processor that powers it, and it lived up to our expectations. It has 8 GB of memory and 64 GB of SSD storage, Bang & Olufsen speakers and an exceptionally robust 5 Mpixel webcam. However, the support extends until June 2024.
Buy the HP Chromebook x2 at Best Buy
Asus 11.6-Inch chromebook
From: Best Buy
Was: $ 219.00
Now: $ 99 ($ ​​120 off)
Yes, we do not recommend an 11 inch screen. But Best Buy users rate this Chromebook highly, and the specs (Intel Celeron storage / 4GB RAM / 32GB eMMC) don’t really give us pause – you usually don’t store too many apps or documents on one. Chromebook, so meager storage isn’t a big deal.
With Best Buy’s extended return period (until January 16), you’ll have plenty of time to decide if this little Chromebook works for you. But you can’t beat the price!
Check out the 11.6-inch Asus Chromebook at Best Buy
Chromebook Buying Tips for Black Friday
If you are unsure of whether or not to buy a Chromebook or a laptop, we suggest you start with our guide to Chromebooks vs. Laptops, where we explain how each platform works, which is better. for work and play, advice on which laptops and Chromebooks to buy, and so on. Put simply, buy a Chromebook with an appropriately sized screen, a sufficiently powerful processor (a Celeron or better), and a not-too-old processor. It’s a trap: Chromebooks have a programmed lifespan! After a while, they will no longer receive patches and other updates, and many discounted Chromebooks may not be supported for that long.
How can you tell? You can check this for yourself on Google’s Automatic Update Expiration (AUE) page to see how long some Chromebooks will receive updates. Typically, add six years to the Chromebook release date. To be absolutely sure, however, check the Chromebook’s Settings menu. And don’t trust the retailer! Best Buy announced a 13.3-inch Galaxy Chromebook 2 as a Black Friday deal. According to the AUE page, support expired in 2019.
We recommend a 1080p screen, which is (probably 13 inches or more) in size. Kids can be fine with an 11-inch Chromebook, but we prefer a 1080p display for adult eyes and even kids. Eye strain is real!
There really is a huge range of Chromebook configurations out there, from unnamed Arm processors to powerful Chromebooks with the latest Core chips. Chrome OS takes a lot less CPU than Windows, mainly because Chromebooks are still machines for web browsing, first and foremost. A Chromebook with a Core i3, Pentium Gold, or even a Celeron will probably do just fine for what you ask of it – web surfing, web schoolwork, and Netflix and YouTube streaming. Be a little wary, though: Chromebook makers will try to squeeze in five-year-old Celeron processors. This is good, but not ideal.
A Chromebook with an Arm chip inside will probably do the trick too; although chips from vendors like Mediatek and other Arm vendors are not as well known. If you are worried, we recommend that you just buy a Chromebook that has the most popular Celeron chips in it, but also look for the chip.
At the time of going to press, we found an 11-inch Lenovo Chromebook Flex 3 for sale for $ 159.95 on Amazon, normally $ 319.99. It’s a good price, but the Mediatek MT8173C processor inside was released in 2015. We would only buy this Chromebook if you were happy to try it and then return it if it didn’t meet your expectations. . (To learn more, read our specific article on which Chromebook processor we recommend.)
A quick note on video streaming: YouTube has a cool feature called ‘Stats for Nerds’, which is actually a really easy way to gauge how well your Chromebook is performing while streaming video, which will likely be one of the more CPU intensive. tasks that you’ll ask your cheap Chromebook to do. Just start playing any video, right click on the video window and select the “Statistics for Nerds” option. Then find the frame counter. Choppy or choppy video occurs when your CPU / GPU cannot keep up. Some stuttering is normal and undetectable, and a drop of about one frame per second (as shown in this example) will not be noticeable. But if you think about yourself, hmm, that looks pretty good– and want numbers to back it up, this tool can help.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Don’t worry too much about memory. You’ll find Chromebooks with 4GB of memory on average, and that’ll be fine for a few browser tabs.
Local storage is another area where Chromebook makers will be cutting corners, which is also acceptable. Google, of course, encourages you to store documents in the cloud. Photos can be stored in the cloud, locally on the hard drive / SSD, on an SD card slot (if available), or on an external hard drive. Chromebooks with as little as 32GB of eMMC storage are common. As a result, everything will be a bit poky, but probably not too much.
Webcams have been an afterthought for many years, and it really is all about personal preference. Your child’s teacher might not care what their students look like if they are distance learning, but Zoom and Google Meet are still an important part of working life. Look for at least a 720p webcam if that interests you.
Where can I find Black Friday Chromebook deals?
While Google itself maintains a well-organized Chromebook store, it doesn’t highlight any offers or discounts. You will have to search the retailers’ sites for these. Many retailers are mixing up Chromebook deals with their laptop deals, as we also did in our list of the best laptop deals for Black Friday. From the list below, we’ve linked directly to Chromebook deals where we can.
As senior editor of PCWorld, Mark focuses on, among other things, Microsoft news and chip technology. He previously wrote for PCMag, BYTE, Slashdot, eWEEK, and ReadWrite.
