Best Chromebook Deals: 8 Picks for Students From Acer, Asus, Lenovo and Samsung – CNET

It’s been a difficult adjustment for students in recent years. The pandemic has increased the need for learning remotely, and more and more parents have elected to protect their students by moving them to a fully remote curriculum. Even the classroom environments have shifted to the use of Chromebook laptops, to avoid the sharing of textbooks and the germs and viruses associated with passing them around. All these changes usually come with more time stuck in front of a laptop for most students.

Chromebooks have become the standard in most schools, with the majority of school districts now providing them to their pupils. But the district-provided Chromebook options usually don’t have the power or size necessary to get many of the jobs done that many of us want from our computers. If you have a student trying to learn, put together a paper, or even code on one of those lower-end machines, you might be looking for an upgrade to better support your child through the rest of this school year, and the years to come. If you have the money for it, there are a lot of options out there, either for more powerful and capable Chromebook models, or other laptops out there that are worthy of the investment.

Chromebooks are the most budget-friendly option for a student laptop, but just because they’re the cheapest laptop for students doesn’t mean they’re lacking. Chromebooks were designed with young students in mind, made simple and sturdy enough to do the basics. Comparable Windows laptops and MacBooks come with a higher price. And Chromebooks are easy to use, designed with kids in mind and made to be ready to go from the minute it comes out of the box. The Chrome OS software comes preinstalled, and is streamlined for user comfort. Student-issue Chromebooks that most counties have implemented run small in the screen, with a display of 11.6 inches, but some have much larger displays, from 12.2 inches all the way up to a 15.6-inch screen.

Read more: Best Chromebooks for 2022

We’ve gone through and collected a list of the best deals on Chromebooks to get you through the school year, with prices starting as low as $229. Many factors were considered in the compilation of this list, such as cloud storage, battery life, display size, keyboard quality, ease of web browsing and whether it includes a headphone jack for music or lecture listening and classroom participation. If you want to snag a good deal on the best Chromebooks for the students in your life, look at our picks below. We will periodically update this list, so check back for all your Chromebook needs.

Asus

This Asus model is on sale for only $229 right now and features a 14-inch display powered by an Intel Celeron processor and 4GB of RAM. Those are average components for a budget Chromebook, but it adds a bit more storage than usual with 64GB. It has a 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution display for a sharper picture and more workspace than you’d get with the 1,366×768-pixel resolution found on other low-end Chromebooks.

Josh Goldman/CNET

The highlight of this Lenovo two-in-one Chromebook is its 10th-gen Intel Core i3 CPU, which is common to many budget Windows laptops and has more than enough oomph to power the lightweight Chrome OS. The Flex 5 features a 13.3-inch touchscreen with a 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution. It offers pen support but you need to buy a stylus separately.

Read our Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 review.

Lenovo

This convertible Chromebook features a 15.6-inch touchscreen that can rotate into tablet mode, and is powered by an eighth-gen Intel Core i3 CPU. It’s an older Core i3 than you get in the above Lenovo model, but more powerful than Intel Pentium and Celeron chips commonly found in Chromebooks. The C340 also offers 4GB of RAM and 64GB of flash storage, both average for the price.

Sarah Tew/CNET

This Samsung Chromebook has a smaller display at 12.2 inches than the other models here, but the touchscreen can rotate 360 degrees into tablet mode so you can play Android games — once homework is done, of course. The display boasts a sharp 1,920×1,200-pixel resolution and pen support for the included stylus. Inside, the system features an Intel Celeron processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

Read our Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 review.

Josh Goldman/CNET

This Acer two-in-one Chromebook is currently $50 off at Best Buy to bring its price down to $477. This Acer Chromebook features a 13.5-inch touchscreen with a 3:2 aspect ratio, which offers more room vertically than wider 16:10 displays that are better for watching movies but require more scrolling when browsing the web. This Acer Chromebook’s display also has a fine 2,256×1,504-pixel resolution, a Gorilla Glass coating for added durability and can rotate 360 degrees into tablet mode. Inside, it features a Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Note that this computer has previously seen a price as low as $329. This is still a good deal for today, but if you don’t need a computer right now and can afford to wait, it may be worth holding out for a deeper discount to roll back around.

Read our Acer Chromebook Spin 713 review.

Josh Goldman/CNET

Josh Goldman/CNET

This Samsung two-in-one Chromebook features an all-metal chassis, which is a step up in both looks and durability from the usual plastic Chromebook fare. It’s based on a 13.3-inch QLED touch display with 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution powered by a 10th-gen Core i3 CPU and 8GB of RAM. It also supplies a roomy 128GB of solid-state storage. It’s discounted by $50 or $100 on occasion at both Amazon and Best Buy, so this is one to keep an eye on and pounce when the price drops.

Read our Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 review.

Acer

Rocking a 14-inch HD widescreen LED-backlit touchscreen display, two built-in speakers and a 100% aluminum chassis, this Chromebook is stylish and durable. It features a Li-Polymer battery that gets up to 14 hours on a single charge, so it can handle whatever the day throws at your student. 

Leave a Reply