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The 17 best Black Friday deals on Chromebooks ahead of Cyber Monday
Chromebooks may not be the most powerful laptops on the market, but they're excellent options for students, casual home users, and mobile professionals. With Chrome OS, you can run Android apps, as well as access GSuite programs like Docs, Sheets, and Google Drive to save your projects automatically to the cloud.
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Also: Live blog: The absolute best Black Friday 2022 tech deals in real time
And even though Chromebooks are some of the most affordable laptops available, we've still scoured the internet for discounts, bundles, and trade-in deals to help you save even more.
We picked models from top brands like Samsung, HP, and Acer to help you find a Chromebook that fits both your budget and your needs, especially with the holiday season upon us.
Black Friday is a great time to pick up a deal on a Chromebook and we've scoured the web to find the best bargains, with many deals still available after the event.
Latest Black Friday Chromebook deals
- Lenovo Flex 3 Chromebook 11.6" for $99 (save $80) at Best Buy
- HP 21.5" Chromebase ChromeOS desktop PC for $299 (save $300) at B&H
- Lenovo Chromebook 3 14" for $149 (save $170) at Best Buy
- Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 11" for $284 (save $85) at Lenovo
- Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 360 for $89 (save $360 with trade-in) at Samsung
- ASUS 2-in-1 Chromebook 14" for $179 (save $200) at Best Buy
- Samsung Chromebook 4 11" for $139 (save $160) at Walmart
- Acer Spin 513 (renewed) for $179 (save $270) at Target
Best Black Friday Chromebook deals
There are many different kinds of Chromebook out there that could be the perfect machine for you. Black Friday was on November 25, but this year, US retailers began their holiday sales far earlier -- giving us more choice, and time, to pick up new devices before Christmas.
Our top picks, and the best deals still available, are below.
- Current price: $399
- Original price: $699
Best Buy launched a sale including the HP 2-In-1 touchscreen Chromebook. This Chromebook comes with a 14" touchscreen display, an 11th-gen Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB RAM, Intel UHD Graphics, and 128GB SSD storage.
- Current price: $99
- Original price: $429
Samsung is offering the Galaxy Chromebook 2 360 for just $79 with an eligible trade-in. And if you're an educator, first responder, government employee, or active or former military, you can save an extra 10% with Samsung's Offer Programs.
The Chromebook features a 13.3'' FHD QLED display and is equipped with an Intel Celeron processor, 64GB of storage, and either 4GB or 8GB RAM. While it probably won't replace your work machine, it's still got plenty of power and space for everyday tasks.
The 13-hour battery also lets you stream, web browse, and work all day without needing to recharge.
- Current price: $180
- Original price: $250
The Acer Chromebook 311 is an excellent choice for students and professionals working from home, especially if you're looking for a convertible machine.
While you can't upgrade the 64GB storage drive yourself, you can expand your internal storage with microSD cards for working on larger files like photos and videos. The Chromebook also has 2 USB-C ports for faster data transfers than USB 3.0 and for charging the laptop, an Intel Celeron processor, and 4GB RAM.
But with the 10-hour battery life, you won't be worrying about topping up your laptop throughout the day. It even has Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity for setting up wireless peripherals like headsets, mice, and speakers.
- Current price: $79
- Original price: $98
If you need a simple laptop as an affordable gift over the holiday season, this HP Chromebook is all you need. With an 11.6" display and 4GB of RAM, they can access internet resources, knock out papers, and complete projects with ease.
Traveling can be hard on laptops, but this Chromebook is built to withstand backpack journeys. With metal-reinforced corners, this laptop was tested to survive drops of up to 122cm.
More Black Friday Chromebook deals
Other Chromebook options include:
What is the difference between a Chromebook and a regular laptop?
The main difference between the two is what kind of operating system it runs. A Chromebook uses the ChromeOS, developed by Google, while most other laptops run either Windows or macOS, though there are some models that are capable of running Linux.
Chromebooks are also capable of running Windows if you're willing to do a little work yourself, but they're really at their best when left running ChromeOS.
You should keep in mind that the ChromeOS app ecosystem, by design, is limited. Therefore, if you need to run specific software on your new Chromebook, you should check that it is compatible first.
Can you use a Chromebook for gaming?
That is a solid "no." Chromebooks are built to be used for everyday tasks like word processing and web browsing. They simply don't have the correct components (like a discrete GPU and tons of RAM) to support any sort of gaming.
If you're looking for an affordable gaming laptop, you can check out our list of the best cheap gaming laptops available.
Are there any drawbacks when using a Chromebook?
The biggest disadvantage of Chromebooks compared to other kinds of laptops is their low RAM and storage capacities. Most cap out at maybe 16GB of RAM (which is soldered in place so you can't upgrade it yourself) and at 128GB of storage. Though many Chromebooks have permanently installed 32 or 64GB eMMC storage cards, it is possible to find models equipped with a 128GB SSD; but since their processors aren't very powerful either, 128GB is about all they can support for storage, so you can't really upgrade the hard drive yourself either.
However, if you're looking for a laptop your kids can use for schoolwork or just something to be able to watch Netflix and browse the web on, they're a perfectly suitable option.
When is Black Friday 2022?
Black Friday 2022 was on Friday, Nov. 25 -- the day after Thanksgiving. But deals aren't limited to that day and appear in the run-up to and after Black Friday itself. We'll be tracking the best Black Friday deals for the entire period.
When is Cyber Monday 2022?
Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving and Black Friday -- in 2022 it falls on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022.
What are the best Black Friday 2022 deals?
ZDNET scoured Black Friday sales to find the best deals this year:
Our experts also split out the best deals by retailer, brand, and category, which you can see below.
Black Friday deals by retailer
- The best Black Friday 2022 deals still available at Amazon
- The best Black Friday 2022 deals still available at Costco
- The best Black Friday 2022 deals still available at Newegg
- The best Black Friday 2022 deals still available at Target
- The best Black Friday 2022 deals still available at Walmart
- Top Black Friday 2022 deals still available at Best Buy
Black Friday deals by brand
- The best Black Friday 2022 Apple deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 Samsung deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 Dell deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 HP deals still available
Black Friday deals by category
- The best Black Friday 2022 gaming deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 AirPods deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 headphone deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 laptop deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 monitor deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 robot vacuum deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 phone deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 tablet deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 TV deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 VPN deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 iPad deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 security camera deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 smartwatch deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 storage deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 Apple Watch deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 Chromebook deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 fitness deals still available
- The best Black Friday 2022 streaming deals still available
Here are some of the cheapest deals we've found so far:
Black Friday deals live blog
Finally, if you'd like to see the newest Black Friday deals as they drop:
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