The best Black Friday Chromebook deals for 2020

The biggest annual retail event has landed today but is already more than halfway over, but you can still find many of the best Black Friday deals that include eye-popping price cuts on cheap Chromebooks — and more than a few high-end models, too. These laptops are among the hottest items of this holiday season and are especially popular among those doing schoolwork or working from home, so if you’re looking to get your mitts on a sleek Chrome OS-powered ultrabook, there’s still time to strike while the iron is hot.

We’re seeing a torrent of great Black Friday laptop deals this year and we know from previous sales that this holiday shopping season is when you’ll find these machines at their lowest prices ever. Read on to check out all the best Black Friday Chromebook deals you can score right now, along with a short buying guide to give you an advantage over other bargain-hungry shoppers.

Best Black Friday Chromebook deals today

How to choose a Chromebook during Black Friday

The pickings were slim when Chromebooks first came onto the scene about a decade ago, but today, pretty much every major PC maker offers its own Chrome OS laptops, and they cover the entire spectrum of sizes, hardware configurations, designs, and prices. If you want a super-cheap 11-inch Chromebook with mobile hardware, they’re out there. If you want a high-end 2-in-1 Chromebook with a 4K display and the latest hardware, you’ve got options. In 2020, narrowing down this field to find the best Chromebook for your needs and budget is now much the same as shopping for any Windows laptop — although there are some distinctions to keep in mind. And if that distinction has you wondering, check out our guide to Chromebooks versus laptops for more information.

As Chromebooks run on Google’s cloud-based Chrome OS operating system, they’re not quite as resource-heavy as Windows laptops. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Chromebooks can perform the same tasks as Windows laptops for less — for instance, Chrome OS is not really designed for demanding jobs like gaming or video rendering, where you’ll be better served by a Windows PC with a dedicated GPU. The cloud-based convenience of Chrome OS lends itself especially well to things like web browsing, document writing, taking online classes, and similar projects for work and study. That means they’re a great choice for those heading off to college or attending school virtually, and you can have a look at the best Chromebooks for students.

Super-cheap Chromebooks in the sub-$300 bracket tend to sport pared-down mobile CPUs (such as Intel Celeron, Intel Pentium, Intel N-series, AMD A-series, and MediaTek processors), a minimal amount of RAM (usually 4GB), and 32GB to 64GB of eMMC flash storage. These are simple laptops built for basic tasks, and they’re perfectly suitable as a first laptop for a kid, a backup computer, or a machine that’s solely dedicated to school or work (i.e. it won’t be your PC for a heavy user). You get what you pay for, but if your needs are modest and your expectations are realistic, you won’t be disappointed. The best brands to look for here include Lenovo with products like the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5, or Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, and Samsung. You can even find some cheap 2-in-1s among these budget Chromebook offerings.

If you need something that’s more like a traditional laptop in terms of hardware in performance, you can usually expect to pay something closer to traditional laptop prices. However, there are a lot of good Chromebooks out there, like the Google Pixelbook and Samsung Chromebook Pro. Many of these higher-end Chromebooks come loaded with the latest Intel Core CPUs, boosted RAM, and proper solid-state storage drives, along with nicer displays (up to and including 4K panels on some of the newer models). And a high-end Chromebook can be a great investment. The top brands to look for in this bracket are Lenovo, Samsung, and Google, with laptops like the Google Pixelbook Go, Lenovo IdeaPad Duet, HP Chromebook 15, Asus Chromebook Flip C436, and Samsung Galaxy Chromebook being two of our own favorites.

Where to find the best Chromebook sales

• Amazon Black Friday: Amazon is running new Holiday Dash deals every day until November 19, although this online retail giant is generally not as good of a place to find Chromebook deals (and laptop deals in general) as other stores like Best Buy and Walmart. Nonetheless, it’s a good idea to keep that page bookmarked and check back daily — you might just find a hidden gem.
• Best Buy Black Friday: Best Buy offers discounted laptops year-round and you can be sure it’ll have plenty of Black Friday Chromebook deals on tap. In fact, there are some worthy savings to be had on top models from HP, Google, and Samsung right now.
• Target Black Friday: With models from HP, Acer, and Asus, you’ll find Chromebooks of varying specifications including 2-in-1 and convertible models, many of which are around $50 off on sale for Black Friday.
• Walmart Black Friday: Walmart’s laptop deals often fly under the radar and it can be a mistake to overlook this retailer (which many shoppers regard mostly as a brick-and-mortar store). It’s a surprisingly great place to find Black Friday Chromebook deals on models from Lenovo, Acer, Samsung, and Asus, which go on sale a lot here.

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