It’s that time of year again and if you have a student who returns to a brick or mortar building or stays home to go to school, emails and social media queries have been flooded into that all raise the question. same question: What Chromebook should I buy for my returning child? We decided to address this issue in several ways. First, we want to offer you up to 3 solid suggestions for you to just go and buy. If you need to, we’ve expanded the coverage of two of these Chromebook tips, but you may know that These recommendations are solid, affordable, and worth your money.
As a second step, we are also preparing 3 buying tips in case you don’t like our suggestions or find them out of stock at some point. There are things we look for in affordable Chromebooks that can help you avoid being taken advantage of while still getting a good deal, so we want to make sure you are armed with those tips.
Finally we have a Amazing gift you can enter below to win a new Lenovo Chromebook Duet provided by Lenovo. Since this device is our top recommendation to buy the best devices for your child back to school, we are more than excited to have one to give as a gift to a lucky winner. All the details on how to enter can be found below, so be sure to do so before leaving here. Now, let’s look at these recommended devices and buying tips.
Our 3 picks for the best back-to-school Chromebooks
Our first choice for the best back-to-school Chromebooks is the very affordable Lenovo Chromebook 3. This device offers a solid processor in the Celeron N4020 and at an incredibly low price of $ 169, it is unbeatable in value. Sure, it’s all plastic, and the screen has poor viewing angles, but the N4020 processor is fast, and the 4GB of RAM will keep your student moving forward very well. It’s not surprisingly low on storage, but you can quickly add an SD card to expand that capacity, and again there’s not much to complain about with a device that only costs $ 169.
Buy the Lenovo Chromebook 3 at Walmart ->
The following is the new and not yet tested Acer Chromebook 315. This device follows the steps of the 314 that we have here in the office that we have not yet reviewed. However, belonging to the same family, I can tell you that this all-plastic device is solidly built, has a 15.6-inch 1080p display, and the same Celeron N4020 processor mentioned above paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage . Oh, and it also leaves room for a numeric keypad. For more hours in front of the screen, we think this will be a fantastic student device across the board and has been on sale from its standard price of $ 259 to $ 219 for at least a week at this point, so there is hope that it will stay there for a while.
Buy the Acer Chromebook 315 at Walmart ->
Finally, our best choice for Back to School is the excellent Lenovo Chromebook Duet. With its stellar design, included tablet and keyboard design, this device is a fantastic and versatile Chromebook for students. Build on this device is much better than the price would suggest and the screen rivals Chromebooks for twice the price, so the MSRP of the Duet really offers an amazing bang for the buck. Starting at $ 299 for the top-tier 128GB version, you can also find the 64GB variant on sale now and then for around $ 250. Either way, you can’t go wrong with this one.
Buy Lenovo Chromebook Duet in Chrome Buy
3 tips for buying Chromebook back to school
In the event that those 3 Chromebooks don’t really suit you or your student, let us give you some buying tips to consider if you want to do a little shopping comparison on your own. Unfortunately, there are resellers at Amazon or Walmart who will try to sell you old Chromebooks as if they were new. The titles are misleading, and let’s be honest, cheap Chromebooks don’t really evolve in look from year to year, so the look and feel in the product shots can be a bit tricky, too. There are a few key things to keep in mind, and we want to help you make that purchase decision if you do it on your own.
First, pay close attention to the processor. Take the time to scroll down to the device specs and see what processor is inside. There are devices on the internet from years ago that you just don’t want unless they’re offering ridiculous discounts on them. Most entry-level Chromebooks run on small core Intel chips and fall into the Celeron line. However, all Celerons are not created equal, and the latest Celeron chips are much faster than previous generations. You want to keep an eye out for Chromebooks with the Celeron N4000 or N4020 and stay away from the N3050, N3060, N3350, or N3450. Basically, if there is no 4 after that N, look elsewhere. The AUE (automatic updates) on those older chips will expire much earlier and the performance is just bad. N4000 chips are much better and are sold at very low prices, so make sure they don’t fool you.
Second, find the display type. Many low-end Chromebooks come with TN panels that look bad off-angle and wash quickly. IPS panels are much better and if you are buying you can come across a similarly priced Chromebook that upgrades to an IPS screen for the same asking price. This is an update you want to take advantage of and one of the reasons the under $ 300 Chromebook Duet duo is such a stellar deal. Its panel is IPS and it’s shiny, making it a rarity in the low-end Chromebook market. Lower-priced devices with IPS displays can be hard to find, but if you know what to look for, they’re available.
Finally, pay attention to the internal storage. Even looking at our three suggested Chromebooks, within a price range of $ 130 we went from 32 GB of internal storage to 128 GB. Chromebooks work well with little storage and you can easily expand things with an SD card, but if you’re buying in comparison and two similar Chromebooks have 32GB and 64GB of storage, you should keep an eye on that and buy the one with the largest storage capacity. . It sounds simple, but sometimes these specs are not presented in advance and if you are not careful you will throw money into a device with a smaller unit inside without realizing it.
Now about that draw
That’s it for the tips and advice. We really hope this quick post and this video can help many of you navigate the increasingly crowded waters of affordable Chromebooks. As more devices are added, these purchasing decisions only become more difficult. Armed with some examples and some buying tips, we are confident that you can dive into those waters and make a solid and informed purchase for your student that will be an excellent choice for the upcoming school year.
To help at least one family, Lenovo has given us a new Chromebook Duet. This is the high-end model with 128GB of storage as well, so we’re talking about a $ 299 Chromebook that we think is best for students who returned to school in 2020. All you have to do to enter is follow the steps below and we will be drawing a winner in just a couple of weeks. Good luck!
Lenovo Chromebook Duet Giveaway
