November’s Best Chromebook Deals Let You Get Capable Laptops for Almost Nothing

It’s pretty wild how Chromebooks have evolved from shamefully slow all-plastic laptops that are almost disposable, to actual competitors to Windows machines. When testing laptops in the PC Labs, we’ve seen firsthand how Google has upgraded ChromeOS to make it a real player in the portable PC space. It’s power-efficient, fast, resistant to malware and viruses, specializes in cloud applications, and offers ultra-long battery life. No matter what you need a laptop for, there’s a Chromebook that will probably get it done at a low price.

Even with high-end build quality and bright, clear screens, you’ll find it hard to spend more than a few hundred dollars on a powerful and portable Chrome OS laptop. But the savings don’t stop there. We’ve hunted down models from top brands like Asus, Lenovo and more and found serious deals of 50% or more. Here are the best Chromebooks you can pick up at deep discounts this November.

Let’s lead off with a tremendous Chromebook that we gave an Editors’ Choice award to in our review, with expert Brian Westover saying that it was “one of the best performing ChromeOS laptops we’ve seen” thanks to a sturdy but flexible aluminum and plastic chassis, perky Core i3 processor and decent RAM loadout. The Chromebook Plus platform pushes the operating system to new levels of capability, and this model comes with a ton of nice perks, like a USI pen-compatible touchscreen, backlit keyboard and 1080p webcam. Best Buy has it on sale for $50 off list price.

Best Buy is having a storewide Chromebook sale right now, and they’re lading off with a massive 64% discount on HP’s baseline Chrome OS portable, giving it a sale price of $119. We gave it a solid review in 2019, praising its nice-feeling keyboard and good assortment of both USB-A and USB-C ports. It’s not designed for any processor-hungry tasks, but for basic Web browsing and productivity, it’ll do the job. This configuration has been upgraded with an Intel Celeron processor (moving away from AMD), which also boosts its performance a bit.

Here’s another Lenovo Chromebook, this one an affordable detachable that we gave a glowing review to, noting that the Duet Gen 9 had an incredibly high-quality build for how little it cost, and when you throw in an additional 33% price cut at Best Buy it’s even more attractive. The crisp 2K touchscreen is responsive and looks nice, although it’s not super bright. Internally, this is a basic Chromebook model, tuned for cloud-based computing and with up to 12 hours of battery life and Fast Boot it’ll keep you going all day.

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Chromebooks take a beating in classroom situations, so HP’s Fortis line is designed to invest in drop and crack protection with MIL-STD 810H durability certification, textured panels for better grip and easier cleaning and disinfecting, and decent performance. We haven’t had a hands-on with this model, but we did an overview of the latest Fortis line, noting that they were capable portables that can really take a licking and keep on ticking. A 10% price drop makes this one a good choice for clumsy customers.

Chromebooks for gaming? Believe it! While this portable obviously isn’t going to push the power of a standard PC gaming laptop, it’s a tremendous value for cloud-based services thanks to a bright, crisp WQXGA display with a 120Hz refresh rate. In our review, we were impressed by the laptop’s responsive keyboard, a Lenovo staple, as well as its anti-ghosting feature to prevent erroneous keypresses. The build quality is excellent for a sub-$400 laptop, and it has tons of ports for all your controllers. Walmart has a nice $80 discount on this one.

At retail price, we’d think twice about recommending the HP Chromebook x360 14, but with this big discount courtesy of Walmart, it becomes a much more attractive proposition. In our review, we noted that it had fairly snappy performance and a nice-looking design, but the FHD display wasn’t as bright and crisp as we’d like. The 360-degree hinge makes it an adaptable option for presentations, watching media, light creative apps, and everyday activities.

Another budget-minded Chromebook at a serious price drop, the IdeaPad Slim 3i is lightweight and features epic battery life, clocking in at over 15 hours. The ARM-based processor works well with Chrome OS, and although the component loadout is pretty skimpy, for an ultra-budget laptop it’s more that capable of getting the job done. Lenovo also always overdelivers when it comes to build quality, and the all-plastic case feels sturdy and durable. See how it compares on our list of the best Chromebooks we’ve reviewed.

If you ever wondered how we test laptops, wonder no more! We wrote a deep dive into our extensive process.

About Our Experts

K. Thor Jensen

Contributing Writer

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Experience

K. Thor Jensen is a writer and cartoonist living in the Pacific Northwest. He has contributed to dozens of prestigious outlets, including PCMag, Tested, Clickhole, and Newsweek. His second graphic novel, Cloud Stories, was released in 2017.

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Joe Osborne

Deputy Managing Editor, Hardware

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Experience

After starting my career at PCMag as an intern more than a decade ago, I’m back as one of its editors, focused on managing laptops, desktops, and components coverage. With 15 years of experience, I have been on staff and published in technology review publications, including PCMag (of course!), Laptop Magazine, Tom’s Guide, TechRadar, and IGN. Along the way, I’ve tested and reviewed hundreds of laptops and helped develop testing protocols. I have expertise in testing all forms of laptops and desktops using the latest tools. I’m also well-versed in video game hardware and software coverage.

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