Best Chromebook deals for students in 2022
Chromebooks have become standard equipment in most U.S. schools, with many school districts now providing them to students. But the district-provided Chromebooks are usually smaller, underpowered models with limited utility. There’s only so much you can do on an 11.6-inch display powered by an outdated CPU. Larger Chromebooks with displays in the 12.2-inch to 15.6-inch range and more modern processors are still very affordable. 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 they come out of the box. The Chrome OS software comes preinstalled and is streamlined for user comfort.
With the start of the 2022-23 school year kicking off soon if not already as we reach early August, we’ve gone through and collected a list of the best deals on Chromebooks, with prices starting right around $300. 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, check out three of CNET’s top picks below. And for the complete list of our picks, go to CNET.com for the full article.
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Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5
Core i3 power
CNET TAKE: 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 x 1,080-pixel resolution. It offers pen support, but you need to buy a stylus separately.
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Samsung Chromebook Plus V2
A tablet, too
CNET TAKE: 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.
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Acer Chromebook Spin 514
Midsize two-in-one
CNET TAKE: Acer’s midrange convertible Chromebook, the 14-inch Spin 514, boasts a slim and durable all-metal body and features an AMD Ryzen 3 processor. It’s a good middle ground between smaller, 11.6-inch models that might cramp your computing style and larger, 15.6-inch models that you might not want to lug across campus each day. This AMD-based model is on sale right now at Best Buy, but you should know that an Intel model is expected soon that will feature the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard, better video-conferencing capabilities and a more compact enclosure.
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The following CNET staff contributed to this story: CNET contributor Matt Elliott, Senior Editor Josh Goldman and Copy Editor Jim Hoffman. For more reviews of personal technology products, please visit www.cnet.com.