January’s Best Chromebook Deals From Lenovo, HP, and More

Feeling the squeeze when you’re shopping for PCs? We’re thinking a lot about chip costs moving into the new year, which is why a Chromebook looks better than ever. Google’s ChromeOS lets you extract lots of performance out of less powerful hardware, making it a great choice for budget computers. 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, excels with cloud applications, and offers ultra-long battery life. No matter what you need a laptop for, there’s a Chromebook for it.

Even with high-end build quality and bright, clear screens, you’ll find it difficult to spend more than a few hundred dollars on a powerful and portable ChromeOS laptop. But the savings don’t stop there. We’ve hunted down models from top brands like Acer, Samsung, Lenovo and more and found serious deals of 50% or more. Here are the best Chromebooks you can pick up on sale in January.

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 $119 off list price.

For a budget option, we’ve got a few choices depending on your brand loyalty. The Acer Chromebook 315 is a solid option at a minimal price, with a decent silicon loadout and good port selection. In our review, we noted that it was more than good enough for everyday tasks, although it didn’t blow us away with battery life. The full-sized keyboard has a dedicated number pad, which isn’t common, and we were impressed by the smooth, responsive OceanGlass touchpad. This bundle comes with a carrying case as well, which is a nice perk.

Right now you can snag a deep 49% discount on HP’s baseline ChromeOS portable at Best Buy, giving it a sale price of $164. 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.

A 50% price cut on a Chromebook that comes with some additional external storage? Sign us up. The Asus CX15 is a solid midrange Chromebook, with a larger-than-normal screen, decent Celeron processor, and ridiculously long battery life. Asus says that it’ll go for as long as 12 hours of constant use on a single charge, which is a school or work day plus commutes with time to spare. This bundle remedies the common storage complaint by including a USB hub along with a 512GB SD card, giving you way more room for files than any other machine in this rundown.

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There’s a few Lenovo Chromebooks on sale this month, and if you want a two-in-one option, we gave an “Excellent” rating to the Duet 11 in our review. Our expert highlighted that the lightweight tablet with detachable keyboard had a surprisingly high-quality all-metal build and sharp screen that worked well in both configurations. While the component loadout isn’t mind-blowing, it handled our benchmarking tests competently. This discount makes it an even more appealing option. One caveat: because of its small form factor, the keyboard can feel a little cramped for those of us with big hands.

Chromebooks are popular choices for students because of their low price, but if you have a person in your life who is unusually rough on their electronics, you might want to opt for something a little more durable. The Asus CR11 wraps its entry-level but still effective components inside a sturdy military-grade chassis with rubberized corners, spill-proof keyboard, 180-degree hinge, and easy modular design for simple part replacement. You can see how it stacks up on our list of the best Chromebooks, but at this price it’s a fine choice.

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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