Matthew Smith / IDG
Prime Day is Amazon’s members-only deals event scheduled for July 12 and 13, 2022. In this article, you’ll find PCWorld’s top picks for Prime Day Chromebook deals—the best discounts we could find on Chromebooks from Amazon and other retailers. To take advantage of Prime Day deals, you’ll need an Amazon Prime membership—here’s our primer on how to sign up for Amazon Prime for free. We also have a primer on how to snag Amazon’s fleeting lightning deals.
As you might have discovered during last year’s Prime Day (June 21 and June 22, 2021), the concept of a specific “Prime Day” is, well, flexible. Amazon and other retailers will offer early Prime Day deals before the event has even begun. What you need to know, however, is what a good deal actually is—and that’s where we come in. We’ll take a look at the available Chromebook deals, tell you what makes a Chromebook deal worthy of your attention, and add what context we can: relevant reviews, and how soon that Chromebook’s support will expire. Our story on choosing a Chromebook versus a laptop has more on that.
Prime Day Chromebook deals: What to expect
We’d expect manufacturers will pursue the same strategies for Prime Day as they did during holiday Chromebook sales: unload older Chromebooks at steep discounts, taking advantage of consumer ignorance about processors and support lifecycles.
Weirdly, that’s not always the trap you might expect. While Google may only support an older Chromebook for a few years longer, Chromebooks aren’t that expensive, so the risk is low. Indeed, a $300 Chromebook is far less expensive than a new iPhone. Chromebook retail prices are often between $150 and $450 or so, making a Chromebook investment less expensive than other products. While we’re unlikely to see the sort of substantial 40 to 50 percent discounts we saw over the 2021 holidays, spot discounts of $100 (or about 30 percent) don’t seem unlikely. On Prime Day 2021, we saw the Chromebook Spin 311 selling for a massive 55 percent off on Amazon.
Last year, Acer and Lenovo seemed to generate the most Prime Day Chromebook deals, so it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself our list of the best Chromebooks. The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is our overall pick for the best Chromebook, so keep your eyes peeled for Spin 713 sales. The Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 also offers the best keyboard alongside a nice 1080p display, but the performance is a little lacking—and that’s usually a sign that a Chromebook sale may be on the way.
Chromebook deals may cut corners in certain ways. A low-resolution display less than 1080p can be a gotcha, as can 4GB of memory or an older processor. An Intel Core chip is pretty much a guarantee of solid performance, but can be more expensive, too. (Intel Celeron chips are more common.) Chromebooks can accommodate less memory and processing power than Windows, but a Chromebook with 8GB of memory will generally meet your needs.
Early Prime Day Chromebook deals
HP Chromebook X360
1
From: Amazon
Was: $399.99
Now:
$279.99
(30%)
This deal is just $10 more expensive than its all-time low price, so at $120 off you’re getting a good deal. This is a 360-degree convertible Chromebook with a touchscreen, so Android games should play well on this device, and the B&O speakers are a plus. The Celeron N4000 processor will deliver adequate performance, though nothing spectacular.
Support should last through June 2027, so this shouldn’t be a concern.
Samsung Chromebook 4 (2021 Model)
2
From: Amazon
Was: $229.99
Now:
$129.25
(44%)
We don’t generally approve of lower-resolution displays, but on an 11-inch screen this 768p display may just work. (There’s no HDMI port, however, so you’re probably stuck with the built-in display.) This isn’t going to be a powerhouse Chromebook by any means, with an Intel Celeron processor and 4GB of memory inside. But it’s well-reviewed on Amazon, and support will run out in 2027—a long ways from now.
If the price is all you care about, why not consider ordering it from Amazon’s Renewed program? There, a refurbished version of this Samsung Chromebook 4 is just $97. Alternatively, if this deal sells out, an almost identical version (with an Celeron N4000 processor, versus an N4020) is $135 on Amazon.
HP Chromebook 14
3
From: Amazon
Was: $269.99
Now:
$216.00
(20%)
While this deal isn’t the all-time low price, it does represent a good discount on a good Chromebook. Here, the selling point is battery life: well over 12 hours. Yes, it has a 768p screen (and, unlike the description implies, will show 4K content at 768p) but the screen is bright and the B&O speakers do help the overall media experience.
Two other factors work in its favor: support will last until June 2027 and the Celeron N4020 processor inside is moderately powerful.
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Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor
As PCWorld’s senior editor, Mark focuses on Microsoft news and chip technology, among other beats. He has formerly written for PCMag, BYTE, Slashdot, eWEEK, and ReadWrite.