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Prime Day is Amazon’s members-only deals event scheduled for July 12 and 13, 2022, and it’s finally here. Here you’ll find PCWorld’s picks for the best Prime Day Chromebook deals—the juiciest discounts we could find on Chromebooks from Amazon and other retailers. To take advantage of early Prime Day deals, you’ll need an Amazon Prime membership, however. 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.
Amazon Prime Day floods the zone with abundant “deals,” many of which aren’t truly compelling deals at all. What you need to know is what a good deal actually is—and that’s where we come in. Here are the best Amazon Prime Day Chromebook deals based on what we think makes a discounted Chromebook worthy of your attention, including the all-important final support date. Our story on choosing a Chromebook versus a laptop has more on why that support date is important.
Prime Day Chromebook deals: What to expect
Some manufacturers 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.
Prime Day deals sometimes last mere hours, or even minutes. 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.
Normally, we’d suggest you buy a Chromebook with 1080p resolution or above, but manufacturers love foisting 768p displays on the public—which can work fine, especially on smaller screens. 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, while 4GB is often found in the most affordable models.
Prime Day Chromebook deals
Lenovo IdeaPad 3 (14-inch) with Headset
1
From: Walmart
Was: $279.99
Now:
$89.00
(68% off)
A blockbuster deals opens Prime Day, with a solid Celeron processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 768p 14-inch screen, and it’s bundled with a headset, too! Support expires in June 2027.
Lenovo IdeaPad 3 11
2
From: Amazon
Was: $219.99
Now:
$99.00
(47% off)
Walmart and Amazon seem to be offering dueling deals on IdeaPads. This is a smaller Chromebook with a better price, but support also runs out in 2027.
Acer Chromebook Spin 514
3
From: Best Buy
Was: $499.00
Now:
$199.00
(60% off)
An excellent deal on a 360-degree Chromebook, taking advantage of AMD’s Ryzen processor and a full 1080p screen as well. Even better, support runs out in June 2029.
HP Chromebook X360
4
From: Amazon
Was: $399.99
Now:
$299.99
(25% off)
This 360-degree convertible should play Android games comfortably with an adequate Celeron N4000 processor and B&O speakers powering them. Official Google support should last through 2027.
Samsung Chromebook 4 (2021 Model)
5
From: Amazon
Was: $229.99
Now:
$127.90
(44% off)
While the 768p display might be a bit of a turnoff on paper, we’ll bet that it won’t matter on an 11-inch display and that you’ll be happy that official support lasting until June 2027.
HP Chromebook 14
6
From: Walmart
Was: $299.00
Now:
$198.00
(34% off)
We’ve found similar deals on other sites, but in general an Intel Pentium processor on this “Chromebook Plus” is superior to the Celeron chips that appear on rival deals. Google support should last until 2027.
Samsung Chromebook Plus V2, 2-in-1
7
From: Amazon
Was: $499.99
Now:
$294.99
(41% off)
Samsung’s Chromebook Plus V2 has a solid camera, an included pen, and decent specs. Support will expire in June 2024, however.
Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-3H-C19A)
8
From: Walmart
Was: $359
Now:
$199
(44% off)
We like everything about this deal, including the support date June 2027. Well, everything except the screen resolution of the 15.6-inch screen: 768p might be too grainy for some eyes, but you can’t beat that price.
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.