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Grab the HP Chromebook X2 11 for 60% off before it's gone
The most premium Chromebook tablet just hit its lowest price ever
The HP Chromebook X2 11, one of the best Chromebooks on the market today, has been one-upping its own sales over the last few weeks. First, it went from its regular $600 price tag down to $400, the semi-monthly deal Best Buy usually gives it. However, instead of going back up to MSRP, Best Buy instead cut it down again to $300. Today, it's down to $250, making it less expensive than even the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, the tablet that kicked off today's trend of Chrome detachable. And if you've been in the market for an Android tablet, let me tempt you into something better with over double the support life.
HP's new Snapdragon-powered Chrome OS tablet is already $200 off at Best Buy
The Chromebook X2 11 tablet is down to just $399
Chrome is surprisingly good as a tablet operating system ... at least it is now, since Google's put so much work into the interface and Android apps can run on the thing. If you're interested in checking it out, HP's new Chromebook x2 11 tablet might be right up your alley. Normally a little pricey at $599, Best Buy is offering it for just $399 today.
Lenovo announces an OLED upgrade for the Chromebook Duet and an iPad Pro alternative
Lenovo is showing off new Chrome and Android tablets, earbuds, and Unity software
Ever since the Chromebook Duet landed, I've been waiting for Lenovo to improve upon this inexpensive Surface-style tablet with some beefier hardware. Today my waiting pays off: the company's announced the Chromebook Duet 5, a sleek, OLED-screened convertible tablet rocking Chrome software. It's one of many new machines the company is revealing today at the TechWorld showcase.
Asus makes its own version of the Lenovo Chromebook Duet and calls it the CM3 Detachable
It's nearly identical, but a docked stylus and a headphone jack might give Asus the edge
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet is pretty close to a perfect low-end Chrome device, in my opinion. Essentially a tiny Chrome-powered Surface tablet, it excels at portability, media consumption, and basic work tasks. After a bit of a fake-out with a very similarly-named Chromebook CM3 convertible, the CM3 Detachable is now official. And yeah, it's pretty much the same device as the Chromebook Duet, with a couple of extra quirks.
Chromebooks are popular among consumers, but they're huge in education. Asus has just rolled out a new family of education-focused Chromebooks, which it says are both lightweight and ruggedized. If something does break, the Asus Education series laptops are easy to open up and repair. That's important for anything you're going to give to kids.
HP announced a brand-new Chromebook today, the very plainly-named HP Chromebook x2. You wouldn't guess by the branding, but this is the world's first detachable Chrome OS device, and the 12.3" tablet includes the keyboard dock and a stylus in its $599 asking price. Essentially, HP is trying to position this as a more affordable option to an iPad Pro with a keyboard cover and Apple Pencil - though I can't say I'd ever expect creative pros to flock to Chrome OS, even with Android apps on board.
Android tablets are not and were not ever very good. There. I said it.From the very first devices that launched without Google's blessing, to the overhyped, underdelivering ones that did, all the way through Google's last-ditch effort to save them, Android tablets never hit their stride.Sure, there were some bright spots, occasionally. Like the 2013 Nexus 7, which was beloved for its low cost and simplicity. It was the antithesis of the $500 iPad: a frugal hot hatchback to Apple's fully-loaded luxury sedan. But the Nexus 7, and most small, inexpensive tablets, were short-lived in their mainstream popularity as our phones started growing larger and larger. A 7-inch tablet isn't much more useful than a 6-inch phone, and so most people just stopped buying small tablets. Which, it turned out, was most Android tablets.But not all of them. Perhaps the most stinging rebuke of the Android tablet, paradoxically, has been the success of one Android tablet in particular. Though the maker of that tablet would never dare to use the word 'Android' to describe it, because it has (perfectly legally) hijacked Android from Google as a way to push its own products and services. Amazon's Fire tablet, which can literally be purchased in six-packs, like beer, still sells very well, and the larger family of those devices has essentially cornered the market for inexpensive (frankly, cheap) tablets in the US. When $50 gets you something you can stick in front of your five-year-old on a long car ride or a visit to the doctor, and it can be delivered to your door the next day, it's safe to say we've hit the peak of commoditization. There is no more market to be carved out for tablets as consumption devices: Amazon owns the budget space, and Apple owns... everything else. Contrary to popular belief, iPads don't start at $329 - they start at whatever price point you want, because the supply of refurbished units is basically endless.Google hasn't released its own tablet in over two years (the Pixel C), and there hasn't been a single interesting Android tablet announcement since. The fact that android.com/tablets is still a website is more confusing than reassuring at this point. So, what is the future of the Android tablet? The answer, it seems, is Chrome.
Chrome OS and Android have progressively grown together over the past few years, from apps to tighter integrations. Acer is taking things one step further with the first of its kind, the Chromebook Tab 10. A dedicated tablet running Google's desktop OS, Acer is keeping its sights on the education market, much to some of our dismay.
During his keynote speech at IFA, Eric Schmidt made some interesting comments in regards to Android, tablets, and TVs. Specifically, TV's would be shipping with Google TV software on board (rather than as add-on hardware), and tablets will run Chrome OS rather than Android.