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Acer Chromebook Spin 714 review: An outstanding choice for power users and pros
A premium Chromebook that keeps getting better as prices drop
Windows has been my go-to operating system for years, but I've kept an eye on Chromebooks and have been impressed with the progress made. About a decade ago, I used one of the first Chromebooks while backpacking, and it's an understatement to say it was a rough experience with a slow device that felt like it could fall apart at any second.
A high-powered Lenovo Chromebook sees a low sale price for Cyber Monday
In fact, it's technically powerful enough to run Windows
Chromebooks' popularity stems largely from the fact that they're affordable, but sometimes those low prices also mean less-than-stellar build quality and components. Enter the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook, which looks and feels like a high-end piece of equipment despite having a low price tag due to Cyber Monday.
Samsung's Galaxy Book2 lineup brings S Pen support to Windows 11's Android apps
Complete with S Pen support and continuity across Galaxy devices
We may mostly focus on Samsung’s Galaxy phones and tablets around here like the excellent Galaxy S22 Ultra, but the company has a much bigger portfolio consisting of a magnitude of other products, including but not limited to laptops. After seeing wide success in the premium PC segment with 30% sales increases, Samsung is ready to reveal the second generation of its Galaxy Book lineup at MWC 2022, boasting up to 21 hours of battery life and shipping with Windows 11, 12th gen Intel CPUs, Wi-Fi 6E, and S Pen support.
Save a cool $100 on Google's i5 Pixelbook Go
A meaty discount on one of the best laptop keyboards around
It's been almost two years since Google made a proper Chromebook for the masses. The Pixelbook Go is the company's most recent device meant for the casual user, with a more traditional form factor and magnesium chassis to improve its affordability and longevity. Despite Google's cost-saving measures, the laptop has simply been too expensive, with a $650 sticker price being less competitive than similarly equipped Chromebooks. But there's still a lot to love about it, and if you've been itching to buy it on sale, today's your lucky day — you can snag an i5 Pixelbook at Amazon for $100 off.
This Chromebook would make a perfect first laptop for your kid, and it's super affordable right now
Today only, you can get it for over 50% off at Best Buy
Acer's a well-established name in the Chromebook market. With its newest Tigerlake Chromebooks tearing through even the heaviest desktop apps, it's getting increasingly clear that the company is betting big with its hardware. As more institutions turn to Google's platform to bring millions of students online, Acer's Chromebook 512 is a no-brainer play by Acer to expand even further into the booming education market. And for today only, you can get this super-affordable Chromebook at Best Buy for a mere $130 — over 50% off its $280 price tag.
Get this Lenovo Chromebook for less than — I don't know, what costs $220?
That's not much for a whole laptop
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If you're in the market for an affordable Chromebook, Best Buy is offering a sweet deal on a Lenovo model today. The Chromebook 3 is a 14-inch ARM-based laptop that won't win any drag races (you know, if laptops could drag race, and if MediaTek processors were engines... this metaphor is falling apart fast), but it's a reliable machine for browsing and basic work. Today, it's $219 — a whole $100 under MSRP.
Asus reveals the Chromebook CM3, but it's not the one you were waiting for
This one's a convertible laptop, not the detachable tablet that was leaked earlier
Asus Chromebooks have been a popular choice for buyers thanks to a mix of low price and solid fit and finish. The company's latest model is the Chromebook Flip CM3, also known as the CM3200. It's an ARM-powered convertible laptop, not the detachable, Lenovo Duet-style tablet we were expecting, though that model may come later.
Chromebooks are gaining steam all over, recently surpassing Apple computers in total sales. But their bread and butter has been, and remains, the education market, where fleets of cheap, easy-to-service laptops are a godsend for teachers and IT administrators. Today Lenovo is announcing no less than four new Chromebook laptops, all iterations on existing models, and priced between $299 and $429.
Samsung's first product with an under-display camera may not be a phone
It may be a laptop with an OLED display
Display bezels, be it on smartphones, laptops, or televisions, have drastically reduced in the last few years. But a key problem with reducing bezels, especially in the case of smartphones and laptops, is figuring out where or how to place the front-facing camera. The most novel way to do so is by placing it under the display, and Samsung has showcased just this in its latest teaser.
Pick up a 4K Pixelbook Go with 16GB of RAM for $1,200 on Amazon ($200 off)
If you're going to get a Chromebook, this is one of the best
Google released the company's newest laptop, the Pixelbook Go, last year alongside the Pixel 4. It's a beautifully designed computer with specs that go up against the best in the category. We liked it, but the price was too high for most people to seriously consider buying it. Right now, though, Amazon is offering savings of up to $200 on select Pixelbook Go models like the top-of-the-line i7 variant with 16GB of RAM.The Pixelbook Go can go toe-to-toe with other high-end laptops thanks to an 8th Gen Intel i7 Processor and 16GB of RAM. Considering that Chrome OS is built to run on lower-end hardware, this should make the experience buttery smooth on Google's flagship Chromebook. Chrome OS might have started as a cloud-based operating system, but the Pixelbook Go has a full 256GB of storage. It also lasts up to twelve hours on a charge while weighing barely two pounds.
Lenovo unveils AMD Ryzen-powered ThinkPad Chromebook for $579
The sleek 2-in-1 convertible ThinkPad C13 Yoga is aimed at enterprise and education customers
It's been quite a while since Lenovo last released a ThinkPad-branded Chromebook, but it's now back with the C13 Yoga convertible. The productivity-focused machine is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 3700C Series processor and comes with a slew of ports and features. It starts at $579, although a range of optional extras can be added to configure the ThinkPad to your needs.
We reviewed the Asus Chromebook Flip C434 earlier this year and found it to be a solidly built 2-in-1 stocked with everything we needed, just for a less tolerable price than with prior versions of this form factor. Welp, out of nowhere, the company has decided to drop down the Chromebook C425, a rigid laptop that's basically a C434, but not really.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5SodoXqUtI[/EMBED_YT]Other than the ability to flip its keyboard by almost 360 degrees, the C434 also has a touch panel. The C425 lacks said touch sensibility, but is able to unfold out to a lie-flat 180 degrees while achieving the slightest of weight reductions (2.87 lbs vs. 3 lbs) and double the RAM (8GB over 4GB).
Prime Day might not compete with Black Friday in terms of the sheer volume of sales, but there are some serious discounts to be had, especially when it comes to things like Chromebooks or tablets. There's even a few decent deals on gaming laptops if you're in the market. For your convenience, we've put together all the best deals we've spotted when it comes to the subject.
It can be hard to find a larger Chromebook with good specifications, but the Dell Inspiron Chromebook 14 fills that niche. We reviewed the Inspiron Chromebook 14 back when it was released and found it to be a very competent offering for the most part. One of our main qualms, the $599 price tag, has been addressed with this deal; the 9 figure that Best Buy is offering is $200 under the launch price and $150 less than current MSRP.
We still have five days until Black Friday itself starts, but it seems like pre-Black Friday deals come earlier and earlier every year. A lot of sales are going live today, including Google's Pixelbook for $699, or $300 off. This matches the UK deal that started a few days ago.The Pixelbook comes in three trim levels: Core i5-7Y57 with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, Core i5-7Y57 with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, and Core i7-7Y75 with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. $300 is being slashed off of every level. Without further ado, here are all of the links you'll need:
Many of us hope for the eternal dream of convergence, that the day may come when a phone can serve double duty as a laptop via a bit of cheap, dumb hardware. Motorola had its mediocre Lapdock, and Canonical tried and failed to crowdfund the Ubuntu Edge. More recently, Samsung's DeX dock has built a small fanbase for its desktop-like experience. But in 2016, the Superbook hit Kickstarter, promising to turn smartphones into laptops for only $99. Over two years later, the Superbook technically delivers on the abstract concept, but it's an unpleasant and rough experience.
The Google Pixelbook is a truly excellent piece of hardware, as I stated in my review of it over two months ago. The refrain so often heard about Chromebooks, though, is that Chrome OS's limited application ecosystem prevents it from being a "serious" laptop operating system. As someone who frequently travels and has to be mobile as part of my job, I thought I'd put Google's laptop to the test in a live environment: CES.Now, CES isn't quite the on-the-ground reporting slog it once was for Android Police. The number of smartphones announced at the show is tiny, and much of our work stems from various briefings and meetings rather than rubbing shoulders with attendees on the show floor. But my laptop still gets its fair share of use, from coordinating with the team in Slack to writing up news posts and notes during briefings, it does have to work as a "real" computer.The benefit to working for Android Police is that basically all of my work can be accomplished in a browser. Slack, our project manager (Basecamp), and Wordpress (for publishing) all work perfectly well in Chrome. The big hurdle for me has always been image processing, and with the Pixelbook I finally think I'm ready to say Chrome OS can handle it, at least once you get a workflow figured out. It did take some trial and error, but once I got into a groove, the Pixelbook proved itself a truly excellent mobile platform for my job.
Until February 1, U.S. customers can get a free Pixelbook Pen with the purchase of a new Pixelbook at the Google Store, Amazon, or Best Buy.Integrated stylus functionality has become one of the big selling points for high-end portable devices, but the big players in this space, Apple, Microsoft, and Google, each charge $99 for their device-specific styluses. That's on top of the many, many hundreds of dollars they already charge for the iPad Pro, Surface, or Pixelbook devices themselves. So this is a risk-free opportunity for would-be stylus slingers to see if they would find such an accessory useful.The Pixelbook had been $100 off not too long ago and recently went back up to its regular retail price starting at $999, but if you intended to buy the pen anyway, this more or less amounts to the same deal.At the Google Store, just add the Pen to your cart and the price is deducted at checkout. Amazon and Best Buy are simply offering the Pixelbook and its pen as a bundle.The Pixelbook Pen is marketed as one of the device's marquee features, though reviews of its usefulness and reliability have been mixed. In his review of the Pixelbook, AP's David Ruddock was not exactly enthusiastic about the pen:
Given that not all displays are equal—IPS is better than TN, HDR is better than non-HDR, some people prefer LCD, others prefer OLED—a certification system for what displays can do seems overdue. The display standards body VESA has (at least partially) filled that void with the newly-announced DisplayHDR standard, which defines the abilities of display panels used in notebook PCs and monitors for desktop PCs.
The Yoga Book is definitely one of the most interesting and divisive laptop designs to come out in a while - users either love or hate its touchscreen/keyboard deck hook. To a digital artist its integrated "Create Pad" is a godsend, but a mechanical keyboard fan probably sees its integrated haptic key layout as sacrilege. Either way, you'll soon have more options if you want to check out that unique hardware: a Lenovo executive told a Tom's guide reporter that the Yoga Book would be sold in a Chrome OS model in 2017.