Amazon Prime Dayfalls on July 11-12 this year, smack dab in the busiest season forexcellent Chromebooks. See, most new Chromebooks in a given year get announced between January and March and then launch anywhere from late May through June, just in time to be deployed before schools start back in August. This makes Prime Day uniquely situated when it comes to Chromebook deals.
For newly-launched Chromebooks, like the 12.2-inch Lenovo Flex 3i (Gen 8) and the Acer Spin 714 (2W), Prime Day will likely be the first major deal these Chromebooks get. Meanwhile, last year’s Chromebooks that are on their way out — like the old 11.6-inch Lenovo Flex 3i and Acer Spin 714 (1WN) — will see clearance discounts amid Prime Day and the Back-To-School blitz.
This means that if you know how to tell new and old Chromebooks apart, this is a killer time to buy. And we have your cheat sheet to bookmark right here.
AUE dates: How do Chromebooks “expire”?
This Lenovo C340-11 Chromebook has an AUE of June 2027.
Auto Update Expiration datesare the easiest benchmark for the age of a Chromebook, as all new Chromebooks are supposed to come with 6-8 years of OS updates. All Chromebook updates are deployed by Google, so the length of time a Chromebook gets updates is determined by its hardware platform. The expiration date isn’t the day a Chromebook will turn into a pumpkin, but it is the date after which it is no longer guaranteed system updates or security patches. (Though the Chromium team’s Lacros project is looking to overcome at least parts of this limitation.)
The AUE date for each and every Chromebook model is publicly available onGoogle’s Auto Update policy support page. For most Chromebooks, this will simply be a matter of clicking the link, expanding the brand you’re looking at, and then Crtl + F searching for the Chromebook’s name. I saymostbecause laptop makers have this nasty little habit of using the same name for multiple generations or sizes of Chromebooks. In these cases, you may need to search by the actual model number — for example, the Acer CP514-3WH.
The month for basically every AUE is June — to last through the end of the school year — plus a year 5-8 years in the future. The acceptable year range depends a bit on your price point, but here’s the general rule of thumb:
This yardstick and help rule out some Chromebooks if you’re looking at a number of deals in the same price range. Of course, even an older Chromebook can have its uses in certain circumstances, but there are two other features that you should keep an eye out for.
What a $100 Chromebook should and shouldn’t do
Well, $100 is a nice round number, but these guidelines apply to any Chromebook under $140 or so. Obviously, these Chromebooks can’t be expected to be as quick and zippy as $300-400 mid-range Chromebooks, but they should be perfectly fine for casual browsing so long as you don’t hoard tabs, as that will eat up the already sparse RAM.
On the subject of RAM, there shouldn’t be any Chromebooks with 2GB of RAM left on the market in 2023, but I’d advise you don’t buy a Chromebook with less than 4GB of RAM.
The other feature to watch for is USB-C — or rather, a lack of it. Most Chromebooks since 2019 have used USB-C Power Delivery to charge, but some budget Chromebooks still use barrel plugs and proprietary chargers as a cost-saving measure. It may be cost-saving for the manufacturer, but USB-C is so much easier to buy affordable chargers for, and for most Chromebooks they can also do display-out and be used forUSB-C hubsand docking stations.
While touchscreen Chromebooks seldom drop below $100, it’s no huge loss because Android apps tend to run sluggishly on the outdated budget chipsets these extra-budget Chromebooks use. Get a touchscreen model if it’s available — if for no other reason than it gives you an extra input method should you accidentally spill coffee on the trackpad — but it’s not a dealbreaker in this price bracket.
We’re rounding up the best of the budgetChromebook deals for Prime Day, so get your budget in order and let’s get to shopping.
