Forbes published a Black Friday laptop roundup on November 13 that lists five Chromebook discounts, four at Best Buy and one on Lenovo.com. One of them has already changed: the Acer Chromebook Plus 516, which Forbes listed at $150 off, now sells for $399 at Best Buy, $250 below its $649 comparison price. Best Buy’s early Black Friday deals end November 15, and its main Black Friday sale runs November 19 to 28.
What is on sale
The Acer is the 16-inch model with an Intel Core i3-1315U processor, 8GB of memory, 128GB of storage and a 1920 x 1200 screen. TechRadar had it at $499 on November 6, so it has fallen another $100 since then.
The HP 14-inch 2-in-1 Chromebook Plus (model 14c-ce0013dx) is $449 at Best Buy, down from $679, which matches the $230 discount Forbes reported. A 2-in-1 has a hinge that folds all the way back so the laptop works as a tablet, and this one pairs an Intel Core 3 N355 chip with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage. Best Buy’s listing says the price ends with the early sale.
The other three come from the Forbes Black Friday laptop deals list alone, which gives savings but not final prices: $280 off Lenovo’s 15.3-inch touchscreen Chromebook Plus with the same N355 chip, $52 off the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 14-inch Chromebook, and $220 off the Lenovo Chromebook Plus i 15-inch on Lenovo.com. Check the price at checkout before judging the discount.
How the five differ
Four of the five carry the Chromebook Plus label, which Google gives to models that clear a higher hardware floor, including at least 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage, and which turns on some of Google’s AI features. The IdeaPad Slim 3 is not one of them. It has a MediaTek Kompanio 520 chip, 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage. That covers browsing, video and schoolwork, with less headroom for many open tabs.
Update support
The bigger difference is how long each laptop will be supported. Every Chromebook has an Auto Update Expiration date, the month Google stops sending it ChromeOS and security updates, and Google’s Auto Update policy page lists that date by model. The HP runs to June 2035, and Lenovo’s 15-inch Chromebook Plus, listed as Chromebook Plus (15″, 10), runs to January 2036. The Acer 516 stops at June 2033. That gives the Acer at least two fewer years of updates than the HP.
All five are standard Chromebooks rather than Googlebooks, Google’s newer laptop line. Shoppers weighing one of those can read Android Central’s review of the Lenovo Googlebook 15 first, and cheaper models are still on the way, with a ninth lower-cost Intel Googlebook board now in Chromium code.
Buy now or wait for the main sale
For the four Best Buy deals, buying early carries little risk. Under Best Buy’s holiday price match terms, most products bought between October 30 and December 31 can be matched to a lower Best Buy price until January 15. The guarantee covers Best Buy’s own prices, not a competitor’s, and it does not cover Marketplace sellers or the Lenovo.com deal.
- Note the model number on the product listing.
- Look up its update date on Google’s Auto Update policy page.
- Buy before November 15 if the price and update date suit you.
- Check the same listing again during the November 19 to 28 sale.
- Request a price match before January 15 if it drops.
