One of the best cheap Chromebooks for students is now $279 at Best Buy
Fairly basic but cheap, capable, and flexible

The Best Buy back-to-school sale offers a great opportunity to shop for discounted tech before Labor Day. And if you need a basic laptop for carrying between classes, consider the Lenovo Duet 11 Chromebook at Best Buy for $279 (was $399).
Chromebooks are cheaper and less powerful laptops meant for simple tasks like browsing the web, word processing, sending emails and playing videos. The Lenovo Duet 11 is the latest generation version of the flagship device that's equipped with the new Mediatek processors with NPUs to support AI features like summaries and translations – not that running AI is exactly a novelty anymore.
Aside from that, this Lenovo Duet 11 is about as basic as it gets, but its main selling points are its value for money, long-lasting battery, convertible build, and keyboard for less than $280.
Today's best Lenovo Chromebook deal
The Lenovo Duet 11 Chromebook is a perfect fit for bargain-hunting students who are looking for value, versatility and portability, rather than power. This Chromebook convertible features an 11-inch 1920x1200 touchscreen, 128GB of storage, and 4GB of RAM. Its Mediatek processor with an NPU also supports AI features like summarizing articles. As a bonus, the Duet 11 includes a folio cover with a built-in stand and a detachable keyboard, so you don't have to buy them on your own.
We haven't reviewed the Lenovo Duet 11, but we have reviewed the best hybrid laptops in the Duet series. The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5, cousin to the Duet 11, is our best budget 2-in-1 laptop and best detachable Chromebook for students.
The Duet 11 also has a detachable keyboard and stand for when you want to use it in tablet mode. This particular bundle doesn't come with the pen, but you can buy a cheap USB-C compatible one online for less than $10.
It's also convenient. The Duet 11 lasts up to 12 hours on one charge, enough to survive the school day. Although, just don't expect it to be able to handle more heavy-duty work like photo-editing or gaming.
Look into our best 2-in-1 laptops for a little more power. If you want to stick to Chromebooks, I'd recommend reading about the best Chromebooks for students.
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Jess Reyes writes about deals and coupons almost as much as she does about games. Her work can be found in IGN, GameSpot, Digital Trends, and Inverse – just to name a few. When she’s not writing or gaming, she’s probably window shopping or gassing up her mutuals on Twitter/X.
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