While purchasing for back-to-school offers, it may be straightforward to give attention to the discounted value, ignoring all else. A latest change to Google’s Chromebook assist web page meant that we briefly thought of a back-to-school Chromebook deal when it was a nasty discount as an alternative. Here’s how one can keep away from making the identical mistake.

We advocate back-to-school deals on Chromebooks based mostly upon what we all know. Not solely are we guided by our reviews of the best Chromebooks, however we take a look at the specs, the value, and marketed low cost. We additionally double-check to see the place the Chromebook seems on Google’s record of supported Chromebooks. They’re all essential.

One Amazon vendor has priced the Acer Chromebook 315 at $235, 8 % off as of this writing. That’s not nice, however the $235 price ticket at the very least made us contemplate it. One verify you can also make is to enter the URL on camelcamelcamel, an oddly-named web site that professes to trace costs on Amazon. It doesn’t all the time work — when contemplating the same Chromebook 315 mannequin, for instance, the seller claimed an eye-popping low cost of 66 %, to $205.80, off of a $599 MSRP.

Both distributors, then, throw up some crimson flags. But, trying again at some historic launch info, the MSRP for the Chromebook 315 ought to be about $279.99. But there’s one other downside.

Mark Hachman / IDG

To its credit score, the primary Amazon vendor listed the $235 Chromebook 315 as mannequin CB315-1HT-C4RY, with a Celeron N3350 inside. The $205.80 Chromebook is listed as a CB315-3HT, with a Celeron N4020 inside. It’s not all the time true {that a} increased quantity equals a greater processor, however on this case it’s true: the N3350 was launched seven years in the past in 2016, and Intel is phasing it out in September.

That’s a tipoff that you can purchase the $205.80 Chromebook 315, however it’s not the actual black mark towards it: the assist window. Google solely helps Chromebooks for a restricted time, and publishes the Chromebook lifecycle information on its web site. Once a Chromebook reaches end-of-life, Google will cease supporting it, identical to an out-of-date model of Windows or an Android telephone. It will work, however Google received’t publish any updates or safety patches for it.

We checked each the CB315-3HT and CB315-1HT-C4RY towards this record. While the primary mannequin appeared, the second didn’t. So that’s good, proper?

Unfortunately, Google seems to have up to date its assist lifecycle web page, eliminating fashions that it apparently believes have been taken off the market. That can depart even a savvy shopper pondering oh, I don’t see it on the record, so it’s most likely positive. In this case, it’s not! Luckily, in 2020 we made a listing of the Chromebooks expiring soon, and the Chromebook 15 (CB315-1HT) seems on this record. Support for the CB315-1HT is scheduled to expire in lower than a yr, or June 2024.

While this isn’t unlawful — the seller has each proper to promote this Chromebook, which is viable and utterly supported by Google for now — we expect you’d agree that it does really feel a bit slimy. And should you stroll away from this text pondering, wow, what a multitude — effectively, welcome to our world. If you don’t see a deal on the location, which means we’ve usually excluded the deal for a specific motive. But you could generally assume you’ve discovered a diamond within the tough, too.

To recap, right here’s what it is best to search for in evaluating a Chromebook deal:

1. The value and low cost. Use camelcamelcamel or one other website to gauge whether or not it’s an precise deal, based mostly on historic pricing.
2. Vendor identify and mannequin. Some fashions (particularly Chromebooks) have related names.
3. The {hardware} specs. We prioritize bigger, higher-resolution (1080p and above) screens, and ideally 8GB of RAM. We search for a contemporary CPU, however it’s not a deal-breaker.
4. Double-check it towards the Google Auto Update Policy, aka the assist lifecycle.

Of course, you possibly can merely verify our back-to-school deals on Chromebooks, which we attempt to replace virtually every day through the summer time season. But sensible procuring is an effective technique any time of the yr.