Get a great Chromebook for under $300 at Best Buy, complete with a big display and 8GB of RAM.
When it comes to laptops for students, it's easy to feel stuck between choosing between the functionality of Windows or the style of Apple. Still, have you considered a Chromebook? While the first generation of Google-powered laptops needed refinement, there are plenty of reasons to consider one over its rivals.
For one, their more modest hardware specs make them much more affordable since they don't need huge amounts of RAM or SSD space. There are caveats — Chrome OS runs apps from the Play Store, but you may not find many of your Windows or Mac staples there.
Still, if you write in Google Docs, store files online in Google Drive, or consume most of your media in YouTube — standard student fare — a Chromebook may be worth a look, especially with this saving.
Best Buy has cut the price of a very capable 15.6-inch HP Chromebook by $200, meaning you can pick it up for $299.
Chromebooks tend to be affordable, but at its full MSRP, this HP option is priced higher than some Windows laptops.
A large part of that is due to its sizeable 15.6-inch display, which has a resolution of 1920x1080. Many Chromebooks tap out a little lower than that, so to have a Full HD panel is a big boon, especially one large enough for you to juggle multiple apps at once.
Speaking of multitasking, 8GB of RAM is also double what you'll find in many laptops running Chrome OS. That's because Google's platform is pretty lightweight, but that doesn't mean the 8GB is overkill — you should expect it to run pretty smoothly with whatever you're doing.
It's worth noting that the 128GB SSD for storage is very low, but Chrome OS will eat into it less than Windows or macOS would. Why so little? Because Chromebooks tend to lean on Google's cloud storage solutions.
