Lenovo’s excellent Chromebook Duet has dropped below $200 for the first time

With graduation just around the corner, Best Buy’s current deal on the Lenovo Chromebook Duet — our favorite budget-friendly Chromebook — couldn’t have arrived at a better time. If you’re looking for a useful present that’s available for under $200, Best Buy is selling Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for just $189, more than $100 off the Chromebook’s typical retail price of $299.99.

That’s the best price we’ve seen on the Chromebook Duet, a 2-in-1 that impressed us with its long battery life and affordable price point. During our testing, we were able to use it for nearly 11 and a half hours on a single charge while we made Zoom calls and ran through a variety of tabs and apps, including Gmail, Slack, and Facebook. We also liked how light and portable the convertible is as well as the fact that it includes a detachable keyboard and kickstand cover.

Of course, the Duet has its drawbacks. It’s a cramped laptop given the 10.1-inch display (its included keyboard is small, too), and the MediaTek Helio P60T processor means it’s not great for more system-intensive tasks, either. It also lacks a 3.5mm audio jack and offers just one USB-C port. Still, if you need a Chromebook for browsing and performing everyday tasks, this is a good Chrome OS machine to consider. Read our review.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The latest version of Samsung’s art-inspired The Frame TV launched less than a month ago, yet the gorgeous display is already selling at its best price to date. Regularly $1,497.99, you can buy the 55-inch model for $1,297.99 from Amazon and Samsung.

Like its predecessor, this QLED TV displays artwork when not in use, but when turned on, it transforms into a smart 4K TV with support for a fast 120Hz refresh rate and a number of streaming apps. The 2022 model also boasts a new anti-glare, low-reflection matte coating, which makes the image look remarkably similar to an actual canvas painting you’d see hanging in a museum. Yet, while it looks like a beautiful work of art, note that it does lack full-array local dimming and support for Dolby Vision, which are features many other high-end TVs in this price range offer. If that doesn’t bother you, however, Samsung’s The Frame is a unique TV like no other.

If you prefer a Windows laptop over a Chromebook and don’t mind spending substantially more money, the HP Spectre x360 14 is also on sale. When we tested the convertible, we found it difficult to find much to complain about and even gave it a rare 9 out of 10 score as a result. It’s a gorgeous laptop with a 3:2 aspect ratio OLED display, and it also offers excellent performance — both in terms of processing power and long battery life. Plus, it serves as a great tablet that comes with a stylus that magnetically attaches to the side of the chassis, making it a great gift for college-bound graduates looking to take notes in class more easily — or, well, doodle.

However, there were some things — albeit few in number — we didn’t like, like its stiff touchpad and the fact the laptop has some bloatware preinstalled. Yet, perhaps one of our biggest issues was with its price. At $1519.99, this is an expensive laptop, but thankfully you can save a couple hundred dollars today. Right now, HP is selling the HP Spectre x360 14 with 512GB of storage and 8GB of onboard memory for $1199.99. Plus, this configuration comes equipped with an Intel Core i7-1195G7 processor as well, which is more powerful than the base Core i5-1135G7. Read our review.

If still on the hunt for a good Mother’s Day present, today’s deal on Amazon’s hybrid smart speaker and streaming device, the Fire TV Cube, is worth a look. Right now, Amazon’s Fire TV Cube is on sale for $69.99 instead of $119.99 at Amazon as well as Best Buy, which is a new all-time low. The Fire TV Cube is one of our favorite streaming devices, one that offers a powerful processor that makes it the fastest device in Amazon’s current Fire TV lineup. Like the excellent and newer Fire TV Stick 4K Max, it also comes with the ability to issue voice commands to Alexa without needing to press a button.

If you’re looking for just a streaming device, it’s worth noting that the 2019 Fire TV Cube is not the best or cheapest for those embedded in Amazon’s ecosystem. That honor goes to the newer Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which is on sale for $44.99 ($10 off). The Fire TV Cube is also not the best smart speaker by itself, either, with devices like Amazon’s sphere-shaped Echo Dot sounding better than the Cube’s tinny built-in speaker. However, if you’re looking for a unique gift that’s both a smart speaker and a streaming device in one, this is an option to consider.

Some other deals worth a look

• You can still buy Apple’s newest iPad Mini at an all-time low of $399.99 ($100 off) in the 64GB, Wi-Fi configuration at both Best Buy and Amazon. The iPad Mini comes with a number of features we liked, including USB-C charging, a bigger 8.3-inch display, and support for the second-generation Apple Pencil, which can charge wirelessly when magnetically attached to the tablet’s side. Read our review.
• Speaking of tablets, Amazon’s discounting several of its budget-friendly Fire slates. The Fire HD 8, for example, is selling for $49.99 — a $40 discount and $5 shy of its all-time low. It obviously is nowhere near as fast or as capable as an iPad, but you can still use it to play games, stream shows, read books, or make video calls. Plus, the tablet comes with support for both Alexa and USB-C.
• A white and pink version of the excellent HyperX Cloud II wired headset is on sale for $69.99 at HP, which is a $30 discount. The comfortable gaming headset offers good, balanced sound and is compatible with the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch (when plugged into the dock). Read our review of the wireless version.
• In honor of May the 4th, Apple is selling every digital title in the Skywalker Saga ranging from Star Wars: A New Hope to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker for $7.99 instead of $20.