2 more new Chromebooks arrive at Best Buy

I said not too long ago that we need some new Chromebooks to show up, and almost as if manufacturers were listening, they are beginning to show up. While we are well aware that Chromebook makers do pay attention to things we say around here (and are still and always humbled by that fact), a month-old post was clearly not behind this new (admittedly small thus far) wave of Chromebooks arriving at Best Buy.

Yesterday, I covered the more interesting arrival of the new Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE and the somewhat-puzzling revamp of the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34, but it turns out there are a few other new devices that just landed on Best Buy shelves as well.

ASUS’ new Chromebook tablet

First up – and maybe the most intriguing – is the arrival of the $299 ASUS CM3001 tablet with the new MediaTek Kompanio 520 inside. We have an unboxing of this device already out there, and it is a fun, new entry into the tablet ecosystem even if it isn’t one of the higher-performance tablets we’re looking forward to.

The new CM3001 looks nice, has a bright screen, and the performance is a big step up from the original CM3 tablet from 18 months ago. That being said, it is still an odd device at the moment mainly because of the greatness of the Lenovo Duet 3 that has the far more powerful Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 inside. While we hope that the new tablets on the way with the still-unnamed MediaTek MT8188 inside will change that up, this latest from ASUS is not in that company. If it sees sale prices of $50-$100 off, it could be a great device to get your hands on.

One of 4 new HP mid-range Chrombooks

Announced about a month back, there are 4 new HP Chromebooks (two of them are Plus models) that hit the market and one of them is now at Best Buy. It is one of the two convertibles announced, but not a Plus model. With an Intel N100 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, it won’t blow you away with its performance, but like the Flex 3i that I enjoy using, it should get by just fine.

It does come in the Sky Blue color with upward-firing speakers and is an overall attractive device all around. Though HP is still sticking with a 250 nit screen on this one, I could see it going on sale for around $300 down the road and making a good case for itself as a non-boring laptop purchase for those not needing top of the line performance. At the current $429, however, it’s a tough sell for now.

At the current rate we’re seeing devices popping up in the past few days, it definitely feels like more new devices could be on the horizon. We’ll be keeping an eye out for them and will of course keep you in the loop as we find them.