Chromebooks are scarce but the Lenovo Duet is back in stock, for now

Yesterday, we spent a good hour and a half trying find any Chromebooks that are in stock and actually worth buying. Needless to say, our efforts were not greatly rewarded. The unfortunate truth is that PCs, in general, are in short supply at retailers across the country. Since Chrome OS dominating the US classroom, Chromebooks are no exception. You can head over to Best Buy’s website right now and you’ll see what I mean. This time last year, you would be able to take your pick from dozens of Chromebooks. Better yet, retailers like Walmart and Amazon normally have hundreds of in-house and third-party listings. That’s just not the case today. Demand is high and supply is low due to the work from home and remote learning movement. Combine that with delays in production due to COVID-19 and we’re smack dab in the middle of the biggest PC shortage we’ve seen in years, if ever.

One of the most sought after devices this year is Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet tablet and for good reason. The tiny tablet has proven that a $300 device can actually be really, really good. The 10.1″ Chromebook offers the versatility of a detachable, premium build of a flagship and enough power to handle work and play for most school-age kids. Like most Chromebooks worth their salt, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet has been in and out of stock at the few retailers the sell it. Thankfully, Best Buy has been doing a decent job at keeping the $299, 128GB model on hand and available. When out of stock, the 64GB version of the Duet has been sporadically available from Walmart for $249 but more often than not, you have to pick it up from a local store as ship to home is frequently unavailable. Today, however, you can take your pick and you can even pick up the 64GB model directly from Lenovo.

Best Buy

The 128GB Lenovo Chromebook Duet has been a Best Buy exclusive here in the states and the electronics retailer has been selling them left and right. Just this past weekend, this model was once again out of stock at Best Buy but it looks as though they have more on the way. You can order the 128GB Duet from Best Buy for $299 and the store is expecting to have them in stock and shipping by August 28th. That will put your wait at a little over a week which isn’t too bad considering many Chromebooks are practically impossible to find right now. In addition to the exclusive 128GB version, eligible students can still score a pair of Jabra Elite 65t TWS earbuds for only $19.99 when you purchase a Chromebook on this list.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet at Best Buy

Lenovo

Lenovo announced the Chromebook Duet tablet at CES back in January but it wasn’t until recently that the company actually had inventory of the Chromebook available on its own site. Within 48 hours, the Duet was sold out and until now, had not returned. Now, you can grab the 64GB model directly from Lenovo but it will cost you $289 which is $40 more than the same model at Walmart. If you can’t grab the Best Buy model, this is still a solid purchase and we’ve got a couple of tricks up our sleeve to help you get the price down a little bit. First, you can knock 5% off the sticker price when you use the promo code “EXTRAFIVE” at checkout.

Next, qualifying students and teachers can pick up an extra 8% off when you verify your school email before you purchase your Duet from Lenovo. Last but not least, Rakuten is offering up to 5% cash back on your purchase when you shop on Lenovo’s website. It don’t know if you can stack all three of these promotions but I do know that I bought the Chromebook 10e tablet and used the EXTRAFIVE promo and still got my cash back from Rakuten. Not a Rakuten user? You can sign up here and you’ll get $10 in your account as soon as you spend $25 on one of over 2,000 eligible websites. I will say this. If you must have a Chromebook before the end of the month, you’d better buy one now. Inventories are getting thinner by the minute and I have a feeling it will get worse before it gets better. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet is a great device to have around the house for remote learning and entertainment and it won’t break the budget regardless of the model you purchase.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet from Lenovo