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If you’re in the market for a “cheap” Chromebook, there’s never been a better time to buy. Right now, you can head over to Best Buy and find more than a dozen devices that will run you less than $200. That said, be mindful of what you’re buying. It’s easy to get duped into buying a cheap laptop only to find out that the CPU is going on five years old and you’re only getting a couple more years of updates. That “cheap” laptop has now cost you double because you’ll now have to replace it way sooner than you expected.
In the other camp, you find sub-two-hundred dollar devices that are simply trash. The build quality may be absolutely putrid or the screen may be nearly unbearable to look at and as much as you may want to get a bargain, it’s just not worth having a cheaply built device regardless of the savings. Thankfully, we’re here to alert you when a deal worth having comes across our desk and today, it comes in the form of a rugged little Chrome OS tablet that will get updates well into June of 2028.
The Lenovo Chromebook 10e tablet is the rugged sibling to the wildly popular Chromebook Duet that debuted at CES back in 2020. It comes bearing the same MediaTek MT8183 that powers the Duet and the ASUS Chromebook CM3 and it is designed with the kiddos in mind. Like the Duet, the 10e features a bright, 400 nit display, dual cameras, and a single USB-C port. Where the 10e stands out is the fact that it is encased in a ruggedized rubber chassis that adds some drop protection for the day-to-day rigors of childhood. The 10e also adds a headphone jack which happens to be omitted on the Duet for some reason. This is perfect for those long drives or just regular media consumption around the house because the little ones can plug in some headphones and stream to their heart’s content without driving everyone else batty.
Now, that’s not to say that the 10e doesn’t have its shortcomings. For starters, Lenovo doesn’t include a keyboard with the 10e tablet. For us, that’s not an issue. My kids use theirs as a tablet and when they need a keyboard, they just jump onto one of the many Chromebooks we have around the house. Lenovo does offer a folio-style keyboard for the 10e and the rugged shell adds even more protection to the tablet. Unfortunately, the Lenovo keyboard does not have a touchpad so you’ll need to pick up a wireless mouse if you’re wanting that input method. Still, the folio keyboard is a good addition and it happens to be on sale for only $29.99 at the moment.
Anyway, all that to say, the Lenovo Chromebook 10e tablet isn’t a device that’s going to take the place of your daily driver but it makes a great tablet for the kids or even a secondary device to simply have around the house. While we do have new Snapdragon devices on the market now, the Lenovo 10e is currently a great option simply because it is cheap. How cheap? How about $119? Throw in the keyboard and even an inexpensive mouse and you have yourself a durable, versatile, and portable Chrome OS tablet for around $160 and that’s a price you probably can’t beat. Check it out over at Lenovo and don’t forget to use Rakuten when you check out to score an extra 5% cashback on your purchase. First-time Rakuten users can sign up with our link below and grab an extra $40 in cashback with their first eligible purchase.
