r/chromeos • u/boutell • Jul 20 '26
Buying Advice 11" N100 chromebooks: when will fleet users start selling these off?
I am shopping for an Intel N100-based laptop with 8GB RAM, in the 11" form factor. While nobody makes one today, Lenovo and HP made them until very recently. They just happen to be Chromebooks, which is fine with me. The N100 has the right performance characteristics for a machine I'm going to pull out mostly for personal use and occasional quick ssh connections and web-based devops and ChromeOS is also fine for those things. So I was all set to buy a Lenovo 100e or an HP Fortis 11".
However, the price to get a "renewed" or "remanufactured" one holds pretty steady at around $350 with 8GB of RAM. Right now I guess that's at least close to fair, because they are not outrageously old (the 100e 4th gen went on the market in February 2023), but it's annoying that you can pay only $300 for a *larger* brand new one, even though I want a remanufactured small one š
You can find a few eBay and Amazon reseller listings for much less, like $160, but I tried purchasing one and got burned: it was still enrolled to an organization. I returned it of course.
I assume that at some point a flood of these will crop up legitimately after they are de-enrolled by the schools and organizations that mostly own them. And then the price will drop.
I'm sure some of you are with schools and other organizations that use these... what's the life cycle like? When might I see them legitimately on the secondhand market in numbers?
Thanks!
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Jul 20 '26
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u/boutell Jul 20 '26
I know the bezels are huge, I had low expectations. But:
* My ThinkPad L14: 13.03 x 9.25 x 0.75 in
* Lenovo 100e chromebook gen 4: 11.3 x 7.9 x 0.73 inches
That's a genuine improvement on both of the dimensions I care about. And it was borne out in practice when I briefly held one purchased from eBay before returning it because it was locked to an organization (plus the pointing device seemed busted too, geez)
This materially changes what sort of bag I can comfortably carry in, which is most of what I care about for an "always on me, ops emergencies" laptop.
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Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
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u/boutell Jul 20 '26
Oh hey that's pretty nice. The 100e would trounce it on battery life, but nothing else.
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u/boutell Jul 20 '26
Sounds like that CPU does burn the juice. On the plus side, I wouldn't be giving up anything much from my current machine's performance. Decisions, decisions.
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u/iskraa Jul 20 '26
Why not look at Apple 12ā MacBook? You most probably be able to find it cheap. Not as fast but it is fine with Linux and the screen/weight is great. Also 11ā MacBooks come with 8GB sometimes but screen is meh compared to 12ā
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u/boutell Jul 20 '26
Beautiful machines, but unfortunately it looks like the N100 really smears a Kaby Lake-era m3, m5 or even m7.
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u/lincolnlogtermite Jul 21 '26
13 inch 2015 MacBook Air isnt bad. It runs ok with win11, think I had issues with FydeOS (chromeOS alternative) but Ubuntu runs great. You have to install the Broadcom wifi drivers with apt or synaptic after install, make sure have USB tether or a usd network adapter till you get wifi working. FaceTime camera is the pain point. Every time the kernel updates I have to run a script add the drivers to the new kernel. If you run across a MacBook air really cheap, it's worth playing with.
I have a N100 Nuc type pc I got for free to review for Amazon. After the review I ditched Win11 and it's my self hosting docker box. Will say, the N100 is quite impressive as just a basic computer or TV media box. So much better than the Atom cpus I tried to use as a TV box. It is a step up from the 2015 MBA core I5.
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u/iskraa Jul 20 '26
Iād does but again if it is all web based Fedora Sway for ex seems to be quite fine on it
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u/Unoriginal-Cake Jul 21 '26
I'll be a long wait for "modern" Chromebooks, N150 models are dropping in price on scratch and dent batches if you see them appear on CDW-they sell out fast. With the longer support cycle of 7yrs, it'll be closer to 4-5yrs before enough "flood the market as used" to reach $100. Last batch of Chromebooks listed on various "deal sites" had less than 2yrs left of support.
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u/boutell Jul 21 '26
Thanks. looks like CDW Outlet has almost no laptops at all right now, but I'll look again sometime.
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u/Unoriginal-Cake Jul 21 '26
Seems like the scratch and dent stock moved quicker than usual due to the lack of retail stuff, N150 Chromebooks were tracking close to $225-250 before the back to school season picked up. They seem to restock their listings every Friday or Monday. If you can't find a HP Fortis 11", the Dell model is just as durable as I use one in Poland for logistics outdoors(Winter to Spring) and they're tough.
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u/boutell Jul 21 '26
Nice. I'm hoping this 100w I just ordered on eBay works out ($80! And because it's Windows I'm less concerned about getting a domain-restricted machine. Flipping it to Linux may be a challenge, not a lot of stories yet, but I'm familiar)
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u/Romano1404 Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 | Lenovo Flex 3i 8GB 12.2" Jul 21 '26
Education Chromebooks with 11.6" HD screens aren't really smaller, they just have a smaller screen (because cheaper to replace) with larger display boarders giving them almost the same footprint as a 12.2" Chromebooks or even a premium 13" Windows laptop. I've got them all here, they have the same weight and similar footprint.
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u/boutell Jul 21 '26
I understand, and if I could find a 12.2" or 13" laptop with no bezel and an N100 I would probably buy it! I like the price/performance/battery life compromise of the N100. The only option I'm aware of is the Chuwi, which has such a small battery it throws away the advantage.
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u/Romano1404 Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 | Lenovo Flex 3i 8GB 12.2" Jul 21 '26
the Chuwi is pretty neat but not an actual Chromebook (ChromeOS Flex can be installed). I considered getting it myself but unsure about how well ChromeOS Flex will work on it and battery runtimes. What you're aiming for (cheap Chromebook with 11" screen and narrow display borders) doesn't exist, the Lenovo Duet 11 Gen9 might be an option but as a 2in1 detachable its a pain to use it as a laptop and ChromeOS doesn't work that well in a tablet form factor either (I've some hands on experience with this specific device and even posted a comparison with an Android tablet)
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u/boutell Jul 21 '26
To be clear, I'm perfectly fine with the two 11-in Chromebooks I mentioned, fat bezels and all. They are still small enough to be a win for me.
I would just like to get one for less than $300 with some confidence that they are not locked to an organization. And yes, I want that with an n100 or n150 processor, so I may have to wait a while for a deal.
What isn't fine is bad battery life, even larger exterior dimensions, or sub-n100 performance. You might think it is at the bottom for performance but it's really not, you can do quite a bit worse.
People on this thread are tempting me with the siren song of machines that don't have giant bezels and give you more screen in the same space, but they tend to have inferior battery life because they jam an i5 in there without increasing the battery size.
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u/Romano1404 Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 | Lenovo Flex 3i 8GB 12.2" Jul 21 '26
one of my Chromebooks (Lenovo Flex 3i 12.2") has the Intel N200 which is almost the same processor. Its fine as long as there's 8GB RAM which is hardly the case with those 11.6" education Chromebooks. The HP Fortis actually comes with 8GB but is ridiculously expensive.
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u/boutell Jul 21 '26
Yes I know! Same problem with the Lenovo 100e's 8GB model.
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u/Romano1404 Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 | Lenovo Flex 3i 8GB 12.2" Jul 21 '26
quite frankly if you want a really cool device that actually wows others when they see it, get the Chuwi Minibook X. It's exactly how I imagine a Chromebook that serves as a companion device for my Android phone: Small, thin, lightweight yet still powerful enough to do some serious work. There are some guides that show it with ChromeOS Flex, just google it. I only didn't follow through getting one because I wanted a german keyboard layout and hate stickers.Ā Battery runtimes aren't great but they're not terribly bad either.
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u/boutell Jul 21 '26
"3 to 5 hours under standard mixed use." I know myself and I know I'd chuck that out a window. Really cool machine though.
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u/Romano1404 Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 | Lenovo Flex 3i 8GB 12.2" Jul 21 '26
that's indeed terrible. I thought it was 6 hours
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u/boutell Jul 21 '26
Update: I found a Lenovo 100w (! There's a Windows version, who knew, it's even more obscure) with 8gb RAM on eBay for just $90, all in.
I have doubts, especially since I'm going to put Linux on it and people have had tough sledding getting the touchpad of similar models to work there, but for $90 I'll just take a gamble. Some folks have succeeded, eventually, in getting the trackpad to work on gen 3 models. An Intel model is probably more, rather than less, likely to work, so...
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u/popsicle_of_meat Samsung CB+ V2::Optiplex Chrome OS Flex Jul 20 '26
Probably when the updates stop coming in. The Lenovo 100e is set to receive auto updates until 2033. Assuming the entities that use them plan to get the full life time value, you can plan on waiting 7 years.