Update 2, September 3 (4:30 pm ET): Amazon is taking Flex 5 orders that will ship around October 26, if you can wait 7 weeks for a new computer.
Update, September 3 (11:30 am ET): And, yep, sold out again. If you grabbed it in time, congrats!
What you need to know
- After being out of stock for weeks, Amazon has restocked the Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook.
- This $410 Chromebook gives you an i3 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage, and Chrome OS updates until June 2028.
- You currently have to click "Available from these sellers" to show the Amazon-sold model, which may be why it hasn't sold out in the time I'm writing this.
I eat, sleep and breathe Chromebooks, and while doing my morning check of which of our favorite models are in stock — hey, it beats checking the stock market — what I've been waiting months for finally happened: the Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook is finally back in stock at $410 being sold by Amazon instead of at $600 by price gougers. This may not sound newsworthy to you, but if you've been following this little beauty of a Chromebook, this is actually something worth cheering about.
Why all the fuss over a $400 Chromebook? Well, to quote myself from our Best Chromebooks guide:
"The best Chromebook you can buy isn't necessarily the most powerful or the most expensive. It combines a number of features into a compact body that will appeal to almost all Chromebook users, from novices to experts, students to professionals. If your next laptop is here to work hard (and play harder), check out our new favorite Chromebook on the market today, the Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook. In fact the only reason this isn't sitting pretty at Number One in our list is that it's so good that you can't find in stock anywhere without it being price gouged."
That green line across the bottom of the Flex 5's camelcamelcamel price history is Amazon's price, which has consistently held at its launch price of $410. Problem is, once people found out how great the Flex 5 was, it was rapidly bought up in March and didn't restock until late May. And since that supply sold out again in July — when our current Chromebook shortage really get out of hand — that green line has turned into Morse code, a series of out of stock dots and brief restock dashes. In between those brief restocks, we've been at the mercy of resellers, who have been gleefully selling the Flex 5 for $200 more than MSRP.
Right now, it's in stock, and it's the lowest price it'll be for the foreseeable future since there's no reason for any retailer to discount Chromebooks in the midst of a massive laptop shortage. So if you need a new Chromebook, read our review and then buy the Flex 5. Or consider buying first and then reading the review, because these will undoubtedly sell out fast.
Update 2, September 3 (4:30 pm ET) — Order available for the end of October
Amazon doesn't have any more in stock at the moment, but you can place an order at $410 for a Flex 5 that will ship out around October 26. That's a long time to wait for a new computer, but if you don't need it immediately, this is as good a price as you'll see on the Flex 5 — or any good i3 Chromebook — for the next few months.
Update, September 3 (11:30 am ET) — The Flex 5 is sold out again
Well, it was nice while it lasted, but Amazon's stock of the Flex 5 has sold out so we're back to $500 and up listings from third-party sellers. Hopefully, it won't take Amazon so long to restock this time. If you need something in the meantime, hit up our Best Chromebook roundup and see who's still got anything in stock. Seems like Best Buy has the i3 version of the Lenovo Chromebook C340-15 in stock for now, if you don't mind going with a bigger screen.
Perfect size, shape, power, and price
This laptop has everything I want in a Chromebook — compact, capable, and comfortable — while keeping the price reasonable and the build quality high.
