Chromebooks deals are scarce, Lenovo 10e impresses, and the open web is awesome

This week on The Chrome Cast, we have a pretty packed show from this week’s news. As the weeks begin to pile up in our new-normal pandemic lives, one of the results is a massive dip in available Chromebooks for purchase. From supply chain halts to international commerce stalls, it isn’t surprising that huge discounts on rapidly-depleting Chromebook inventory are basically gone. It may be MSRP for a while on most Chromebooks, but there are new devices on the horizon that will help alleviate the lack. One of those new devices we are all awaiting is the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. In its stead, as a bit of an appetizer, we have the Chromebook 10e in the office since Thursday afternoon and are starting to get a feel of how life with a solid 10-inch Chrome OS tablet will be. In a word, it’s pretty awesome. We’ll share more on it soon, but as a precursor to the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, this thing has me quite excited for this form factor. Finally, we spend a good bit of time talking about the new tricks PWAs have that come directly from the Play Store on Chromebooks. Their abilities have impressed me more than they even did initially, and this leads us to talk about the ever-growing potential of web-based tech and all the possibilities that come with it. NOTABLE LINKS [Update] It’s not you, Chromebooks are getting hard to find Opinion: Chromebook makers need to launch devices as soon as humanly possible right now Unboxing & hands-on with the rugged version of the Lenovo Chromebook Duet Numerous new Lenovo Chromebook Duet landing pages signal massive, widescale roll-out You can buy the Lenovo Chromebook Duet’s rugged brother right now from multiple retailers Amazon’s “Most Wished For” list foreshadows massive success for Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet tablet PWAs installed from the Play Store have a few tricks up their sleeve that add to their native feel This PWA is a simple Apple Airdrop replacement built for the web Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices