# Why does nobody have cheap Chromebooks in stock?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nobody-have-cheap-chromebooks-in-stock/919637>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 2, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nobody-have-cheap-chromebooks-in-stock/919637 "2020-09-02T21:40:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nobody-have-cheap-chromebooks-in-stock/919637/1 "2020-09-02T21:40:11Z")

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Why does nobody have cheap Chromebooks in stock? Does it have anything to do with the China trade war, or is there some other reason?

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nobody-have-cheap-chromebooks-in-stock/919637/2 "2020-09-02T21:46:57Z")

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China is apparently part of the issue, though it appears to be a function of both trade sanctions, and shortages of components from China due to the pandemic.

Coupled with that is high demand for Chromebooks for use by school kids who are doing remote learning.

> **[Lower-income students are paying the price for the global laptop shortage](https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/8/28/21403336/laptop-shortage-chromebook-tablet-school-reopening)**
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> Students are going back to school — but they may not have everything they need to learn.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nobody-have-cheap-chromebooks-in-stock/919637/3 "2020-09-02T21:49:50Z")

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I’ve heard that it’s mostly due to parts shortages due to COVID-related production issues combined with extremely high demand from people working from home and students doing a lot more remote learning.

I have heard some mention of sanctions factoring into it as well but in most of the articles that I have seen this is a secondary reason at best.

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**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nobody-have-cheap-chromebooks-in-stock/919637/4 "2020-09-04T14:29:46Z")

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My school system has been told that the major suppliers were making about 1 million CBooks a month prior to the pandemic. Currently demand, primarily from schools, is running at 12-15 million CBooks a month. A bulk order placed today will not be filled until early 2021 at the earliest.