Why You Can Trust CNET Friday deals: HP Chromebook $169, 24-inch desktop monitor $70, over 35 free games from Amazon
Prime subscribers can really get their money's worth from the latest batch of freebies.
Apropos of absolutely nothing, there's a cult-classic comedy on sale at Amazon right now: Mike Judge's Idiocracy is just $5 to buy (versus $4 to rent). Dare I say it's a no-brainer at this price?
I'm a big, big Mike Judge fan: King of the Hill, Office Space, Silicon Valley. It's been well over a decade since I've seen Idiocracy, but something tells me it's time for a rewatch.
In other deal news, today I bring you a heavily discounted monitor and Chromebook, plus an absolute boatload of free PC games -- for Amazon Prime subscribers. (No subscription? There's at least one freebie with your name on it available from Epic Games.)
It's not Black Friday or Prime Day or anything, yet this is one of the lowest prices I've ever seen for a monitor of this size. AOpen's display is pretty basic, but it's got it where it counts: 1,920x1,080-pixel native resolution, 5-millisecond response time and a three-year warranty. (AOpen is an Acer subsidiary, in case you're wondering.)
For anyone still hunching over a small laptop display, I cannot recommend this highly enough. Plug in a big monitor like this one and give your eyes a break. (While you're at it, consider rounding out the workstation with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, which you can get for as little as $30.)
Because this is on the smaller side for a laptop, I'd recommend it for smaller people: kids in middle or even elementary school, who just need something simple for Google Classroom, Zoom sessions and the like.
In all other respects, HP's 11A is a perfectly good basic Chromebook, with 4GB of RAM (definitely preferable to the 2GB you sometimes find on super cheap models) and an impressive four USB ports, including two USB-C, one of them used for power.
CNET hasn't reviewed it, but over 1,300 Best Buy customers collectively rated it 4.5 stars out of 5. Great buy at this price.
Every month, Amazon offers a new batch of free PC games for Prime subscribers. Right now, the count stands at over 30, which is incredible.
So click that link below and scroll on down (past the "loot," which is also free) to Games with Prime. The latest additions can be found at the bottom, and they're an impressive lot. I recommend checking out Along the Edge, Alt-Frequencies, Close to the Sun and When Ski Lifts Go Wrong.
To install and play these games, you'll need the Amazon Games App, which is also available via that freebie page.
Have a safe and happy weekend, everyone!
CNET's Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on tech products and much more. For the latest deals and updates, follow him on Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up for deal texts delivered right to your phone. Find more great buys on the CNET Deals page and check out our CNET Coupons page for the latest Walmart discount codes, eBay coupons, Samsung promo codes and even more from hundreds of other online stores. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Answers live on our FAQ page.