At just $129 on sale, Dell's Inspiron Chromebook 11 is cheap enough that you can get it to use as a doorstop. It's also durable enough to probably survive getting whacked by the door or knocked to the floor, thanks to its drop-resistant edges and lid. However, this 11-inch Chromebook's best use is as either a child's first PC or a low-cost secondary computer you can use for web surfing.
Normally $199, the Inspiron Chromebook 11 is powered by an Intel Celeron N3060 CPU with 16GB of local eMMC storage and 4GB of RAM. That 4GB of RAM is critical on a cheap Chromebook, because some sub-$200 competitors still have just 2GB on board, which is just not enough.
The Chromebook 11 is light enough for small hands to carry, weighing in at just 3.08 pounds (1.4 kg). It has a low-res 1366 x 768, 11-inch display, but a good set of ports that includes two USB 3.1 gen 2 Type-A ports, HDMI out and an SD card reader.
Because it's so easy to use and hard to infect with viruses, Chrome OS is the platform of choice for many schools. However, if you want to take the training wheels off, you should be able to install a version of Linux, even Ubuntu, on this device.
