This time last year I bought two new (refurbed) RCA tablet/laptops. Cost me $230 for both, one Android, one win10. For Canada those are great prices for warrantied gear.
This year I wanted a refurbed laptop. Last year the Thinkpad x240 I looked at was $249, NOW it's $419,
The quad core celerons were $229, NOW they don't exist but Chromebooks are going for $400+??? Are you kidding me?
I ended up buying the last x240 a dealer had, which could be as old as 7 years, for $370! I5, 8gb/240gb SSD, dual band wireless, dual battery. The price has been jacked up to $440 now!!! It's a well made tank far tougher and faster than any chromebook in that price range and better than a celeron but it is really old. Last year this same computer was $269 from a number of vendors
No inflation and a sound economy my arse. Thinks are a mess and only going to get far worse.