Are you in search of a new laptop for your loved ones this holiday season? As Christmas approaches, there will be numerous holiday laptop deals available, which makes it challenging to navigate through all the sales and find the right device. While some of the best laptop deals will feature significant price reductions, it's important to be cautious, as not every deal is trustworthy and deserving of a spot on our 'nice list.'
Picture this: You're scrolling through the online jungle of deals, and suddenly, you stumble upon this unheard-of brand with mind-blowing discounts. Tempting, right? Well, here's the catch – not every deal out there is as genuine as it seems.
Too good to be true?
As you scroll through Amazon's laptop page, you may find a brand of laptops known as SGIN, which offers some impressive discounts on fairly decent devices. For example, there's a 17.3-inch laptop with 24GB of RAM, 1024GB of SSD storage, and a Celeron N5095A processor, currently at a 49% discount, reduced from £899.99 to £459.99. If you were approaching this deal head one with not a lot of computing background or just looking for a laptop that looks good for cheap you may be pretty enticed by it - but don't be swayed solely by the numbers on the discount tags.
It may be a jaw-dropping price, from a brand called 'SGIN' that you've never heard of. You'll find several SGIN laptops with a pretty random collection of specifications enjoying 58% and even 71% off their 'original price'. It's like finding a hidden treasure - but you've got to make sure it's not fool's gold!
I wouldn't recommend giving the brand the chance, regardless of how good the deal might seem. I only ever see these laptops pop up around the sales season (from Black Friday through to Christmas) but they seem to disappear once sales are done. If you're looking for good but inexpensive laptops, there are a lot of deals on Amazon right now from brands you know and trust, that match or even beat SGIN's discounts.
Don't fret - there are still plenty of deals
Of course, I'm not trying to put you off your Christmas shopping. If you're not sure where to start, our best laptop deals gift guide will help you find a deal for every budget. Plus, if you want a bit more information about each product before you make a purchase, that page will be your best bet.
I'll get more into the details of why you should be careful with suspicious laptop brands on Amazon, but if you're looking for a laptop you should buy, here are my favorite deals right now - specifically those that are around the 'sale price' of the SGIN laptops except, you know... actually worth buying.
The brands to avoid
If you're planning to drop a good chunk of change on a new device for you or your loved one, you want your laptop to be worthwhile and have some longevity. When I was younger my family would always cheap out on school laptops and invest in brands that no one had ever heard of, and without fail every year we'd have to spend more money on another laptop.
Geviar and GEO Computers are two other laptop brands that will pop up as you scroll through Amazon for deals, and they follow the same pattern that SGIN's deals do - big discounts, suspiciously identical laptop pictures, and of course, bad reviews. Some further digging reveals that SGIN is actually just a brand name owned by a Chinese manufacturer called Shenzhen Oraako Electronic Technology - and it's got other brands like Bmax and KUU for pulling the same stunts in different regions.
In fact, when you try to look for Geviar's or SGIN's official websites, you get a long list of sales links and then several YouTube videos of people urging you not to buy these laptops from Amazon!
Youtuber Dayo Aworunse actually purchased one of SGIN's laptops, and the unboxing goes... as you'd expect. There's actual grease from another person's hand on the laptop Aworunse unboxes, hinting at the laptop being used by someone else before being delivered.
The comments on the above video by Dayo Aworunse all echo the same sentiment of 'do not buy', with some users making note that Amazon should be doing more to weed the site of these 'scammers'. So take care this festive season - don't gift someone a dud!
More Christmas sales
- Amazon: up to 65% off tech and gifts
- Adidas: up to 60% off outlet clothing, shoes, apparel
- AO: up to 40% off vacuums, appliances, and tech
- Argos: up to 70% off toys, Christmas decor, and tech
- Boots: half-price gift sets, gift cards, and fragrances
- B&Q: cheap Christmas trees, lights, decor, wreaths
- Carphone Warehouse: 120GB data for £12 per month
- Currys: up to 40% off TVs, air fryers, laptops and more
- Cotswolds Outdoor: up to 50% off Patagonia, Rab, North Face
- Debenhams: up to 70% off home, fashion, gift sets
- Disney: up to 60% off Christmas jumpers, toys, decor
- Ebuyer: up to 40% off laptops, desktops, and components
- John Lewis: £300 off TVs, Apple, plus Christmas decor
- Jessops: up to £1,000 off Sony, Canon, Nikon, and Fujifilm
- O2: up to £600 off iPhone, Samsung and Google
- Samsung: up to £600 off TVs, phones and appliances
- Shark: up to £100 off best-selling vacuums
- Very: discounts on tech, appliances, furniture and beauty
- Vodafone: six months half-price SIMs from £11.50
