The best laptop deals in December 2024
All the top offers available now during Black Friday
We're in the middle of the Black Friday deals season now so many of the year's best laptop deals are now available. I've uncovered some impressive offers available right now– including some record-low prices for the Dell laptops and the Microsoft Surface Pro.
You can check out all of my top picks below after my search through all the major retailers and manufacturers to bring you the very best laptop deals available right now in the Black Friday laptop deals. There are cheap Chromebooks for schoolwork, the best value budget devices for everyday use and the biggest discounts on premium performance powerhouses.
I've considered price, quality and value for money for this hand-picked selection, which also features many laptops fully recommended by TechRadar's expert reviewers who assemble and regularly update our best laptops guide.
Have confidence that, however much you spend, you're getting a quality device that has likely been fully tried and tested by us. And, where it hasn't, we've looked at the performance of previous models, user reviews, the manufacturer's history and other factors to determine whether it's worth buying.
The best laptop deals in October 2024
Display: 15.6 inches
Processor: Intel Processor N200
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 64GB
OS: Chrome OS
I almost never see a laptop with 8GB of RAM for under $200, so this HP Chromebook 15 is a huge bargain in the Best Buy Black Friday sale. Even with that added performance, it's still a fairly basic device best suited to light use and schoolwork. That's backed up even more with the lean ChromeOS powering it and exceptional all-day battery life, making it an excellent portable option at a stunningly affordable price.
Display: 15.6 inches
Processor: Ryzen 5
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 512GB
OS: Windows 11
It's hard to find a better cheap laptop deal in the early Black Friday sales than this Inspiron 15. It's nothing fancy, but this machine manages to pack in both a powerful Ryzen 5 chipset and a sizeable 512GB SSD in for just $300 - that's not bad to say the least. While you're only getting 8GB of RAM here, this is still a good choice if you're just looking for a cost-effective machine to cover the basics.
Display: 15.6 inches
Processor: Intel i3
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB
OS: Windows 11
If you're looking for a budget laptop during today's Black Friday sale, Walmart has HP's 15.6-inch laptop on sale for an incredible $329. For that money, you're getting an Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB of SSD, and up to 10 hours of battery life.
Display: 15.6 inches
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB
OS: Windows 11
Best Buy's latest set of Black Friday laptop deals features this slightly older but excellent value all-around device. With an AMD Ryzen 7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a decent 512GB SSD, it's a terrific buy if you have a reasonable budget and need a device that will comfortably handle your day-to-day computing jobs and general work. Expect solid performance, good multitasking capabilities, and speedy load times, but be aware of the bulky 15.6-inch size and battery life of around 5-6 hours that hamper its portability. Altogether, though, this is an impressive laptop for the price.
Display: 13 inches
Processor: Snapdragon X Plus
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB
OS: Windows 11
This is the best discount I've seen on the new Microsoft Surface Pro – and it's a tempting buy after we were super-impressed in our Surface Pro 11 review. This version boasts a gorgeous 13-inch PixelSense Flow OLED display at 2880 x 1920 resolution so it looks sharp and crisp with some vibrant colors and deep blacks. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon X Plus processor ensures excellent battery life and combines well with its many AI features to simplify your life. There’s also 16GB of memory and 512GB of SSD storage which will ensure speedy performance and enough storage space for your essential files and applications.
Display: 15 inches
Processor: Intel Core i7
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB
OS: Windows 11
This is the best XPS laptop deal in the Dell Black Friday sale right now in my opinion. It's on the slightly older XPS 15 model but don't let that put you off as you get a super powerful 13th gen intel Core i7 chipset and 16GB of RAM here. The 15-inch model hasn't been updated like the 13 so the design here is a little older but it still has a really high-end lightweight construction and near-borderless display.
Display: 13 inches
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB
OS: Windows 11
Dell's Black Friday deals on the cheaper XPS 13 configurations are conspicuously absent this week but there are amazing discounts on the higher-end options. Take this Ultra 7 configuration, for example, a massive $400 price cut makes this one a lot easier on the pocket. While I wouldn't immediately recommend a machine with 32GB of RAM to everyone (it's overkill for most), this is a great choice for a professional-grade laptop.
Where to buy the best laptop deals
Amazon: discounts on Chromebooks and laptops, plus the best MacBook prices
Amazon has a regularly rotating selection of laptop deals, though you do have to wade through a lot of junk sold by third-party sellers. Still, it's often the best place to go for cheap Chromebooks and mid-range devices, so worth a look if your budget is around $500 or less. For those after a more premium device, Amazon often has the best prices available across the Apple MacBook range – but these tend to sell out quickly.
Best Buy: low prices for Chromebooks, mid-range laptops and Apple devices
Best Buy always has a strong selection of laptop deals that cover a full range of prices and use cases. You can often find cheap Chromebooks for under $200 and discounts of up to $500 on dozens of Windows laptops. Plus, it often price matches (or beats) Amazon for deals on premium Apple MacBooks - which are sometimes even cheaper for My Best Buy members.
Dell: regular flash sales on Inspiron and XPS laptops
Dell's always has a selection of deals on its most laptops devices, but if you time it right during a major event or flash sale you can get some record-low prices. This includes several limited-time offers on well-built versions of it's Inspiron and XPS devices that feature high-end components or better-than-average specs for the price.
HP: weekly deals and 24-hour flash sales
There's a new selection of laptop deals available at HP each week so you can save on Chromebooks, traditional devices and 2-in-1 machines all the time. Some of these are excellent value for money, but watch out for the devices that skimp on storage in order to drive the price down. The very limited 24-hour offers are usually the best value, but you have to snap those up quickly.
Target: cheap new and refurbished laptops
Target usually has a small selection of laptop deals available, including various new and refurbished options. If you're looking to spend more on a powerful device then your choices are limited and we'd suggest trying elsewhere like Best Buy or Amazon. However, we have seen a few big discounts on high-end laptops from the likes of Microsoft, HP and Lenovo when it has them in stock.
Lenovo: savings of up to 70% on laptops
The official Lenovo store doesn't present its deals in the most easy-to-digest way but you can sometimes find a good laptop offer or two amongst the chaos. We try to pick them out and share them up top when we find them. If you want to brave the store for yourself then you can regularly find savings on the manufacturer's ThinkPad, IdeaPad, Duet and Yoga devices.
Microsoft: big savings on Surface devices
Going direct to Microsoft is usually the best option if you're interested in one of the manufacturer's popular Surface devices. Sales are live on a regular basis with extra discounts on the latest Surface Pro and Surface Laptop devices. There are sometimes discounted bundles on older generation models with vital accessories such as a Keyboard Cover included for free.
Laptop deals: our buying advice
It can be overwhelming looking for laptop deals if you're not sure where to start. You may have an idea of how much you want to spend, what you need the device for or what key features you want included, but how do convert that information into the right laptop and ensure you pay the right price?
Well, that's what we're here for. We hunt down the best laptop deals each week and share them with your right here so you can bag exactly what you're after at a good price.
Here are a few words of advice from us based on our experience hunting down the best laptop deals and a little explainer on the process we go through to ensure we surface only the best offers on this page.
How much should I spend on a laptop?
The answer to this ultimately comes down to what you need the laptop to do. Below, we've looked at several different price brackets and what you can expect from a laptop in each range. Use that to give you an idea of how far your budget will go or what you need to spend to get the right laptop deal for you.
When to spend under $200 on a laptop
👍 You just need a basic laptop: Laptops under $200 are not very powerful and are usually slightly older, but are fine for basic everyday tasks such as web browsing, sending emails, video calls and watching videos.
🔋 Battery life and portability are key: In this price range, a lot of laptops are either 11 inches or 14 inches - that's great for on-the-go use. Plus, with less demanding components, these devices can last up to 20 hours.
🌐 You use a lot of web applications: Storage space on these laptops is limited, but that's less of an issue if you use Google Docs or Microsoft 365 as productivity apps and rely more on cloud storage for files and photos.
When to spend $200 - $400 on a laptop
⚡ Extra power to cover the basics: Laptops in this price range are still relatively basic, but some upgrades give you extra power to boost performance.
💻 You prefer a large display: More laptops are available with a 15-inch or 17-inch display once you cross over $200, so consider these options if you'd like a bigger screen.
🧘♀️ You'd like a flexible 2-in-1 device: 2-in-1 devices offer the functionality of a laptop with the versatility of a tablet and you can get some good value options in this price bracket.
When to spend $400 - $600 on a laptop
⚙ You need all-around performance: As we hit the mid-range for a laptop, these devices generally offer solid all-around performance for your work and leisure needs with powerful components, up-to-date features and lots of storage.
🛠 Multitasking: If you always end up with dozens of tabs or programs open at once, you'll want to consider a laptop in this price range so you avoid slowdown.
😲 More options: Traditional laptops, 2-in-1 machines, Surface devices and premium Chromebooks are all well-represented in this price range so you have lots of choices depending on your needs and preferences.
When to spend $600 - $800 on a laptop
📈 You want a powerful device: Laptops in this price range are packed with powerful high-end components, so this is how to spend your money if you need a serious workhorse machine.
🤖 More advanced tech: Laptops in this price bracket often come with premium upgrades included as standard, such as high-resolution 4K displays, a touchscreen, impressive battery life, backlit keyboards, improved speakers and more.
🎮 Light gaming: You won't be running modern games in the highest quality, but if you like to play indie games, undemanding current releases or classic favorites in your downtime, then some of these devices are powerful enough to do so.
When to spend over $800 on a laptop
🤑 Get the best money can buy: When you spend over $800 you get some of the best laptops money can buy that are filled with the latest technology. These are premium options are built with high performance, advanced workloads and longevity in mind.
⏳ A long-term investment: Buy a cheap laptop and you may have to replace it in a couple of years. Buy one of these and you've got a modern device that will last five years or more with ease.
🎨 Creative powerhouses: Into creative tasks such as photo and video editing or music creation? Many laptops in this price range – especially MacBooks – are designed with those tasks in mind so will excel in those areas.
How we choose the best laptop deals
It all comes down to what's included in the price. We've been tracking all the best laptop deals for a number of years now, so we have a solid idea of what level of performance and components you can get for your money. Using that as a baseline, we can pick out the treasures from the trash.
We also take into consideration what you might need a laptop for based on the money you have to spend. So, if it's just a basic device for some light work, general browsing and media streaming, there's no point recommending a $1,000 laptop as it would be completely unnecessary. Instead, we look at devices between $100 - $300 that could handle those tasks and recommend some laptop deals accordingly.
However, if there's a particularly good reason to spend a little extra money (maybe for some extra performance-boosting RAM or a healthy storage upgrade) then we'll mention that too for your consideration. Sometimes it's worth that investment to better future-proof yourself and end up with a noticeably better device.
Our search takes us across all the major and specialist retailers, so you can be sure we've taken a comprehensive look across the web to pick out the best laptop deals. All the laptops you see here are hand-picked and judged by a real human, too, so each one is given a proper and detailed assessment before it gets added.
Want more laptop deals?
If you want to continue your research into the best laptop deals any further, you can check out all the latest Chromebook deals for even cheaper devices running the efficient Chrome OS.
We've also got an eye on all the best MacBook deals available right now - and there are some terrific savings on Apple devices. Our roundup of the latest Apple promo codes or our Apple student discount guide could help you there, too.
And for the gamers, you'd be better suited over on our guide to this week's cheap gaming laptop deals as the models on this page are built with browsing, work and general use in mind - not gaming.
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James Pickard is a Deals Editor at TechRadar. After many years of scouring the net for the cheapest games and tech for his personal use, he decided to make it his job to share all the best bargains and coupon codes with you. James also has almost a decade of experience covering some of the biggest sales events of the year at Eurogamer and VG247, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day. When not deals hunting or stacking coupon codes to get the biggest savings, James can be found on the PS5, watching a classic film noir or cheering on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.