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If there's one complaint I've heard most often in my years of reviewing laptops and providing laptop buying tips, it's this: "Why are they so expensive?" Whether due to the roller-coaster of tariffs, general inflation, or the march of progress, as manufacturers keep up with the latest components and features, the best laptops cost a pretty penny. But today I come with a message of hope for the frugal laptop buyers: With a little planning and patience, you can get our favorite laptops for a lot less than their sticker prices.
I'm not just talking about scouting out big sales events like Black Friday. For the careful shopper, big savings are available year-round, whether through student discounts, coupon codes, shopping clearance models, or refurbished products. Armed with these laptop buying tips and tricks, you may never pay full price for a Windows laptop or MacBook again.
Before You Shop: Know Exactly What You Want and Need
Before we start talking about saving money, let me stress that the best value is the product is not necessarily the laptop that is discounted the most, but the laptop that satisfies how you will use it. No discount will change even the best laptop's features or capabilities, whether that's giving you the battery life you need or the fast-paced gaming you crave. You can figure out these basic parameters and priorities by navigating the different categories of laptops and finding the one that's the best fit for you. Our laptop buying guide selection can also help you with everything from choosing a laptop brand to picking out the right laptop processor, along with top picks across every subcategory.
You should also consider which operating system you'd like to, well, operate in. The three major operating system options are Microsoft Windows 11, Apple macOS Sequoia, and Google ChromeOS. Each operating system has its key helpful features, areas of focus, and shortcomings, so be sure to read our impressions of each operating system for more information.
Ready to shop? Consider which features are essential and which you're okay with skipping. If you're willing to skip a third USB-C port or are fine with a full HD screen instead of one with 4K display resolution and basic 60Hz screen refresh rates, you can find an excellent system that's cheaper than something with the very latest specs.
Also consider which apps you'll need access to and which versions, which will be different depending on which operating system they're accessed from. Microsoft Office is a fine example of this in that it works somewhat differently on a Windows laptop versus a MacBook Air or Chromebook.
Finally, consider your primary use for the laptop: Is it for video editing? Is it a business laptop? Do you need a beefier gaming laptop? Or are you just after one of the new MacBook Pro models?
The perfect laptop doesn't exist, but finding the right machine will dramatically increase the value you get because it'll do what you need it to. And that's not just an immediate concern, because a laptop well suited to your uses will feel useful longer than one that feels like a compromise. The right machine is a better value in both the short and long term. With our help, making use of our laptop buying advice is easy, thanks to our handy guides and hand-picked lists of the best notebooks of the moment, from cheap laptop options like Chromebooks to premium ultraportables, top gaming laptop options, and high-end mobile workstations.
Though we have plenty of recommendations for budget laptops and cheap gaming laptops, there's no need to compromise if you want a more premium model. Our smart shopping tips will help you save no matter what kind of laptop you want, so focus on your real needs and the features you're going to use. Once you have a clear idea of the capabilities you need, it's time to start shopping.
1. Put Some Guardrails on Your Shopping
When looking to save on a new laptop, the obvious place to start is to check out the latest deals. Our reviews are a great place to start, not only for learning about individual models and their features and performance, but also for comparison shopping. Each review includes a list of current prices and retailers, letting you start your hunt right from within the review.
We also provide a regular roundup of the best laptop deals, and you can even subscribe to our Daily Deals newsletter to get the latest sales info delivered straight to your inbox. If you have a pretty good idea of what you're after, it pays to keep an eye on these sorts of listings so you can pounce on a discount before it's gone.
Finally, we host a broad selection of laptop buying guides across several subcategories. You can find those on our dedicated laptop buying guide page.
2. Get Specific About Specs and Model Numbers
One word of warning: As you peruse different online and brick-and-mortar stores, be sure you're actually looking at the same laptop make and model. It's all too easy to get confused by models with similar names but different specs and think a notebook is a bargain at one store, only to buy it and realize its lower price reflects a less powerful processor, a smaller solid-state drive, or missing features you thought were included.
Don't be fooled. Sometimes (especially around major sales events like Prime Day or Black Friday), a laptop retailer will partner with a laptop manufacturer to offer a store-specific model with slightly different specifications and a unique model number. This gambit lets them circumvent price-match guarantees since that exact model isn't sold at other stores.
Sometimes, these "store exclusive" models will be pleasantly well-equipped surprises; sometimes, they'll cut corners or ditch features for the sake of a lower price. Maybe it's plastic instead of metal construction, or a non-touch screen, or a non-backlit keyboard. If a machine seems extra cheap, it's worth digging into the particulars, finding the model number, and comparing product specifications to make sure you're really getting a bargain.
The takeaway from these warnings is that you should pay attention to both the specific model (identified by the model and part numbers) and the specifications you want. A missing port, or Wi-Fi 5 support instead of Wi-Fi 6, might not make much difference to your satisfaction, but it could be the source of significant savings.
3. If You Can, Wait for Seasonal Sales
If you want the newest models, it's worth shopping in the spring. That's the most common (though certainly not only) time that laptops are refreshed with new processor versions (largely Intel Core and AMD Ryzen chip refreshes), sometimes with new integrated graphics hardware. New versions of Nvidia's and AMD's dedicated graphics chips sometimes appear in sync with the CPUs, too, but not always. But for the biggest savings, you'll want to worry less about product launches and more about seasonal sales. If you have the luxury of waiting to buy, you can take advantage of several sales that come and go throughout the year.
The biggest seasonal sales occur in the spring, late summer, and late fall, first for Father's Day and the end of the school year (sometimes advertised as Dads & Grads), next for the back-to-school period of July through September, and finally for the holiday shopping season that traditionally kicks off the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday through Cyber Monday, though increasingly that sale frenzy starts to ramp up even sooner).
These are major sales periods that come around like clockwork every year, so if you're eying a new laptop, it might be worth waiting a couple of months for one to take place. Again, though, mind the precise details of the models you are looking at. As we noted above with retailer-specific models, sometimes big retailers will offer Black Friday-specific variants of known laptops that may differ in some slight or greater degree from models they have been selling previously.
Three-day weekends are also popular sales days, with stores offering discounts over Presidents' Day weekend, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and the Fourth of July. While these holiday sales may not have as many deep discounts on big-name products, they're still fine opportunities to save on cheaper products such as Chromebooks and computer accessories, which often get discounts as loss leaders.
One more "sale" you might not have thought of: Many states have a recurring sales tax holiday, often in the late summer to coincide with back-to-school shopping. Electronics, including laptops, will often get a tax break if they're under a certain dollar amount, giving you instant savings at the time of purchase. Many states (like Tennessee and Florida) allow up to $1,500, which makes waiving a 6-to-10% tax on a laptop a savings of $60-to-$150 on many systems.
4. Don't Forget Amazon Prime Day(s)
We've mentioned a big sales event that doesn't align with any particular holiday or school schedule: Amazon Prime Day. Launched to commemorate the shopping site's 20th anniversary, Prime Day has become a recurring mega-sales promotion. Other stores have responded with competing annual sales, making it an ideal time to shop for bargains regardless of whether you're an Amazon Prime member.
Amazon Prime Day is more flexible than predictable, but your best bet is to count on it happening sometime in mid-July each year. In 2025, the traditional Prime Day will be a four-day event expected to land in mid-July.
However, since 2022, Amazon has actually expanded on the "Prime Day" idea, adding a second Prime sales event later in the year (usually October) and stretching the single-day sale across more days. Just look for our news coverage whenever Amazon makes a formal announcement.
5. Be on the Lookout for Product Launch Bargains
Less regular, but just as big a savings opportunity, are the discounts that surround product launches. When a new laptop is about to come out, vendors and retailers will often mark down the older model during the lead-up to the launch. This lets sellers clear out old inventory to make room for the new, and gives you a chance to save big.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Apple products, in particular, see lucrative deals just before and just after a new model makes it to stores. The company's schedule isn't tied as closely to industry changes and calendar events as other manufacturers' are, so these sales can crop up any time of year.
Even when there's no wider sale to take advantage of, there are several ways to save a buck. Discounts can be found all over the place, if you know where to look, and keep track of when new laptop-processor or mobile-GPU families are poised to launch. The time in the run-up or in the post-launch is the bargain-hunting window for the previous-generation models. To that end, tracking rumors related to the not-yet-announced launch of a new CPU or GPU family can help you spot markdowns on older machines coinciding just before the launch. You'll need to do some detective work, but the patterns are clear year in and year out.
6. Always Compare Prices
Much of the hassle of comparison shopping can be eliminated by using a price tracker app. Whether you're waiting for a particular laptop (like the MacBook Air) to fall to a specific price point or just want to make sure you're not overpaying when you click Add To Cart, these apps can be quickly set up to alert you to price drops on any products you're watching.
Easy and free to use, an app like ShopSavvy or a website like CamelCamelCamel can be invaluable in helping you determine whether you're getting a great price or just the same deal as everybody else.
7. Join a Club for Membership Discounts
Another way to find a discount is to show some loyalty. Whether it's a membership-only store like Costco, a retailer insider program like Best Buy's My Best Buy, or the Best Buy TotalTech membership, these programs can save you money long term.
Costco is well known for its members-only deals. While the warehouse store doesn't provide Black Friday-level discounts year-round, it usually comes in at or below other stores' prices. But Costco customers also get a few unique perks, such as free extended warranties, no-questions-asked returns within 90 days of purchase (with no restocking fees), and free technical support through a concierge service provided for the life of the product.
Retailer memberships like My Best Buy are a different story. You sign up for a rewards program, and in return, you get extra savings on purchases, exclusive deals via email, and access to coupon codes that can save you on purchases, shipping, and accessories.
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Some, like Newegg's customer newsletter, aren't memberships per se so much as sign-ups to get company emails, which include promo codes, deals, and early previews of special promotions. One pro tip in this vein: Designate a "burner" free email account for signups like these so they don't overwhelm your primary email inbox.
Other memberships involve subscription fees, like Best Buy TotalTech and Amazon Prime. While these memberships are mostly sold on the appeal of perks such as free shipping and services like Prime Video or special tech support, they also come with exclusive sales and discounts. It may not be worth signing up for a membership solely to score a deal on a laptop, but if you're already a member, it's worth looking for any deals on the system you desire.
8. Hunt for Coupon Codes
Another great way to shave a few dollars off the price of a new laptop is with a promo code or coupon. Coupon codes can unlock everything from free shipping to percentage discounts on specific items. While a quick Google search for coupons or promo codes might help you find a useful savings opportunity, coupon-code aggregation sites take a lot of the guesswork out of finding currently valid codes and knowing exactly what each code is useful for.
You can find collections of coupon codes right here at PCMag or through a coupon code site like RetailMeNot (which is owned by PCMag publisher Ziff Davis). Alternatively, you can sign up with your preferred retailer for regular offers and get coupon codes emailed directly to you. (Check out our guide to finding coupon codes online.)
9. Stretch Your Dollar With Browser Extensions
Similarly, you can use browser extensions like RetailMeNot's Deal Finder, which automatically applies relevant coupon codes and other savings opportunities. (Editors' Note: RetailMeNot is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company.)
You can find several shopping extensions in our collection of the 100 best free Google Chrome extensions. And if you don't want to keep a shopping extension after you make your purchase, let us show you how to add and remove browser extensions.
10. Master Your Credit Card Rewards
Another way to save a lot on a big-ticket purchase like a new laptop is to sign up for a retailer's own credit card. You'll often get a 10% or 15% discount with your first purchase, which can net you a couple of hundred dollars on more premium laptops like the MacBook Pro.
However, this is one strategy to approach with caution. First-purchase savings are designed to tempt you to sign up for cards, but most retailer-specific credit cards have relatively high interest rates, low credit limits, and steep annual fees. Also, some are only good at that specific store! This is all on top of the hit your credit score may take by opening another account.
A better option is to use a regular (non-store-specific) credit card with a healthy cash-back offer. Some cards deliver significant cash back on every purchase, while others generate rewards such as frequent-flier miles and gift cards. These may not net you a big discount at the register, but the other rewards might be worth it.
As an extra bonus, many credit cards offer optional purchase protections, covering your new laptop against accident or theft, or even extending the warranty beyond the manufacturer's standard 12 months.
11. Shop Smart With Student Discounts and Employer Perks
If you have a high school or college student in your home, or you're currently taking classes yourself, you can save a bundle with student discounts. With steep discounts offered by both manufacturers and retailers, this might be the easiest savings tip on this list to leverage if you qualify.
Simply search the web for the name of your preferred retailer or manufacturer, and you'll quickly find its student discounts page. Usually, all that's necessary to save 10% to 20% is a valid educational email address.
Feeling left out after graduation? If you've already got your diploma, check with your university alumni association, which often extends similar discounts to former students. So do employers, who often have brand-specific deals for anyone who works for them. Check your corporate benefits portal or ask your HR rep to see if there's something that can save you some cash.
12. Don't Write Off Last Year's Models
Even if you can't find a sale and don't qualify for a student discount, you can usually save a significant amount any time of year by shopping for one of last year's laptops. In addition to scoring deals in the weeks just before or after new models are introduced, you can almost always find some older (more than six months old) notebooks on clearance.
This might mean giving up on the latest buzzwords, but if you're moving up from an old laptop that's already four or five years old, you'll be so pleased with the performance of, say, an early 2024 "Meteor Lake" Intel Core Ultra chip that you won't really miss the slight extra processing power of an equivalent-level 2025 "Lunar Lake" or "Arrow Lake" Core Ultra chip. Plus, you won't find many features available today that weren't on the market eight months or a year ago.
The best way to shop for slightly older models is to see what's on clearance from different outlets and look up the reviews on PCMag and other sites. A highly rated laptop from last year is still a sound buy, and the review will also help you get a sense of how good a deal today's sale pricing is.
13. Try Outlets and Open Box Deals for Discounts on New Gear
If you like a particular brand, you might save some money by going right to the source. Most laptop makers (like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Apple) have their own outlet stores, whether online or in a physical location. These stores will have their own sales, promotional offers, and bundle deals, letting you apply some of the other advice I've shared here.
But these outlets are also an ideal way to get open-box deals and scratch-and-dent models. An open-box deal is an item sold for less because another customer bought the product, opened up the packaging, and perhaps even used the product, but then returned it in more-or-less new condition. These will be inspected and tested, and confirmed to work like new. But it can't be sold as new, because the packaging has been opened, and there's no way to know what the customer did with the unit before the return. So why would anyone buy them? Because they're sold for less than the same laptop in an unopened box.
You can get an even deeper discount on so-called "scratch-and-dent" units, which may have been demo units on store shelves or customer returns that have some minor cosmetic damage. These lightly used laptops are usually also covered with a warranty similar to what the company has on brand-new units. Open-box and scratch-and-dent discounts aren't unique to manufacturer outlets (you can also find them through Best Buy and Amazon), but retailers might not always offer a manufacturer-backed warranty on these less-than-new products.
14. Save Big With Refurbs
If you really want to dig deep for savings, you can buy used laptops. The best way to buy used electronics isn't eBay or Facebook Marketplace—it's buying refurbished models directly from a manufacturer or retailer.
Refurbished or rehabilitated laptops aren't merely used hardware. They've been checked out, cleaned up, and repaired (if needed) to bring them back up to like-new standards. Some are store returns or leased models, but others are unopened or open-box models that have barely been touched. Reputable refurbished products are not only inspected, wiped of old data, and spruced up with a fresh installation of preinstalled software, but also certified to meet exacting standards of quality and function.
Even the best restored laptops come with a few caveats, however. First, you don't know the machine's back story. It could be a virtually untouched return in its original packaging, or a broken or flawed unit repaired after a lot of hard use. The extra wear and tear means it's not uncommon to get a notebook with visible scratches and dings, and the usable life of a refurbished system can be a bit of a question mark. To mitigate this, we recommend buying from a reputable refurbisher that provides some sort of warranty or extended service coverage.
Your best bet is to check directly with laptop manufacturers first for their current refurb offerings. Because the company made the device in the first place, it's generally best able to perform comprehensive repairs and provide exactly the same software preload. Plus, it is the most likely candidate to sell a refurbished unit with some sort of guarantee or warranty.
The next best option is a retailer-refurbished laptop. Major outlets like Best Buy offer refurbished gear for sale all the time, though their repairs may use generic parts or less complete software packages. However, if you can get a refurbished unit with a warranty plan, the in-store service and repair options go a long way toward providing peace of mind about buying a used product.
Third-party refurbished products are more of a gamble. Independent repair shops and eBay businesses might do just as good a job as the big names, or might not even take the time to wipe the keyboard crumbs off of a used laptop bought in a bulk sale. Without the support infrastructure that manufacturers and retailers provide, the long-term prospects of a no-name refurbished system are murkier. It's still a valid way to score a low price, but you do so at your own risk.
15. DIY Discounts: Upgrade After You Buy
Another strategy to get more bang for your laptop-shopping bucks? Find a model you want, but buy a slightly cheaper configuration and upgrade the memory and storage yourself. This definitely requires more hands-on expertise, but it can save you a fair amount even when you factor in the cost of your own RAM and SSD. (Check out our part-by-part laptop buying guide for upgrades.)
The logic of this trick is simple. Manufacturers charge more for systems with additional memory and storage space because relatively inexpensive RAM modules and drives are an easy upsell. Because the average laptop shopper doesn't know these parts are often user-upgradable or doesn't want to take the trouble, adding memory and storage at purchase time invariably costs more than the actual difference in component price.
The big drawback here is that you need to know whether a system can be upgraded after purchase. Many laptops, particularly ultraportables, use fixed or soldered-down components instead of RAM and storage drives installed in swap-capable sockets or slots. Glued-down parts and hard-to-open chassis can make changing out parts impossible, so make sure to do your research before purchasing. You need to find the exact model you're thinking of buying, and then learn which parts can be upgraded after purchase. Only then can you research how much those parts cost to determine whether the savings are worth your time and elbow grease.
In some instances, making your own upgrades can save you a bundle. However, the payoff varies widely from laptop to laptop.
16. Don't Balk at Bundle Deals
Finally, don't write off deals that bundle a laptop with other accessories or peripherals, even those that don't discount the notebook's original price. A bundle deal is like ordering a burger but getting fries and a drink for free; it's a relatively inexpensive upgrade for the seller but a welcome bonus when you're already thinking of getting new gear.
Commonly bundled products include laptop sleeves or carrying cases, mice, keyboards, headphones or gaming headsets, flash drives, and similar peripherals. Some deals include full versions of software, which can be a big improvement on the trialware or "lite" versions preinstalled on base machines—but only if it's software you'll actually use.
The bottom line is that a bundle deal can be a handy bonus if it includes something you want or need, and it can save you a chunk of change even if the laptop itself is not discounted. The best part of shopping for bundle deals? You can usually still get a discount with coupon codes, student pricing, credit-card rewards, or cash back.