(Credit: PCMag / Amazon / Best Buy / Dell / Lenovo)
Black Friday weekend is moving fast, and laptop deals are outstanding right now. We found a MacBook Air for a record low price, killer gaming machines, and more. Each and every offer that we publish is guaranteed to be vetted and price-compared to ensure that it's a real deal.
When it comes to laptops, we review hundreds of them every year with some of the strictest methods around. So, when we write up a portable that's on sale, you know it's worth it. We've got productivity portables, budget Chromebooks, gaming machines, and more. Here are nine portable PCs that you can save on thanks to Black Friday Weekend. Be sure to check back here throughout the weekend as we discover more laptop bargains.
Asus Laptop Deal
Let's kick off this party with a whopping 45% price drop on a portable PC that writer Brian Westover said was "a satisfying ultraportable laptop and one of the strongest Snapdragon X-based efforts to date" in his review. This is a lightweight machine that looks and feels luxurious thanks to the proprietary fingerprint- and scratch-resistant aluminum-magnesium finish, but the interior's just as pretty. The OLED display is just 1,920-by-1,200, but it has great contrast and color quality. Component-wise, you get more than enough power for most common productivity tasks, Web browsing, and media streaming.
Dell Laptop Deal
If there's one adjective we use over and over to describe Dell's portables, it's "reliable." They're designed for stable, no-surprised functionality with competent components and good keyboards, often featuring separated number pads and responsive touchpads. The Inspiron 3530 is a midrange contender that's a tremendous value at 40% off retail, with a capable Intel Core i5 processor running the show. We have a review of the similar Inspiron 3535 here, where we were impressed by how it combined a budget price with good performance and a full Windows 11 Home install.
Microsoft Laptop Deal
This deal is pretty incredible, but take note: the Surface Pro 2-in-1 doesn't come standard with the separate keyboard that makes it a full laptop, so you'll have to buy it separately. But with the $500 you save here, you'll still have cash left over. In our review, we were impressed by the lightweight machine's 13-inch OLED touchscreen, impressive battery life and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. It's an extremely versatile device, and the ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite was built from the ground up to boost Copilot AI features if those are part of your work routine.
Samsung Laptop Deal
We marveled over the sleek appeal and solid performance of this convertible laptop in our 2021 review, giving it an "Excellent" rating thanks to its ultra-thin and lightweight build coupled with a bright and beautiful Super AMOLED touch display. The Core Ultra 7 processor strikes a great balance between performance and battery life, and it packs plenty of storage to hold all your projects. Port selection is reduced a bit due to the slim form factor, but three USB-C ports should handle most of your needs. Slice $700 off right now at Best Buy.
HP Laptop Deal
Need a portable with lots of stamina? When we reviewed the new HP EliteBook X G1i laptop, it absolutely dominated in our battery benchmarking, clocking in at 25 hours on a single charge. That doesn't come with any compromises in performance, either, with solid results on all of our productivity tests across the board. This is aimed at high-end enterprise users, with hardware-enforced always-on Wolf Security keeping your secrets safe. A 51% discount makes it extremely attractive, but it's gone when the weekend ends.
Lenovo Laptop Deal
Lenovo laptops deliver some of the best value for the money on the market, and a 26% price drop on the ThinkPad E16 makes this big-screen business portable a great value. In our review, we gave it an "Excellent" rating for its port selection, solid performance and typically excellent Lenovo keyboard and build quality. The 16:10 display is a slightly different aspect ratio than most business laptops, giving you a little more vertical space. We did dock it a few points for a slightly dim screen, but overall this is a very solid laptop for what you'll spend.
Virtually identical to the 16-inch model but a little more portable, the ThinkPad E14 is also on sale at Lenovo for Black Friday Weekend. We haven't put this one through the review process yet, but we gave an Editors' Choice award to the 5th-generation version, with expert Charles Jefferies declaring that it "delivers the qualities that ThinkPads are known for, including a first-class keyboard and long battery life" in his review. The addition of Thunderbolt ports for faster data transfer is also a big plus. Snag a 34% discount while you can.
Apple MacBook Deals
Best Buy has the Editors' Choice-winning MacBook Air M3 at clearance prices for Black Friday Weekend. This is a truly spectacular ultraportable laptop, tuned for blazing performance, and in our review we raved about the M3 processor's visible improvements in our benchmarking, along with the added support for multiple monitors and expected Apple build quality. While it's not externally that much different from the previous MacBook Air generation, and the M4 version is an improvement, the changes under the hood make it more than worth it, especially at this discount.
Walmart is often a spot where you can snag older tech at a nice price, and while the MacBook Air M1 debuted in 2020, it's still a capable slimline laptop that looks great. For $549, it's the most affordable way to get into the MacBook ecosystem. In our 2020 review, we gave it an Editors' Choice award for its improved performance, high-quality display, long battery life and solid value proposition. While it's certainly outclassed by the recently released M4 MacBook Air, you'll get a lot of use out of this classic too.
Gaming Laptop Deals
Gaming laptops make popular holiday gifts, so we'll be keeping a close eye on price drops in that sector. One of the best Black Friday Weekend bargains out there is this incredible OLED portable from Asus, which is crammed with high-end silicon for peak performance on all of today's top titles. In our review of the ROG Zephyrus G14, we gave it an Editors' Choice award for its elegant all-metal chassis, powerhouse AMD Ryzen 9 processor, and incredible OLED panel. This is a virtually flawless future-proof gaming machine, and a $400 price cut makes it even better.
Gaming on a really tight budget? Grabbing this MSI portable for under a thousand bucks is a massive deal. We reviewed the MSI Katana 14 HX and were extremely impressed by it, bestowing an Editors' Choice award thanks to the capable RTX 5050 GPU, which delivers some of the best 1080p performance on the market, as well as the nice-feeling keyboard and touchpad and good battery life. While it doesn't have as luxurious a build feeling as some other machines, it dominates on value for money, especially with a $200 discount at Walmart.
For a portable PC that hits right in the middle, there's no better deal than the new Alienware Aurora 16X for 25% off during Black Friday Weekend. We rated this machine "Excellent" in our review, giving points to the high-quality part-aluminum build that feels sturdy but not heavy, a bright and colorful display with a 240Hz refresh rate, and a great CPU and GPU pairing. While it doesn't push the envelope, it's a great utility player that will be usable for many years to come. This is an absolutely great deal on components alone at this price.
Chromebook Deals
While most Chromebooks comfortably sit in the lower end of the potency spectrum, the Asus CX34 pushes the portable's capabilities to the max while still keeping prices low. We gave an Editors' Choice award to this machine, noting in our review that it delivered exceptional productivity performance with a comfortable keyboard and touchpad. This configuration is the Vibe model, which ups the onboard storage to a 256GB SSD, boosts the resolution slightly to WUXGA, and includes a garaged stylus for precision input. A 37% price cut makes it a solid buy.
If you're looking for a pure value proposition, you're not going to do much better than this capable Acer with an included carrying case for $119. In our review of the Acer Chromebook 315, we were impressed by its surprisingly big screen and solid port selection. With a dated Intel Celeron processor and skimpy storage, it's not going to compete with Windows laptops, but for students and casual users it's more than good enough for everyday productivity tasks, Web browsing, and watching streaming videos.
These deals are disappearing fast, so if you've got a model in mind, snag it while you can. Looking for more savings? Our Black Friday page has all the best prices on top tech.