Black Friday is just one week away, and official sales at the big retailers have already started. We’re tracking the best laptop sales from Apple, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Acer at the big retailers: Amazon, Walmart<!–>, Target–>, and Best Buy<!–>.
Also: The best laptops of 2025: I’ve tested dozens of laptops and these are my favorite
If you’re looking for a new machine, you’re in luck, because all the laptops on sale on this list were hand-picked by our team of experts, applying a rigorous testing methodology to evaluate hardware specs such as RAM, storage, and battery life, and most importantly, performance. We only recommend laptops we’ve either personally tested or are closely familiar with.
Here are the best early laptop sales we found, one week out from Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Best early Black Friday laptop deals
- Current price: $749
- Original price: $999
The MacBook Air M4 was released earlier in 2025, so it’s still the latest MacBook Air on the market you can get. $750 for the 13-inch is the best price we’ve seen yet, putting it squarely in competition with the army of thin and light Windows PCs that released this year.
The MacBook Air M4 comes with more base memory than previous versions (16GB of unified RAM) and a gorgeous Liquid retina display supporting up to two additional monitors. This model comes with 512GB SSD storage, but you can also find one with 256GB for $799.
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- Current price: $349
- Regular price: $719
This 15-inch from HP’s mainstream consumer lineup is a versatile machine designed for everyday use in the office, home, or classroom. The Intel Core i5-1334U processor and 8GB of DDR4 RAM makes for an inexpensive secondary machine or ideal device for students.
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- Current price: $549
- Regular price: $899
The 15-inch Inspiron is the perfect jack-of-all-trades laptop for a wide range of consumers. The hardware here is equally suited to students, office workers, or every day tasks: you’ve got an Intel 10-Core i5 with 32GB of RAM, more than enough for most use cases. At nearly $300 off, it’s a solid deal for the quintessential Dell device.
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- Current price: $1,549
- Regular price: $1,799
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip is down to a very competitive price at B&H right now. With 24GB of unified RAM and a gorgeous 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, the MacBook Pro M4 is fast, reliable, and a joy to use for work or everyday use. The 12MP Center Stage camera makes for an especially good videoconferencing experience, something we called out in our review earlier this year.
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- Current price: $1,499
- Regular price: $1,899
Looking for a good deal on a gaming rig? This Predator Helios Neo is stacked with premium hardware: an OLED display at 240Hz, Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070Ti GPU, and 32GB of RAM for an extremely competitive price. Don’t sleep on this one.
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- Current price: $629
- Regular price: $1,049
The versatile Yoga 7i focuses on what matters most for a work computer: delivering dependable performance with the flexibility that a 2-in-1 design provides. The hardware on board is solid: an Intel Core Ultra 7 155U processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
Review: Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1
Other design features I enjoyed include the large trackpad, as it makes multitasking across several apps a breeze. Regarding sound, the four Dolby Atmos speakers are strategically placed on top and below to deliver immersive audio output.
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- Current price: $629
- Regular price: $899
Looking for a gaming laptop that won’t break the bank? Acer’s Nitro lineup is well-known in the gamer community for making solid, no-frills gaming laptops that strip the fancy bells and whistles for machines that just work. The Nitro V 16 AI features an AMD Ryzen 5 240 processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 GPU, and 8GB of RAM to keep things affordable. This laptop isn’t at the cutting edge of gaming performance, but it’ll run most games with respectable performance.
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- Microsoft Surface Laptop–>: $1,099 (save $200 at Best Buy): The Surface Laptop impressed us with fantastic battery life — over 20 hours on one charge. But the snappy performance from the Snapdragon X Elite chip, paired with 16GB of RAM and 120Hz, 600-nit display rounds out the package as a great all-around laptop.
- Lenovo ThinkPad E16<!–>: $909 (save $330 at Lenovo): This 16-inch ThinkPad from the E series features an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and full-sized keyboard with all the I/O and connectivity you’d expect from a ThinkPad.
- Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i–>: $429 (save $400 at B&H Photo/Video): The IdeaPad Slim 5i is Lenovo’s budget-friendly line of jack-of-all-trades laptops, geared for all-around usability with a thin and light form factor.
- Dell 16 Pro<!–>: $699 (save $300 at B&H Photo/Video): Dell’s latest 16-inch from its mainstream consumer line is a reliable, versatile device for all-around use at home or in the office. This one has 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for users who work primarily in the cloud and don’t need extensive local storage.
- HP OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1–>: $899 (save $150 at Best Buy): This 14-inch 2-in-1 is a thin and light all-around device that’s well-equipped for a variety of use cases. The Intel Core Ultra 7 processor enables great battery life and snappy performance.
- Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge (15-inch)<!–>: $664 (save $235 at Amazon): We praised the Galaxy Book4 Edge for its brilliant display and ultrathin form factor, and at this price should be a major consideration for anyone looking to score a deal.
Laptop deals under $500
- Current price: $139
- Regular price: $219
Looking for a well-priced Chromebook for handling the basics? The CX15 is one of the best options out there. We went hands-on with this Chromebook earlier this year and praised its durability, full-sized keyboard, and nice trackpad. Walmart has it on sale right now for $139, a price you can’t argue with.
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- Current price: $334
- Regular price: $449
One of our favorite budget laptops, the Aspire Go 15, is down to just $180 at Walmart ahead of Black Friday. This 15.6-inch laptop has a hardware loadout that’s ideal for everyday tasks like surfing the web, checking email, and running Microsoft 365 productivity apps like Word and Excel.
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- Current price: $399
- Regular price: $499
One of our top-rated budget laptops, the Vivobook 15 has an Intel Core 5 CPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for a very affordable price at Walmart for the configuration without the OLED display.
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- Acer Aspire Premium 3–>: $312: (save $49 at Amazon): This 15-inch from Acer’s budget lineup has an AMD Ryzen 3 CPU and modest hardware loadout that’s ideal for everyday tasks like surfing the web, YouTube, and catching up on emails.
- Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Chromebook<!–>: $329 (save $870 at Amazon): This thin and lightweight Chromebook features 4GB of RAM and a super-efficient MediaTek Kompanio processor for all-day battery life.
Gaming laptop deals
- Current price: $1,449
- Regular price: $1,549
We reviewed the Razer Blade 14 earlier this year and praised its slim form factor that balances gaming performance and battery efficiency. This is a fantastic premium laptop for gamers that want a portable main driver they can take to the office.
Review: My perfect MacBook Pro replacement is the Windows laptop you least expect
With an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 120Hz OLED display, the Blade 14 is the perfect “stealthy” gaming laptop, occupying that hybrid space for functionality, while exuding premium.
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- Current price: $1,376
- Regular price: $1,619
Looking for a gaming laptop that combines power and portability? The 16-inch Omen Ultra Slim boasts 32B of RAM, an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card with 2TB of local storage — a very strong hardware foundation for modern gaming titles. The Full HD display at 144Hz, RGB keyboard, and over seven hours of battery life seal the deal as a practical, high performance gaming machine at this price.
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- Current price: $1,199
- Regular price: $1,699
Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card, and 32GB of RAM, but it’s also versatile enough to take on other roles. This is a laptop you could easily take to the office or use as a video editing workstation, as the 15.1-inch OLED display is the cherry on top.
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- Asus ROG Flow Z13–>: $1,949 (save $450): This 13.4-inch touchscreen gaming laptop may be small, but it’s actually a beast. It comes with 64GB of RAM and a 180Hz, 2.5K display for some solid performance.
- HP Victus (15-inch)<!–>: $599 (save $450 at Best Buy): The 15-inch Victus has a thin and light form factor and mid-range hardware geared toward gaming performance. However, the full-sized keyboard and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU enables creative workflows as well, especially with the 144Hz refresh rate.
- Lenovo LOQ (15-inch)–>: $899 (save $200 at Best Buy): Lenovo’s accessible line of LOQ gaming computers come with optimized hardware without all the bells and whistles to keep prices low. This 15-inch features a full-sized keyboard, Intel Core i5 CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050, and 16GB of RAM for under $1k. Not bad for a laptop that’ll easily run the latest titles.
- Asus ROG Strix G16<!–>: $999 (save $300 at B&H Photo/Video): The G16 brings a 165Hz IPS display powered by an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 and Intel Core i5 processor – a stack that’s still competitive in 2025 while keeping the price accessible.
- Lenovo Legion 7i–>: $1,749 (save $430): Dig the all-white look of the Legion 7i? It’s $430 off right now. The hardware is solid, too: you get an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32GB of RAM, and an RTX 5070 GPU for aggressive gaming performance on top-tier titles.
When is Black Friday?
Black Friday is Friday, Nov. 28, the day after Thanksgiving. While it’s typically associated with general retail sales, we’re seeing a lot more online deals, as well. Cyber Monday, the traditional online shopping sale day, is Monday, Dec. 1. Both of these days will have some great deals, and there will be some overlap.
Are laptops really cheaper during Black Friday?
Absolutely. Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday see price drops that are often better than regular sales. Online retailers feel the pressure to deliver significant deals during the holiday, and consumers expect to find exclusive deals that are better than regular sales.
How did we choose these early Black Friday deals?
ZDNET focuses on products we’ve either covered personally or can vouch for through personal use. We’ve tested and reviewed almost all of the products on this list, linking to our reviews wherever possible to help provide context around each individual product.
Our experts looked for deals that were at least 20% off (or are hardly ever on sale), using established price comparison tools and trackers to determine whether the deal is actually on sale and how frequently it drops.
What are the best Black Friday deals?
ZDNET’s experts have been searching through early Black Friday sales to find the best discounts. These are the best Black Friday deals so far, by retailer:
And the best Black Friday deals by product category or price point:
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