It’s almost the end of the year, and with Black Friday upon us, it’s a great time to buy a laptop. I’ve sorted through the junk to find the best Black Friday laptop deals, and I’m happy to report that most of my favorite laptops I tested this year are on sale right now. Even better, some laptops I thought were overpriced at launch now have such steep discounts that they’ve risen in value in my estimation. So, if you’ve been waiting to buy a laptop at the right moment, this is it. One of these laptops should fit exactly what you’re looking for at a wide range of prices.
Hunting for more deals? Read our Absolute Best Black Friday Deals roundup, and check out our Black Friday liveblog for the highlights.
Updated on November 28: We’ve added the Asus Zenbook A14, Razer Blade 14, and Acer Chromebook Plus 516.
The Best Windows Laptop Deal
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
If you’re shopping for a laptop on Black Friday, you’re probably looking for something a bit more budget-friendly. And while the MacBook Air is the better laptop, there’s no question that the Dell 14 Plus is the best deal. It comes with great specs: 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage, and an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V. I reviewed the model with the Core Ultra 7 258V, but either way, you’re getting really good battery life and integrated graphics performance.
Most importantly, it avoids the two main pitfalls of budget laptops: poor displays and touchpads. The Dell 14 Plus comes with a high-resolution display (2560 x 1600) and a very smooth-feeling touchpad. It’s literally a premium laptop for an affordable price, and at $500, it’s officially the best deal on a laptop this Black Friday. It’s a doorbuster-style deal, however, so once it’s sold out, the price may change.
The Best MacBook Deal
Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
Apple
MacBook Air (M4, 2025)
Since its launch this spring, the M4 MacBook Air has been the best laptop you can buy. It has also continued to drop in price slowly month after month, now down to just $749. That’s low enough that it’s not worth buying cheaper, older MacBook Airs, such as the M2 model. The difference in performance (and external display support) is worth far more. The M5 model is likely coming sometime in early 2026, but it’ll be a long time before it comes down to the price of the M4 right now. Come and get it while it’s hot.
I’ve collected the best Black Friday MacBook deals here for more recommendations and discussion on which MacBook deal is right for you.
The Best Chromebook Deal
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
There’s never been a Chromebook at this price as good as the Acer Chromebook Plus 516—at least, not at it’s current Black Friday. Despite being a new laptop from this year, it’s great to see the price drop by well under $300, making the higher specs of Chromebook Plus devices accessible to nearly everyone. The display and performance are far and above other Chromebooks at this price though. My biggest pet peeve on budget laptops is the typical low quality of the touchpad. And even there, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 has a touchpad that you make you hate your life.
Another Good Chromebook Deal
Courtesy of Lenovo
Lenovo
Flex 5i Chromebook Plus
There are Chromebooks I like more than the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus (8/10, WIRED Recommends), such as the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14. But none are this cheap. And while the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 above is a better deal, you might want something a bit more compact with a smaller screen—or maybe with a touchscreen. At $350, the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is one of the most affordable Chromebook Plus models you can find—it’s in a different league over standard Chromebooks at this price. It has a better screen, faster performance, more storage, and even a crisper webcam. The Flex 5i Chromebook Plus even has a 360-degree hinge and touchscreen, sweetening the deal even more.
The Latest MacBook, Already on Sale
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
The MacBook Air is a better value, yes. And the M4 Pro or M4 Max MacBooks are more powerful. But the base 14-inch MacBook Pro is the only Mac right now with the latest M5 chip, which launched just a month ago. I wish Apple had included other features in this update, as the M5 is the only change over the M4 model. The good news is that the M5 MacBook Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommends) offers a solid performance increase in all areas, including CPU, GPU, and even the Neural Engine. More important is the $200 discount just a month after it launched.
The Best Gaming Laptop Deal
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
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Photograph: Luke Larsen
Want a gaming laptop that doesn’t really feel like a gaming laptop? That’s what the Razer Blade 14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) has always been good at. If it weren’t for the green snake logo on the lid, you might never know this thing has a powerful discrete GPU inside. You certainly wouldn’t be able to tell from the size of the laptop, which is supremely compact. It even gets decent battery life for a gaming laptop. And when it comes to gaming, the high-resolution, OLED 120-Hz display keeps your games sharp and smooth, while the RTX 5060 (or 5070) deliver some solid performance for the size.
The Best 2-in-1 Laptop Deal
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Photograph: Christopher Null
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Courtesy of Microsoft
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Courtesy of Microsoft
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Photograph: Christopher Null
Microsoft
Surface Pro 13-inch (11th Edition, 2024)
The OLED Surface Pro was excellent when it came out in mid-2024. It was the first time the Surface Pro got an OLED panel, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus/Elite chip finally gave this Windows tablet the performance and battery life needed to compete with the iPad Pro. The only problem? It was too expensive. But for Black Friday, the OLED Surface Pro is $500 off, bringing the price down to just $900. The one caveat to remember is that you’ll still need to buy a Surface Type Cover Keyboard to pair it with. Together, you have a 2-in-1 laptop that’s the ultimate travel companion and a full PC replacement.
An Extremely Lightweight Laptop
Photograph: Christopher Null
The Asus Zenbook A14 is one of the lightest laptops you can buy right now. At 2.16 pounds, it’s a fair bit lighter even than the MacBook Air. Throw this thing in your bag, and you’ll hardly even notice it’s there. That makes it a great option for students needing to trek across campus or frequent travelers bringing their work on the go. But what really makes this laptop special is the lack of compromises it makes to achieve that weight. It’s well-built, thin, and has a comfortable keyboard and touchpad. And thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus inside, it gets fantastic, all-day battery life. I also really like the glossy OLED display. So, while the Dell 14 Plus is a more well-rounded Windows laptop with a higher-resolution screen, the Zenbook A14’s portability is hard to beat—especially at this price.
A Solid Budget Laptop
Photograph: Luke Larsen
Asus
Vivobook 14 (X1407QA)
The Asus Vivobook 14 is one of the few Snapdragon X-powered laptops bringing efficient performance and excellent battery life to surprisingly low prices. It’s $200 off for Black Friday, which brings it down to the same price as on the last Amazon Prime Day. There’s really only one problem: the Dell 14 Plus. By every measure, that’s the laptop you should buy. Not only is it cheaper, but it also has a much better display, touchpad, and integrated GPU performance. However, if the limited Doorbuster prices on the Dell 14 Plus have run out, the Asus Vivobook 14 is your next best bet for a Windows laptop around this price.
What to Look for in a Black Friday Laptop Deal
Shopping around for a good Black Friday deal isn’t so different from buying a laptop at any other time of the year. We never recommend products we don’t test ourselves, so if you’re interested in a particular laptop on this list, check out the corresponding review. But as you shop around, you may want to factor in the following specs along with the current price of the laptop:
- CPU
- GPU
- Memory (RAM)
- Storage
- Display resolution, panel type, and refresh rate
- Battery life
Lastly, consider the price history. CamelCamelCamel is a useful tool to see some historical data on price drops for individual laptops. Some of the laptops included above (such as the Dell 14 Plus) are hitting new historic lows in terms of price, while others are returning to the same low price as they were on Prime Day. That doesn’t mean these aren’t a good deal necessarily, but it’s important to know that not every deal labeled “Black Friday Deal” is equal, even if the percentage drop looks similar. Many products these days have permanent discounted prices at retailers, which can obscure how big of a sale it really is.
For an in-depth breakdown that explains each element of a laptop, read our detailed How to Choose the Right Laptop guide.
Is Now a Good Time to Buy a Laptop?
Yes. Black Friday isn’t the only big shopping event throughout the year, and it’s not uncommon to find great sales on laptops at other times, whether that’s on a random day or on Amazon Prime Day(s). But Black Friday remains important as the beginning of the holiday shopping season. The entire annual cycle of laptop refreshes revolves around this timing. The beginning of the year starts with lots of products getting announced at CES, and then launching throughout the year. By the time Black Friday rolls around, companies and retailers are looking to clear out inventory to make room for incoming new stuff, which is why we still often see the biggest discounts for Black Friday.
This year, that timing even applies to MacBooks. Because Apple didn’t refresh any Macs this fall outside the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro, laptops like the M4 MacBook Air or M4 Pro/Max MacBook Pro are discounted with the anticipation of a refresh coming sometime in early 2026.
