Black Friday is less than a week away, but 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
- 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: $430 (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: $709 (save $290 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: $898 (save $152 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.
Laptop deals under $500
- Current price: $139
- Regular price: $220
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: $269
- Regular price: $449
One of our favorite budget laptops, the Aspire Go 15, is down to just $269 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: $425
- Regular price: $500
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: $305: (save $45 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.
Gaming laptop deals
- HP Victus (15-inch): $599 (save $451 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): $650 (save $450 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.
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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