When is the best time to buy a laptop?

There are several times throughout the year when we see extra-low prices on laptops: Around Amazon Prime Day and its fall counterpart (which typically happen in July and October , respectively) During back-to-school sales in July and August (which come to a head over Labor Day weekend) When retailers' Black Friday and holiday deals are in full swing from late October to December Whenever manufacturers unveil next-generation models

When is the best time to buy a Mac, specifically?

The same timing applies to Macs and MacBooks, said Lead Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard, who tracks Apple deals year-round: She recommends timing your purchase with Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday to nab the best deal. Shoppers should also keep an eye out for discounts during back-to-school season and right after new models are announced, Allard said.

Which website has the best deals on laptops?

Best Buy tends to be the best major retailer for laptop deals, followed by Amazon and Walmart. That said, all three sell a lot of discontinued models and often inflate original list prices , making their deals look better than they actually are. (Amazon and Walmart are also rife with sketchy listings from third-party sellers outside of major shopping holidays like Black Friday.) As such, we always cross-check model numbers and prices with manufacturers' direct websites, and we look for deals there, too.

What is the best laptop brand?

We're partial to Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, HP , Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, MSI, Razer, and Samsung. They're reputable brands that typically tick most of the right boxes when it comes to innovative features, durable build quality, performance, power efficiency, and overall value.

Best laptop deals for December: Apple, Asus, Microsoft, and more

UPDATE: Dec. 17, 2024, 4:00 a.m. EST This story has been updated with new laptop deals, plus current pricing and availability.

The very best laptop deals at a glance:

Best laptop deal under $500o

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD)

$499.99 at Best Buy (save $300)

Best laptop deal under $1,000

Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M2, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD)

$799 at Amazon (save $200)

Best laptop deal over $1,000

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, 13-inch (Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD)

$1,499 at Amazon (save $500.99)

Buying a new laptop is one of the biggest splurges a person will make every several years, so keeping watch for good deals is imperative. Whether you're looking for an everyday workhorse, a cheap Chromebook for homework, a 2-in-1 Windows PC for drawing, or a powerful premium gaming laptop, a decent discount can make it easier to take the leap on an upgrade.

As a Senior Shopping Reporter here at Mashable, I've been scouting and vetting the best laptop deals across major tech retailers for nearly two years. Read on for my top picks as of Dec. 17, including a sub-$500 OLED laptop, a budget-friendly MacBook, and a record-low price on the best laptop our team tried in 2024.

If you don't see any models that check all the boxes on your spec wish list, bookmark this page and come back soon: I add new picks every other week.

Note: Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart occasionally list incorrect MSRPs for laptops, making deals appear better or worse than they really are. If an MSRP you see below differs from the one shown on the laptop's product page, it's because I cross-checked it with the machine's manufacturer and corrected it.

Best laptop deal under $500

Credit: Asus

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD)

$499.99 at Best Buy
$799.99 Save $300

Why we like it

Svelte at 2.8 pounds and 0.6 inches thin, this 14-inch Asus Zenbook features a pretty and bright touchscreen OLED display — a rare sighting at this price point. Its backlit keyboard is also a nice touch. The configuration with a mid-range Intel Core Ultra 5 125H CPU, 8GB of memory, and a healthy 512GB of storage is currently just $499.99 at Best Buy, or 37% off.

An upgraded model with a better Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor and twice as much RAM and storage is also on sale at Best Buy. It'll run you $699.99 (normally $1,049.99), which works out to 33% off.

More laptop deals under $500

Best laptop deal under $1,000

Credit: Apple

Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M2, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD)

$799 at Amazon and Best Buy
$999 Save $200

Why we like it

Read Mashable's full review of the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air (M2).

The previous-generation MacBook Air is a Mashable Choice Award winner and our current favorite budget MacBook: It has an awesome keyboard, it lasts all day, and its M2 chip has "enough horsepower to handle everyday tasks with ease," to quote our review. As an added bonus, Apple also recently bumped its base configuration to 16GB of memory (without a price hike). It's on sale for $799 at Amazon and Best Buy, or 20% off; it was $50 cheaper on Black Friday, but that's still a solid deal.

Mashable Deals

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More laptop deals under $1,000

MacBooks

Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M3, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $899.99 ~~$1,099~~ (save $199.01 with on-page coupon)

Windows laptops

Samsung Galaxy Book4 (Intel Core 7 155U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $529.99 ~~$899.99~~ (save $370)
HP Pavilion Plus 14-ey0047nr (AMD Ryzen 5 7540U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $619.99 ~~$999.99~~ (save $380)
Lenovo Slim 7i (Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $714.99 ~~$1,129.99~~ (save $415)
Dell Inspiron 16 5640 (Intel Core 7 150U, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $799.99 ~~$1,049.99~~ (save $250)
HP Envy 17t-da000 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $799.99 ~~$1,299.99~~ (save $500)
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge, 14-inch (Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 512GB eUFS) — $799.99 ~~$1,349.99~~ (save $550)
Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (AMD Ryzen 5 8645HS, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $849.99 ~~$1,219.99~~ (save $370)
HP OmniBook X 14-fe0097nr (Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $879.99 ~~$1,199.99~~ (save $320)
Asus Vivobook S15 (Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $899.99 ~~$1,099.99~~ (save $200)
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7640 (Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $899.99 ~~$1,099.99~~ (save $200)
Acer Swift X 14 (Intel Core i5-13500H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $899.99 ~~$1,099.99~~ (save $200)
Acer Swift X 16 (AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $999.99 ~~$1,249.99~~ (save $250)
Acer Swift Edge 16 (AMD Ryzen 7 8840U, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $999.99 ~~$1,299.99~~ (save $300)

2-in-1 laptops

Lenovo Yoga 7i, 16-inch (Intel Core Ultra 7 155U, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $749.99 ~~$1,049.99~~ (save $360)
HP Envy x360 16t-ac000 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $699.99 ~~$1,109.99~~ (save $410)
Microsoft Surface Pro (Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) + Keyboard Bundle — $999.99 ~~$1,349.99~~ (save $350)
Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 (AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $999.99 ~~$1,354.99~~ (save $355)

Gaming laptops

MSI Thin 15 (Intel Core i5-13420H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $649.99 ~~$899.99~~ (save $250)
Acer Nitro V 15 (Intel Core i7-13620H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $799.99 ~~$999.99~~ (save $200)
Dell G15 5535 (AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $799.99 ~~$1,049.99~~ (save $250)
HP Victus 16t-r100 (Intel Core i5-14450HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $899.99 ~~$1,299.99~~ (save $400)
Acer Nitro 16 (AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $999.99 ~~$1,399.99~~ (save $400)

Best laptop deal over $1,000

Credit: Microsoft

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, 13-inch (Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD)

$1,499 at Amazon and the Microsoft Store
$1,999.99 Save $500.99

Why we like it

Read Mashable's full review of the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop 7.

Combining a 23-hour battery life with M3 MacBook-beating performance, a sophisticated design, and some entertaining AI features, we think Microsoft's Copilot+ PC is the best laptop that launched this year. (It's another Mashable Choice Award winner, obviously). The higher-end model we tested came with a Snapdragon X Elite CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, and Amazon and the Microsoft Store still have it on sale at its record-low Black Friday price of $1,499 — a 25% discount. Other variants with lesser specs start at $899.99 (or $300 off).

Best Buy was matching that price at the time of writing, but only for paid My Best Buy members.