The Best January Laptop Deals on Expert Picks From Dell, HP, and More

What Are the Most Affordable Laptop Deals This Season?

Right now, the best deal in laptops overall is the $999 (retail price) 13-inch MacBook Air with M4 processor. Apple reduced the starting price by $100, so the M4 Air is now priced the same as the M2. That’s a considerable increase in value. However, the latest MacBook Air will have many rivals before the end of the year.

What’s the Best Low-Priced Laptop? 

PCMag’s current top-rated budget laptop is the Acer Aspire 3. Simple and effective, it’s priced competitively for a Ryzen 3 processor, a 128GB SSD, and a 15.6-inch 1080p display.

Which Laptop Is the Best (So Far) in 2025?

Laptops come in many flavors. Do you need a gaming PC? A portable, convertible 2-in-1? Maybe you’re a macOS fan. We have top-rated laptops in each category, but our top-rated overall laptops include the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Touch (UM3406), the Acer Aspire 3, and the Apple MacBook Air (2025, M4).

Which Is the Most Reliable Laptop to Buy?

Again, the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Touch (UM3406) is our current favorite among general-use Windows laptops. This laptop merges premium hardware and design with a competitive starting price, bringing capable computing power to more people than most flagship models. If you’re set on Apple, you can save money and still get a powerful, long-lasting laptop by picking up the M4-based MacBook Air 13-inch.

Is There a Best Time of Year to Buy a Laptop? 

Black Friday is typically the best time to buy electronics, but for laptops specifically, you can also shop around the Back-to-School season, which starts in July and usually sees price drops on laptops suited for students. If you’re looking to maximize your purchasing power, look at our 15 Money-Saving Tips for Laptop Buyers article.

Is $1,000 Enough for a Gaming Laptop? 

For as low as $700, you can get a budget laptop that will do a serviceable job at 1080p gaming while meeting the requirements for modern games. The Acer Nitro V 15 is our overall top pick, but our expert breaks down the best options for different gaming needs, so be sure to check out our Best Budget Gaming Laptops explainer.

Are 2-in-1 Laptops More Expensive?

2-in-1 laptops can be more expensive simply because, as the name suggests, you’re buying two devices in one: a laptop and a tablet. 2-in-1 laptops come in two formats: a convertible laptop, which is a one-piece machine, and a detachable tablet, which can divide into a tablet and keyboard. But it all depends on the model and the family, and how the laptop is configured. There are cheap 2-in-1s, just as there are expensive classic clamshell laptops that don’t convert into tablets.

What Is the Best Laptop Under $800? 

You can get a lot of computing power nowadays for under $800. In fact, our topmost laptop for most people, the Asus Zenbook Touch, comes in at $799.99, and the 2025 Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 was named the best budget Chromebook overall. Check out our complete list of Best Budget Laptop Picks for more configurations.

How Can I Buy Apple Laptops at a Cheaper Price? 

Retailers occasionally offer discounts on MacBooks, and students can take advantage of Apple education pricing on Apple.com. Our helpful buying guide will help you determine which model is best for you.

Which Is the Best Site for Buying a Laptop or Getting the Biggest Laptop Discounts During Prime Day or Cyber Monday?

The usual suspects when buying a laptop are Amazon and Best Buy, but you can often snag a deal at Newegg and Walmart, too, or direct from PC makers like Dell and HP. They all want your money, so they’ll often price-match each other if a rival is having a sale. Use a price comparison app to compare prices and read PCMag’s reviews to ensure you’re getting a deal.

Is Buying a Laptop From Costco Worth it?

We certainly think so. Costco offers competitive pricing, and many of its laptops include a two-year warranty, technical support, and a hassle-free 90-day return policy. 

Can I Get a Student Discount on a Laptop?

Yes, most but not every manufacturer provides student discounts. Here’s a list of the most popular laptop vendors that issue student discounts:

Acer
Apple
Asus
Dell
HP
Lenovo

Is Dell or HP Better? How Much Should You Pay for a Laptop?

In our Readers’ Choice: Best Laptop Brands series, we asked our readers which laptop brands they preferred, and the general consensus is that Dell is ahead of HP. However, you should take that with a grain of salt, as buying a laptop based on brand alone might cause you to miss out on hidden gems.

Laptop prices will range based on features. Basic but full-featured models can cost as little as $500, while gaming juggernauts can run you over $2,000. The most important factors to remember are the components and specs you need most, as the price range will determine what you’re getting—and what you’re sacrificing. For example, a low-budget laptop will have less storage space and RAM than a higher-priced laptop. It will be suitable for casual use, but only if you’re not multitasking or running CPU-demanding programs.

How Long Should My Laptop Last?

A computer can last a few years if you treat it well. This means using malware protection when browsing the web, using a dedicated surge protector to protect your hardware from electrical damage, managing battery health, and more. You can find longevity-boosting tips for your laptop at the link, too.

If you have battery life in mind, that generally varies based on usage. Laptops with 4K displays running demanding games that test the limits of your GPU will naturally drain more quickly than a laptop just used to surf the web, all else being equal. At PC Labs, we test battery life by playing a locally stored video file nonstop with no wireless connections active and at 50% screen brightness. This may not match your usage profile, but it is the best comparative measure for which system will provide longer battery life overall. More processor-intensive work will soak up battery life, so keep that in mind. Our test is something of a best-case scenario.

How Much Memory Should My Laptop Have?

That depends on what you need your laptop for and how you use it. (Are you seeing a trend here?) If you’re thinking about “memory” as “storage,” SSDs are the best and most common drive configuration, as they’re faster at accessing data, as well as secure against jolts and bumps in comparison with their classic hard drive counterparts.

Some older laptops (almost all of them used or refurbished models) you see on sale may still use hard drives, and some older large laptops even use a combination of the two, which is fine if you want to save money and maximize local storage space. That being said, the minimum amount of storage space most laptop buyers should consider is 256GB, and it should be an SSD. If you have lots of videos, photos, and the like, you’ll want at least 512GB. Gamers will want at least 1TB to accommodate the large file size of game titles.

Then there’s system memory (or RAM), which works alongside your CPU to run apps and determine your multitasking ability. 16GB is the sweet spot for most people, from multitaskers to PC gamers, but the more, the better—especially for faster performance and better multitasking.