The first day of Amazon Prime Day deals is coming to an end, but many of the best discounts are still in stock. If you’ve been waiting for the big 2020 fall sales to find a cheap MacBook Air or a discounted Microsoft Surface laptop, now is the time to make your move before Black Friday sales arrive late next month.
We’ve already done the legwork for you in rounding up all of the best laptop deals going on right now on everything from cheap Chromebooks to beefy gaming laptops (and everything else, too). Be sure to bookmark this page and check back regularly, as we’ll be updating this list over the next few days with the latest and greatest deals from Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, Dell, and other retailers — and remember, most of these bargains aren’t exclusive to Prime members.
Today’s best Prime Day laptop deals
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Kano PC 11.6″ Touch-Screen Laptop & Tablet (4GB Memory – 64GB Storage)
— $230, was $300 -
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14-Inch 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop
— $620, was $730 -
Samsung Galaxy Book S (Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD)
— $800, was $950 -
Acer TravelMate P6 14-inch Laptop (Intel i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD)
— $821, was $1,150 -
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage)
— $850, was $999 -
Acer Spin 5 2K Convertible Laptop (Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD)
— $900, was $1,100 -
Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 (Core i7 CPU, RTX 2070 Super GPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD)
— $1,869, was $2,200
How to shop for a new laptop in 2020
The best laptops aren’t small purchases, and considering that we use our computers almost every day for work, shopping, learning, entertainment, and staying in touch with friends and loved ones, you certainly want to find one that meets your needs (although Amazon’s generous return policy helps to ensure you don’t get stuck with a laptop that’s a bad fit). When you’re shopping through the Prime Day laptop deals, don’t get too excited and jump on the first one you see that catches your eye and meets your budget; do some research before the sale starts to narrow down the field a bit and dial-in the specific features and specs you’re looking for.
Laptops obviously dominate the modern PC market, and in 2020, you’ve got quite a few more designs to choose from than you did even five years ago. Along with traditional laptops, you’ll also see featherweight ultrabooks, 2-in-1 convertibles, gaming laptops, MacBooks, and Chromebooks among the many types of laptops out there today. On top of that variety, there are a bunch of different specifications and features to sort through — CPUs, RAM, storage space, display sizes and resolutions, graphics processors — all of these are important considerations when determining what sort of laptop suits your own needs best.
If you’re like most people, then a standard laptop may be enough to meet your requirements, but you’ll want to make sure you get one that has relatively recent hardware: We recommend 9th- and 10th-gen Intel Core or AMD Ryzen CPUs, along with at least 8GB of RAM and preferably a solid-state drive. For things like gaming and video editing, you’ll also want to look for Prime Day laptop deals on PCs featuring discrete graphics cards like the newer Nvidia GTX 16- and 30-series (the older 10-series GeForce GPUs are a little long in the tooth in 2020, although the 20-series still hold up relatively well).
If you want something a little more bleeding-edge, then you may want to consider a 2-in-1 laptop or even a traditional design that implements a touchscreen. This gives you a little more versatility than a standard laptop, and a 2-in-1 convertible with a fold-flat touch display (especially one that includes its own stylus so you don’t have to purchase one separately) is an especially good choice for artists and graphic designers.
It’s important to set your budget and figure out what sort of laptop you want (maybe even pick out a few specific models you really like) before the sale so that you won’t miss out on that perfect bargain by hesitating too long. Even if the product page shows that you have plenty of time left, these Prime Day laptop deals usually sell out well before that time limit — but be sure to do some quick price comparisons with other websites to make sure it’s actually a good discount. If its an official Prime Day deal offered by Amazon and not a third-party seller, however, you can usually be certain that it’s a worthwhile pick.
Are any Prime Day laptop deals too good to be true?
With all sorts of brands seeing discounts during Prime Day, there are a few things every shopper should keep in mind. Always do your research prior to the event so you know what you’re looking for and don’t feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of Prime Day laptop deals. Also, always buy your new laptop from a brand you know and stay away from any off-brand products popping up in your feed. Check laptop reviews and ratings if it’s a brand you’ve never heard of before, especially when it comes to laptop accessories. Always trust your gut: If a deal looks suspicious, stay far away from it.
Should I shop on Prime Day or wait until Black Friday?
Popular laptops like Chromebooks are always in demand and run out of stock really quickly. Because Prime Day and Black Friday are only a month apart from each other this year, there’s a strong chance that most of your top choices won’t get a restock in time. We also don’t predict these products seeing a bigger discount on Black Friday or Cyber Monday compared to Prime Day. So if you’re on the lookout for a new and affordable laptop, these Prime Day laptop deals are probably your best bet.
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