Entertainment Black Friday laptop deals 2022: what we expect
Black Friday laptop deals 2022: what we expect
Black Friday laptop deals 2021: Jump to…
Although Black Friday itself may be over, there are still a host of great laptop deals for you to get your hands on. Even in the face of the global silicon shortage that made supply dwindle around the world, retailers have still found a way to slash prices on all sorts of notebooks.
So almost a week later, whether you’re looking for a Chromebook or a MacBook, a Windows Tablet or an Ultrabook, we’re sure you can find an incredible deal on the laptop of your dreams.
If you’re new to the laptop buying game, we’ve even included some laptop buying advice so you can be sure you’re getting something that won’t let you down. So, keep us bookmarked and let us help you find the laptop of your dreams.
Black Friday laptop sales: quick links
In the US:
In the UK:
The best laptop deals live now
Black Friday 2022 may be nearly a year away, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t laptop deals out there right now. If you’re on the market for a new laptop, you can still save a pretty penny. And we went ahead and gathered up the best deals live right now.
Last year’s best Black Friday laptop deals in the US
Black Friday laptop deals (US): under $200
Black Friday laptop deals (US): $200 – $500
Black Friday laptop deals (US): over $500
Last year’s Black Friday laptop sales in the UK
The best Black Friday laptop deals in the UK
Black Friday laptop deals (UK): under £200
Black Friday laptop deals (UK): £200 – £500
Black Friday laptop deals (UK): over £500
Black Friday laptop deals: Our Predictions
With the new MacBook Pro featuring the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips up for sale, as well, we could be in line for some juicy price cuts on the first generation M1 Air and machines.
It’s also likely we’ll see the first major price cuts on gaming laptops with Nvidia RTX 3000 series graphics cards. These machines were newly released in early 2021, so by November they will be ripe for discounts. We won’t be focusing on them too much on this page, so definitely check out our guide to the best Black Friday gaming laptop deals for a deeper dive into those machines.
Is it really worth all this preparation? We think so. Last year, laptops were one of the top three most searched for products with “Black Friday” in the query (Semrush (opens in new tab)). Ecommerce sales in November and December reached a staggering $188billion for the first time, according to data from Adobe (opens in new tab), with $9 billion online sales happening on Black Friday alone.
With global ecommerce sales projected to increase 26.7 per cent year-on-year to $4.891 trillion in 2021 (Statista), we’re expecting more online laptop deals over Black Friday this year than ever before. But more people will be shopping for them than ever before, too.
When will the best Black Friday laptop deals start in 2021?
Black Friday falls on November 26, but we’re already seeing some juicy discounts on laptops ahead of that date. Traditionally the biggest discounts are released on the day itself, and while that’s still a good bet, in recent years we’ve seen laptop retailers increasingly launching their Black Friday pricing earlier, at the beginning of Thanksgiving week.
There are also always plenty of early discounts in the weeks leading up to the main event – some from as early as mid-late October. But the best deals happen in the week of Black Friday. And that’s a pattern we expect to see repeating again this year. (We’ll be rounding up all the best laptop Black Friday deals here, first, so bookmark this page and keep checking back.)
Last year, the trend towards earlier deals was even more pronounced thanks to the pandemic, with laptop pricing dropping slowly between late October and mid-November, before plummeting at the start of Thanksgiving week. It then stayed low into the first week of December.
That’s very different to how it used to be, when prices would drop sharply on the day itself and then quickly rise again. Retailers had an incentive to run their Black Friday laptop sales earlier last year, of course. According to data from Adobe Analytics (opens in new tab), the pandemic accelerated the shift to online shopping, with more than a 50% increase in 2020 compared to 2019. With many bricks and mortar stores closed, and more people than ever shopping online – plus with Covid-19 causing logistical challenges such as shipping delays – it made sense for retailers to spread the deals out.
Whether we see this year’s Black Friday laptop deals starting as early as last year, we don’t know, but our money’s on retailers looking to space their best offers out once again. As always, we recommend having your eyes peeled and checking this page from late October / early November just to be safe.
Where will the best Black Friday laptop deals be?
You’ll find all the best Black Friday laptop deals here, of course. However, some retailers are better than others for laptop discounts, and it can be helpful to know which online stores are good for what. We’ve listed the retailers we most recommend shopping at for laptop deals over Black Friday – they’re worth browsing in the run-up, to get a feel for pricing on any machines you’re interested in.
Top US retailers
Amazon: cheap Chromebooks and gaming laptops (opens in new tab)
Best Buy: powerful HP and Lenovo laptops often on sale (opens in new tab)
Dell: Inspiron laptops from $399 (opens in new tab)
HP: cheap HP Pavilion machines regularly discounted (opens in new tab)
Lenovo: business and gaming laptops from $500 (opens in new tab)
Walmart: laptop deals starting at $199 (opens in new tab)
Top UK retailers
Amazon: often the cheapest laptops in the UK (opens in new tab)
Argos: home delivery or pick up a cheap laptop locally today (opens in new tab)
Box: lots of value for money machines with top specs (opens in new tab)
Currys: free delivery, plus a wide selection of laptops (opens in new tab)
Dell: get a great laptop deal direct from Dell (opens in new tab)
John Lewis: extended warranties on premium laptops (opens in new tab)
Laptop Direct: independent retailer that has excellent deals (opens in new tab)
Tips for buying a laptop over Black Friday
What specs should I look for when buying a laptop on Black Friday?
When you’re browsing through Black Friday laptop deals, be aware that a lot of laptop manufacturers and retailers are trying to get rid of old stock. You’ll see a laptop deal that cuts a huge chunk off the original price, only to find that it has a processor that’s three years old. That’s not necessarily a deal-breaker – even with an Intel Core i7-8500U, you should be able to get some work done.
But keep in mind the current generations of laptop hardware. Intel processors should have either a 10 or an 11 in front of their model number – like the Intel Core i7-10710U. That said, 9th-generation processors should still be able to get the job done. Don’t buy an 8th-generation or older Intel Core processor unless it’s a seriously deep discount, though, because that will massively hurt any resale value the machine will have, plus can potentially mean sluggish performance, depending on what you use it for.
Things are fairly stable in the realm of Black Friday MacBook deals. Essentially, the biggest choice you’ll need to make is what size hard drive to go for. The smallest options are usually more than enough for general use but definitely look for an offer on the larger sizes that could double your storage for very little extra money.
Finally, a lot of Black Friday laptop deals will try to sell you a laptop without enough RAM. As a general rule of thumb, you should shoot for at least 8GB of RAM on a Windows laptop, and 16GB if you plan on doing any heavy work on it. If you’re buying a Black Friday Chromebook deal, you can get away with 4GB, but 8GB is definitely a boon.
What about Black Friday gaming laptop deals?
If you’re buying a gaming laptop, aim for one with a current-generation Nvidia GPU, too. The Nvidia GeForce 30-series graphics chips are the current top-end, and will let you power ray-tracing in games. However, there is the older RTX 2060, GTX 1660 Ti, and even cheaper GPUs like the GTX 1650, which will still happily chug along quite nicely at 1080p gaming, albeit at lower settings.
Some of the heftiest price cuts may be on machines with these specs, so they could be more than worth it – just remember they aren’t quite the latest models though. As with normal laptops, generous helpings on RAM and SSD capacities are also very useful for gaming laptops – especially if you’re planning on having multiple games installed at once. For more advice, take a look at our Black Friday gaming laptop deals page.
The 3 best laptops to look out for on Black Friday
The new Apple M1 MacBook Air is simply the best laptop Apple has ever made and the best laptop money can buy right now. The revolutionary ARM-based Apple M1 chip that powers the new MacBook Air is a stunning achievement. For your money, you’ll get a thin and light laptop with an incredible battery life that offers great performance – even with 4K video editing,
Prices for the MacBook Air have stabilised around the $900 / £900 mark over recent months, though it has dipped below this by $50 / £50 for short periods of time. With the newly launched MacBook Pro models featuring the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, we’re keeping an eye out for even bigger discounts on the our favorite laptop over Black Friday.
Read the full review: MacBook Air (M1, 2020)
It’s hard to find fault with the line of Dell XPS laptops. Year after year finds a place in our list of the best laptops – and it just keeps getting better. The Dell XPS 13 is a beautiful piece of kit, with a stunning display, terrific performance and long battery life.
In a number of Cyber sales leading up to Black Friday, we’ve seen Dell discount this machine by upwards of $200 / £250 depending on the spec. Keep a close eye on it as these savings should return in November as Dell promises any sales throughout the month are at Black Friday pricing levels.
Read the full review: Dell XPS 13 (2020)
The Asus VivoBook S15 is an ideal budget laptop as it boasts a thin and light design with great performance at an excellent price. For anyone who simply needs a mid-range laptop that won’t break the bank but doesn’t skimp on performance then this is a great choice.
We’ve seen this model discounted countless times over the last few months as we approach November. Expect it to feature strongly in a number of Black Friday sales from various retailers, with the hope that we see some of the biggest discounts yet.
Read the full review: Asus VivoBook S15
- This year’s Black Friday laptop deals have officially finished. Black Friday 2022 (opens in new tab) doesn’t start until November 25, but there are still plenty of discounts to be found now. We’ve got today’s lowest prices here, and we’re expecting more offers in the Boxing Day sales (opens in new tab) (or after Christmas sales (opens in new tab) if you’re in the US).Stay tuned for our pro predictions for the best Black Friday laptop deals in 2022 – they’ll be coming in the new year. In the meantime, here’s a recap of what happened this year…
https://www.zordis.com/black-friday/black-friday-laptop-deals
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