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Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it’s over.
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Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
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Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
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Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
Black Friday is generally a great time to buy tech, and laptops are frequent highlight items during doorbuster sales. But there are so many deals (and “deals”) right now that it can be hard to know which ones are worth buying and which might be a little misleading. Luckily, I review laptops for a living, and I’ve narrowed down my favorite Black Friday laptop deals for you, whether you’re looking for a productivity machine, a gaming buddy, or just a cheap little clamshell to go online with.
Best thin and light laptops
$749.00
at Amazon
Save $250.00
$749.00
at Amazon
Save $250.00
$1,399.99
at Amazon
Save $199.01
$1,399.99
at Amazon
Save $199.01
$749.99
at Amazon
Save $450.00
$749.99
at Amazon
Save $450.00
$799.99
at Dell
Save $449.01
$799.99
at Dell
Save $449.01
Productivity laptops are going to be some of the most common sales you’ll see this Black Friday, especially if you’re looking at premium, thin, and light devices.
Apple laptops
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Almost every MacBook Air is on sale, for instance, starting at $749 for the most recent model, with the M4 chip. This deal will net you 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which should be enough for light use. Or, you could bump up to the 24 GB RAM/512GB storage MacBook Air for $1,149.
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If you need more power and a built-in fan, the M5 MacBook Pro starts at $1,399 this Black Friday, which will net you 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. There are plenty of models of this laptop available, you could get the model with an M4 Max chip, 48GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage for $3,499. Don’t worry—it’s actually more powerful than the M5, even if it sounds weaker. It’s just that Apple has yet to release an M5 Max chip.
Windows laptops
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If Windows is more your thing, you could opt for Microsoft’s take on the MacBook, with the Microsoft Surface Laptop. This starts at $750, although there are currently two models selling for that price point, the 2024 one and the 2025 one. My pick is actually the 2024 one, as it’s mostly identical, but the CPU has slightly more cores. Speaking of, this laptop has a Snapdragon X Plus chip, a touchscreen, and comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. That chip is actually somewhat unique against most other Windows laptops, as it’s built on mobile architecture, which means it sacrifices a bit on program compatibility but makes up for it on battery life.
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Finally, if you need a more traditional Windows laptop, the Dell 14 Plus is a solid choice. By default, it’s $799 and comes with a solid workhorse of a chip in the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, and packs a generous 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. There are numerous configuration options as well, although discounts vary on each.
Best gaming laptops
$1,199.99
at Best Buy
Save $500.00
$1,199.99
at Best Buy
Save $500.00
$649.99
at Best Buy
Save $450.00
$649.99
at Best Buy
Save $450.00
$1,899.99
at Best Buy
Save $600.00
$1,899.99
at Best Buy
Save $600.00
Gaming laptop deals are a bit more rare on Black Friday, mostly because there are so many options out there that you can’t necessarily expect the one you want to be on sale, or for those that are to come with the most attractive specs. However, I’ve found a few compelling options this Black Friday, across a number of price points.
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Starting on the low end of the spectrum, there’s the Lenovo LOQ, which is on sale at Best Buy for $650. This comes with an entry level RTX 5050 graphics card, a strong enough Intel Core i5-13450HX chip, and the standard budget gaming loadout of 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The screen is also a simply 1,920 x 1,080, but given that this is meant more for lightweight games, that shouldn’t be an issue. It’s a good choice if you mostly play smaller indie games, or competitive games like Fortnite, which tend to optimize for users with all types of machines.
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If you want a more middle-of-the-road option, try the Asus TUF Gaming A16, which is $1,200 at Best Buy. This will bump you up to an AMD Ryzen 9 chip, an RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 1,920 x 1,200 screen. It should be able to play most AAA titles, assuming you’re willing to play with settings on some of the more demanding titles.
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Finally, if you want to splurge a bit, there’s the MSI Vector 16 HX AI 400 for $1,900 at Best Buy. Mouthful of a name aside, this is actually one of the cheaper ways to get the high-end RTX 5080 laptop this Black Friday. It packs an Intel Core Ultra 9-275HX chip, an RTX 5080 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Yes, that amount of RAM is technically a little lower than on the TUF, but the screen is a higher resolution at 2,560 x 1,600, and 16GB should still be enough to run pretty much any game in combination with the rest of this machine’s specs.
Best budget laptops
$299.99
at Amazon
Save $130.00
$299.99
at Amazon
Save $130.00
$282.16
at Amazon
Save $68.34
$282.16
at Amazon
Save $68.34
$274.99
at StackSocial
Save $744.99
$274.99
at StackSocial
Save $744.99
Finally, you can also find a good deal on a budget laptop if all you want is a reliable machine to use for light work and going online. While I’ve previously written about why you should be skeptical of cheap laptops during Black Friday, there are still budget machines out there worth buying. (Most of them are Chromebooks, but I do have at least one Windows option for you as well.)
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Starting off with a general option that should work well for just about everyone, there’s the $300 Acer Chromebook Plus 515. This comes with an Intel Core i3-1305U chip, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Those humble specs are enough to qualify it for Chromebook Plus verification, unlocking a few extra AI features, and should be enough for the web-based applications Chromebooks specialize in.
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If you want your Chromebook to be able to moonlight as a tablet, you could instead opt for the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i, which is $282. You’ll lose out on those minor Chromebook Plus AI bonuses, but you’ll gain the ability to convert the screen between laptop mode and tablet mode. It’s also a little weaker than the Chromebook Plus 515, with an Intel Pentium N6000 chip, but its 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage mean it should still be up to web-based tasks.
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Finally, if you must get a budget Windows laptop, StackSocial’s $275 Dell Latitude 7410 deal is surprisingly good. With an Intel Core i5-10310U chip, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, you’ll get a decent amount of processing power for the price, even if that chip is a little old. Plus, you’ll get a digital code for Microsoft Office Pro 2021 thrown in. The catch is that it’s refurbished, but you can’t do much better for a Windows machine below $300.
Does Apple do Black Friday?
Yes, Apple participates in Black Friday, though you may want to compare their sales with other retailers like Best Buy and Walmart. Apple is offering an exclusive $250 gift card for eligible purchases, but so far, the best Black Friday sale on an Apple product is the M4 MacBook on sale for cheaper than ever.
Does Amazon have Black Friday deals?
Yes, Amazon has Black Friday sales, but prices aren’t always what they seem. Use a price tracker to make sure you’re getting the best deal, or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you. And if you have an Amazon Prime membership, make the most of it.
What stores have the best sales on Black Friday?
Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers who can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog.
Shark AI Ultra Matrix Clean Mapping Voice Control Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty Base
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$249.99
(List Price $599.00)