The best deals we could find from Apple, Acer and more

The latest MacBook Air Apple’s M3 chip is down to $1,249 for a configuration with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. That’s a new low, about $150 below the laptop’s typical street price in recent months and $250 below Apple’s list price. Be sure to clip the $50 coupon on the page to see the full discount at checkout.

The M3 won the MacBook Air 90 points it’s the best overall recommendation in our review earlier this year and now in our best laptops guide. It ticks almost all the boxes for those who prefer macOS over Windows: a thin and high-quality chassis, a comfortable keyboard and trackpad, a sharp and color-accurate screen, enough battery life to get through a typical workday, good speakers, and fast performance for most things people do with laptops. It is capable of playing more engaging games, although often at lower settings. This newest model can also power two external displays, but only when its cover is closed. We’d still like to see more than two USB-C ports, and things can still get a little hot, especially with heavy workloads. But for most people in the general laptop market, it’s hard to do better.

If you just need a laptop for the basics, base model The M3 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD is on sale for $849 after the coupon on the page. That’s $150 off the device’s regular price on Amazon and another new low.

This version has most of the aforementioned strengths, but if you multitask with any regularity, it will start to falter. If your budget allows, we recommend getting the higher-spec model; you need to stand up better in both the short and long term.

The 15 inch version And the MacBook Air is on sale for a new low price of $1,449 after a $50 coupon. That’s $250 below Apple’s list price and about $150 below the model’s average street price over the past few months. This discount applies to the configuration with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD.

If you can live with less storage and memory, base model it sells here for $1,049. This is another new low.

The larger Air is almost identical to the 13-inch model with the same chip and port selection, but it has a larger screen and a slightly larger speaker system. If you’re willing to trade some portability for a better media editing or video streaming experience, it might be worth the extra cost. we gave a review score 90 back in March.

The latest generation MacBook Air With the Apple M2 chip not a dramatic decline from the newest model, so if you only want a MacBook for occasional tasks, it might be a better value. It’s now down to $799 for the 13-inch model with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, which is its lowest price ever and $50 less than the street price we’ve seen on Amazon for the past few months. That’s $200 cheaper than buying directly from Apple. A Version with 512 GB storage is also $200 off $999.

We gave it to the M2 MacBook Air review score 96 When it arrives in mid-2022. Its hardware is virtually identical to the M3 model, so you still get a sleek design with a comfortable keyboard, bright screen and long battery life. Its chip is a little less powerful, especially in terms of graphics performance, and it can’t handle two external displays. The memory drive on this M2 model is technically very slow Compared to the base M3 Air, it’s therefore less ideal if you plan to frequently transfer large, gigabyte-sized files. In general, we recommend doubling your memory and storage if possible. But if you’re on a tighter budget and don’t plan on pushing your laptop too hard, it’s a decent value.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro Apple’s M3 Pro chip, 18GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD are priced at $1,699. This deal has technically been live for a few weeks, but it’s still the lowest price we’ve seen, and that’s $100 less than the notebook’s regular price on Amazon. Apple normally sells this configuration for $1,999.

The latest MacBook Pros are more laptops than most people need, but they’re for media editors, 3D designers, or other professional types willing to trade the elegance of a MacBook Air for more power, a richer and faster mini-LED display, and extras. should be useful. ports. They’re heavier—this 14-inch version checks in at 3.5 pounds—but they’re still pretty well built and can handle any workload you throw at them. We have provided both 14 and 16 inch versions review score 90 end of last year. Note that we specifically recommend configurations with the M3 Pro (or M3 Max) chip; there’s a lower-cost 14-inch model that uses the standard M3, but that’s hard to justify with the Air.

With all these MacBook deals, it’s important to remember that Apple has already released its own product the new M4 series chips, so it’s only a matter of time before we see updated Macs. According to a report from earlier this year BloombergIt’s Mark Gurman, the new MacBook Pros could arrive in late 2024 or early 2025, while the new MacBook Airs could arrive in the spring of next year. If you’re not in a rush to buy a new Pro, it might be worth the wait. But the current models aren’t slowing down anytime soon, so these are still solid offers if you’re looking to upgrade now.

One version Acer Aspire 5 15 Slim It’s down to $450 for Prime Day with a 15.6-inch 1080p display, an Intel Core i5-13420H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. That’s $80 off the standard price of this model and the lowest historical price we can find.

Full disclosure: We haven’t reviewed this particular option, but it’s an improved version of the top pick in our guide. cheapest windows laptops. Don’t expect a particularly vivid display or premium hardware (it’s mostly plastic), but we’ve seen the Aspire 5 line produce quite well in the past, and the internals here should provide solid performance for everyday fare. You also discard a protective lever. While it’s hard to get excited about any budget laptop, if you can’t go beyond $500, this should be fine.

The biggest potential deal breaker with this configuration is its lack of a USB-C port; instead, it uses a DC jack alongside two USB-A ports and an HDMI port. If you need it, another Aspire 5 variant It looks good for $570 with an Intel Core i7-1355U processor. That’s about a $180 discount. This model also includes a 1080p webcam and Wi-Fi 6E support, while the cheaper version is limited to a 720p camera and Wi-Fi 6. However, you may have to put up with the pre-installed bloatware on both devices.

Let’s move on to gaming laptops Alienware m18 R2 It sells for $2,380 for a configuration with a 165Hz QHD+ (2560 x 1600) display, an Intel Core i9-14900HX chip, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPU. It’s not cheap, but it’s $420 off the device’s standard price, and it’s the first major discount we’ve found for this model.

The M18 R2 is the 2024 version of the best 18-inch pick in our guide. best gaming laptops. As the phrase “18-inch gaming laptop” suggests, it’s a big boy, about 1.05 inches thick and weighing about nine pounds. When you combine it with a battery that lasts about 4-5 hours not game, it’s more of a desktop replacement than something truly portable. It is well built as it is with a solid aluminum case, a smooth hinge and a wide selection of ports. Most importantly, it can easily run modern AAA games at higher settings at 1080p or 1440p. Its storage and memory can also be upgraded by the user, although the screen could be a little brighter. Just note that this configuration has a membrane keyboard — Dell also sells it one version with low-profile mechanical switches – and like most laptops in this class, it can run quite hot and loud under stress.

If you want to spend a little less, another configuration It sells for $1,880 with a Core i7-14700HX chip, 16GB of RAM, and an RTX 4070 GPU. That’s an all-time low and nearly $385 below the device’s recent average street price. This version will have a harder time with a more demanding rate than the 4080 model, especially when playing at 1440p. So, you may need to lower the graphics settings in certain games to achieve consistently high frame rates. It technically has fewer memory upgrade slots.

The Razer Blade 15 It sells for $1,600 with an Intel Core i7-13800H processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. This is the lowest price we’ve seen for this configuration, and it’s $100 less than its street price has been for the past few months. This model includes a 15.6-inch screen with a 16:9 diagonal, 1440p resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate.

The Blade 15 is the “premium” recommendation in our gaming laptop buying guide. It’s more than a year old now, and even with that discount, it’s not as valuable as our overall pick. ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, not part of the Amazon sale). Instead, you’ll get the Blade for its design, marked by clean lines and a solid, all-black aluminum finish. (This is a fingerprint magnet.)

This configuration is powerful enough to play modern AAA games at 1080p or 1440p – though the latter may require you to adjust settings in certain games to see very high frame rates – and comes with a healthy array of ports. You can also upgrade its storage and memory. It can get hot and the battery life isn’t great, but if you want a 15-inch gaming machine and care about the looks of your notebook, it’s at least a little more attractive at this price.

Several other Razer Blade models are also available, albeit not cheaply. One version 2024 Blade 14 With the Ryzen 9 8945HS chip and 32GB of RAM, for example, it’s a $200 discount, but that only brings it down to $2,500. The latest iteration Knife 16 And the 18-inch is “down” to $2,599 Knife 18 It still costs $2,800 after the Prime Day discount.