This story is part of Holiday Gift Guide 2021, our list of ideas, by topic, by recipient and by price, to help you discover the perfect gift.
Black Friday has turned to Cyber Monday, and there deep discounts available on laptops from Apple, Dell, Lenovo and others — including the biggest price break we’ve seen yet on Apple’s new 14-inch MacBook Pro.
If you’re due for a laptop upgrade, check out the options below, which are regularly updated as sales expire and new deals emerge.
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The new 14-inch MacBook Pro uses Apple’s new M1 Pro processor and features 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB solid-state drive. The Touch Bar is gone, which is a net positive, and MagSafe charging, an HDMI port and an SD card slot are back. The webcam gets a bump up to 1080p resolution for your Zoom calls. The 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display features a 3,024×1,964-pixel resolution. The biggest discount we’ve seen before Cyber Monday was $50 off at Amazon, but you can save $200 right now on the baseline model at Adorama. It’s on backorder at the moment, but you can lock in the sale price of $1,799 if you’re willing to wait until stock returns.
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We often call the MacBook Air the most universally useful laptop you can buy. The latest version swaps out Intel CPUs with Apple’s own M1 chip, but it’ll be a transparent transition for most. After all, MacBook Air users are usually looking for a sleek, reasonably priced machine that just works. The system is also finally truly fanless, replacing the cooling fans with an aluminum heat spreader inside, as well as taking advantage of the highly efficient M1 chip. For a base price of $999, and often on sale for at least $100 less, it’s a great value, considering these tank-like laptops can last for years. Right now, though, you can get it for $100 off or the 512GB version for $150 off.
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Razer packed a lot of performance into its tiny Blade Stealth 13 gaming laptop. This thing is built around a beautiful, color-accurate, 13.3-inch, 1080p OLED display. Inside there’s a high-power Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q discrete graphics, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. It’s a fantastic option for mobile gaming and content creation.
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Acer knows how to put together good laptops at low prices. The Aspire 5 is one of my favorites for the home that’s also portable enough for the occasional trip. It’s a 15.6-inch laptop but it’s thin and light. Inside this model you’ll get an 11th-gen Intel Core i7, 12GB of memory, a 512GB NVMe SSD and integrated Iris Xe graphics. What’s nice is you get the ports most thin laptops leave off, such as HDMI output for an external display and Gigabit Ethernet.
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The G14 is one of the best gaming laptops you can get that’s small but still has strong gaming performance. This configuration direct from Asus features an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS CPU paired with a 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics chip, 16GB of memory and a 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD. You also get a fast 120Hz 1080p 14-inch display for smoother gaming graphics.
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Co-engineered by Samsung and Intel, this premium Intel Evo two-in-one boasts a 13.3-inch AMOLED display powered by an 11th-gen Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. It includes Samsung’s S Pen for drawing and jotting down notes, and the Galaxy Book Pro works seamlessly with Galaxy phones.
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Lenovo’s latest premium two-in-one convertible delivers the Intel Evo platform inside a thin yet durable all-metal chassis. This discounted model features an 11th-gen Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, Intel Iris Xe graphics and a 512GB SSD. A leather lid helps protect the 14-inch touchscreen, which boasts a 4K resolution and can be tapped and drawn on with the included active pen.
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This Lenovo 13-inch Chromebook two-in-one is a great option if you need a Chromebook for all-day use in a travel-friendly size. It has a full HD display as well as excellent performance and battery life for the money, thanks to an Intel Core i3-10110U processor, 4GB RAM and a 64GB solid-state drive. The Lenovo Flex is not a great Chromebook choice for outdoor use, since the display is pretty dim. For only $326, though, it’s an acceptable sacrifice.
However, if you can afford a bit more — and you’re a Costco member — this model was updated for 2021 with Intel’s 11th-gen Core i3 processor but still has great battery life at nearly 11 hours. Now called the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook, it’s only $350 until Dec. 24. Lenovo also added a privacy shutter on the webcam so you can physically block it when it’s not in use.
Read our Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook review.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/best-black-friday-2021-laptop-deals/