These Are the Best Prime Day Laptop Deals This Year

You’ve gotta be careful buying random laptops on Amazon. There’s a lot of junk that masquerades as good deals, especially when you get under $500. Don’t fall for it though. Below, you’ll find the best Prime Day laptop deals on devices we’ve personally reviewed this year. More than ever, it’s possible to get an affordable computer you won’t instantly regret buying or a great discount on one you’ve had your eye on. Read our Best Prime Day Deals roundup or Prime Day Liveblog for more.

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Laptop Deals

The Best MacBook Deal

Yes, the MacBook Air M4 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is the top pick in our Best Laptops and Best MacBooks guides. But it’s also the laptop I find myself recommending to my friends and family most. There’s no other laptop under $1,000 that combines this balance of super-fast performance and a day’s worth of battery life, all in a chassis that is still the thinnest in the game. It even comes with 16 GB of RAM, though you may want to jump up to 512 GB of storage. Even with how much Apple charges to increase storage, it’s well worth it given how cheap it is right now.

A Reliable Surface Laptop

When I first reviewed the Surface Laptop 13.8-inch, also known as the Surface Laptop 7th Edition, (7/10, WIRED Recommends), it automatically became my daily driver. My favorite feature of the laptop is the display. It’s sharp and fast (with its 120-Hz refresh rate), but it’s the 3:2 aspect ratio display that really sets it apart. It’s a taller screen, and I love being able to see more of my work vertically. More than that, in its latest version, it finally gets great performance and battery life thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Pro (or even better, Elite) chips. There’s also a newer, more affordable model (confusingly, called the Surface Laptop 13), but it doesn’t have a lot of the features I like most about the 13.8-inch model.

A Surprisingly Affordable Windows Laptop

Photograph: Luke Larsen

Asus

Vivobook 14 (X1407QA)

It’s hard to come by an affordable Windows laptop that isn’t awful. I’m always on the lookout, though, and this one is the best one I’ve reviewed in the past year. It’s not without its compromises, such as the quality of the display (the colors are a bit off), but that’s to be expected. What you get is some great performance and battery life for the money, something the Snapdragon X provides. Those are things cheap Windows laptops in the past severely underdelivered in, but for the first time, that’s changing. The Asus Vivobook 14 (6/10, WIRED Recommends) is the best example of that so far, and that’s even more impressive at this discounted price.

A Sensible Chromebook Plus

Photograph: Best Buy

If you’re coming to Prime Day looking for something dirt cheap, I’ve got one for you. Yes, this device is a Chromebook, but as a “Chromebook Plus” model, it’s a big step up from the reputation these laptops have when kids are introduced to them in schools. The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 comes with a 1080p display, a spacious 15.6-inch display, and an Intel Core i3 processor. The screen isn’t a touchscreen, but there’s good port selection and decent speakers. For the price, it’s a really strong machine if your needs aren’t high.

A Killer Deal on a Tiny Laptop

Photograph: Daniel Thorp-Lancaster

Lenovo

Chromebook Duet Gen 9 (11 Inch, MediaTek)

Want a tiny laptop you can take anywhere? If you’re OK working within the confines of a Chromebook, then Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet is a must-have and a steal at this price. The 11-inch LCD is compact, and the trackpad and keyboard can feel cramped, but the overall build quality is great, the display is vivid, and performance is snappy.

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