Best Prime Day laptop deals: Save hundreds on MacBooks, Chromebooks and more

If you feel like doing some shopping, even though Amazon’s Prime Day is off for a few days in October, there are plenty of deals to be had. That includes some limited-time offers on laptops from Apple, Samsung, LG, HP and more.

Amazon is the star of the show, but competitors like Best Buy and Walmart are joining in with exclusive sales of their own. This is a great opportunity to upgrade your old laptop now or give one as a gift holiday season. Act quickly as these types of deals can be volatile. If you don’t have a laptop in mind yet, check out our expert laptop reviews to find the right product for you.

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Several Apple MacBook models are already discounted on Amazon. The 13-inch MacBook Air M3 with 8 GB of unified memory is currently available on sale for $999a savings of $100. The slightly larger MacBook Pro with higher performance and 11-core CPU is $300 off, available now for $1,699.

It’s worth noting that some Amazon deals are exclusive to First members. Make sure you are logged into your account to see the lowest prices. That said, non-Prime subscribers can still take advantage of the sale, as the Amazon Prime Day event serves as the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

Want to save even more on Prime Day? You can earn a $150 Amazon gift card immediately after Prime Visa card approval.

If you’re looking for a laptop deal outside of Amazon, check out Walmart’s Anti-Prime Day sale. One of the best laptop deals out there is at save $300 on an HP FHD gaming laptop, a great device for college or as a top-level gaming computer.

Best early Prime Day laptop deals

Get the lowest price yet on Apple’s M1 MacBook Air. Even though it’s a few years old now, this Air is still powerful enough for most people and a super affordable way to fit a silicon-powered Apple machine in your bag. In our collection of the best laptops of 2024our editors selected this model as the best laptop for students.

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While not the most recent model, this 2022 version still has a powerful M2 chip and gives you many of the great specs of the M3 at a lower price.

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This 13-inch MacBook Air has an M3 chip, 8 GB of memory and a 256 GB SSD drive. The MacBook Air M3 was chosen as the best laptop in our overview best laptops of 2024. It is currently listed on Amazon for $999, a discount of $100. There are multiple colors available at this price.

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With the lightning-fast M3 chip and Liquid Retina

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In their roundup of the best laptops for college, our CNET review team experts Matt Elliott and Joshua Goldman called the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 the “best Chromebook to last for years.” It’s versatile, with a touchscreen and hinge, and durable. And right now, Best Buy has taken $170 off the price.

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More early Prime Day laptop deals:

• Acer Aspire A315 Slim 15-inch Laptop: $300 (Save $22). The thinnest and lightest laptop in the Acer Aspire range, the A315 offers a Full HD display and an improved thermal system.
• Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3: $732 (Save $68). Weighing less than 3 pounds, this 12-inch touchscreen laptop is ultra-portable.
• HP Stream 14-inch Laptop: $199 (Save $30). Score a basic laptop with decent specs for under $200. It comes with a free 12-month subscription to Microsoft 365. The Rose and Royal Blue models retail for $199, while Silver is currently available for $185 .
• Samsung 14-inch Galaxy Book4 Pro: $1,150 (save $300). A high-end laptop that feels more portable.
• HP Specter x360: $1,200 (save $400). Our editor’s choice as the best convertible laptop of 2024.
• LG Gram 14-inch Laptop: $999 (Save $100). A lightweight laptop focused on productivity.
• HP Pavillion Plus 14-inch Laptop: $1,097 (Save $203). Specifications designed for multitasking.
• Apple MacBook Pro M3 16-inch: $1,999 (save $500). The largest screen and the most powerful processor.
• HP Envy x360 2-in-1 Laptop: $800 (Save $250). Switch from laptop to tablet without losing processor, speed or graphics.
• Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 gaming laptop: $1,500 (save $399). High-quality graphics for creators and game types.
• Acer Swift Go 16: $800 (save $250). A mid-range multifunctional laptop for work, school and more.
• HP 17.3-inch FHD Laptop: $500 (Save $100). A generous screen that makes it easier to dispose of the monitor.

Is Prime Day the Best Time to Buy a Laptop?

Prime Day offers a huge range of products on sale, including laptops. However, you don’t have to limit yourself to Amazon for great deals. Oftentimes, retail outlets like Best Buy offer incredibly competitive prices during Prime Day events like the Prime Big Deal Days sale.

We also see Walmart doing the same. In general, Prime Day is a good time to buy a laptop at a discount, although Black Friday tends to offer the very lowest prices if you can hold out until later in the holiday shopping season. Of course, stock is usually more limited, so plan ahead in both cases.

Should I buy a Chromebook or a laptop?

Chromebooks are a budget-friendly option that may appeal to students looking for a cheaper laptop for college. They work well with basic functions like web browsing and essay writing, but don’t have all the features of a normal laptop. The biggest difference is that Chromebooks run Google’s Chrome operating system, unlike the Windows or MacOS systems you might be used to on a laptop. This operating system is a bit more limited and many software programs are not natively compatible with it.

Ultimately, the best choice will depend on your needs and budget. If you’re a student looking for the cheapest option to handle some homework and browsing, a Chromebook can be a good choice. If you need a laptop for gaming, video editing, or professional use, you may be better off spending a little more for a standard laptop. Be sure to read up on the differences between Chromebooks and laptops before you decide to buy one.

When is Amazon October Prime Day 2024?

In 2024, Amazon’s Prime Day event in October, officially called Prime Big Deals Days, is often referred to as October Prime Day. It takes place on October 8 and 9.

Are Prime Day deals only for Prime members?

Yes, Amazon’s Prime Deal Days sale requires a Prime subscription if you want to grab one of the exclusive Prime deals. You don’t have to pay subscriber, as long as the event is within your Prime trial period. That means you can start your one-month trial right before the event and take advantage of the savings for free. For more information on this, check out our guide to getting Amazon Prime benefits without paying for a subscription.

How does CNET select October’s best Prime Day deals?

Our team of expert shoppers has spent years helping buyers understand which big sales and deals are legitimately good and which are more routine. That includes Black Friday, Prime Day, Memorial Day and countless other shopping events. We’ve gotten really good at weeding out scams and superficial deals on all kinds of tech, so you only see the best deals on laptops, tablets and other devices.

At CNET we look for real discounts, quality ratings and remaining sales time when choosing a deal to show you.

• Real discounts mean exactly that. We look at the price history of that product to ensure that no manufacturer is inflating prices to make the discount appear more substantial than it is.
• Quality ratings are important for any product, but especially for deeply discounted items. If you don’t get enough mileage out of the unit you buy, the discount wasn’t worth it.
• The remaining sales time is a large part of our control process. If a deal is likely to be short-lived or limited to remaining stock, we will let you know in advance. So you won’t be disappointed if you come back later and find the deal has been discontinued.