The Best Black Friday Laptop Deals of 2022, According to Our Expert

BLACK FRIDAY is one of the best times of the year to shop for tech—and to snag a great laptop at a bargain price. Some of the best deals are here now so early shoppers won’t want to miss out. What you’ll typically find are laptops with high-end specs like fast processors and big, bright screens at steeper than usual discounts.

Before clicking ‘buy’ and grabbing the first deal you see, take a few moments to decide how you’ll use your laptop. If all you’re doing is browsing the web and handling light word processing, then any laptop on our list should fit your needs. However, if you’re a gamer, the software you’ll use typically demands more expensive hardware than a basic laptop. Look for at least 16 gigabytes of RAM and at least a 15-inch screen. For those who watch lots of movies on their laptops, the screen size is also crucial. To view content comfortably, you’ll also want a screen of at least 15 inches.

Best Black Friday Laptop Deals

The Expert: I’m a technology journalist who’s written for dozens of publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Guardian. I’m also a laptop fanatic. I’ve owned more than a dozen laptops over the last decade, and I’m always on the hunt for the next best thing. My laptop is my constant companion. In fact, I’m writing this article on a 16-inch MacBook Pro M1. I generally prefer working on Macs, although I dabble in Windows just to keep things lively.

How We Evaluated Laptops

Choosing the right laptop can be a challenging experience as there are dozens of specifications to not only sort through but understand. Sometimes, it feels like you need to be a computer scientist just to figure out what manufacturers are talking about. Here’s the thing, though. The secret sauce is that you can ignore most of the hype. Almost any laptop currently on the market will be suitable for basic word processing and watching streaming videos. The gaming laptops on our list can handle all but the most demanding titles.

I spent more than a dozen hours sifting through specifications and reviews to write these reviews. I also own several laptops on this list, including Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4 and Go 2. I’ve spent lots of hands-on time with all the MacBooks I reviewed below and worked on the HP Envy x360 2-in-1.

Best Overall

Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

I own the Surface Laptop 4 and it’s my favorite portable, tied with the MacBook Pro (also included here in my recommendations). The Surface 4 is light, sleek, and fast enough to run nearly any program. The trackpad is responsive and accurate, qualities that can be hard to find in most Windows laptops. I also love the keyboard, which has just the right amount of feedback, yet is quiet enough for when you’re working in a library or open office space.

Best Portable Windows Laptop

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2