The 10 Best Back-To-School Laptop Deals: Time Is Running Out on Saving Big Bucks
It's only a matter of days before students head back to the classroom, but if you haven't wrapped up your back-to-school shopping , deals are still available on laptops at a wide range of prices and loadouts. Late August is one of the best times to shop for portable PCs, as retailers move a lot of product and drop sticker prices to compete for the business.
We've extensively tested laptops that excel in the classroom, from ultra-budget Chromebooks to powerhouse MacBook portables, and used price comparison apps to find the best deals on each. To learn more about what we look for in an education-focused laptop, check out our extensive rundown of the best laptops for college students . I'll keep adding new deals as they pop up, but don't wait much longer.
Apple MacBook Neo Back-to-School Deal
Apple's MacBook line has long been the gold standard for luxe laptops, with sleek industrial design and competitive performance. They're not cheap, though, which is why the introduction of the MacBook Neo earlier this year was such a seismic event. A budget-priced MacBook is a tough order, but this is a very capable machine that we thoroughly tested in our review . The verdict: Editors' Choice-winning productivity speeds, graphics performance, and display quality. It redefines what a budget laptop can be. Other retailers have this base model on sale for the full $699 retail price, but buying directly from Apple can save you $100 if you qualify for the educational pricing.
Dell XPS 13 Back-to-School Deal
Other manufacturers aren't taking the MacBook Neo challenge lying down, though. Dell just unleashed its ultralight and budget-priced XPS 13 laptop on the market, and students and teachers can snag a $100 discount through its education program. While we haven't finished a full review of this model, we do have early impressions from the Computex trade show, where we noted that it's slimmer and lighter than the Neo at just 2.2 pounds, boasts a larger touch-enabled screen, and has a backlit keyboard. Under the hood, you get an Intel Core 5 processor from Intel's new Wildcat Lake platform that's more than enough for schoolwork and entertainment, and the newly designed compact charger makes it even more convenient.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Back-to-School Deal
If you're on a tight budget and need a can-do laptop that doesn't dazzle with performance power but still holds up, Lenovo's IdeaPad Slim 3i is a good choice at this price. We gave this portable a mixed review , loving its light weight, spacious keyboard and sizable screen but dinging it a few points for somewhat lackluster operating speed. That said, for everyday educational work, it'll get the job done. Port selection is solid, with multiple USB-C inputs, and connectivity features zippy Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth. Battery life is acceptable if not epic, and Lenovo's Rapid Charge Boost gives you two hours of operation on just 15 minutes of plugged-in time.
HP OmniBook 5 16 Back-to-School Deal
The advent of on-device AI in Windows 11 with Copilot spurred hardware makers to develop chips that are optimized for it, and Qualcomm was first out of the gate with the Snapdragon X Plus line. HP's OmniBook 5 laptop uses that chip to deliver speedy performance and impressive visuals. We have a review of the 14-inch version of this laptop, where we raved about its exceptional battery life and class-leading 2K OLED display with HDR video support. At just 2.98 pounds, it's light enough to carry from class to class all day, and the keyboard and touchpad are both comfortable and responsive. Amazon has this loadout on sale for 23% off right now, but we're not sure how long it will last at that price.
Asus Vivobook 17 Laptop Back-to-School Deal
If a big screen is essential for your student's course load, the Vivobook 17 is one of the best portables you can get for barely over $1,000. You can see how it squares up on our list of the best big-screen laptops , but the Cliffs Notes are easy to understand: a solid component loadout for classwork and homework, including a solid Intel Core 7 processor backstopped with 16GB of RAM and a full terabyte of storage. The 17-inch display is capped at just FHD, so you're not getting advanced resolution, but it's colorful and bright enough for late-night work. The ErgoSense keyboard has been tuned for optimal key bounce and is easy on the fingers, and a full-sized number pad makes data entry a breeze in the lab. The chassis is US MIL-STD 810H military-grade durability certified as well.
Apple MacBook Pro M4 Back-to-School Deal
If you've got a student that you really want to splurge on, there's no better high-end portable computer than Apple's spectacular MacBook Pro. This is the 2024 release, and in our review it easily earned an Editors' Choice award, with PCMag expert Joe Osbourne gushing that it was "a formidable content-creation laptop, with all-day battery life, a fantastic new display option, and Thunderbolt 5 connectivity complementing the powerful M4 Pro chip." Apple's trademark Retina display is bright, colorful, and power-efficient, and the addition of Center Stage webcam tech makes for videoconferencing where they look their best. It absolutely crushed our benchmarking tests, with blazing speed across a wide variety of both synthetic and real-world measurements. Snag a $400 price drop at Best Buy.
Acer Chromebook 315 Back-to-School Deal
Google's ChromeOS is a popular platform for educational use for several reasons. It's ultra-hardened against malware and viruses, which is handy for students who haven't mastered digital hygiene. It also squeezes impressive results out of less-than-current silicon, making Chromebooks more affordable than Windows or Mac machines.
One of the best deals on the market is the Acer Chromebook 315, which will handle the vast majority of schoolwork without breaking a sweat. We have an extensive review where we break down its strong points, including its full-size keyboard and number pad, responsive OceanGlass touchpad, and good port selection. For barely over $200, it's the best budget pick out there.
Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Laptop Back-to-School Deal
Lenovo's ThinkPad line is targeted at business professionals, so if your student is majoring in finance or another career-oriented subject, get them into the vibe earlier with a nice discount on a well-apportioned portable. We've tested dozens of these machines, and they consistently deliver solid performance and great build quality at a reasonable price. This is the third generation of this particular model, and while we haven't taken it into the lab yet, we do have an extensive review of the first-generation ThinkPad E16, noting that it didn't reinvent the wheel, but hit all of the expected marks with ease and boasted an attractive 16-inch 1200p display. Grab one for 29% off at Amazon.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Back-to-School Deal
We were already impressed by the efficiency and productivity power of Microsoft's Surface laptops, but a recent upgrade to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Plus CPUs has rocketed them into a new era of performance and battery life. The ARM-based processor is tuned for compatibility with Windows 11's Copilot AI, with the new Qualcomm Hexagon NPU offering up to 80 TOPS of local AI performance for real-time image processing, text translation, and more. The chassis looks gorgeous too, with an all-metal build in a "dune" finish, and it weighs just three pounds. We haven't taken this latest version into the labs yet, but the most recent Surface Laptop we reviewed dazzled us with style and usability.
HP OmniBook X Back-to-School Deal
Let's close out with a nice price on a big-screen laptop with lots of curb appeal. HP's OmniBook X is a productivity-focused portable with a lightweight and attractive metal build, full-sized keyboard and number pad, and speedy Intel Core Ultra 7 processor. We reviewed the 14-inch version of this laptop and liked it quite a bit, praising its power efficiency and plethora of ports. This build is estimated to run for 25 hours straight on a single charge, which should get your student through even the longest lecture. It also charges at lightning speed, going from an empty tank to 50% in just 45 minutes. We are a little disappointed that the touchscreen maxes out at FHD resolution, but that's a pretty minor quibble on the whole.
Want to save even more on tech for students, teachers, and everybody else? Our deals page gets straight As.
PCMag and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.
