It's that time of the year. Amazon Prime Day is upon us, and with it, some of the best laptop deals of the year. I test laptops all year, so that when it comes to these big sales events, I can recommend devices I've personally tested. The last thing you want to do is make a spur-of-the-moment decision on a particularly cheap laptop that you'll regret in a week.
These are all fantastic laptops for their price, and in many cases, they're at significant discounts.
If you haven't found the deal you want yet, browse our roundup of the Absolute Best Prime Day Deals, or dip into our Amazon Prime Day live blog for real-time updates.
Apple
The prices of laptops in 2026 have been rising. But not the MacBook Air. Despite being the best overall laptop in its own right, it's also consistently been priced lower than the competition. This is the latest model with the M5 chip, which was launched earlier this year. At $900 over at Amazon, it's $200 off the retail price, which is as low as it's been. Most people are already familiar with the MacBook Air, and it hasn't changed much on the outside since 2022. But the 2026 model has two important upgrades: highly improved graphics performance thanks to the M5 chip, and also theg raphics performance thanks to the M5 chip, and also support for up to two external monitors.
There's also a much larger 15-inch model, which is every bit as thin and powerful. Other than the size difference, it comes with a clearer and bassier speaker setup that's on par with the MacBook Pro.
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Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
Microsoft
Not everyone wants a MacBook, and there are a number of understandable and necessary reasons for that. That's what the Surface Laptop has been so good at being since its launch in 2024. It's a bit thicker (though still quite portable), and at its current price, it's slightly more expensive too. But what you get in exchange is a superbly well-made device with great performance and battery life. The keyboard is top-notch, and the trackpad uses a haptic feedback engine, just like the MacBook Air. If you haven't used a Windows laptop in a while, you'll be blown away by how closely laptops like the Surface Laptop compare with the modern MacBook.
And in my experience, the Surface Laptop even has a couple of features that make it superior to the MacBook Air. The 3:2 aspect ratio of the display is glorious, which is my favorite feature. That taller screen size gives you more vertical space to work with, which I find both enjoyable while browsing the web and useful for work. It's true that the price has certainly increased over the past year, which is unfortunate. There's even a new (much more expensive) model that just became available with the Snapdragon X2. But if you're looking for a proper MacBook alternative that's around the same price, this is it.
Laptops under $750 have a bad reputation, and for the most part, they've earned it themselves. But there are some standouts, the most notable being the HP OmniBook 5. Whether it's the 14-inch or 16-inch size, they both come with brilliant OLED displays that have far better color performance and a much wider range of contrast. Not only that, but the OmniBook 5 is a beautiful laptop in its own right, which is nearly as thin as the MacBook Air and comes with an equal configuration.
Its one major downside is the trackpad. The click of the touchpad is overly loud, and it feels clumsy to use. That's especially true if you're trying to do something precise like click and drag. But this is an incredible price for a premium-feeling laptop with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. And did I mention the battery life is excellent too? Thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip, this is a quiet, snappy, and long-lasting laptop.
Photograph: Christopher Null
Photograph: Christopher Null
Microsoft
As an iPad rival, the Surface Pro is really solid. It's compact, powerful, and is every bit as premium. As an alternative to carrying a conventional laptop, the Surface Pro makes a strong case. I should note that a new generation of Surface Pro was announced recently, the 8th Edition, and thanks to the switch to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips, it really shines. The performance has always been there, but it finally has the incredible all-day battery life (and standby battery life) to make it worthy of carrying around with you throughout your day. It remains a niche product in some sense, but in the world of Windows, it's one of the very best devices to travel with.
This gaming laptop has a big advantage over many other gaming laptops at this price. Yes, it's thick. And yes, the aesthetic isn't for everyone. But the display, build quality, keyboard, and touchpad are a solid step up over even some of my favorite budget gaming laptops, like the Lenovo LOQ 15. The display in particular is very pretty, being sharper with its 2560 x 1600 resolution and more colorful than typical gaming laptops at that price. That makes it a joy to use, both in and out of games.
The problem is that the Alienware 16X Aurora is typically priced hundreds of dollars over other cheap gaming laptops. But for Prime Day, it's come down to a much more attractive price, making it one of the very best laptop deals I've found this year.
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