Laptops make the world go round: or, at least, are much more a part of my PC life than they used to be. I got my very first laptop in the early 2000s and, while it was fine for writing and internet-ing, the idea of a gaming laptop just didn't exist in the same way it does now.
If I'm buying a Black Friday gaming laptop (opens in new tab), my personal choice, simply because it's the machine I use, is always going to be some configuration of the Razer Blade. PCG's hardware team reckons the latest model, the Razer Blade 15, is the single best gaming laptop (opens in new tab) you can get right now: my model's a few years older than that, but I well believe it.
- We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals (opens in new tab) right here.
The Blade line packs enormous power into a slimline and (for Razer) surprisingly tasteful chassis, and the performance is simply spectacular: to the extent I often pass over my powerful desktop machine and play games on the Blade in bed.
The downside with the Razer Blade is, of course, the price. Even with a big discount like this, these machines may be worth it but they cost an absolute packet. If you want a laptop that's going to give peak gaming performance you're going to have to shell out a decent amount, but there are alternatives with comparable specs for less.
Another alternative is the Asus G14, one of the only laptops that has ever threatened my love of the Razer Blade. This configuration comes in at an even lower price than both the above options, and the AMD RX 6800S card is roughly equivalent to an RTX 3070.
Where are the best Cyber Monday gaming laptop deals?
- Amazon - RTX 3050 laptops from Acer and Dell starting at $650 (opens in new tab)
- Asus - high-end ROG Zephyrus 14 with Ryzen 9 and RTX 3060 at Best Buy (opens in new tab)
- MSI - RTX 3080 gaming laptops up to $200 off at Newegg (opens in new tab)
- Gigabyte - up to 50% off Gigabyte gaming laptops at Newegg (opens in new tab)
- Walmart - cheap Gateway laptops. Remember them?! (opens in new tab)
- B&H Photo - up to $500 off Lenovo, Asus, & MSI gaming laptops (opens in new tab)
- Target - sub-$1,000 gaming laptops (opens in new tab)
- Staples - up to $300 off MSI gaming notebooks (opens in new tab)
- Lenovo - $1,000+ discounts on Legion laptops (opens in new tab)
- Razer - discounts on Razer Blade laptops, our favorite notebooks (opens in new tab)
- Newegg - $500+ off RTX 30 series gaming laptops (opens in new tab)
- Best Buy - save up to $500 on gaming laptops (opens in new tab)
- Microsoft - up to half price on last-gen laptops (opens in new tab)
- Dell - save over $300 on Dell and Alienware gaming laptops (opens in new tab)
- RTX 3050 Ti - Gigabyte G5 MD |
$999.99$549.99 at Best Buy (save $450) (opens in new tab) - RTX 3060 - Acer Nitro 5 |
$798$649 at Walmart (save $149) (opens in new tab) - RX 6800S - Asus ROG Zephyrus 14 |
$1,899.99$1,399.99 at Best Buy (save $500) (opens in new tab) - RTX 3070 - Lenovo Legion 5 Pro |
$1,298.97$1,099 at Walmart (save $199.97) (opens in new tab) - RTX 3070 Ti - Gigabyte Aero 5 XE4 |
$2,199$1,149.99 at Newegg (save $1,049.01) (opens in new tab) - RTX 3080 - MSI GP66 Leopard |
$2,399$1,399 at Walmart (save $1,000) (opens in new tab) - RTX 3080 - Razer Blade 14 |
$2,799.99$1,999.99 at Amazon (save $800) (opens in new tab)