I review laptops for a living — 9 early Prime Day deals I actually recommend on Apple, Dell, HP and more

This Acer Aspire Go 15 is a no-frills laptop that’ll help you get work done. It packs an Intel Core 3 N355, 8GB of RAM, and a 15.6-inch FHD IPS panel that can handle Chrome, homework, emails, and streaming. 128GB of storage will fill up fast, but that shouldn’t be an issue if you mostly work in the cloud on services like Google Drive.

This 15-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 is a solid laptop for students and is the most heavily discounted machine on this list. It comes with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, plus a 500GB portable HDD in the box if you need more space. A year of Microsoft 365 is another nice bonus. It isn’t a powerhouse, but it’s a capable everyday Windows machine — and the extras make it a better deal.

If you want a larger display, the HP OmniBook 3 has you covered. The 16-inch 1920 x 1200 touchscreen gives you more room for documents and spreadsheets, and this listing includes Windows 11 Pro and an 8-in-1 hub. Specs underneath are humble: 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an AMD Ryzen 5 40. Fine for the basics — just don’t expect a multitasking beast.

The Dell 15 — aka the new name for the Inspiron — is another great, if unremarkable, machine for the basics. You get a 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) touchscreen, a still-dependable 13th-gen Core i5-1334U, 16GB of RAM, and a generous 1TB SSD. It’s a good choice for video calls, Google Docs, and other everyday tasks.

Want a laptop with plenty of memory? This HP 15 is worth considering. Along with a generous 32GB of RAM, you get an equally sizeable 1TB SSD and a capable AMD Ryzen 5 7530U. Specs like that mean you can nimbly handle Excel, apps, and a pile of browser tabs. The 15.6-inch FHD touchscreen and backlit keyboard with a number pad are other highlights. The CPU isn’t exactly new, but the extra RAM goes a long way.

The Acer Aspire 16 AI is one of the more powerful notebooks on this list, thanks to an Intel Core Ultra 9 that’s built for on-device AI and a sizeable 32GB of RAM. You also get a 1TB SSD, a 16-inch 2K touchscreen, Wi-Fi 7, and a metal lid. It’s not exactly cheap, but the discounted price makes it worth a look.

If you want a thin-and-light that can handle everyday tasks and run AI locally, the LG gram 14 is a great choice at this price. Inside the elegant 14-inch chassis is a powerful Intel Core Ultra 5, 32GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Storage is shy of 1TB, but the ultraportable design makes up for it.

MacBook deals are hard to find after Apple raised prices by $200 this summer. Still, we'll take any deal we can find, such as this one. This 13-inch MacBook Air has a 13.6-inch (2560 x 1664) display, an Apple M5 chip, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and support for WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6. As we said in our MacBook Air M5 review, it's the laptop to get for most people.

The MacBook Pro now costs $300 more than it did before the price hike, which certainly stings. Still, you can save $150 off the updated price right now. This premium MacBook features a 14.2-inch 3024 x 1964 Retina display, Apple M5 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. As we said in our MacBook Pro M5 review, this machine is a solid option for power users who want a powerful, portable notebook with epic (18-hour) battery life.