If you’re after a new laptop you could do a lot worse than a machine from Dell’s XPS lineup. And now is one of the best times to get one, as Black Friday deals are flush with discounted ultraportables, gaming laptops and hybrid machines from Dell.
Take the latest Dell XPS 13 on sale for $999 (opens in new tab), down from $1,219 in the U.S. and £999 down from £1,149 in the U.K. (opens in new tab) as an example. You can save $220 and £150 respectively on one of Tom’s Guide’s top picks in our best laptops list. But as the actual day of Black Friday draws closer there’s likely to be a lot more discounts on more of the Dell XPS range, from the latest models to the ones that preceded them but are still stellar machines.
Equally, if you’re happy to make do with the 2020 XPS 13, which has a 13.3-inch rather than 13.4-inch display, then you can get the Dell XPS 13 (9305) for $649 at Dell (opens in new tab).
I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for these deals, as recently my own HP Spectre x360 15 laptop suffered from a bloated battery that caused it to burst from its chassis; it’s not a machine that’s safe to turn on and now I’m hunting for a new machine, be it a slick ultraportable or a 2-in-1.
With lovely design, notably the near bezel-less Infinity Edge display, the latest Intel processors, and a really good keyboard, the XPS 13 and XPS 15 are excellent laptops. The 15-inch machine is particularly eye-catching, thanks to its Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card. That’s a GPU which delivers enough performance for some decent video editing and gaming on the go.
Furthermore, I reckon it’s a good time to get a Dell XPS, as not only has it been updated with the latest Intel Tiger Lake processors, it’s not looking likely we’ll get a Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 to rival the Dell machines. And the MacBook Air 2022 still looks to be a while away. The new MacBook Pro 2021 laptops are very impressive, but I’d not expect any big discounts. And those expensive Apple laptops are better suited for video editors and coders, not writers and everyday computing tasks, unless you really want a very nice computer and are happy to part with a serious chunk of cash.
If you don't need a lot of power and simply want a lovely ultraportable for standard tasks like web browsing, word processing, emails, and pretty much what one would consider every-day tasks, then for under $1,000 the Dell XPS with an Intel Core i5 processor should see you through a good few years of use and will be compatible with Windows 11.
Those of you who want more power and a bit more graphical muscle (and I count myself among you) should look for discounted Dell XPS 15 models. The laptop is still pretty compact, so is still rather portable despite its bump in power. There are no deals for the XPS 15 just yet, but I'd be confident that some will pop up on Black Friday itself, as well as Cyber Monday.
In short, if you’re on the hunt for a Dell laptop, from now until Black Friday and Cyber Monday, is one of the best times to get one. Just bear in mind that some deals need you to input a discount code to get the most money off; be sure not to miss that.
If you don’t fancy getting a Dell machine but still need a thin-and-light laptop, one of my recommendations would be the Surface Laptop 4 or Laptop 3, as they offset a lovely clean Windows experience with one of my favorite keyboards on a computer. Microsoft will often have deals on these laptops around Black Friday time, as could Amazon and other retailers, so these are well worth checking out.
With all that in mind, I wish you good hunting if you plan to buy a laptop this fall. Keep checking our Black Friday laptop deals list for the latest discounts, and let us know if you find a particularly promising deal or have more questions about what to buy.
