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If you're looking to treat yourself or a loved one to a new laptop without breaking the bank, there are plenty of early Black Friday deals worth considering. Even better, there's a discount on what we reckon is the best laptop for most people and the best laptop for college students. Apple's M3 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM has dropped to its lowest price to date. The laptop is available for $899, which is $200 off the list price.
This is a 13-inch MacBook Air with 256GB of storage. Other configurations with more storage space are on sale too. One with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is available for
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Not only do I oversee the laptop section here at PCWorld, taking every review through to publication, but I also update the laptop deals roundup on a daily basis. As far as laptop trends go, I'm locked in, as the young'uns would say. Below you'll find the best laptop deals from all over the web. I found many of these deals by using Camel Camel Camel, which is a free price tracker from Amazon. I've also included deals from laptop manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo, as well as sales from online retailers like Best Buy and Adorama.
After you've perused the list of deals, head on down to the bottom of the article to learn more about what to expect this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Early Black Friday budget laptop deals
Sometimes all you need is a respectable, baseline-level machine. Personally, I use a low-powered laptop for writing, watching Netflix, checking email, and so on. I dig the simplicity. So, if you're not a gamer and have no intention of muscling through processor-intensive programs, check out the list below.
Acer Aspire
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 Amazon just unveiled a new line of Fire TVs, just ahead of Thanksgiving and, more importantly, Black Friday. The Fire TV Omni Mini-LED series is being advertised as "the most powerful and innovative Amazon-built TV yet." Let's take a look at some specs.
These TVs all include QLED Mini-LED panels that deliver up to 1,400 nits of peak brightness and up to 1,344 dimming zones. They offer support for Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10 Adaptive, which should result in "more vibrant colors, deeper blacks, and richer contrast."
Amazon says these sets include AI-assisted Intelligent Picture technology, which automatically enhances image quality to optimize scenes "in real-time." The TV's light and color sensor take the living space into account, making the appropriate brightness and color temperature settings as needed.
Amazon
They also allow access to Amazon's Fire TV Ambient Experience, which turns the TVs into a display for art. It's sort of like the well-regarded Samsung Frame series only, well, without the whole frame part. This software doesn't just display static pieces of art, as it can also handle custom animations and various widgets.
This is the
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has started the process of placing Google under federal supervision, an action which could create new standards for how the federal government can oversee big tech if the effort is successful. Falling under the CFPB's supervision would subject Google to regular inspections and scrutiny, although the exact aims of the department's efforts have not been fully disclosed. However, it has been an ongoing project for some time, as sources told The Washington Post that Google has been fighting against this move by the CFPB for months.
This department was created in 2008 in response to the financial crisis that year, and its objective is to protect consumers from unfair or deceptive financial practices. The CFPB primarily focuses on businesses such as banks and credit unions, but Director Rahit Chopra has voiced an interest over recent years in subjecting tech companies that offer financial products to similar oversight. For instance, the bureau began an investigation into app store payments systems from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal and Square back in 2021.
The preliminary moves by the CFPB to oversee Google, and the agency's entire scope of operation, will likely be impacted by Donald Trump's return to the presidency in early 2025.
This article originally
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We're already seeing some great discounts on power banks from the likes of Mophie and Anker, two highly respected names in the portable charging game. We'll continue to track down and highlight the best power bank deals leading up to and during Black Friday.
Best early Black Friday power banks deals
Anker 633 MagGo Battery, 10,000mAh/1x USB-A/1x USB-C/MagSafe charging, $39.99 (27% off on Amazon)
Mregb Solar Charger, 42,800mAh/2x USB-A/1x USB-C/Flashlight/Solar charging panel, $29.97 (67% off on Amazon)
INIU Slim Portable Charger, 10,000mAh/USB-C in and out, $17.99 (40% off on Amazon)
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Anker makes a lot of our favorite charging gear, not only because their products tend to perform quite well, but also because there are options for all kinds of budgets. Black Friday tech deals can present good opportunities to get some of Anker's more expensive gear for less, and we're already starting to see solid Black Friday Anker deals. For example, the 200W Prime Power Bank is 41 percent off right now and down to $110 — and this includes the power brick and its dedicated charging base.
Anker's 200W portable charger is our choice for best premium power bank thanks to features like charging an iPhone in an average of one hour and 48 minutes. One of the best parts of the power bank is its sleek screen, which shows the power coming in or out and how much battery the accessory is holding. This feature is much more exact than the four dots on my cheaper (but still loved)
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It's worth noting that Black Friday 2024 may be the last chance to buy a discounted dock for a while. In 2025, America's new president has promised tariffs that could reach 60 percent on Chinese goods, and a number of smaller dock manufacturers are headquartered in China. (Larger ones, however, have moved outside the country.)
I'm compiling the best early Black Friday deals on Thunderbolt docks at major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and elsewhere. I've listed each Thunderbolt dock deal below, followed by an explanation of why I picked them. (For more details, scroll down to the FAQ at the end that explains what to look for in a Thunderbolt dock and how much you should pay.)
Best early Black Friday Thunderbolt dock deals
HP Thunderbolt Dock G2, Thunderbolt 3, 100W charging, now $70.52 (26% off at Amazon)
Targus USB-C Docking Station, DisplayLink, 65W charging, now $103.99 (58% off at Amazon)
OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock, Thunderbolt 4, 90W charging, now $249.99 (17% off at Amazon with Prime)
Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Plus, Thunderbolt 3, 60W charging, now $109.97 (63% off at Amazon)
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If you live in a large home or are simply done dealing with shoddy Wi-Fi, a mesh router might be the solution. Black Friday tech deals have come in handy in this space already, with one of our top picks falling to a record-low price. Google's Nest Wi-Fi Pro 6E in a three-pack is down to $279 right now, a steep sale from its original $400 price tag.
This is our pick for the best mesh Wi-Fi system for folks who are using the tech for the first time. There isn't a great deal of customization here and there are more powerful options out there. But the Nest mesh system is easy to set up and then just let it do its thing.
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If you still prefer Windows laptops, you'll want to check out PCWorld's roundup of the best laptops available today.
Why you should trust us: PCWorld has been going strong since 1983, back in the days when print magazines were more common. Now that we've made the leap to digital, we've been reviewing more than 70 laptops every year. Every laptop that passes through our doors goes through an arduous testing process, in which we evaluate everything from processor performance to display quality. We're committed to reviewing laptops in every price range too.
Quick links to select top picks:
Best overall Chromebook: Lenovo Flex 5i
Best budget Chromebook: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Chromebook
Best Chromebook for gaming:
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Black Friday is set to soak the world in glorious deals, but why wait until later in the month? Some of these deals are already live. For instance, the M2 MacBook Air is available via Amazon for just $749. The regular price is $1,000, so this is a discount of 25 percent. It even boasts 16GB of RAM.
This model easily made our list of the best MacBooks, even with the presence of the newer M3 MacBook Air. Here are the takeaways. This laptop, obviously, includes Apple's proprietary M2 8-core CPU, which is more than fast enough for basic tasks and fine for even many advanced tasks, like music-making. We called it "Apple's near-perfect Mac" in our official review.
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 Today we're tracking all-time low prices on both the 9th and 10th generation iPad, both of which are available on Amazon.
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You can receive an instant 10% discount on all PlayStation gift cards (same for Xbox and Fortnite) if you are a Prime member.
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