Skip to main content

The best laptop deals for Labor Day 2019: XPS, Spectre, ThinkPad, and more

Laptop deals come throughout the year, but the best discounts are reserved for big shopping holidays like Labor Day sales events. That’s important, because laptops aren’t cheap, especially if you want one of the best laptops. And who doesn’t? The biggest brands and manufacturers often hold their extra stock to clear out for these, and most of those deals are live now, but now for long as most Labor Day weekend sales end tonight, Monday, September 2.

So, whether you’re interested in a new Dell XPS 13 for school or a robust ThinkPad X1 Carbon for work, we’ve rounded up all the best laptop deals.

What are the best laptop deals for Labor Day?

As we’ve seen in previous years, there are always a handful of excellent deals on some of the popular and highly ranked laptops. This year we’re seeing plenty of options from manufacturers like HP, Dell, and Lenovo, all selling directly from their own storefronts. Whether you’re looking for an ultra-cheap Chromebook or a powerhouse gaming laptop, you’re bound to find something above that will suit your needs.

Just make sure to click through and check out the different configurations available. The prices you see above are for a single configuration, though you can always customize your purchase from their to either reduce the price or bump up the specs.

What to look for when buying a laptop

Image used with permission by copyright holder

A laptop has to do a lot of things right to be worth your money. Even in laptops under $1,000, you should expect your next laptop to have at least a bright 1080p display, all-day battery life, excellent processor performance, and a precise keyboard.

Some important specifications to look out for are RAM, storage, and processor. You want your laptop to have at least 8GB of RAM these days, and you’ll want to jump up to 16GB if you’re looking at a gaming laptop or content creation device. For storage, we recommend you buy a laptop with a solid-state drive. Though they come with less capacity, they are significantly faster than old hard disk drives.

Lastly, you’ll want a current-generation Intel processor inside, which means an eighth-generation processor for ultrabooks or ninth-gen for gaming laptops. Intel’s new 10th-gen processors are just now launching (with many laptop models not yet announced), so we don’t expect to see any on sale as soon as Labor Day. The difference between a Core i5 and a Core i7 isn’t quite as drastic as you might think, both offering quad-core productivity performance. Core i3 and Core i5, though, typically will move you up from two cores to four cores, which will get you better multitasking and creative performance in applications like Photoshop.

Editors' Recommendations

Luke Larsen
Senior Editor, Computing
Luke Larsen is the Senior editor of computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
Lenovo sale: Get up to 67% off ThinkPad Laptops, from $600
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 front angled view showing display and keyboard.

Lenovo has a huge laptop sale going on right now with select ThinkPad laptops available from just $600. If you need a new system for your small business, working on the move, or other productivity-focused plans, these are the laptop deals for you. With over a dozen laptops in the sale, it’s a good idea to take a look at the sale for yourself, but we’re also here with some insight into the best deals.

What to shop for in the Lenovo laptop sale
Lenovo is one of the best laptop brands for reliability and business purposes. One great starting point is being able to buy the for $600. According to Lenovo, it normally costs $1,839 which seems a little unrealistic but in keeping with Lenovo’s overly enthusiastic estimated value system. However, whatever the discount, this is a good laptop for the price. It has a 12th-generation Intel Core i5-1235U processor, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of SSD storage. For the display, you get a 14-inch full HD screen with 45% NTSC and 300 nits of brightness. There’s also a 1080p full HD RGB/IR Hybrid webcam with a privacy shutter and dual microphones.

Read more
Best Buy’s deal of the day is $150 off the MacBook Air M2
A woman working on a 2023 MacBook Air with M2 chip.

For Mac lovers, Best Buy has one of the best laptop deals at the moment with $150 off the MacBook Air M2. Usually priced at $999, you can buy it for $849 right now making it great value for anyone who wants to get involved with the Apple ecosystem without breaking the bank. Stylish and speedy, this is a laptop that will suit mostly everyone from students to people working from home or commuters. Here’s what you need to know before you hit the buy button. As always with such good deals, bear in mind that you could miss out if you wait too long.

Why you should buy the MacBook Air M2
One of the best laptop brands for reliability and being high quality, buying a MacBook Air is an investment that will last. While Windows-based laptops can lose their lustre over time, MacBooks tend to keep going for longer. While the MacBook Air M2 doesn’t have the latest Apple silicon -- the M3 -- it still offers fantastic performance. The M2 chip has an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU and this model is still considered to be the best MacBook for everyone. This particular model comes with 8GB of memory and 256GB of SSD storage which is sufficient for all everyday tasks and saving documents easily.

Read more
One of Lenovo’s best-selling ThinkPad laptops is 45% off today
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 front angled view showing display and keyboard.

If you're on browsing through laptop deals for a machine that will immensely help in boosting your productivity, you may want to check out Lenovo's offer for the popular Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11. It's a powerful device so its original price is $3,319, but a 45% discount from Lenovo brings it down to a more reasonable $1,825. That's $1,494 in savings that you'll be able to spend on software and accessories, but you're going to have to proceed with the purchase right now if you want to make sure that you get it because this is a clearance sale, so there's no guarantee that stocks will still be available tomorrow.

Why you should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 challenges the performance of the best laptops with its 13th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and 16GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is similar to what you'll find in top-tier machines. The device comes with a 14-inch touchscreen with WUXGA resolution for sharp details and bright colors, a 1TB SSD for ample storage space for your files, and Windows 11 Pro pre-installed so that you can access the more advanced capabilities of the operating system.

Read more