Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Best Dell laptop deals: Cheap laptops starting at $280

Dell is easily one of the best laptop brands on the market, which is a good sign that if you grab a laptop from it, then you’re likely to get something pretty excellent. In fact, Dell even owns Alienware, so whether you’re looking for a great gaming laptop or budget laptop, then Dell likely has something for you. Dell also has the XPS lineup, which is not only one of the best laptops on the market but competes with the likes of the MacBook Air in terms of size, price, and specs.

Having so many options can be a bit overwhelming for somebody unfamiliar with Dell or the laptop market, so we scoured the Dell website and other retailers for our favorite picks and listed them below. This list has a lot of crossover with the best Dell XPS deals, student laptop deals and gaming laptop deals, so make sure to check out some of those other great laptop deals as well.

Dell Inspiron 15 — $280, was $330

Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop on a white background displaying a colourful scene.
Dell

If you just need a basic laptop for simple tasks like browsing the internet and watching streaming shows, the affordable Dell Inspiron 15 will be enough with its Intel Core i3-1215U, Intel Xe Graphics, and 8GB of RAM. Images and videos will be bright and colorful on the laptop’s 15.6-inch screen with Full HD resolution, and you’ll have plenty of space to save your files on its 256GB SSD, which comes with Windows 11 Home pre-installed.

Dell G15 Gaming — $900, was $1,200

Dell 15 Gaming Laptop front view showing display and keyboard deck.
Dell

If you’re looking for a good, budget-friendly gaming laptop, you’ll be happy to know that Dell has a great option for that, too, in the form of the Dell G15. It comes with an RTX 4060, a solid 1080p GPU that should let you hit 100fps on medium graphical settings with ease, although the screen can hit 360Hz. As for the CPU, you get yourself an Intel Core i7-13650HX, which is a higher-end CPU that should easily handle most games you throw at it, including simulation and strategy games. On the other hand, it only comes with a 1TB SSD for storage, which is low for gaming, so you may want to supplement it with one of these external hard drive deals.

Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 — $1,050, was $1,350

The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 laptop in tent mode.
Dell

The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor 155H processor and 16GB of RAM. This will give you good day-to-day performance, but the reason that you’d want to buy the device is because it’s a 2-in-1 laptop under the convertible category, according to our laptop buying guide. You can quickly switch between laptop mode and tablet mode with the help of the 360-degree hinges that are attached to its 16-inch 1920 x 1200 resolution touchscreen. The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 ships with Windows 11 Home pre-loaded in its 1TB  SSD.

Dell Latitude 5550 — $1,129, was $1,339

Overhead view of the Dell Latitude 5540 laptop against a white background.
Dell

The Dell Latitude 5540 is one of the best laptops made for business-related work, mostly due to the fact that it comes not only with a card reader but also a fingerprint reader, making it perfect for any sensitive work that requires tough security. Otherwise, the Lattitude 5540 is relatively normal, with a mid-range Intel Core Ultra 5 125U processor and a very reasonable 16GB of RAM, both of which should provide for smooth day-to-day usage. On the other hand, storage is a bit low at just 512GB, so you may want to supplement that with one of these external hard drive deals.

Dell XPS 14 — $1,450, was $2,000

Dell XPS 15 9530 front angled view showing display and keyboard deck.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The Dell XPS 14 is Dell’s answer to the MacBook Air, and while it may not have the same level of performance in some configurations, it does come pretty close. This version comes with an upper-range Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor that will handle most tasks you throw at it. You also actually get a solid 16GB of RAM, more than you can get on some MacBook Airs, which is great if you do a lot of programming or CAD work. You also get an RTX 4050 thrown in, and while you won’t really be able to play all the latest games, you will be able to handle some indie and casual games.

Alienware m16 R2 — $1,600, was $1,950

The Alienware m16 R2 on a white desk.
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

You need a gaming laptop if you want a device that’s designed to play the best PC games, and you can’t go wrong with the Alienware m16 R2. It’s powered by the 13th-generation Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, and 32GB of RAM, and you’ll be able to enjoy its capabilities on the gaming laptop’s 16-inch display with QHD+ resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate. You’ll be able to install multiple titles in the Alienware m16 R2’s 1TB SSD, and you can start doing so right after booting up because Windows 11 Pro is pre-loaded.

Alienware m18 R2 — $2,800, was $3,100

The Alienware m18 R2 gaming laptop with Baldur's Gate 3 on the screen.
Dell

It’s not every day that you run into a massive 18-inch laptop, and if you’re the type of person who loves a bigger screen, the Alienware m18 R2 is one of the very few options you’ll find on the market. Under the hood, it runs a powerful RTX 4080, which should easily handle the 2K screen resolution, although it may struggle to hit a solid 165Hz refresh rate, at least without some graphical compromises. Besides that, the Intel Core i9-14900HX is one of the most powerful processors on the market, while the whopping 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage should be more than enough for pretty much anybody.

Alienware x16 R2 — $2,445, was $2,945

Screen on the Alienware x16.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends / Digital Trends

If you need a lot of power under the hood of your gaming laptop, then you may want to consider the Dell Alienware x16, especially since it runs a mobile version of the RTX 4070, which is roughly at the same performance level as a desktop RTX 4060. That means that it’s a solid FHD+ laptop, even when aiming for 100+ framerate, which is great since it has a 16-inch monitor that runs a whopping 480Hz refresh rate. While the GPU may not be able to hit both the max resolution and refresh rate with the highest graphical settings, it will get pretty close.

How we chose the best Dell deals

These deals made the list because they constitute some of the best and steepest discounts that we could find using our tracking tools and experience in historical pricing. It can be hard to pick a specific deal to put on the list, given how expansive Dell’s catalog of laptops is. Still, we do our best to be fully aware of all the various configurations and lineups that are generally available and how much they cost. On top of that, we compare the value of any individual deal against similar laptops from other brands with a similar configuration so we aren’t just adding deals to the list in a vacuum.

Altogether, that means that whenever you see a deal on this list, we’re picking something that will give you the best bang for your buck so that you can be sure anything you buy is of high quality at a reasonable price. We’re committed to leveraging our decades of expertise in both commerce and product reviews to help you decide what the best product deal for you is.

Albert Bassili
Deals Writer
Albert’s been a tech and gaming writer for over a decade, writing for websites such as CNET, PopSci, and How-To-Geek, and…
Amazon Prime Big Deal Days Dell Deals 2024: XPS, Inspiron, monitors and more
Dell XPS 13 2024 front view showing display and keyboard.

Update 10/9/24: It's the final day of Prime Big Deal Days, so if you want to take advantage of discounts for all kinds of Dell devices, this is your last chance. We're loving the prices of the bargains that we've seen so far, and we're adding more deals to this page up to the end of the shopping event.

Prime Big Deal Days are ending today, October 9, but there are still a lot of excellent Dell deals that are worth grabbing. We're seeing some pretty solid discounts on a wide selection of laptops and workstations from Dell, including some great budget-friendly gaming laptops that you could potentially pick up. With so many options and configurations out there, it can be hard to find something worth buying, which is why we've gone out and looked through Dell's offerings to find you the best Prime Big Deal Days deals on Dell products.

Read more
Amazon Prime Big Deal Days Alienware Deals 2024: PCs and laptops
The Alienware m18 gaming laptop.

Update 10/9/24: Prime Big Deal Days Alienware deals are happening, not just on Amazon but also from the owner of the gaming-focused brand itself - Dell. It's starting to become difficult to keep track of all of the amazing bargains, but we're doing our best to make sure that this page has all of the best offers for Alienware devices. 

With Prime Day Big Deals now in full swing and running until midnight tonight, it's the perfect time to pick up some great Prime Day deals on Alienware gear. If you're not that familiar with the brand, it makes some of the best gaming laptops and desktops on the market, as well as some really excellent accessories as well. Unfortunately, Alienware is a premium brand, so most of the stuff it sells tends to be quite expensive, which is why it's a good idea to take advantage of Alienware deals whenever possible.

Read more
Unreal deal: This iBUYPOWER Y60 gaming desktop is $500 off at Best Buy
iBUYPOWER Y60 gaming desktop Prime Big Deal Days at Best Buy

While there are a ton of Prime Big Deal Days discounts available through Amazon, the titular e-commerce giant, it shouldn't come as a surprise that other retailers are joining in the fun. Take Best Buy, for example, which is offering a host of big deals on electronics from air fryers to gaming desktops. But we've found one that we want to call out separately because it's pretty insane. The iBUYPOWER Y60 gaming desktop is $1,500 today, normally $2,000, which saves you $500. Sure, that's a great deal but you need to see what's inside. Check it out for yourself or keep reading to peep the specs.

 
Why shop this iBUYPOWER Y60 gaming desktop deal at Best Buy?
This thing is a beast. It features a 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KF processor, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 with 12GB of dedicated VRAM, 32GB of DDR5 -- the fastest memory on the market -- and a 1TB NVMe solid-state drive. That's a lot of power under the hood already. It's also rocking Windows 11 Advanced, and comes packed with RGB -- everybody knows RGB makes your computer faster. Disclaimer: That's a joke it doesn't really.

Read more