Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

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

I tested over a dozen laptops in 2025, and these are my top picks for Black Friday

Need something that's not a MacBook? These two Asus laptops offering something better.

Add as a preferred source on Google
Black Friday Deal On the tabletop, there's an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

A reliable laptop is one of the best investments you can make. And if you’ve been searching across websites and e-commerce pages looking for the best deals on laptops, I’ve got you covered with two of my favorite picks. 

Asus ZenBook A14 (45% off)

Let’s start with the Asus ZenBook A14. Usually available at a flat $999, this sleek laptop is currently going at $550 on Best Buy, a steep 45% drop from the sticker price. At this asking price, this is one of the most irresistible Windows laptop deals out there. 

Recommended Videos

One of the lightest Windows laptops out there, this one features a lovely metallic build with a unique surface texture and eye-catching paintjob. Yes, it’s going after the MacBook Air, but not without substance. 

The ZenBook A14 offers a much better (and diverse) port selection than its Apple rival, a lovely keyboard, and a true visual treat courtesy of a 2K OLED screen. At the top of the panel is an infrared camera sensor for Windows Hello biometric face unlock. 

It has a speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus silicon at its heart, paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. In our tests, this combination performed well. Plus, this is a Copilot+ machine, which means it supports plenty of on-device AI features. 

The ZenBook A14 also impressed with its battery life, easily lasting a full day of work. Overall, if you’re eyeing a daily driver that’s snappy and stylish at the same time, the Asus ZenBook A14 is the best pick at its discounted $550 asking price. 

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (32% off)

In case you’re looking for a machine that’s a tad more powerful, something that can handle work and play, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is one of the most highly-regarded options out there. The regular asking price is $1,799.99, but as part of the Black Friday deals, this one is currently available at $1,299.99 in the US. 

Just in case you’re wondering, that’s a few hundred dollars lower than the M5 MacBook Pro, and with plenty of meaningful advantages. It has a sleek chassis with a beautiful light strip at the back and a solid build overall with plenty of ports to go with it. 

The real attention grabber is the 3K 14-inch OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. Underneath the hood, you will find a fairly powerful AMD Ryzen 9 270 processor, paired with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and a massive 1TB SSD storage drive.

At its reduced asking price of $1,300, this is one of the most powerful laptops out there and a must-have deal for gaming enthusiasts who want a portable package that can handle games at a respectable graphics settings and productivity chores, as well.

Nadeem Sarwar
Nadeem is the Managing Editor at Digital Trends.
WhatsApp’s Liquid Glass redesign is finally coming to Mac after months of waiting
WhatsApp's Mac app is getting Apple's Liquid Glass-inspired makeover
WhatsApp

WhatsApp has been steadily adopting Apple's new design language across its apps, but Mac users have largely been left watching from the sidelines. That is finally beginning to change.

The messaging platform has started rolling out its Liquid Glass redesign for the WhatsApp Mac app, bringing the desktop experience much closer to what iPhone and iPad users have been seeing over the past few months. The update introduces a refreshed interface with redesigned navigation elements, updated menus, and a cleaner layout that aligns with Apple's latest software aesthetic. According to WABetaInfo, the rollout has begun through the latest Mac App Store update and is currently reaching a limited number of users.

Read more
NVIDIA’s new AI can detect deepfake videos in just 22 milliseconds
NVIDIA has a new AI tool that can tell fake videos from real ones in milliseconds
Nvidia logo

As generative AI becomes increasingly capable of producing videos that are nearly indistinguishable from real footage, the race is no longer just about creating synthetic media. It's about detecting it before it spreads.

At SIGGRAPH 2026, NVIDIA unveiled Synthetic Video Detector, a new AI-powered verification tool designed to identify AI-generated videos with remarkable speed and accuracy. Rather than replacing traditional fact-checking or forensic analysis, the company says the technology is intended to give newsrooms, broadcasters and enterprises another layer of confidence before synthetic videos enter the public domain.

Read more
Dell XPS 14 (2026) Review: Dell’s classic Windows laptop returns, and it’s hard to put down
The icon returns, and shows why it's still relevant
Dell XPS 14 Review: Featured

Quick take

Dell’s XPS line has always carried a certain weight. It is one of those Windows laptop families that people recognize even if they don’t follow laptops too closely. Clean design built with premium materials, sharp displays, and high-end hardware. The Dell XPS 14 DA14260 continues that legacy. 

Read more