Buying a laptop? Here’s why you need to shop the sales

Chris Hoffman/IDG

            <div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="ThinkPad X1 Carbon " class="wp-image-2250690" width="1200" height="904" loading="lazy" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><p>The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a nice high-end laptop. Lenovo has sold last year&rsquo;s model for $1000 off.</p></figcaption></figure><p class="imageCredit">Chris Hoffman/IDG</p></div>

    </div></figure><p class="imageCredit">Chris Hoffman/IDG</p></div>

Laptop sales are common — and frequent. You don’t have to wait for the big Black Friday or back-to-school sales events. (Although, if you are shopping for a laptop around those events, you may want to wait for them — you’ll find more laptops than usual on sale when big events like those arrive.)

But even if you’re looking for a new laptop this week, there’s a good chance you’ll find lots of great options on sale right now. Manufacturers are constantly putting laptops on sale to stand out in the market and to free up space for new models.

And these sales can be huge. Gaming laptops frequently go on sale for $500 or more off. Laptops from last year that often offer very similar performance to this year’s laptops may be on sale for 50 percent off on clearance events.

For example, Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a great laptop with excellent build quality and an awesome keyboard. But at over $2000, it’s rather pricy. As I write this, Lenovo has the previous-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 model for $1007 off. At $1391, it’s a serious value if you’re looking for a high-end, rugged, ultraportable business laptop.

That sale may be expired when you’re reading this, but there may be another amazing laptop we like for $1000 off right now. Check out our favorite laptop deals (where our ThinkPad X1 Carbon example came from!) to learn more.

Even just-released laptops might already be on sale

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In fact, some laptops seem to be almost permanently available at a discount on certain manufacturers’ websites. A laptop may launch with an official $1400 MSRP but be available at a “promotional” price of $1200 on the laptop manufacturer’s online store — complete with the $1400 proudly crossed out and a “$200 off” sale tag.

If your budget is $1200, there’s no sense writing off that laptop just because it technically has a $1400 MSRP. It might almost always sell for $1200!

Laptops may even already be on big sales close to their release dates. When I reviewed the HP Omen Transcend 14 laptop around its launch date earlier this year, it was already on sale for $300 off. Maybe you thought $1499 was too much for that laptop. But there’s no sense focusing on that retail price: Even if you have bought one around launch, you could have spent $1199. If you’re keeping an eye on sales, you may not even have to wait for a newly released laptop to be available at a discount.

Last year’s laptop models on clearance sales are an amazing deal

Here’s another fact that PC manufacturers often don’t trumpet: This year’s laptop model and last year’s laptop model are often extremely similar. This year’s version might be a little bit faster — maybe.

That’s because PC hardware isn’t advancing by leaps and bounds each year.

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