Black Friday Tech Gift Guide: Laptop, Tablet And PC Best Bets
Bargain Hunting
Laptops and tablets are staples of Black Friday. Big-box retailers and online e-tailers every year trot out deals that seem so good, it can make you wonder, "What's the catch?" That's why we've taken a magnifying glass to the Black Friday fine print, scrutinized the specs and shopped around for not just good deals, but the best Black Friday deals when it comes to laptops, tablets and desktop PCs.
What follows is a mix of good solid deals for tech that you'll actually use. We also went for the ridiculously low-priced door-buster deals, where a store or an online retailer was offering 50 percent to 70 percent off an item.
Dell Inspiron 15.6-inch TouchScreen Laptop
Where: Best Buy
Why: Windows 10 and a touch screen for $300
Black Friday price: $300 (regularly $430)
Specs: The laptop features a 15.6-inch display, Windows 10 and a 1.9GHz fourth-generation Intel Core i3 processor. The laptop comes loaded with 8 GB of RAM and a spacious 1-TB hard drive.
Notes: Not the best processor, but an affordable Windows 10 laptop with solid memory and storage specifications.
HP Envy 15-q667nr Notebook
Where: BJ's Wholesale Club
Why: This laptop is no turkey
Black Friday price: $700 (regularly $1,000)
Specs: HP packs Intel's fourth-generation Quad-Core Intel Core i7-4722HQ processor (2.4GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz) along with 12 GB of memory, a 1-TB hard drive and 4 GB of discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX950M graphics into this laptop. This 5.73-pound laptop ships with Windows 10, has a 15.6-inch display and has a full-size, backlit keyboard with numeric keypad.
Notes: This laptop's i7 processor, discrete graphics and beefy memory specs make it an excellent deal for anyone looking to save on a powerhouse laptop.
RCA 10.1-inch 2in1 Tablet 32-GB Quad-Core Windows 8.1
Where: Walmart
Why: A Windows 2-in-1 priced ridiculously low
Black Friday price: $128 (regularly $150)
Specs: This 2.3-pound 2-in-1 features a 10.1-inch touchscreen, 1.83GHz Intel Quad-Core processor, 32 GB of storage (additional memory via microSD card slot), 1 GB DDR3L memory and 6-hour run time between charges.
Notes: We are impressed with the extremely competitive price. If you want Windows 10, it's a free upgrade. But with any sub-$150 laptop, keep your expectations low.
Apple MacBook Pro 11.6-inch Notebook
Where: Best Buy
Why: Sub-$1,000 i5 MacBook Pro
Black Friday price: $900 (regularly $1,100)
Specs: This MacBook Pro (model: MD101LL/A) features Intel's Core i5 processor along with a 13.3-inch display, 4 GB of memory and a 500-GB hard drive. The notebook features Intel HD Graphics 4000, which is a processor graphics card that is included in the Ivy Bridge processor, part of the chipmaker's third-generation core chips.
Notes: This quality laptop with a graying CPU is still a good (not great) deal for an Apple laptop.
Toshiba Satellite Windows 10 14-inch Laptop
Where: OfficeMax
Why: A head-turner Toshiba Satellite laptop for $120
Black Friday price: $120 (regularly $250)
Specs: This Toshiba Satellite (model CL45-C4370) laptop features Intel's Bay Trail-M Celeron N2840 2.16GHz processor (integrated GPU graphics), LED backlit 14-inch display, 2 GB of memory, 32-GB solid state drive and battery rated for 7 hours between charges.
Notes: We like Intel's Bay Trail-M Celeron N2840 class chips, which are both power-efficient (7.5 watts) and powerful. But the graphics capabilities on this laptop are sure to underwhelm, meaning this is definitely no gaming rig.
Amazon Fire 7-inch Tablet
Where: Best Buy
Why: A decent $35 tablet, really!
Black Friday price: $35 (regularly $50)
Specs: Amazon's Fire 7 sports a 1,024-by-600 resolution IPS screen (not HD), a Quad-Core 1.3GHz processor (MediaTek), 8 GB of storage (expandable to 128 GB via MicroSD card port), 2-megapixel rear-facing 720p camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.
Notes: Amazon stoops to a new (pricing) low in the tablet wars with a decent under-$50 Fire 7-inch tablet ideal for consuming Amazon's massive library of digital movies, music, e-books and games.
iPad Mini and iPad Air
Where: Target
Why: Generous gift cards shave iPad prices
Black Friday price: Target offers $80 to $150 gift cards for specific iPad purchases
Deal: $150 Target gift card when you buy a $500 iPad Air 2; $100 Target gift card when you buy any iPad Mini 4 for $400; $80 Target gift card for Any iPad Mini 2 for $270; and $100 Target gift card for any iPad Air starting at $400.
Notes: Apple seldom reduces the price of its iPads, so to entice buyers, retailers often offer gift cards instead of sale prices. Target offers the best gift cards for iPads we can find.
Dell Venue 10 5000 Series Android Tablet
Where: Dell
Why: Premium 10-inch Android tablet at a budget Black Friday price
Black Friday price: $150 (regularly $430)
Specs: This 10.1-inch Android (Lollipop 5.0.2) has a 1,280-by-800 multi-touch display, runs a Quad-Core Intel Atom 1.83GHz processor (Z3735F) and has 2 GB of DDR3L memory and a 16-GB hard drive.
Notes: This is a "no compromise" tablet and priced at $150, Dell delivers tremendous value.
Toshiba Encore 2 Windows tablet
Where: Office Depot
Why: Sub-$100 Windows tablet
Black Friday price: $90 (regularly $300)
Specs: This tablet (model: WT10-A32) features a 10.1-inch screen and 32 GB of storage and runs Windows 8.1 (upgradable to Windows 10). Powering the tablet is the efficient Intel Atom Z3740 1.86GHz processor, which delivers 11 hours of battery life. It also features 1 GB of RAM and a 0.2-megapixel fixed-focus front webcam and 5-megapixel auto-focus rear camera.
Notes: Besides the screen size, this tablet's specs are about as good as a budget smartphone. This tablet will be good for light gaming, Web surfing, consuming content and basic word processing. Great price, but you may be disappointed with the Windows app ecosystem of games and utilities.
Lenovo C40 All-In-One Desktop Computer
Where: BJ's Wholesale Club
Why: Lenovo's big 21.5-inch All-In-One desktop
Black Friday price: $400 (regularly $530)
Specs: This all-in-one sports an AMD Quad-Core A6-6310 2.40GHz processor, 8 GB of RAM, 1 TB of storage, a 21.5-inch LED touch display and integrated Radeon R series HD graphics.
Notes: Great space savings with this PC, which can also double as a second display to another PC, thanks to a thoughtfully added HDMI port.