Best laptop deals and sales for March 2022

You don’t have to sniff around every corner of the web to smoke out the best laptop deals, because we’ve already done the legwork for you. Whether you’re in the market for a cheap no-frills Chromebook, a versatile Windows 11 machine, a portable gaming battle station, or maybe something you can transform into a Linux PC, we’ve got you covered with this hand-picked list of the best laptop sales you can buy this week. With pricing starting at around $120, you’re almost guaranteed to find something to fit your budget.

Want to see some more laptops that you can use for gaming on the go? We’ve rounded up even more gaming laptop deals as well.

Best laptop deals

Samsung 11-Inch Chromebook — $119, was $229

Why buy

There are always some great Chromebook deals on tap and this one from Samsung is definitely one of them. It has everything we want to see in a cheap Chromebook. It looks pretty good owing to its brushed gray frame with contrasting black keys. It’s simple, stylish, and a great pick for anyone who wants a Chromebook but doesn’t like how cheap many of them can look.

Underneath that sleek exterior is an Intel Celeron N4020 CPU backed up by 4GB of RAM. You get 32GB of eMMC storage as well (you don’t need much since Chrome OS is largely cloud-based). Aside from the hardware, this Chromebook also adds some desirable modern features like a much-needed USB-C port.

You even get an HD webcam and microphone which allows for things like video chats, voice calls, and online classes. This Chromebook has just about everything we expect from a basic laptop. The cloud-based Chrome OS gives you Google Assistant as well as access to the Google Play Store. Better still, Chrome OS is now compatible with many Android apps, allowing your Chromebook to share a software ecosystem with your Android smartphone if you have one.

Asus VivoBook 15 — $320, was $450

Why buy

Asus has long stood tall among the best laptop brands (and in 2022, it’s certainly one of the best values). It’s also known for affordability, and the VivoBook 15 is a perfect example of that value. With solid hardware and a nice suite of modern features, this laptop packs everything you need into a nice-looking updated frame sporting a 15.6-inch HD display. The bezels have been noticeably trimmed down, which cuts down on the laptop’s overall bulk while offering a nice modern aesthetic.

This cheap workstation runs on an Intel Core i3 CPU backed up by a full 8GB of memory, and instead of limited flash storage, you get a standard 256GB SSD. Those specs might not win any awards, but at this price, you’re getting a lot of PC for your money — especially if you don’t want a Chrome OS laptop. On the contrary, this one actually comes with Windows 11 installed right out of the box. The VivoBook has some other welcome features as well: Its comfortable keyboard has nice large keycaps, and you even get a numeric keypad for data entry tasks.

A built-in HD webcam is there for video calls, voice chats, online classes, and the like. It’s well-built and pretty durable, too, which is no surprise as Asus is no slouch when it comes to construction quality. The laptop is a perfect value for people who need a cheap laptop that can handle basic everyday tasks on the move, whether it’s for work, study, or just regular daily use.

HP Pavilion x360 14 2-in-1 — $580, was $700

Why buy

The HP Pavilion x360 14 might be the perfect laptop deal for someone who can’t quite decide whether they want a compact PC or a touchscreen tablet. The Pavilion x360 2-in-1 splits that different right down the middle: It has a 14-inch 1080p touch display that folds backwards on a flexible hinge. This allows you to rotate the screen in a 360-degree arc; you can use it as a regular notebook, stand it up in tent mode, or even turn it into a large tablet.

With this, you can show it off for presentations at work, prop it up for entertainment when you don’t need the keyboard, or use only the touchscreen (great for creatives, especially if you get a stylus to go with it). It’s an HP machine, of course, so it’s perfectly fine as a regular workhorse laptop. It’s loaded with 11th-gen Intel Core i5 quad-core processor, 8GB of dual-channel 3,200MHz RAM, and a nice fast 256GB SSD. It’s everything you need to be able to get stuff done at home, on the move, or wherever you happen to be.

Its built-in stereo speakers sound pretty good, too, with audio designed by the folks at Bang & Olufsen. If you’re keen to be at your most productive, this is the laptop deal for you. While it might lack a discrete GPU (see our next pick for that), everything else about it is incredibly convenient and you’ll be sure to appreciate the extra utility and unrivaled versatility of a 2-in-1 design.

MSI GF65 RTX 3060 Gaming Laptop — $800, was $1,100

Why buy

MSI is a dedicated gamer’s brand to be sure, so it’s no surprise to find some shockingly good gaming laptops in its stable — especially if you’re on a budget. For less than a grand, this MSI GF65 gaming laptop deal is just about perfect, giving you great power at a great low price. This is a good way to get into modern PC gaming while also having a computer you can take to class, work, or wherever.

Gaming PCs are all about the power, and this laptop delivers. It’s got an Intel Core i5 processor, and you get 8GB of DDR4 RAM to go with it. That’s enough to run multiple programs at once and sufficient for handling most modern games. However, the real gaming muscle always comes from the GPU. This one utilizes the formidable GeForce RTX 3060, one of Nvidia’s new RTX 30-series graphics cards.

You don’t want a gaming machine that will be hamstrung by a sub-par display, and this laptop’s 15.6-inch 1080p screen doesn’t disappoint with its 144Hz refresh rate. That allows for smoother gaming and even lets you play comfortably at 60 frames per second. Gaming laptops tend to be jack-of-all-trades machines (there’s no reason you can use this for work and basic computing tasks along with gaming), which is part of their appeal. However, they tend to be more expensive than standard laptops for obvious reasons — but this laptop deal is your chance to score a great portable gaming machine for a lot less.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 — $850, was $1,150

Why buy

The venerable Lenovo Yoga 7i has become one of the most popular notebooks on the market today, which is no shocker coming from one of the best laptop brands in the world. It’s also frequently found among the best laptop deals, as Lenovo is always running sales and offering discounts year-round. This one isn’t the lowest price we’ve ever seen — those offers come during big seasonal sales like Black Friday — but it’s still a great price on a machine that has sat at the top of many “best of” lists in recent years.

This 2-in-1 is one of the upper mid-range models, and it has performance where it counts. It runs on an 11th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, which is comparable to the 10th-gen Core i9 chips. You get 12GB of fast 3,200MHz RAM, which is a nice boost over the standard 8GB of memory you usually see in the sub-$1,000 range. The new integrated Intel Xe graphics even allow you to play some less demanding games like Fortnite or Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The fold-flat touchscreen is just icing on the cake.

At a glance, you can already tell that this is a premium laptop thanks to its slick design and Lenovo build quality. This also has some nice slim bezels. That means that while it’s technically a 15.6-inch laptop measured by screen size, that display is seated in a frame that measures about 14 inches across, so it’s slimmer and lighter than many similar 15-inch machines. Despite this, we found its keyboard and touchpad to be very comfortable to work on all day.

HP Envy 17 Touchscreen Laptop — $1,130, was $1,280

Why buy

One of the best laptop deals out there at the moment discounts the big, beefy HP Envy 17, which is a dream for those who like larger laptops (a woefully underserved market). This newer 17-inch member of the Envy family has power and style, and it has it all in spades. Its 17-inch 1080p IPS touch display looks gorgeous when paired with the sleek chassis, but the thin bezels and slim frame mean that this handles like a much smaller laptop despite giving you all that extra screen real estate. It’s less than 0.8 inches thick and weighs barely more than five pounds.

This model uses a powerful 11th-gen Intel Core i7-1195G7, making it one of the fastest machines on our list. Alongside that powerful CPU sits 12GB of 3,200MHz memory. That’s plenty of muscle to run demanding programs like Adobe Photoshop or Final Cut. A generous 512GB SSD provides plenty of high-speed storage for all of your software and project files as well.

The 17-inch display boasts an IPS panel, which is a step above common TN and VA panels. The picture quality is great, too, which is something you obviously want if you’re using a larger display that will make small imperfections all the more more noticeable. But perhaps our favorite feature of this plus-sized laptop is its excellent Intel Xe integrated graphics, which can handle some light gaming with ease. That turns this 17-inch laptop into a true multimedia machine.

How to choose a laptop

The first step of choosing a laptop, after setting your budget, is determining what you need it for. Most people just need a standard laptop that will perform well and won’t feel outdated within one or two years, and for that, you’ve got plenty of very affordable options available to you. Those with more specific needs — artists, graphic designers, video editors, and gamers, to name some examples — may need extra features like touchscreens, fold-flat displays, and dedicated graphics cards. Keep size in mind as well. Laptops commonly range from 13 to 17 inches (which refers to screen size measured diagonally), and also pay attention to overall dimensions and weight if you’re going to be moving and carrying yours around fairly often.

As far as hardware goes, the three basic components to consider are CPU, RAM, and storage. The CPU, or central processing unit, is the “brain” of any PC. It’s what actually does the computing: Reading data, running programs (and other processes), and so on. The two biggest CPU makers are Intel and AMD, and unless you’re on the tightest of budgets, we typically recommend sticking with 11th or 12th generation Intel Core i5 processors, AMD Ryzen 5 processors, and above (Core i7, Ryzen 7, etc.). If the specific generation of Intel CPU isn’t stated explicitly, it will be indicated in the first two digits of the processor’s model number. For example, a Core i5-11400 is an 11th-gen model, while the Core i5-12400 is 12th-gen.

RAM, or random access memory, is a bit more straightforward. In simple terms, if the CPU is your PC’s brain, then RAM could be described as its short-term memory. It supports your CPU’s performance by storing data and tasks for quick recall when needed. The more the better. We suggest a minimum of 8GB for good performance by modern standards, and like Core i5 and Ryzen 5 CPUs, you can find this even on affordable laptops — you really aren’t saving much money by skimping on RAM, but you will definitely feel your computer stumbling when under load.

Storage needs are personal to the user, but today, solid-state drives (SSDs) have largely replaced older platter-based hard disk drives (HDDs) owing to their superior read/write speeds and reliability due to the lack of moving parts. However, SSDs are typically smaller (or at least cheaper per gigabyte) than traditional HDDs, which is something to bear in mind if you do need a lot of storage space for things like games or large project files. We recommend sticking with SSDs as a rule, but some laptops come with a smaller solid-state system drive paired with a larger HDD for overflow, so you’ve got options.

Finally, depending on your needs, a discrete video card may be worth the extra money. A GPU, or graphics processing unit, is essentially a second processor dedicated solely to demanding graphical tasks like rendering videos and playing 3D video games. Mobile laptop GPUs are a bit different than their desktop counterparts and Nvidia GeForce cards are by far the most common. The current-gen models are the 16-series and 30-series cards. AMD has also rolled out its own line of laptop graphics cards, the 5000M series, as mobile counterparts to its desktop GPUs. These are a fine option as well, especially if you prefer AMD hardware.

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