As someone getting on in years, I often look with envy at the savings available during back-to-school promotions. If memory serves, beyond simple school supplies, such deals were hardly commonplace back in my day.
Nowadays? You can find a performance-focused laptop designed for gaming that would have vastly outperformed my old console from school days, and likely includes a top-tier graphics processing unit (GPU) at a significantly reduced price. Regardless of whether you seek a brand-new machine for professional tasks or recreation, an array of appealing choices is currently available. Here are some top picks.
Top Lenovo Back-to-School Discounts
Lenovo is providing several discount opportunities this summer.
We previously highlighted the $400 discount on the Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10, equipped with a 5070 GPU and priced under $1,300. However, if you’re inclined towards a higher-end option, the Legion Pro is also available with savings exceeding $600.
This represents a 25% markdown on a large-screen laptop featuring a 5070 Ti, 32GB of system memory, and a one-terabyte hard drive. But the offers aren’t limited to Lenovo’s selection.
HP Laptop Savings
HP presents a strong lineup of laptop deals currently, with a possible emphasis on professional use cases more so than purely gaming (which, perhaps, aligns with academic pursuits).
Two noteworthy deals we’ve noticed are on the HP Laptop 17t-cn300 (HP, what’s with these names?) and the more succinctly named HP OmniBook 5.
While the HP Laptop 17t-cn300 might feature an Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, it’s an attractive, budget-friendly choice. It’s available for over 50% off, bringing the price down to $379.99.
The OmniBook 5 is only marginally more costly at $399.99 after a 60% price reduction. It also features double the storage capacity (up to 512GB) and is a lightweight, user-friendly design. Plus, it includes AI functionality through Copilot, if that appeals to you.
Exclusive Dell Laptop Offers
You might ask, “Isn’t this Rock Paper Shotgun? Where are the gaming components?”
Dell caters to that need, not only with general laptops but also with a fantastic offer on an Alienware gaming laptop.
Dell offers the Dell 15 Laptop (that’s naming done right) at a 34% discount and a price of $249.99, and it also provides the Dell 16 Plus for $599.99, with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB drive.
Still, those aren’t true gaming rigs…
You can save $500 on the Dell XPS 16, or find other configurations from 2024 starting at $749.99.
Regarding the desktop, the Alienware Area-51 with an RTX 5090 (NVIDIA’s most powerful GPU) represents a significant splurge. It is available at a discount of almost $600.
Enjoy 13% off a pre-built unit featuring the Intel Core Ultra 7, or 11% off the Ultra 9 version, both including 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
Whether you can carry it to class is another story, but we wish you luck if you buy one!