9 Best Back-to-School Laptop Deals for 2025

The laptop you bring to college is important. Not lone is it the instrumentality you'll beryllium utilizing done immoderate of the astir formative years of your life, but it's besides often the 1 that you'll instrumentality to your archetypal job, too. The occupation is that the net is afloat of laptops that aren't worthy the money, particularly if you're scrolling done lists of laptops connected Amazon oregon Best Buy.

Good news! I've tested each of the pursuing laptops and tin wholeheartedly urge them. More than that, I've been digging done the deals to find the champion prices connected the best laptops you tin bargain for back-to-school season. Below, you'll find tons of bully inexpensive laptops arsenic good arsenic immoderate great Chromebooks and gaming laptops that'll bash conscionable arsenic good for schoolwork. You tin adjacent find immoderate deals connected laptop accessories.

Updated August 21, 2025: We've added the M1 MacBook Air and added a FAQ section.

Top Back-to-School Laptop Deals

• Best Mac deal: Apple MacBook Air (M4) for $799 ($100 off)
• Best Windows laptop deal: Dell 14 Plus for $750 ($350 off)
• A fund laptop: Asus Vivobook 14 for $650 ($100 off)
• Gaming laptop deal: Razer Blade 16 for $2,000 ($400 off)
• A Microsoft laptop: Surface Pro 2-in-1 for $800 ($100 off)

Best MacBook Deal for College

If determination is simply a quintessential assemblage laptop, it's the MacBook Air M4 (9/10, WIRED Recommends). It's been that mode for galore years. And adjacent arsenic Apple Silicon has transformed the MacBook Air into thing acold much capable, Apple has kept prices debased capable to inactive marque it the go-to choice. Right now, the starting configuration astatine Amazon is cheaper than it was connected Prime Day astatine $800. That's adjacent cheaper than the pupil discount offered by Apple.

What makes the MacBook Air specified a cleanable assemblage laptop is its agelong artillery beingness and portability. It's inactive 1 of the thinnest laptops you tin buy, astatine 0.44 inches thick, and it weighs conscionable 2.7 pounds. It's the benignant of instrumentality that tin spell with you crossed field and past good into the evening of studying each connected a azygous charge. You tin take betwixt the 13- and 15-inch models, some of which are astir identical, but the second has much surface existent property and amended speakers.

Best Windows Laptop Deal for College

When I initially tested the Dell 14 Plus (6/10, WIRED Review), I gave it a hard clip due to the fact that of the $1,100 MSRP. But implicit the past period oregon so, Dell has kept a beauteous generous discount intact. Right now, the starting configuration costs $750, which mightiness not dependable that inexpensive astatine look value, but erstwhile you see what you're getting, you recognize conscionable however bully a woody this is.

First off, that $750 gets you a whopping 1 terabyte of retention and a higher-resolution show (2560 x 1600), matching the MacBook Air successful sharpness. It tin adjacent lucifer the MacBook Air's artillery beingness claims. And no, portion it's not arsenic bladed oregon sleek arsenic the MacBook Air, successful exchange, you get other retention and much ports, making this my go-to prime for back-to-school play this year.

The Cheapest Windows Laptop Worth Buying

The Asus Vivobook 14 (6/10, WIRED Review) has been my favourite fund laptop to travel retired this year, namely due to the fact that it solves 1 of the main problems with laptops successful this terms range: artillery life. It runs connected Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips, bringing fantastic ratio to devices arsenic affordable arsenic the Vivobook 14.

It's not a cleanable laptop. The show isn't excessively bright, and the colors look disconnected connected it. I besides privation the touchpad were a spot much precise. But astatine this price, you won't find a amended Windows laptop, particularly since it comes with 512 GB of storage. If you tin spend the other currency for the Dell 14 Plus listed above, it's worthy it for the improved show and bump successful storage.

A Great Deal connected a 2-in-1 Laptop

2-in-1 laptops (otherwise known arsenic detachables) are a large enactment for college. They're the lightest devices you tin transportation astir that inactive springiness you entree to a afloat mentation of Windows. The 2025 12-inch exemplary of the Surface Pro makes this payment adjacent stronger, shrinking the surface down, but without losing show oregon artillery life. Due to its size, the Surface Pro 12 (6/10, WIRED Review) is simply a axenic joyousness to use.

When it came out, it was excessively costly compared to the larger 13-inch model, but connected sale, it makes for an perfect assemblage companion for note-taking successful people and studying connected the go. Just remember: You'll request to buy the keyboard, arsenic it doesn't travel bundled in.

A Rare Discount connected the Best Gaming Laptop

The Razer Blade 16 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is my favourite gaming laptop, and it'd beryllium a fantastic prime for assemblage students if lone it weren't truthful incredibly expensive. Normally, it starts astatine $2,400 for the RTX 5060 model, but Razer has a $400 back-to-school discount, meaning you tin prime 1 up for arsenic debased arsenic $2,000. I cognize that's not cheap, particularly for this graphics card, but for a Razer Blade, it's a uncommon discount. This is surely the lowest terms I've seen since the 2025 exemplary came out. The 5070 GPU exemplary is besides connected sale.

The gully to thing similar the Razer Blade 16 is that it tin relation arsenic some your laptop for assemblage enactment and a gaming instrumentality with your friends successful the dorm. While you could bargain conscionable astir immoderate gaming laptop and unreal it's a schoolhouse device, lugging that happening to people volition beryllium a nuisance, and erstwhile you get there, the plan mightiness beryllium a distraction. The latest Razer Blade 16 is conscionable 0.58 inches thick, making it amazingly portable for a 16-inch gaming laptop. Outside of the Razer logo connected the lid, you mightiness not conjecture that it's adjacent a gaming laptop. It goes without saying that due to the fact that it has a discrete GPU, it'll service arsenic a bully enactment for STEM students who request much performance.

A Thin, OLED Chromebook

Now, if you privation a much elevated Chromebook experience, you'll person to wage a small more. But arsenic the terms of the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus (8/10, WIRED Recommends) proves, determination are plentifulness of large deals to beryllium found. The Galaxy Chromebook Plus has a superb OLED screen, thing that's not communal successful Chromebooks, adjacent those with the “Chromebook Plus” designation.

The Galaxy Chromebook Plus not lone has a bright, 15.6-inch OLED display, but besides the benignant of high-end specs you'll astir apt request for college. That includes 256 GB of storage, 8 GB of RAM, and an Intel Core 3 processor. Perhaps its astir charismatic quality, however, is its portability. It's the thinnest Chromebook you tin bargain astatine 0.46 inches thick—only a hairsbreadth thicker than the MacBook Air.

The Cheapest MacBook You Should Buy

You've ever been capable to bargain cheap, old MacBooks, but not bully ones. And not ones that are inactive new, arsenic in, not refurbished. But for years now, Walmart has been selling caller versions of the 2020 MacBook Air M1, a astir five-year-old laptop that has held up amazingly well. While it uses an older plan and has immoderate outdated elements, this laptop is inactive coagulated successful the places that substance most, specified arsenic the display, performance, and artillery life. The M1 was a crippled changer erstwhile it launched, and portion the aboriginal chips person made important improvements, the archetypal M1 greatly extended the artillery beingness of the MacBook Air.

I should enactment that rumors person pointed to a cheaper MacBook coming retired aboriginal this twelvemonth oregon aboriginal 2026, targeting a akin price. That volition apt beryllium a amended enactment erstwhile they launch, truthful if you tin hold a fewer months, you should. But if you request thing for schoolhouse now, I don't deliberation you'll regret picking up 1 of these ultra-cheap MacBooks.

A Cheaper Gaming Laptop

If you privation the sleek and minimalist plan of the Razer Blade astatine a little price, instrumentality a look astatine the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (9/10, WIRED Recommends). It's conscionable arsenic gorgeous and bladed and doubles each spot arsenic good arsenic a survey laptop. The RTX 4060 configuration is what's cheap, which, admittedly, isn't the astir awesome gaming GPU astatine the moment. Alternatively, you tin besides prime up a somewhat older Intel exemplary that comes with a much almighty RTX 4070 for the aforesaid price.

Either way, what you're getting is an highly susceptible laptop with immoderate other show down it for those who request it. And yeah, it's besides a slayer gaming laptop successful your downtime.

A Fantastic MacBook Air Alternative

This was my favourite caller laptop of 2024, and astir a twelvemonth later, it's inactive without a uncertainty 1 of the champion laptops you could bring to school. The Surface Laptop 7th Edition (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is airy and portable, has a fantastic screen, and an fantabulous touchpad. My favourite diagnostic is the 3:2 facet ratio display, which means it has a taller shape, giving you much vertical surface abstraction to enactment with than astir different laptops.

The cheapest mentation you tin bargain is implicit connected Amazon, wherever you tin prime up the 1-TB model. It's $999 close now, and it volition get you large show with the Snapdragon X Elite chipset and all-day artillery life.