5 of the best laptop deals available this week from Dell, Walmart and Best Buy

(Image credit: Future)

I've tracked the best laptop deals for over three years here at TechRadar so I've learnt where you can find some of the best value for money devices. That's what all of these picks I've made provide, no matter if you want a cheap Chromebook for light use or a more powerful machine for demanding work and multitasking.

Some of this week's best laptop offers are found in the remaining New Year sales at Walmart, Best Buy, and Dell. I'm actually surprised by how good some of these laptop deals ar,e considering we're in the quieter time following Black Friday.

One standout is this Lenovo IdeaPad 1 at Best Buy for $299.99 (was $549.99). It's a slightly older laptop, but it's terrific value for money, given it's packed with an AMD Ryzen 5 processor and a healthy 16GB of RAM to boost performance. It's an unbeatable offer if you need an everyday device.

I also want to shout out this Dell XPS 13 at Dell for $899.99 (was $1.099.99), which is the lowest price I've seen for the new premium laptop with the powerful Snapdragon X Plus inside. This processor offers excellent all-around performance and an impressive battery life of up to 17 hours. The measly 256GB SSD is a bit disappointing when it comes to storage, but it's workable for your essential files.

Below is more info on both of these laptop deals and the rest of my top picks from this week.

Today's 5 best laptop deals

Display - 14 inches
Processor - Intel i3
RAM - 8GB
Storage - 128GB

This Asus Chromebook Plus is great value for money if you need a basic everyday device but don't want to compromise too heavily on performance like you would with a sub-$200 laptop. An Intel i3 processor and 8GB of RAM is a decent pairing with the lightweight ChromeOS, so it's capable of general tasks and light use, such as web browsing, sending emails, word processing and watching videos. Just be aware it's missing some advanced features of a Windows machine and has limited storage, but benefits include better performance with cheaper components and excellent battery life.

Display - 15.6 inches
Processor - Intel i7
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 512GB

If you want a Windows machine then this configuration of the Dell Inspiron 15 is an excellent buy and terrific value for money. You get an Intel i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD to ensure excellent overall performance and enough essential speedy storage for the price. It's a top buy right now if you have a reasonable budget and need a strong mid-range laptop for general everyday use, admin tasks, light work, or schoolwork.

Display - 13 inches
Processor - Apple M1
RAM - 8GB
Storage - 256GB

It blows my mind that Walmart still has stock of the MacBook Air M1 after dropping it to a new lowest-ever price of $599 over Black Friday. Newer M2 and M3 models are available, but you won't find anything with better value for money than this if you're shopping for a powerful all-around laptop, so grab it before it's gone for good – even though it's now $50 more expensive. Our MacBook Air M1 review awarded the device 4.5 stars out of five, praising Apple's premium device for its speed, responsiveness, beautiful design and long-lasting battery life.

Display - 13.4 inches
Processor - Snapdragon X Plus
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 256GB

This is the lowest price I've seen for one of the new Dell XPS 13 models. It comes with one of the latest Snapdragon processors that boast fantastic all-around performance and exceptional battery life of around 17 hours. We called these out as the main positives in our Dell XPS 13 review, alongside the gorgeous 13.4-inch display and sleek overall design. The miserly amount of storage is a little disappointing, but this is still a high-end premium device if you need speed, performance, and responsiveness for coding, multitasking, and creative tasks.

See more Laptop Deals

James Pickard is a Deals Editor at TechRadar. After many years of scouring the net for the cheapest games and tech for his personal use, he decided to make it his job to share all the best bargains and coupon codes with you. James also has almost a decade of experience covering some of the biggest sales events of the year at Eurogamer and VG247, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day. When not deals hunting or stacking coupon codes to get the biggest savings, James can be found on the PS5, watching a classic film noir or cheering on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.