Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
As time marches on, even the simplest programs get more demanding to run. That’s a problem for these cheap laptop deals, because they already tend to be using pretty old tech by the time you get to them.
What makes that worse is that, generally, Celeron is meant more for low-power corporate terminals than general consumer use. So on top of being old, if you want to do any kind of multitasking, you’re fighting an uphill battle.
You could use a more lightweight browser, turn on memory limits, or make use of hacks like suspending or preloading tabs, but no matter what you do, most developers aren’t making their apps, even web browsers, for machines with a 4GB limit anymore. And that’s an issue, because relying on browser-based applications is a great way to take strain off a weak computer, since it lets it shunt most of its processing to the cloud. Having so little breathing room for your memory puts a tight expiration date on your new purchase, aside from limiting how many tabs or extra programs you can open now.
Are any of these issues death sentences? Not necessarily. If you understand that one of these machines might be a bit sluggish and won’t last you long, it could serve in a pinch. But you’re still probably going to have to replace it sooner rather than later, which could cost you more in the long run, while giving you a worse experience than just getting a nicer computer now would.
Chromebooks are the new cheap laptop
Part of what makes these cheaper laptop PCs viable at all is that they most rely on the internet for their productivity. Assuming you have the RAM to operate an internet browser, a cheap laptop can rely on the cloud for activities like watching videos, prepping spreadsheets, and increasingly, gaming. But if you’re just going to use your laptop as a portal to the internet, it might be better to ditch the heavy requirements of Windows and go for something lighter instead. Enter Chromebooks.
These advantages mean Chromebooks have started to replace more traditional budget laptops as of late, which is probably part of why these sub-$300 Windows machines are using such old tech. Chromebooks are used in schools, and because of Google’s support, they can promise a certain level of quality while keeping costs low.
Lifehacker sister site PCMag has a whole list of tested Chromebooks across various price ranges, but for a specific pick, I’d opt for the Acer Chromebook Plus 515, which is $300 for Black Friday, hits all those Chromebook Plus minimums, and has a generous 15.6-inch touch display. Or, if that’s a bit too large for you, you can pay $355 for the Acer Chromebook Plus 514.
That’s because Apple recently released iPadOS26, and while it’s not a full replacement for a MacBook, it comes stunningly close. New with this update is the ability to run multiple windowed apps at once, complete with a menu bar, in a user interface that looks a lot like Apple’s full-blown computers. It’s even got the traffic lights in the top-left corner of your windows for minimizing them or taking them fullscreen.
Right now, you can get an 11-inch A16 iPad for $279 for Black Friday, although an official Magic Keyboard Folio for that will run you an additional $199. That takes this from being one of this article’s cheaper options to one of its priciest, but the iPad will work with any Bluetooth keyboard, so you could also opt for a cheaper third-party option instead. Here’s one for $24, although I haven’t tested it personally.
Most Android tablets, meanwhile, aren’t as functional here, but could still work for you, especially if you intend to use your tablet like a Chromebook. Here, you’ll probably need to rely on split-screen mode, which can place two apps side by side, although the specifics might vary depending on your device. Using a tablet as your cheap laptop is likely a better choice for iPad users, but again, it’s worth playing around with what you already have before buying a laptop that’s probably going to be sluggish and frustrating anyway.
Just use your phone
The answer is probably that you need a big screen or a laptop-like interface, but I’ve got some good news for you. There are ways to use your phone for that without paying for a new, worse device.
From there, you’ll see a similar interface to Windows, ChromeOS, or MacOS, and you’ll be able to open apps in multiple windows and freely resize them or move them around. It’s a lot like what’s available in iPadOS 26, and because your Galaxy device is probably running a recent flagship processor and definitely has at least 8GB of RAM, it’s going to be snappier than that cheap laptop would.
This versatility means you might already own a “budget laptop” that’s going to be way stronger than anything you can buy on the cheap. Compatibility goes back to the S8, so it’s worth checking your drawers if you’ve ever been a Samsung customer.
Black Friday sales officially begin Friday, November 28, 2025, and run throughout “Cyber Week,” the five-day period that runs from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, December 1, 2025. But Black Friday and Cyber Monday dates have expanded as retailers compete for customers. You can get the same Black Friday sales early, and we expect sales to wind down by December 3, 2025.
Does Apple do Black Friday?
What stores have the best sales on Black Friday?
Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers who can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog.
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