Black Friday Gaming Laptop Deals 2021: What to Expect

Last year, shoppers got to take advantage of gaming laptop Black Friday deals across the board, with some of the lowest prices and biggest discounts we saw all year. Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart were the outlets offering the best markdowns, but brands like Dell and HP ran their own Black Friday sales which were pretty enticing as well.

Some of the hottest gaming laptop Black Friday deals that dropped last season were on entry-level models sporting Nvidia GTX 16-series GPUs. These included the MSI G-series gaming laptops as well as the Lenovo Legion lineup, to name a couple specific examples. The HP Pavilion gaming laptop was another one we saw pop up frequently during Black Friday sales and the subsequent Christmas sales.

These budget-friendly Black Friday gaming laptop deals saw markdowns of around $100 to $200, which knocked them down into the $600-$700 range. Some models sporting mid-range GPUs like the GTX 1660 Ti dropped to around $800 or so. Those same models are likely to be even cheaper this time around (but more on what we expect to see from this year’s gaming laptop Black Friday deals later).

The pricier enthusiast-tier gaming laptops didn’t get passed over, either. High-end units from the Acer Predator Helios and Gigabyte Aero series sporting GeForce RTX graphics cards were frequently on sale, and these more expensive machines also brought discounts worth hundreds of dollars — sometimes even $500 to $600 or more. Alienware and Razer were two more names that popped up among last year’s gaming laptop Black Friday deals, and we don’t have to tell you that this was the best chance of the year to score these premium gaming PCs at fire-sale prices.

If you’re a seasoned deal-hunter then you likely already know what sorts of gaming laptop Black Friday deals to expect from this year’s holiday sales, but since the PC hardware landscape is always rapidly shifting underneath our feet, it never hurts to take a fresh look at the start of the market before you get ready to shop. You don’t want to jump on an attractive bargain only to find out that that seemingly unbeatable deal you snagged in your net is actually a model that’s sporting some dated hardware and isn’t really that great of a value after all.

The biggest change to the gaming laptop hardware landscape this year is arguably the introduction of Nvidia’s new RTX 30-series graphics cards, which have largely replaced the RTX 20 series. These are quite common now and have become surprisingly more affordable, even relative to the older RTX 20-series lineup. The updated 11th-gen Intel Core CPUs are also pretty much standard now as older 10th-gen processors have largely been replaced.

Black Friday kicks off the final big shopping season of the year before Christmas. Once a 24-hour event, it’s now pretty much a full weekend that melts right into Cyber Monday (and Cyber Week), and the deals offering during this time — which is rapidly becoming a single seamless week-long extravaganza — are all pretty much the same. That said, if you’re looking to get a gaming laptop on the cheap, Black Friday is the best time to buy any must-have products and we don’t recommend waiting for Cyber Monday in the hopes that you’ll find a better deal.

Inventory runs out fast during Black Friday weekend, so that laptop you had your eye on all year might be gone in a flash if you sit on it for too long. Also keep in mind that this isn’t like any other typical Black Friday you’ve experienced. Retail stores are open again, but the semiconductor shortage and container ship backlogs are still wreaking havoc on supply chains. That means you’ll need to be quick on the trigger if you want to score one of the best gaming laptop Black Friday deals before they’re gone. You might not see it again before 2022.

Black Friday is one of the best times of the year to buy any sort of expensive electronics, and that means gaming laptop Black Friday deals galore. However, with so many deals and discounts doing the rounds, it’s easy to get decision paralysis. You also have to be careful that you don’t get stuck with something that’s not a good fit, or as good of a bargain as it seemed at first. But worry not: We’ve got the information you need to make an educated purchasing decision. Take the time to prepare, know what to look for (and what pitfalls to avoid), and narrow down your search criteria. You won’t end up disappointed.

Do gaming laptops go on sale on Black Friday?

Tech is always popular during big sales, but Black Friday might be the single best sale of the entire year when it comes to shopping for expensive electronics like laptops. Just don’t get carried away and end up jumping on the first deal you see. Some retailers slash the prices on old or outdated devices, so while a deal with a huge markdown may look tempting, you need to ensure it is right for you. Last-generation models get big discounts during these sales, but carefully consider whether these are worth getting: Buying something old that does not last very long is not much of a deal, regardless of its price.

You’re going to see a lot of gaming laptop Black Friday deals rolling in from across all the major retailers, so while you shouldn’t drag your feet, you should do some due diligence before you hit that “add to cart” button. Has it had good reviews? Is it years old and will it struggle to keep up with your demands? And even if it has had a huge discount, is it still within your budget? Make sure to check all of these things before pulling the trigger. Another thing to be aware of is the high-pressure tactics some retailers use to coax people to buy. You may see gimmicks such as countdown timers or warnings that other shoppers are ready to buy the device you are looking at. Don’t fall for these tricks — if a deal is not right for you, it doesn’t matter how many other shoppers have it in their baskets.

How much are gaming laptops on Black Friday?

Games require high-end components to enable them to run games at good settings and with high framerates. That means gaming laptops almost always cost more than your standard notebook. Prices over $1,000 are common, and if you need really top-notch parts, it is not unusual to go over the $2,000 mark. However, there are a lot of great entry-level and even mid-range gaming laptops in the $600-$1,000 range. You probably have a rough budget in mind when shopping for something as expensive as a laptop, and this price ceiling is going to be the primary determining factor in what gaming laptop you end up with. You naturally want to stretch your dollar as far as you can (and gaming laptop Black Friday deals are the best way to do it), so it’s a good idea to have in mind some hardware specs, features, and even specific models you want before you set off in search of gaming laptop Black Friday deals.

The most important component when it comes to gaming is the graphics card (GPU). This is what you should focus on when buying a gaming laptop, and don’t be afraid to spend more if it means getting a GPU that meets your needs. For hardware, stick with AMD Ryzen CPUs, 10th- and 11th-generation Intel Core CPUs, Nvidia 16- and 30-series GPUs, AMD Radeon 5000M series GPUs, and between 8 and 32GB of RAM (16GB is the sweet spot). Don’t focus on what’s under the hood to the point of ignoring the screen: You ideally want a gaming laptop with an IPS display panel that will deliver the most color accuracy and the best viewing angles. Boosted refresh rates of 120Hz or more are also nice to see, and these are increasingly common, even on sub-$1,000 laptops.

Should you wait until Black Friday to buy a gaming laptop?

If you need a new portable gaming battle station now and you’re wondering if it’s worth waiting until Black Friday, all we can say is that it depends on whether or not you’re willing to pay more to have it sooner — because you will. The 2021 gaming laptop Black Friday deals are going to bring the lowest prices you’ll see all year, but there is the risk that the laptop you want will sell out before you can get to it, and with increased demand and supply chain woes, there’s also a risk that you won’t see it on sale again until after Christmas.

Our advice is to hold out for the Black Friday gaming laptop deals if you want to score one at the best possible price, but if the aforementioned risks are real to you, then there are always deals to be found online. On the other hand, many retailers roll out some early Black Friday bargains to whet shoppers’ appetites, and a lot of people sleep on these. Those early gaming laptop Black Friday deals are sometimes just as good as the ones on tap during the official sales (or close to it, anyway), so keep your eyes peeled in the weeks leading up to Black Friday weekend.