The best laptop and tablet deals you'll find on Black Friday

Jos

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With Black Friday only a week away, we've had plenty of time to review the leaked Black Friday deals from many, many retailers. It's now clear that this is going to be a great year to pick up a laptop as well as a range of tablets, from a previous-generation Kindle Fire HD or iPad to Windows tablets and tablets for kids.

Read on to see our roundup of the best tablet and laptop ads so far.

Impressive ultraportable laptop prices

  • HP Pavilion Celeron 1.1GHz 14" Chromebook for $179.99 at Staples
    Weighing in at just under 4 lbs., this HP 14" Chromebook is the ideal ultraportable for your basic computing needs. And when Staples drops it to $180, this'll be the cheapest new 14" Chromebook we've ever seen, and tied as the cheapest new Chromebook we've seen in any size.
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  • ASUS Celeron 1.5GHz 12" Touchscreen Laptop for $249.99 at Best Buy
    This Asus ultraportable may lack the bells and whistles of higher-end touchscreen laptops, but $250 is still a seriously great price. Until now, the best price we'd ever seen for any new 12" touchscreen laptop was $280, so this deal is definitely worth grabbing if you're looking for a basic laptop with touch capabilities. (This build currently goes for at least $325 elsewhere.)
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  • HP Pavilion TouchSmart Celeron 1.5GHz 14" Touchscreen Laptop for $278 at Walmart
    If you're itching to get a touchscreen laptop, but Best Buy's all-time low on a 12" ultraportable doesn't interest you, then check out this slightly better-equipped HP Pavilion TouchSmart. The 14-B109WM has both a bigger screen and a bigger hard drive than Best Buy's offering, and it only costs $28 more. Plus, it's one of Walmart's guaranteed doorbusters; you're sure to bag the cheapest 14" touchscreen laptop we've ever seen, even if your local store runs out.
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  • HP Split 2-in-1 Haswell 1.3GHz 13" Touchscreen Convertible Laptop for $499.99 at Best Buy
    This sleek laptop/tablet combo blows our ultraportable laptop prediction out of the water; we thought we'd see a 12" laptop with an Ivy Bridge chip for $519. Instead, the HP Split 13-m110dx boasts a 13.3" touchscreen and a fourth-gen Haswell dual-core CPU, and Best Buy is dropping it to just $500. It'll be the best price we've seen for any new 13" convertible tablet by at least $132.

Budget laptops with surprising features

  • HP AMD E-300 1.3GHz 16" LED-Backlit Laptop for $178 at Walmart
    If you thought we were nuts predicting a general-use 15" dual-core laptop for $170 on Black Friday, weep for our sanity no more. This HP 15.6" laptop sports a dual-core AMD E-300 CPU and a 500GB hard drive, and it's just a few bucks over our prediction. When Walmart marks this system down to the guilt-free impulse buy price of $178, it'll be tied with the item below as the cheapest new 16" laptop with a dual-core processor that we've ever seen.
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  • Dell Inspiron Celeron 1.6GHz 16" LED-Backlit Laptop for $178 at Best Buy
    Not to be outdone by Walmart, Best Buy is also offering a 16" dual-core laptop for under $180. Although this Dell only has a 320GB hard drive, it's still tied with the system above at an all-time low price.
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  • HP Pavilion TouchSmart AMD 1.5GHz 16" Touchscreen Laptop for $429.99 at H.H. Gregg
    Although a touchscreen rarely falls into the category of "specs you'd find on a budget laptop," it's an awesome add-on to find at this price point. We've only seen one 16" quad-core touchscreen laptop for less than this, and that was a Newegg daily deal.
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  • Dell Inspiron 15 Haswell 1.6GHz 16" LED-Backlit Laptop for $499.99 at Dell Home
    If you're dying to get your hands on a config with one of those shiny new Haswell CPUs, this Dell Inspiron 15 is a great choice. In addition to the Core i5 Haswell chip, this workhorse laptop has 6GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive. This is the lowest price we've ever seen for a Haswell-equipped Inspiron 15.

High-end laptop steals hard to come by

  • Toshiba Ivy Bridge 2.4GHz 16" LED-Backlit Laptop for $649.99 at Staples
    Although it's only got an Ivy Bridge CPU and will require a mail-in rebate to get the $650 price, this Toshiba S55-A5295 packs an awful lot of power into its 15.6" build. This is $145 under the best current price for this configuration and the second-best price we've ever seen for any 16" laptop with 12GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. (If you're looking for this configuration with a Haswell, BJ's Wholesale Club will have one for $100 more.)
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  • Alienware 14 Haswell 2.5GHz 14" LED-Backlit Laptop for $999 at Dell Home
    Don't be fooled by the Alienware 14's compact housing; this little laptop is jam-packed with features any PC gamer would drool over, like a Haswell CPU, 8GB of RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB graphics. Better yet, Dell will drop this system to just under $1,000, making it the cheapest Alienware 14 config we've ever seen.

Black Friday iPad deals

  • Apple iPad Air 16GB WiFi Tablet with $100 Target Gift Card for $479 at Target
    We expected the iPad Air's price to drop by 12% during this holiday season. But if you count the $100 gift card, then Target's Black Friday price is 24% off Apple's list price. Considering that the best price we've seen for this model is $449, this promotion a fantastic deal on the current-gen iPad.
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  • Apple iPad mini 16GB WiFi Tablet with a $100 Walmart Gift Card for $299 at Walmart
    While $299 is list price for this first-generation iPad mini, the hefty $100 Walmart gift card makes this promo exceptional. The lowest price we've previously seen for this tablet is $249, so if you factor in the gift card, this deal offers the best value we've ever seen on the iDevice. Even better? This is one of Walmart's guaranteed doorbusters; customers who arrive between 6 pm and 7 pm on Thanksgiving will secure this price, even if local inventory runs out.
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  • Apple iPad 2 16GB WiFi Tablet for $299.99 at Best Buy
    Though it's perhaps not as exciting as the offers above, this Black Friday iPad 2 doorbuster is a solid deal that doesn't require a gift card to be a price-low. In fact, it's the second best price we've ever seen for a new iPad 2, and at least $80 below the lowest current price elsewhere. (For what it's worth, we saw this model for $20 less in March, but that deal sold out in a mere two hours.)

Black Friday Android tablet deals

  • Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16GB Tablet with $25 Staples Gift Card for $229 at Staples
    Assuming you'll use the gift card, this offer for the current-generation Kindle HDX 7" 16GB tablet is an excellent buy. (Amazon briefly offered it for $195 earlier this month, but we've seen no other discounts on this tablet.) Not interested in a Staples gift card? Get a $25 Visa gift card instead when you buy the 7" HDX from Office Depot for just a buck more.
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  • RCA 7" 8GB Android Tablet for $49 at Walmart
    If you're on the hunt for a budget tablet during Black Friday, you can't do much better than this RCA 7" 8GB tablet for $49. Not only is that $20 under what Walmart usually charges, but it's the cheapest new 8GB Android tablet we've seen.
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  • Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1" 16GB Tablet with $20 Toys "R" Us Gift Card for $299.99 at Toys "R" Us
    Although you can pick up the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1" tablet on Black Friday for $300 from a ton of stores like OfficeMax, Sears, Best Buy, and GameStop, only Toys "R" Us will include a $20 gift card with your purchase. Assuming you'll use the gift card, Toys "R" Us will have the best price we've ever seen for this tablet new, by at least $25. (It also beats the best current price for this model by $49.)
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  • Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Tablet with $50 off Coupon for $189 at Meijer
    Shoppers who live near a Meijer retail store should rejoice at their good fortune: this Kindle Fire HD offer blows the $180 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Tablet and $20 Toys "R" Us gift card out of the water. For just under $190, you get the previous-generation Kindle Fire HD 8.9" tablet and a coupon for $50 off your next Meijer purchase between December 1 and December 24. (If you can't get to a Meijer, no worries; Toys "R" Us deal is still very good.) Assuming you'll use the $50 coupon, this Black Friday price is $40 under our August mention of a refurb, making it the lowest price we've ever seen for this tablet. (Amazon currently charges $229.)
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  • Kindle Fire HD 7" 16GB Tablet for $99.99 at Best Buy
    2013 is shaping up to be a great year to buy a previous-generation Kindle Fire HD. Best Buy's doorbuster price for the 7" tablet is especially tempting because it's a sale on the 16GB model, not the 8GB. At $100, it's tied as the best price we've ever seen for this tablet in either capacity; our previous mention at this price point was for a 16GB refurb. (A new 16GB model currently goes for $169 on Amazon.)

Black Friday Microsoft tablet deals

  • Microsoft Surface 10.6" 32GB Windows RT Tablet for $199.99 at Best Buy
    We predicted that Microsoft tablets would see the biggest discounts this season, but even our crystal ball didn't show the Surface RT tablet's price dropping this low. Best Buy's $200 Black Friday price point shatters our predicted price of $314, and it's only a buck over the lowest price we've ever seen for a refurbished unit.
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  • Toshiba Encore 8" 32GB Windows 8.1 Tablet for $299.99 at Staples
    If you're looking for a Windows tablet with a veritable cornucopia of bells and whistles, the Toshiba Encore WT8-A32 is a great choice: it sports an Atom Z3740 quad-core processor and 32GB of storage. Better yet, Staples will knock it down to $300 on Black Friday, beating Amazon's current price by $30.

Black Friday kids' tablets

  • Supersonic Munchkinz Kids' 7" 4GB Android Tablet for $74.99 at Overstock
    With front and rear cameras, WiFi access, and a slew of educational games, the Supersonic kids' tablet sports a lot of the same features pricier children's tablets do. If the Nabi 2 is out of your price range, then this budget Android tablet is a great second choice at $75, which beats the current price low by $15.
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  • Nabi 2 Kids' 7" 8GB Android Tablet for $99 at Walmart
    This kid-friendly tablet is more than a year old at this point, so we can't attest to its "coolness." However, we can say this: Walmart will be offering it for the lowest price we've seen by $30.

Republished with permission. Marcy Bonebright is a Features Writer at dealnews.

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Thanks for the article because I like knowing about the deals, but I can't bring myself to go out on Black Friday. Hopefully a Black Friday veteran can tell me I'm wrong, but I always figured these great deal 'door buster' sales were gone by 6am and available only to those who waited in line for hours before the store opened to get a coupon.

I always figured if I waited until the story was opened to arrive, that I'd find the item I wanted was sold out long ago, and it probably wouldn't even bother me too much when I saw the line to pay was back around the store.

Maybe I'm wrong... is it possible to actually buy these items at these prices without the extreme measures?
 
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