But one way you can lighten the load is to just start with a gaming laptop, which packs in everything you need to get started in PC gaming without all the extra pieces. Of course, gaming laptops can be expensive, too, but plenty of budget options also exist.

Even Chromebooks are getting love, with prices dropping so low it feels like a pricing error. The Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Chromebook is just $182 — that’s cheaper than a night out. Meanwhile, if you’re in the U.K., don’t worry — you’re not missing out. The ROG Zephyrus G14 with RTX 5070 is down £300, and the M4 MacBook Air is £150 off there too.

Apple's fastest processor, an industry-best Liquid Retina display, and Apple Intelligence AI make the 2025 MacBook Air the total package.

Among MacBook Pros, the best deal I've spotted is a $250 discount on a 14-inch M4 model with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, which brings it down to $1,749. It randomly fell to $1,715.05 three times in May, according to the price-tracking site CamelCamelCamel, but otherwise its Prime Day offer marks its biggest discount since launch.