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The Best Laptop Deals Information Guide

Frugal shoppers on the hunt for bargains typically look to retailers or coupon sites for laptop deals, but this is one category where manufacturers do a decent job of pointing consumers in the right direction. Sony, for instance has a weekly deals page with offers for anywhere from $50 to more than $300 off certain laptops.

You can sign up for alerts to learn about the discounts ahead of other customers. Dell's laptop deals page seems to offer deeper discounts, with some models more than $400 off, and Lenovo's limited time offers include discounts of as much as $450. Special offers on laptops from HP take the form of free memory, hard drive, and Blu-ray upgrades, as well as instant rebates of $100 to $250.

Gateway is a rare manufacturer with a deals page that links to retail outlets offering discounts, such as Best Buy and Amazon. Those retailers promote their own laptop deals as well, of course. Best Buy compiles a list of weekly specials and Amazon lets consumers browse laptops listed for 20% off or more.

NotebookReview aggregates the latest laptop deals from both retailers and manufacturers, aiming to be a "one-stop source." If you can get past the cluttered design, Deals2Buy also lists page after page of laptop deals from major manufacturers and retailers, most of which offer $100 off or more. The site tells you where the deal is and the final price with applicable coupons and discounts. It also factors in shipping costs, including offers of free shipping, and indicates whether the purchase is subject to sales tax.

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Coupon sites offer some of the steepest discounts on laptops. Cheap Stingy Bargains has a few coupon codes for discounts in the $300 to $400 range, as does TechBargains. Coupon Sherpa organizes coupons by store, so you can click through to Office Depot or Sony or another of the two dozen or so outlets with available coupons for computers and software. Brad's Deals also doesn't have a dedicated laptop section, but many of the listings in the computer category are for laptops. Other coupon sites to check for laptop deals are Slickdeals, CouponMountain, MyCoupons, Deals.com, DealCatcher, RetailMeNot, Dealnews, and FatWallet.

Sales and coupons aren't the only sources of laptop deals. Getting a good price on a notebook can be as simple as knowing when to buy. Lifehacker notes on its Best Times to Buy Anything chart that August and September are the best months to buy a laptop, thanks to back-to-school savings at big-box stores and direct retailers. Price-comparison site Extrabux has drilled down even further, zeroing in on the best days of the week to buy a laptop online, based on analysis of two years' worth of data. The site discovered that prices are lower early in the week because manufacturers apply discounts and rebates on Mondays, so retailers get laptops for less and pass on the savings to their customers.

Prices also depend on whether a given manufacturer is about to come out with a new model. If you're in the market for a MacBook, head over to MacRumors, which monitors speculation coming out of Cupertino to predict whether an Apple device is nearing the end of its product cycle. Decide, a startup, tracks the prices of popular PCs and tells you whether it's a good time to buy a particular model. It may recommend buying now because prices aren't likely to drop or researching a newer model that's set to come out soon.

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Finally, laptop deals are available to students, public-sector employees, and other groups eligible for discounts from manufacturers. Dell partners with major corporations to offer deals on laptops through its Employee Purchase Program. Government employees, credit union members, veterans, students, and other groups can shop through the Dell Member Purchase Program and Dell University Store. Students can also save with HP education discounts, Lenovo student pricing, and the Apple Education Store, which offers up to $200 off a MacBook.

by Michael Sweet (Google+ Profile)

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