Labor Day laptop deals are like a ray of sunshine in these RAM-scarce times, and they’re likely to be the last good opportunity to upgrade your setup until Black Friday at the end of November. With back-to-school sales now ending, this weekend is throwing up some great final deals, like $500 off the Lenovo 16 Pro 9i Aura at B&H Photo, a powerful laptop designed with filmmakers and digital artists in mind.
A lot of the biggest Labor Day laptop discounts in percentage terms are on basic budget machines like the Lenovo Essential now half price at $399 at Amazon. This is a bargain for basic office work and entertainment but not a lot else. Nevertheless, I’ve managed to find just a few great deals on laptops that are actually good enough for creative work. Here are the best of the bunch.
The 7 best Labor Day laptop deals for creatives: with a powerful Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, dedicated Nvidia RTX 5060 graphics, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD storage and 2 Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, this is easily the best Labor Day laptop deal for photographers and filmmakers. A 16in colour-accurate 2880 x 1800 pixel (3K) OLED touchscreen and the included Yoga Pen from drawing tablet expert Wacom make it a device for digital artists too. It weighs 4.19lb (1.9kg), but that’s actually quite good for a 16in laptop with these specs.
If you need a slimmer, lighter device for travel, the Lenovo Slim 7i Aura Edition weighs just 2.8lb (1.27kg), making it perfect for slinging in a bag. This configuration boasts 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage plus a solid complement of ports and a 1920 x 1200 pixels WUXGA OLED touchscreen display. The integrated Intel graphics mean it’s not a device for high-end video editing or 3D modelling, but we found processing power and battery life could easily compete with those of a MacBook Air in our review.
This Labor Day laptop deal is pitched at gamers with its customisable RBG-lit backlit keyboard and fast 165Hz FHD display. But with Intel Core i7, dedicated Nvidia RTX 5060 graphics, 32 GB RAM and 1TB of SSD storage, the powerful internals also make it an option for serious content creators and video editors.
With an Intel Ultra 7 processor and 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, this Dell 15 configuration is kitted out for some serious office multitasking, video calls, general photo editing and 2D design work. It has a touchscreen and backlit keyboard too, although display resolution is only 1920 x 1080 (FHD).
If you’re looking for a solid back-to-school laptop with a larger screen, this is another Dell option to consider. This configuration packs a more modest 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage space, but it will cover you for everyday multitasking and basic Photoshop work. Again, you’re getting an FHD touchscreen. Do be aware that Dell laptops don’t actually project 3D models of birds like their product imagery suggests!
We wouldn’t normally consider Chromebooks to be viable laptops for creative work, but our minds were changed during our Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 review. With a 14in WUXGA touchscreen display, MediaTek Kompanio Ultra chip and 12GB RAM, it’s a surprisingly powerful and wonderfully portable laptop and tablet in one. Battery life is fantastic, making it ideal for taking to school. Just bear in mind that as a ChromeOS device, it only runs Android apps.
MacBook deals have been few and far between since Apple hiked its prices earlier this year amid the RAM crisis. Normally I’d hope for at least $200 off a 16GB MacBook Air 13 in a Labor Day deal, but I think this is the best we’re going to get this year. That said, it’s a fantastic laptop for creative work on the go, as we detail in our 4.5-star MacBook Air 13 M5 review.
