Black Friday UK Gaming Laptop deals: the best mobile bargains right now
Friday 27 November is going to go off with a bang, but you don't have to wait to get a Black Friday gaming laptop deal. There are going to be a tonne of sneaky gaming laptop bargains out there, ready to be snapped up before Black Firday rolls around. You might be asking yourself "Should I wait until Black Friday to buy a laptop?" Maybe the main weekend will have the best deals, but there are already so many floating about that you may not have to rush through the dreaded Christmas shopping fiasco all in one weekend.
Where to find Black Friday deals...
Amazon - Basically everything
Lenovo - Discounts on Legion Laptops and PCs
Razer - Laptops and Gaming Accessories
Newegg - Components and Hardware
Microsoft - PCs, Laptops, and Games
Dell - Alienware PCs and Laptops
Laptops Direct - Laptops, Monitors and Gadgets
Scan - Components, Laptops and Gaming Accessories
Currys & PC world - Assorted tech deals
Ebuyer - PCs, Laptops, Components and Gadgets
Black Friday itself will be on the last Friday of November, and that means this year you're looking at 27 November. Realistically Christmas sales are likely to kick off around midnight on Thursday 26, though, and the retail event will follow through all the way to Cyber Monday.
With the current global pandemic still in full flux, there are concerns about the volume of shipping demand, due to the increase in online shopping, as well as the fact people are going to be desperate to get everything sorted for Christmas.
All this points to Amazon, and a host of other online shops, being likely to start things going a little earlier than usual, so expect the whole of November to be one giant pre-Christmas sales event.
That might make you wince, "Please, no..." but it does mean there will be early Black Friday bargains to be had, without the need to fight the online crowds on when the end of November comes knocking.
So, to make the holiday season just that little bit easier, we've been putting the mass of deals together in one place, for your shopping pleasure. Don't let this year get you down, Christmas is not cancelled, by any means.
Early Black Friday Gaming Laptop Deals
Razer Blade Stealth | Intel i7 | GTX 1650Ti | £1,899.97 £1,399.97 at Laptops Direct
It may not come with the greatest GPU ever, but that's a saving of £500 for a pretty decent gaming machine. It has 13.3-inch HD display, and will handle most games at medium settings; the 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD should see them running fast, as well. There's a one year warranty with this one, and you get a Marvel's Avengers game code for free, too.View Deal
MSI GE66 Raider | Intel i7 | RTX 2070 | £1,699.00 £1,599.00 at Currys
This laptop comes with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 GPU, and coupled with 16GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD, it should see you right with most top games. You may only be able to fit a few on there, but the 15.6-inch 240Hz 1080p screen also means higher FPS, even in more graphic-intensive games.View Deal
Lenovo Legion Y540 15 | Intel i5 | RTX 2060 | £1,299.99 £1,049.99 at Lenovo
If you use the coupon code 'CYBERSALE' at the checkout, you're looking at a £250 savings on a quality mid-range laptop. The 256GB SSD may only store a few graphics heavy games at once, but the Lenovo Legion will deliver a winning performance with most modern games at 1080p with ray tracing on. Plus, free shipping.View Deal
MSI GF65 Thin | Intel i7 | GTX 1660Ti | £1,239.99 £999 at Ebuyer
Although there's no RTX capability here, this is a great mid-range laptop with dedicated graphics and a nice big screen. The performance is good enough to handle most of todays top games on ultra graphics settings at 1080p, no problems. Really, this ones hard to beat, especially with savings of over £240.View Deal
Early Black Friday office laptops
MSI Modern 14 | Intel i5 | Nvidia MX330 | £799.97 £597.97 at Laptops Direct
The MX330 isn't at the top end of GPUs, but it's just about better than Intel's integrated graphics. It will still see you through at 720p, if you want to do a bit of light gaming. Intel's 8th gen CPU, paired with a 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM, mean it can handle a host of creative tasks. And it's £200 off right now.View Deal
What to look out for in a Black Friday gaming laptop
The best Black Friday gaming laptop deals will deliver high-performance hardware for a knockdown price. But it doesn't automatically scan that just because something has a three-figure discount that it will be worth the money. You need to keep an eye on what parts are being used, what else you get for your cash, and whether it's actually right for you.
We're at a crossroads in PC gaming tech right now; at the end of one generation and the beginning of another. That's mostly in the desktop PC space, however, with new laptop graphics cards, and mobile gaming CPUs not expected until early next year.
But companies are still aiming to shift stock so expect some discounts on current-gen kit. Don't be fooled into parting with money for anything beyond the last generation of GPUs, however. It's unlikely there'll be a laptop with an Nvidia 10-series graphics card inside it that's worth buying this Black Friday.
Keep an eye out for storage, and memory size too. That's most true at the low end of the market, where manufacturers may aim to keep prices low by using single sticks of memory and therefore halving the potential memory bandwidth. That might not be a problem in the very cheapest of gaming laptops, however, where the GPU will make the most difference to your experience.