I tested over a dozen laptops in 2025, and these are my top picks for Black Friday

A reliable laptop is one of the best investments you can make. And if you’ve been searching across websites and e-commerce pages looking for the best deals on laptops, I’ve got you covered with two of my favorite picks. 

Asus ZenBook A14 (45% off)

Let’s start with the Asus ZenBook A14. Usually available at a flat $999, this sleek laptop is currently going at $550 on Best Buy, a steep 45% drop from the sticker price. At this asking price, this is one of the most irresistible Windows laptop deals out there. 

One of the lightest Windows laptops out there, this one features a lovely metallic build with a unique surface texture and eye-catching paintjob. Yes, it’s going after the MacBook Air, but not without substance. 

The ZenBook A14 offers a much better (and diverse) port selection than its Apple rival, a lovely keyboard, and a true visual treat courtesy of a 2K OLED screen. At the top of the panel is an infrared camera sensor for Windows Hello biometric face unlock. 

It has a speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus silicon at its heart, paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. In our tests, this combination performed well. Plus, this is a Copilot+ machine, which means it supports plenty of on-device AI features. 

The ZenBook A14 also impressed with its battery life, easily lasting a full day of work. Overall, if you’re eyeing a daily driver that’s snappy and stylish at the same time, the Asus ZenBook A14 is the best pick at its discounted $550 asking price. 

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (32% off)

In case you’re looking for a machine that’s a tad more powerful, something that can handle work and play, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is one of the most highly-regarded options out there. The regular asking price is $1,799.99, but as part of the Black Friday deals, this one is currently available at $1,299.99 in the US. 

Just in case you’re wondering, that’s a few hundred dollars lower than the M5 MacBook Pro, and with plenty of meaningful advantages. It has a sleek chassis with a beautiful light strip at the back and a solid build overall with plenty of ports to go with it. 

The real attention grabber is the 3K 14-inch OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. Underneath the hood, you will find a fairly powerful AMD Ryzen 9 270 processor, paired with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and a massive 1TB SSD storage drive.

At its reduced asking price of $1,300, this is one of the most powerful laptops out there and a must-have deal for gaming enthusiasts who want a portable package that can handle games at a respectable graphics settings and productivity chores, as well.