Best Dell Laptop Deals: Save $300 on an XPS 13, $285 on a G15 – CNET

Deal

Savings

Price

Show more (1 item)

If you’re looking for a new laptop, then you’ll likely come across a few options from Dell no matter your budget or computing needs. Along with Lenovo and HP, Dell is one of the big three PC manufacturers and offers a wide selection of Windows-based laptops. 

On Dell’s sprawling website you’ll see a constantly rotating selection of laptop sales. You can save on everything from low-end Inspiron laptops for basic use to high-end XPS laptops built for content creation and media editing. And gamers can find some deep discounts on Dell’s own Alienware brand of gaming laptops that feature the latest AMD and Intel silicon and Nvidia RTX 30 series graphics.

Read more: Best Laptop Deals at Amazon, Best Buy and Newegg

I scoured Dell’s Laptop Deals and XPS Deals pages to find the best bargains, including big price breaks on a few of our favorite laptops. Tracking Dell’s deals is a bit like trying to hit a moving target. The prices and discounts are valid at the time of this writing, and I’ll update this story as sales expire and new deals begin.

When shopping for a laptop with a budget less than $1,000, the first items I look for are a modern CPU, at least 16GB of RAM and 512GB or more of solid-state storage. Many models at this price force you to make do with a previous-generation or underpowered processor, a meager 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD that you are sure to fill up fast. This Inspiron 15 features the eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 5700U CPU along with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. The 15.6-inch touch display features a Full HD (1,920×1,080-pixel) resolution and is protected by an aluminum cover. The rest of the laptop is made of plastic, but at least you get a metal lid that adds protection for the display and a bit of style to the laptop’s overall look.

Dell/Screenshot by CNET

This budget gamer is based on Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 graphics and a six-core Core i5 processor. The 15.6-inch display features Full HD resolution and a speedy 120Hz refresh rate. It borrows the Alienware Command Center from Dell’s high-end Alienware line that lets you customize game and system settings. The only drawback to this budget gaming laptop is the display is rated for only 250 nits of brightness, which makes the G15 a better fit for gaming in a dark den or basement than a sundrenched room.

Josh Goldman/CNET

We awarded the Inspiron 16 Plus a CNET Editors’ Choice Award last August, calling it “a MacBook Pro alternative for much less.” The roomy, 16-inch display features a fine 3K (3,072×1,920-pixel) resolution, and the aluminum chassis is roughly the same size and weight as the 16-inch MacBook Pro and has a higher-quality look and feel you might not expect from a midrange Inspiron laptop. This discounted model features an 11th-gen octa-core Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and a roomy 1TB SSD. And with GeForce RTX 3056 graphics, it’s suitable not only for content-creation tasks but also 3D games.

Read our Dell Inspiron 16 Plus review.

Dell

With a slightly bigger screen and smaller body than the previous version, Dell’s new XPS 13 continues its steady march towards laptop perfection. This model features the new 13.4-inch OLED display with a razor-sharp 3,456×2,160-pixel resolution powered by an 11th-gen Intel Core i5 processor and 16GB of RAM. The touch display also features a 16:10 aspect ratio for more vertical space and less scrolling and is rated for a bright 400 nits. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

The superthin and sleek x15 has replaced the m15 as the flagship 15-inch gaming laptop in Dell’s Alienware lineup. The m15 looks overqualified to be a midrange laptop, particularly this model that’s currently $200 off and one of the least expensive Alienware laptops you’ll encounter. It features an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU and GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics, and the 15.6-inch display has Full HD resolution and a fairly fast 165Hz refresh rate. Although it’s not the thinnest Alienware laptop, the m15 is still less than an inch thick, and Alienware’s Cryo-Tech cooling system keeps thermals in check.

Read our Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 review.

Alienware

If you want the latest and thinnest gaming laptop from Dell, the Alienware x15 is it. This model features a 15.6-inch Full HD display with a blazing 360Hz refresh rate powered by an eight-core Core i7-11800H CPU and RTX 3070 graphics. It also serves up a massive 32GB of RAM and a big 1TB SSD to house a large game library. It’s $100 off now, but Dell has offered larger discounts in the past on Alienware x15 models, so this might be one to keep an eye on. 

Leave a Reply