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Five best laptop deals for the holidays

If you're on the lookout to buy a notebook as a holiday gift, we've compiled this week's best laptop deals.

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Reuters/Pichi Chuang/File
Visitors try Acer laptops at an exhibition in Taipei. The Acer Aspire E11 is among the most affordable laptops we've listed below, undercutting even the cheapest Black Friday Chromebooks by $9.

We're a week away from Christmas Eve, and if you're still on the lookout for a notebook, this week's best laptop deals can help. Included in our roundup are two budget Intel machines starting at just $142. We've also found an excellent all-purpose HP ENVY 15t at $800 and a well-equipped Lenovo gaming laptop for $949.

HP ENVY 15t Intel Haswell Core i7 2.5GHz 15.6" Touchscreen Laptop
Store: Costco
Price: $799.99 with free shipping
Lowest By: $300
Expires: December 21

Is It Worth It?: The 5.7-lb. HP ENVY 15t is an excellent all-purpose notebook with a quad-core CPU at its foundation. It packs an Intel Core i7-4710HQ 2.5GHz Haswell quad-core processor, 15.6" 1080p LED-backlit LCD, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive. This Editors' Choice laptop is currently $300 off list price and the best deal we've seen for any Core i7-based Envy 15t laptop with this much RAM.

Toshiba Satellite L55-B5267 Intel Ivy Bridge Core i3 1.9GHz 15.6" Laptop
Store: Office Depot
Price: $329.99 via $50 mail-in rebate with free shipping
Lowest By: $260
Expires: December 20

Is It Worth It?: Though it uses an older Ivy Bridge processor, the $330 Satellite L55 is still a bargain for modest laptop users as it's $20 under our September mention and a current low by $260. The 4.9-lb. laptop features an Ivy Bridge i3-4025U 1.9GHz dual-core processor, 15.6" 1366x768 LCD, 6GB RAM, and a 750GB hard drive.

Lenovo Y50 Intel Haswell Core i7 2.5GHz 15.6" 1080p Laptop
Store: Lenovo
Price: $949 via coupon code "QSDEAL845" with free shipping
Lowest By: $450
Expires: December 19

Is It Worth It?: "Lenovo's Y series notebooks have been a long overlooked jewel in the gaming laptop landscape," says Laptop. And although they recommend opting for the 4K version of this laptop, the 1080p model can still elicit a thrill or two from the right crowd thanks to its slimmed-down design and solid battery life. This 5.3-lb. gaming laptop features a Haswell Core i7-4710HQ 2.5GHz quad-core processor, 15.6" 1080p LCD, 8GB RAM, 1TB hard drive with an 8GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB graphics, and 802.11ac wireless.

Acer Aspire E11 Intel Celeron 2.16GHz 11.6" Signature Edition Laptop
Store: Microsoft Store
Price: $141.55 via text coupon "MSSTORE" with free shipping
Lowest By: $58

Is It Worth It?: This Acer Aspire E11 is among the most affordable laptops we've listed on DealNews, undercutting even the cheapest Black Friday Chromebooks by $9. To get this price, you'll have to text the word "MSSTORE" to 29502, after which you'll receive a unique 5% off coupon code. You can then use that coupon to slash this laptop's price from $149 to $141.55. In terms of features, this budget machine packs a Celeron N2840 2.16GHz dual-core processor, 11.6" 1366x768 LCD, 2GB RAM, and 32GB flash memory.

Dell Inspiron 17 5748 Intel Haswell Core i3 1.9GHz 17.3" Laptop
Store: Dell Home
Price: $479.99 via coupon code "5TK?LC9VJ5F$33" with free shipping
Lowest By: $19
Expires: January 31

Is It Worth It?: The Inspiron 5748 packs a beefy 17.3" screen and Core i3 processor inside a 1.2"-thick chassis. It may not pack the elegance of an XPS laptop, but this 7.3-lb. desktop replacement still hits the right notes with its smooth, aluminum casing. It features a Core i3-4030U 1.9GHz dual-core processor, 17.3" 1600x900 LCD, 4GB RAM, and a 500GB hard drive.

Louis Ramirez is a senior features writer for dealnews.com, where this article first appeared. 

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