Black Friday 2014 laptop deals: from $99 budget machines to $750 powerhouses

Laptops are among the most sought-after and heavily-discounted devices on Black Friday. The laptop deals haven't been quite as head-turning as usual this year, but we've rounded up a few worth getting excited over. 

Laptops are among the most sought-after and heavily-discounted devices on Black Friday. However, this year, laptop deals have been slow to surface, with few head-turning deals. Unlike the best HDTV deals we've seen, which have been breaking all sorts of records and predictions, laptop deals have been more modest. Few of them have broken our laptop predictions. But not all hope is lost. Below, we've gathered the few laptops deals we think are worth getting excited over.

Best Black Friday Laptop Deals

ASUS X205TA 11.6" Intel Laptop for $99 at Staples
Make no mistake, the star of Staples' Black Friday ad will be severely limited, but for the lucky few who snag this offer, it's the best laptop deal we've seen in DealNews history. Not only does it beat our laptop prediction for budget machines by $78, but it's also the cheapest price we've seen for this notebook by $80. The machine itself won't break any speed records. It's housing an Atom processor, only 2GB of RAM, and a 32GB eMMC (embedded MultiMediaCard), the latter of which is slower than a traditional SSD. Nevertheless, as far as budget systems are concerned, this deal is poised to blow all other deals out of the water.

Acer Intel Celeron 2.16GHz 11.6" Chromebook for $149 at Best Buy
Despite their modest hardware, Chromebook sales are on the rise. Leading the Chromebook charge is none other than Acer, followed by Samsung and HP. If the thought of a cloud-based Google machine sounds intriguing, Best Buy offers the Acer CB3 for $149, which is the best discount we've seen on this specific model by $30 and the cheapest Black Friday Chromebook deal we've seen. A close runner up is this Samsung Exynos 1.7GHz 11.6" Chromebook for $199 at Meijer. It includes a $50 Meijer coupon, which, assuming you use it, brings the cost of the laptop down to $149.

HP Intel Celeron 15.6" Laptop for $159 at Walmart
If Staples' doorbuster laptop is too bare bones for your needs, this budget machine costs $59 more and features slightly better specs, including 4GB of RAM (rather than 2GB) and a full 500GB hard drive (instead of a 32GB flash drive). This machine is also $19 under our Black Friday prediction and the second-cheapest laptop we've ever seen. It beats Office Depot's budget machine (which only has 2GB of RAM) by a buck, it beats Radioshack's doorbuster offering (which also only features 2GB of RAM) by $41, and Dell's similarly-configured budget machine by $31.

HP Pavilion Core i5 15.6" Laptop for $300 at OfficeDepot
This laptop features mainstream specs at an extraordinarily low price. In fact, it beats our Black Friday prediction for mainstream laptops by $25, which is no easy feat. Our only gripe is that this deal might be limited to just four machines per store. (Though you can also purchase this laptop online).

Toshiba 15.6" Laptop with 6GB RAM and 750GB HDD for $300 at Staples
As far as 15" Core i3 machines are concerned, this is the cheapest we've seen all year by $50. But we especially like that this machine goes slightly above and beyond the usual configuration by including 6GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive.

Acer Aspire V3-572G-7609 Core i7 15.6" Laptop for $750 at TigerDirect
This is an epic laptop deal on multiple levels. For starters, it couples a Core i7 processor with a massive 16GB of RAM and generous 1TB hard drive. Moreover, it's $50 under last December's cheapest powerhouse laptop, meaning this machine sets a new price low for all Core i7 laptops with 16GB of RAM. Is it overkill for most users? Perhaps, but at this price it's a luxury you can afford.

Apple MacBook Air Intel Haswell Core i5 1.4GHz 11.6" Laptop for $780 at Best Buy
Apple fans, as of today this is the best MacBook Air deal of Black Friday. It's beats ourMacBook Air Black Friday price prediction by $19 and it's the lowest price we've ever seen for this machine. Even better, unlike most back-to-school sales we saw this summer, this deal doesn't require a valid .edu e-mail address.

Apple MacBook Pro Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5 2.5GHz 13.3" LED-Backlit Laptop for $900 at Best Buy
Although we've seen this MacBook Pro at this price before, it's not a common sight. Just keep in mind this is the mid-2012 model, which means you get an Ivy Bridge processor and a non-Retina screen.

Apple MacBook Air Intel Haswell Core i5 1.4GHz 13.3" Laptop for $1,050 at Best Buy
We've seen the flagship 13" MacBook Air for as low as $750 this past summer, but this specific configuration (with a 256GB SSD rather than the standard 128GB SSD) doesn't see as many discounts. So for the moment, this deal is $149 under Apple's price and the best offer we've seen on the 13.3" MacBook Air.

With just days to go before Black Friday's official start, we're still on the lookout for noteworthy ultraportable and desktop replacement deals. Check back often as we update our list of the best Black Friday laptop deals.

Excited for Black Friday deals? Consider subscribing to the DealNews Select Newsletter to get a daily recap of all our deals; you never know when a Black Friday price will be released! You can alsod ownload the DealNews app, check out the latest Black Friday ads, or read more buying advice.

Louis Ramirez is a writer for DealNews.com, where this article first appeared.