Black Friday laptops 2026: how to spot a real deal (and the fake ones)
Published 30 October 2026 · Shop prices from our weekly check on 26 October 2026
Black Friday is on 27 November, but the sales have already started: Currys on 28 October, Argos on 30 October. For the next month, red price tags will be everywhere. A few of them are real savings. Most are not the best price of the year. Here is how to tell the difference, with what our own weekly price checks show and the rules that protect you.
- Black Friday: 27 November
- Cyber Monday: 30 November
- Currys and Argos sales already on
- This week’s biggest savings ↓
of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper at another time of year
Which?, November 2025products had their lowest price of the year only on Black Friday
Same Which? studycheaper in January: a MacBook Air M4 was £849 on Black Friday 2025 and £789.60 in January
Amazon UK priceslistings in our catalogue already showed a “was” price, a month before Black Friday
Our check, 26 OctoberThe 30-second answer
A real deal is…
the lowest price that shop has charged in months, on a laptop you would buy anyway, with the memory, screen and charger you need.
A fake deal is…
a big “% off” a price the shop barely charged, a countdown clock, or a cheap model with 8 GB of memory, a dim screen or no charger in the box.
Your safety net
Price guarantees at Currys and Argos, 14 days to change your mind when you buy online, and extra protection when you pay over £100 by credit card.
What our weekly price checks show
Every Monday we check the price of every computer and monitor in our catalogue at the shop. A month before Black Friday, the sale tags were already there:
One in six already “on sale”
On 26 October, 16 of our 96 listings showed a “was” price, on average 17% off. The biggest: a Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 14 at Laptops Direct, “was £1,855.19”, selling at £949.97. A “was” price with odd pennies is usually a list price, not a price people recently paid. Judge the price, not the percentage.
Prices rise in the middle of a sale
The Lenovo V15 G5 at Laptops Direct cost £599.97 on Monday 26 October and £649.97 the next day, £50 more. It still showed a saving against “was £826.79”.
On a Mac, the “was” price is Apple’s
Apple rarely cuts its own prices, so a shop selling below Apple is a real saving. Laptops Direct sells the MacBook Air 13-inch M5 at £1,249.97 and the 15-inch at £1,369.97, against Apple’s £1,299 and £1,499.
The honest way: dates
Currys shows when the higher price applied. Its Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 says “Was £999 (from 09/09/26 to 13/10/26)”, now £799. Dates you can check are a good sign. A bare “was” price tells you much less.
The biggest savings in our catalogue this week, updated every Monday:
7 tricks to watch for
1. The inflated “was” price
In one Which? study, 14 deals quoted a “was” price the shop had not charged once in the previous 12 months. For 6 in 10 deals, the “was” price had applied for less than half of the year.
2. Badges that don’t mean cheaper
Read the small print on badges. At Argos, “A-mazing deals” only means popular or trending, with no price test. “Our lowest price” means the same as its lowest ever; only “our lowest price ever” means lower than ever before.
3. Countdown clocks
Claiming an offer ends soon when it doesn’t is banned in the UK. Since April 2025 the competition watchdog can fine firms directly, and it is investigating some whose sale clocks did not end when they said. A deal that is good today usually comes back.
4. No charger in the box
Since 28 April 2026, Currys says most new laptops come without a charger, and about 95% need a 65 W one. MacBooks have come without one in the UK since March 2026. Add one to the price, and check the maker’s advice: HP and Lenovo say some other brands’ chargers could affect the warranty.
65 W chargers on Amazon ↗5. 8 GB of memory
Memory chip prices nearly doubled early in 2026, so more cheap laptops come with 8 GB again. One test found an 8 GB Windows laptop using 80% of its memory just after starting up. We list nothing below 16 GB.
6. Old chip, dim screen
Big discounts often sit on laptops with a processor several years old, a 250-nit or TN screen that looks washed out, or a 1366 × 768 screen. Look up the exact model code on the maker’s spec sheet before you pay.
7. Sellers you don’t know
On Amazon and eBay, look at who sells the laptop and who handles returns and the warranty. A no-name laptop “was £714.25, now £209.98” once topped Amazon’s best-seller list, with a basic Celeron chip and a listing that contradicted itself.
Shop price promises for 2026
| Shop | What it promises | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Currys ↗ | Buy a tagged Black Friday item between 28 October and 24 November. If the price drops by 1 December, it refunds the difference. | Register your receipt by 27 November. Refunds are paid from 11 December. |
| Argos ↗ | Items with a “Price Guarantee” badge won’t be cheaper at Argos before midnight on 25 December. Sale runs 30 October to 1 December. | The difference comes back as an Argos e-gift card valid for 3 months, not cash. |
| John Lewis ↗ | Matches the prices of 25 big competitors. | Claim within 7 days, and check the conditions first. |
| Amazon Laptops ↗ | Black Friday Week ran from 20 November to 1 December in 2025. | The 2026 dates aren’t announced yet. Many listings are sold by other sellers, not Amazon. |
The law is on your side
Your rights
- 14 days to change your mind when you buy online, starting the day after delivery, then 14 more days to send it back. In a shop, returns are a goodwill policy, not the law.
- 30 days to reject a faulty laptop for a full refund. After that, the shop must repair or replace it first.
- Section 75: pay for a laptop costing over £100 by credit card, even just the deposit, and the card company is jointly responsible if things go wrong. Paying through PayPal can break this protection.
The shop’s duties
- A “was” price must be a real recent price, charged for a fair length of time, not one invented to make a discount look bigger.
- Compulsory fees must be in the headline price.
- Since April 2025 the competition watchdog can fine firms up to 10% of their worldwide turnover. Its first fine, £4.2 million, was over a hidden £3 booking fee.
Your Black Friday plan in 5 steps
- Make a shortlist nowPick two or three laptops that suit how you work before the sales start. Our four questions take about a minute.
- Watch the price, not the tagSet price alerts and look at the history: Keepa or CamelCamelCamel for Amazon, PriceSpy or PriceRunner across UK shops. If a laptop was cheaper in October, the “deal” isn’t one.
- Check the exact model codeThe same name can hide less memory, a smaller drive or a dimmer screen. Compare the code with the maker’s spec sheet, or compare the laptops side by side.
- Add up the real totalAdd a charger if there isn’t one, plus delivery and any cable or adapter for your monitor.
- Pay smart and keep the receiptUse a credit card for anything over £100, register for any price guarantee straight away, and note the last day to return it.
Buy now, or wait for January?
Which? found no product whose cheapest day of the year was Black Friday alone. The MacBook Air M4 was £59 cheaper in January than on Black Friday. But memory shortages are pushing laptop prices up in 2026, and the big shops have warned of rising costs.
Our rule: if a laptop on your shortlist reaches the lowest price you have seen in months and you need it now, buy it, and use a price guarantee if the shop offers one. If you don’t need it yet, waiting rarely costs you.
Or skip new altogether
Refurbished business laptops
A refurbished ThinkPad, EliteBook or Latitude costs about half the price of a similar new laptop and is built to last. Laptops Direct gives a 1-year warranty on refurbished machines; eBay’s refurbished programme gives a 12-month guarantee and 30 days to return. Refurbished or new? →
Refurbished on eBay ↗Refurbished laptops in our weekly price check, cheapest first:
Our verdict
Black Friday is a month-long sale now, and most of its deals come back. Decide what you need first, watch the real price for a few weeks, and buy when it hits a low you have actually seen.
Ignore the percentage, check the total. A laptop with 16 GB of memory, a decent screen and a charger at a fair price beats a “60% off” bargain you will regret.
Where to look
New laptops in our weekly price check, cheapest first:
Amazon
Check the exact model, memory, storage and seller before you buy, and look at the price history.
16 GB laptops on Amazon ↗Not sure what you need? Answer four quick questions →
Quick questions
When is Black Friday 2026 in the UK?
Friday 27 November, with Cyber Monday on 30 November. Currys and Argos started their Black Friday sales on 28 and 30 October.
Are Black Friday laptop deals real?
Some are. Which? found 83% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper at another time of year. Check the price history and the exact model before you buy.
Is it cheaper to buy a laptop on Black Friday or in January?
Often January. Which? found no product whose cheapest day of the year was Black Friday alone. If a laptop you need hits a low you have seen, buy it; otherwise waiting rarely costs you.
Can I return a laptop I bought on Black Friday?
Online, yes: you have 14 days from the day after delivery to cancel, then 14 days to send it back. A faulty laptop can be rejected for a full refund within 30 days. In a shop, returns depend on the shop’s own policy.
Do new laptops come with a charger in 2026?
Many don’t. Since April 2026 most new laptops at Currys come without one, and MacBooks have had none in the UK box since March. Most need a 65 W USB-C charger.