Looking for a new desktop, all-in-one, components, or peripherals? We’ve rounded up the best PC deals around in the lead up to Black Friday.
If you’re looking for a new PC, upgrades to your existing rig, or just a few new accessories to complete your desk, there are plenty of great deals to be had, particularly right now as we approach Black Friday.
Given they have a pretty high price in the first place, PCs tend to be a great bet for special offers, and with components constantly getting updated, there’s always a steady stream of last-year’s-models to pick up at discounted rates.
That’s just as true for components like graphics cards and CPUs, and while you should expect smaller discounts on accessories like mice and keyboards, there are still savings to be had.
It’s November, which means Black Friday is almost here. Happening on 23 November, it’s set to be the biggest shopping day of the year with the best discounts. But with the event getting more and more popular each year, deals tend to start earlier, with some even lasting the whole month. So now’s the time to start hunting for the deal on the PC you’ve been hoping for.
We’ve gathered up the best PC deals that are live right now — and you can head to our deals site to find more of our curated picks.
The most important thing to remember is that you don’t need the absolute latest processor and graphics card — even for a serious gaming rig — as manufacturers will do everything they can to convince you to upgrade every year. Instead, look out for PCs and components from a few months or even a year ago — they should still cope handily with even fairly demanding tasks.
More than with most things, it’s worth making sure you know how much a given component or PC setup is worth — retailers love to advertise reductions that aren’t quite as good as they appear, by quoting the initial RRP rather than a product’s most recent price. Plan what components you want — and how much they cost normally — and you can make sure you don’t get fooled by dodgy «discounts».
The biggest discounts are on pre-built desktops and all-in-one computers (think iMacs, where the computer and the screen are built into the same unit). If you’re happy to build your own, or upgrade your existing setup, keep an eye on component sites though.
Since accessories like mice, keyboards and speakers tend to have lower RRPs, you can’t expect discounts to be as steep, but you could still find a few good savings, especially on older stock — you don’t mind having last year’s mouse, right?
In some cases sales run through to the end of the month, or even beyond into the Christmas season.
Where you want to go depends a lot on what you’re looking for. If you want to buy a pre-built computer or just some simple accessories, then some of the standard electronics retailers are the best bet:
If you’re looking to pick up components though, you’d be better off looking at the following (some of which sell pre-built PCs too, for what it’s worth):
Amazon has some of the biggest bargains, but so have other retailers, including Currys and Argos.
If you find that you’re missing out on Amazon’s Lightning deals, which run for just a few hours and offer limited stock, we’d recommend signing up for Amazon’s 30 day free trial of Prime, which will get you access to deals 30 minutes before everyone else. Plus, you’ll get free next-day delivery with the Prime trial, as well as access to Prime Instant Video and more.
Sign up for Prime .
Another great resource to help you snag deals is Tech Advisor’s Student Beans page. The Tech and Mobile section can help you save up to 25% from big brands such as Apple ( 10% off for students), Asus, HP, Lenovo, Logitech and many more. See all tech student deals here.
