The best cheap laptop deals for creatives

Try this little experiment... think of a creative industry that doesn't rely on a laptop computers as an essential tool. We've racked our brains and can't think of a single one. But new laptops can be expensive, so now and then you need a discount or a special offer to help you out.

Having the right laptop for you can make a significant difference to your professional life. It can be the difference between pain-free, powerful processing, and a sluggish machine that takes an eon to upload your images. The degrees between dull, murky screens and dazzling displays that let you create eye-catching illustrations. And ensuring you avoid erratic touchpads that are virtually impossible to control.

You could simply head to Amazon, find the most expensive laptop it sells and buy that – you're unlikely to be disappointed. But this new guide to the best laptop deals on the market will help you save a packet, and we'll update it regularly so that you see the best current deals – whether on Black Friday or not.

We also dispel the myth that a cheap laptop is a synonym for a bad laptop: as well as the very best laptop deals on the market now, we've highlighted competent computers that you can buy on a budget all year round.

A disclaimer before we start: the list of laptop deals below may contain some Chromebooks (laptops that have no software besides Chrome, relying instead on the G Suite of apps and browser-based tools). We know that Chromebooks will be no good for graphic designers needing Photoshop or 3D artists needing to render models, but they have their place as a cheap second machine for composing emails, invoicing and other less intensive tasks.

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While special offers may give you great discounts while they last, they can also be fleeting and easy to miss. The following laptops offer excellent value for money all year round.

When you've found the laptop that you like the best, click on the prices that our Hawk price comparison tool has found to see the best deal today.

It's no surprise that the Yoga Book's main asset is flexibility. And we're not just talking about the rotating hinge that lets you use this laptop like a chunky tablet. You get to choose between Windows 10 or Android operating systems depending on what best suits your work, and the capacitive interface can be used as a keyboard or a drawing pad.

It's great for sketching and the handsome screen is complimentary to your creations, too.

Read TechRadar's Lenovo Yoga Book review

cheap laptop deals

We're not going to pretend that the Pavilion x2 is the perfect companion for editing videos and creating masterpieces, but if you need a dirt cheap laptop for research and admin tasks then this HP PC fits the bill.

The HD display and surprising amounts of power mean that it punches well above its weight considering the eye-catching price tag. And the tablet mode means that you can flick through image galleries and videos in comfort.

Read TechRadar's full HP Pavilion x2 review

OK, so maybe this isn't everybody's definition of a 'cheap laptop'. But head to the Apple Store for your purchase, and this is the most affordable laptop you'll find.

That makes it well worth mentioning here, considering the brilliance of Apple's pre-loaded programs, which have helped to make Apple products the go-to devices for creatives all over the world for the last couple of decades. This iteration has an upgraded processor and more RAM than previous versions, as well.

Read TechRadar's full MacBook Air review

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