If you’re looking to treat yourself or a loved one to a new laptop without breaking the bank, there are plenty of early Black Friday deals worth considering. Even better, there’s a discount on what we reckon is the best laptop for most people and the best laptop for college students. Apple’s M3 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM has dropped to its lowest price to date. The laptop is available for $849, which is $250 off the list price (some color options are even down to $844).

Apple just released its first M4-powered Macs, but it has yet to slot the latest chip into the MacBook Air. The 13-inch MBA’s blend of power and portability makes it a potent choice and we gave it a score of 90 in our review. It delivers fast performance and has a killer display. The design is sleek and sturdy and it sounds great thanks to a quad-speaker array. We like the trackpad and keyboard as well, while the upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E connectivity is a definite plus.

Our main quibble is that the USB-C ports are on the same side of the unit as the one for the charger — having even one USB-C on the right side would be handy. But that’s a minor complaint about an otherwise terrific laptop.

If you’re willing to go with a slightly older (but no less capable) processor, the M2 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage has dropped to $749 — another record-low price.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.