The best October Prime Day deals on laptops and tablets we could find

It's always a good idea to check out the laptops and tablets on sale during Amazon's Prime Early Access Sale. We saw a bunch of great deals for the first shopping event this year back in July, and now for October Prime Day, another swath of discounts has pop up. While buying a laptop from Amazon isn't as flexible as it is when you're buying one directly from the manufacturer, it's still a good way to get your hands on a new machine. You're mostly limited by the number of configurations Amazon has available at the time. So if you want to spec out your new machine to a tee, we recommend going directly to Dell, Razer, Lenovo and other OEMs to do so — but if you're fine with a pre-made model, Amazon can be a good place to get a laptop for less. Here are the best deals on laptops and tablets we found for this October Prime Day.

MacBook Air M1

The previous-generation MacBook Air with the M1 chipset is on sale for a new low of $799. Although the latest model is outfitted with the M2 chip, this version remains a solid, speedy laptop. We gave it a score of 94 for its impressive performance, excellent keyboard and trackpad and fanless design.

iPad

The 10.2-inch iPad is down to $269. We gave it a score of 86 for its improved performance, excellent battery life, better front-facing camera and increased base storage.

iPad Air M1

Apple's latest iPad Air with the M1 chipset is on sale for $519. We gave it a score of 90 for its extremely fast performance, improved front camera and excellent battery life.

iPad mini

Apple's latest iPad mini is $100 off and down to $399 right now. We consider it to be the best small tablet you can get, and it earned a score of 89 from us for its refined design, Center Stage cameras, solid performance and good battery life.

iPad Pros

Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the M1 chipset is cheaper than ever with a starting price of $899. This version earned a score of 87 from us for its excellent performance, gorgeous screen and new Center Stage cameras.

Razer Blade 14

The Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage is $800 off and down to $2,000. The Blade is one of our favorite gaming laptops thanks to its sleek design and strong performance, and this model has a 14-inch QHD display with a 165Hz refresh rate.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

Microsoft's 13-inch Surface Laptop 4 is on sale for $899 right now, and you're getting an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for that price. That's a fairly powerful configuration, so the fact that you can get it for less than $1,000 makes it a great deal. We gave the 15-inch model a score of 87 for its speedy performance, great keyboard and excellent battery life.

Acer Aspire 5

Acer's Aspire 5 laptop has been discounted by $120, bringing it down to $260. The Aspire 5 series is a solid option for those looking for an affordable Windows laptop. This model on sale includes an 11th-gen Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage and a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook

Lenovo's 2-in-1 Chromebook is $150 off and down to $280, which is a record-low price. This model earned a spot on our list of favorite Chromebooks thanks to its bright touchscreen, backlit keyboard and its combination of USB-C and USB-A ports. The model on sale includes an 11th-gen Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

ASUS Chromebook Flip C434

ASUS's convertible Chromebook is on sale for $350, which is $190 off its usual price and a record low. This particular version has a 14-inch FHD touchscreen, a Core M3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

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