I test laptops for a living — here’s 7 Prime Day laptop deals that are actually worth it

Acer Aspire 3: was $324 now $299 @ Amazon
The Acer Aspire 3 is an awesome choice for anyone looking for a laptop on a budget. It comes with a 15.6-inch FHD IPS touch display, AMD Ryzen 3 7320U CPU, 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 128GB SSD.

Asus VivoBook 15: was $379 now $309 @ Amazon
Ideal for students or basic work, the Asus VivoBook 15 is a budget machine that won't break the bank. It features a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS LCD, Core i3-1115G4 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. It's a little too underpowered for demanding tasks, but can pass when you just need to surf the web or watch some videos.

Acer Nitro 5 w/ RTX 3050: was $839 now $695 @ Amazon
The Acer Nitro 5 is a solid budget gaming laptop, featuring an Intel Core i5-10300H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, 8 GB RAM, 256GB storage and a full HD 144-Hz screen. This laptop is a great choice for gamers who want to play big-budget games at moderate settings.

MacBook Air 15 (M3): was $1,299 now $1,099 @ Amazon
The new MacBook Air is powered by Apple's latest M3 silicon. The laptop can support up to two external displays, and Apple claims its 60% faster than the M1-based MacBook Air. It boasts up to 18 hours of battery life. In our MacBook Air 15-inch M3 review, we said the Editor's Choice laptop delivers fantastic performance from its M3 chip along with class-leading battery life (15:03). It packs a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display (2880 x 1864), Apple's M3 CPU w/ 10-core GPU, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD.

Asus ROG Strix G16 (2024): was $1,399 now $1,289 @ Amazon
The Asus gaming laptop packs in a whole lot of power. Its native 1080p screen (1920 x 1080) is paired with an impressive 165Hz rate. You also get a Core i7-13650HX CPU, RTX 4060 GPU, 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD. It's an ideal laptop for hardcore first-person shooter fans. We also appreciate the fact it supports Wi-Fi 6E. 

MacBook Pro 14 (M3/512GB): was $1,599 now $1,399 @ Amazon
The M3-based MacBook Pro is one of the best laptops you can buy. In our MacBook Pro 14-inch M3 review, we said it delivers blistering performance with a brighter display than its predecessor, robust graphics and super-long battery life (17 hours with 25 minutes). If you upgrade to the M3 Pro or M3 Pro Max chipset, you get to snag this laptop in a stunning new Space Black finish with 18GB or 36GB of RAM, respectively. The base model features a 14.2-inch 3024 x 1964 Retina display, Apple M3 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

Alienware m16 R2: was $1,699 now $1,399 @ Dell
With a sleek design, a comfortable keyboard and strong gaming performance, the 16-inch Alienware m16 is easy to recommend. This is a great price for a gaming laptop that houses an RTX 4060 GPU and an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor.