48 Best Back-to-School Deals (2023): Laptops, Backpacks, Household Essentials
Summer is Fading away, and school is almost back in session (for some, it’s already started!). We scoured the internet for the best discounts on gadgets and gear for teachers, students, parents, and anyone else in the market for back-to-school fare.
Be sure to check out our Best Dorm Gear guide for additional recommendations and gift ideas, plus the Best Student Discounts and Best Teacher Discounts. For more deals, read our guides to the Best Early Labor Day Sales, Best Labor Day Mattress Deals, and Best REI Labor Day Deals.
Updated August 25, 2023: We’ve crossed out deals and added new discounts on tech accessories, headphones, and other gear.
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While it was $50 cheaper earlier in the month, this is still an okay price on the best MacBook for most people (7/10, WIRED Recommends). It has a bright and sharp LCD screen, slim borders for a sleek look, and enough power for everyday tasks. The webcam is 1080p, so you’ll look sharp in all your video calls, and there’s a MagSafe magnetic charging port, so if your roommate trips over the cable, the laptop won’t go flying (the cable will just detach). Read our Best MacBooks guide for more.
This older MacBook Air (9/10, WIRED Recommends) was the first to use Apple’s custom silicon, but it’s still plenty powerful for sending emails, writing documents, and browsing the web. It uses Apple’s older design, but that might not matter, considering the stellar price. Remember, you can also use Apple’s Education Store to score steeper discounts.
The LG Gram SuperSlim (7/10, WIRED Review) is stunning. The 15.6-inch screen belies just how lightweight and portable this super-slim laptop feels. While unfortunately, the performance doesn’t match up to the price tag, the $400 discount makes the value much better. If you need something powerful, pick another recommendation, but this should work just fine for tasks like homework, browsing, and streaming.
We saw a better discount earlier this month, but this is still a solid price. This gadget is for anyone who wants to enjoy the comfort of a tablet with the productivity of a laptop. The Surface 9’s 12th-gen Intel chip is adept, and you have the option to add 5G connectivity if you want internet access wherever you go. You can read our in-depth thoughts about it here.
The Surface Go 3 is just powerful enough for simple tasks, like web browsing and writing, and it’s lightweight, which makes it great to tote around everywhere. Just remember that you need to buy the Type Cover, which is also on sale for $70 ($30 off), if you want the full experience with the keyboard (though you can also use any Bluetooth keyboard). This has dropped lower in price before, but you can still save some cash if you’re in the market.
This isn’t the prettiest laptop, nor is it the most portable, but it’s powerful enough for some gaming between coursework. The G15 has a 1080p screen with a 120-Hz screen refresh rate, does a good job with heat management, and doesn’t get too loud. The power brick is bulky though. Read more in our Best Gaming Laptops guide.
Want a Linux machine? This is a powerful laptop (8/10, WIRED Recommends) with a great selection of ports, and the default Pop!_OS is simple enough for newbies and experts. Read our Best Linux Laptops guide for more recommendations. You’ll automatically get $100 off the laptop after you customize it to your liking.
This discount may not be available near your location (or might be only available as open-box.) Chromebooks run Chrome OS, so most of your work will be done within the Chrome browser. (You can still install Android apps.) This Acer Spin 714 has a 12th-gen Intel Core i5, which should make it powerful enough for most school and office tasks. It’s compact, despite the 14-inch screen, and you get all the ports, including two USB-C ports, an HDMI, a USB-A, and a headphone jack. Read our Best Chromebooks guide for more picks.
This promotion nets you the magnetic keyboard cover for free ($150 retail value) when you purchase the tablet. We really liked the OnePlus Pad when we tested it (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It’s an Android tablet, but there are a great many improvements in the software to make multitasking more efficient. The LCD screen is bright and sharp, and it has a 144-Hz screen refresh rate. It’ll get three Android OS updates and four years of security updates.
If you want a Windows laptop straight from the company that manages Windows, we think the Surface Laptop 4 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is…
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