Black Friday 2012: best laptop deals so far

Laptops are among the hottest items of the holiday season, so it's no surprise that we've seen so many mentioned in this year's leaked Black Friday ads so far. What is surprising though is that, so far, only one of the deals matches our Black Friday predictions. However, that doesn't mean there aren't good deals to be had! Below, we've rounded up the best of the Black Friday Laptop deals so far, including a very enticing budget system from Walmart.

• Compaq Presario CQ58 15.6" 2GB RAM 320GB HDD Laptopfor $179 at Walmart
  While we haven't found deals that support all of our Black Friday laptop predictions, here's one that does. We bet that we'd see a basic 15" to 16" laptop with a dual-core processor for $179... and that's exactly what Walmart is offering with this Compaq laptop. Pretty spot-on! 
• ASUS X401A 14" 4GB RAM Laptop for $250 at Best Buy
  We routinely see ASUS X401A laptops for $300, but usually with a slightly slower CPU. However, this is $50 under the best price we've seen for this laptop this year.
• Dell Inspiron 14z Intel Core i3 4GB RAM 500GB Windows 7 Laptop for $299.99 at Dell Home
  If this doorbuster pans out, it will be the lowest total price we've seen for any Inspiron 14z, with or without an Intel Core i3 CPU. In fact, it would beat the current lowest price we've seen (which we found last month) by a full $50.
• Lenovo 12" 1.7GHz Twist Core i5 4GB RAM 500GB HDD Ultrabook for $700 at Staples
  This laptop is currently available at Fry's Electronics for $899.99, making this Staples deal a low by a full $200 and puts this model at the lowest total price we've seen for any Lenovo Twist Ultrabook by $99.
• HP 14-B031US 14" 1.5GHz Intel Dual-Core 4GB RAM 320GB HDD Sleekbook for $300 at Staples
  The HP Sleekbook line of AMD-equipped, ultralight laptops was just released in October, and currently the best price we could find for this model is at Quill.com for $529.99. Therefore, Staples' Black Friday price is a significant $230 drop.
• HP G7-2243US 17.3" Quad-Core A8 6GB RAM 500GB Laptop for $400 at Staples
  This deal ties a June mention as the lowest total price for any HP G7 with a quad-core CPU. However, this configuration features more RAM, at 6GB. That makes this setup a better bargain for the price.
• Toshiba L855-S5372 15.6" 2.4GHz Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7 6GB RAM 640GB HDD Laptop for $580 at Staples
  This is the lowest total price we've ever seen for any Ivy Bridge quad Core i7-equiped laptop by $31. (For specifically a Toshiba system, it's a low by $70.) We have seen similar laptops that included more RAM and larger hard drives for only around $120 more, which some could see as getting way more bang for their buck. However, at $580, this Staples deal is still a steal for the power it does have.
• Acer 13.3" 4GB RAM 320SSD Ultrabook for $499 at Walmart
  Though Walmart isn't very specific about the internal components of this laptop, it's still the lowest total price we've seen for any Acer Ultrabook by $100.

There are still more ads trickling in as we speak, so be sure to keep an eye on the Black Friday laptop ads page for additional deals.

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Jeff Somogyi is the media editor of dealnews.com, a website devoted to finding the best deals on consumer goods. The site pledges to list the best deal, whether or not it's from an advertiser, although it does work with advertisers to craft deals for readers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. This feature first appeared in dealnews.com.