Dell 15 Laptop costs just $299 this Black Friday, while Dell’s Slim Desktop is $500

Dell’s early Black Friday discounts create a natural comparison between two very different but genuinely strong budget options, and it raises a fair question about where the best value now sits: in a laptop or a desktop.

On the portable side, the $299.99 Dell 15 Laptop is an absolute steal. Its AMD Ryzen 5 7520U processor, Radeon 610M graphics, 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 512GB NVMe SSD give it enough speed for everyday work, streaming, browsing, and light creative tasks and it comes with Windows 11 Home.

The 15.6 inch 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate is excellent at this price, and the overall package feels far more capable than most entry level notebooks. With USB C, USB A, HDMI, an SD card slot, and a weight just over 4lbs, it’s one of the best sub $300 laptops you’ll find anywhere.

At $499.99, Dell’s Slim Desktop delivers notably stronger performance thanks to the Intel Core i3 14100, which comfortably outperforms budget laptop chips under heavier multitasking and extended workloads.

With 8GB of DDR5 memory, a 512GB NVMe SSD, Wi Fi 6, multiple USB ports, DisplayPort, HDMI 2.1, and Ethernet, it is built for stability and productivity. Its compact tower design also provides a clear advantage in upgradability, allowing users to expand storage or memory over time.

Rather than one category clearly winning, both systems are good budget Black Friday choices. The Dell 15 Laptop offers mobility and value, and the Dell Slim Desktop provides power and longevity at a still very affordable price.

This Black Friday, the choice depends less on which is better and more on which suits the way you work, but you really can’t go wrong with either.

Looking for more options? We’ve tested out the best business laptops and the best laptops for MBA students for serious study.