I review gaming PCs for a living: these are my favorite Black Friday deals so far

I’m Matthew Buzzi, PCMag’s lead gaming PC reviewer. I’ve been with PCMag since 2015, which means I’ve reviewed hundreds of gaming PCs here over the years. I enjoy identifying the best value combinations of processors (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), and feature sets for gaming laptops and desktops.

After sifting through countless Black Friday deals, I’ve picked three top gaming PC deals below; two laptops and a desktop from Acer, Asus and MSI. A powerful graphics chip is essential to a gaming system, and although each of the three PCs occupy different price positions in their categories, all three have powerful GPUs and fast processors that will satisfy even the most demanding gamers.

The MSI Katana A15 AI is already a serious value proposition, and it’s made even better with this Black Friday deal. The specs of this gaming laptop are more mid-range than budget, with a speedy Ryzen 7 8845HS CPU, 32GB of memory, and a 1TB solid-state drive. That’s an excellent basis for the price, although the 144Hz 1080p screen is the base. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU is a stable and competent mainstream gaming GPU that isn’t often found at this price. The RTX 4050 (or lower) is more common at this price. Especially at 1080p resolution, the RTX 4060 can shine with smooth frame rates at high settings – just not up to the maximum. For everything else, the CPU and RAM ensure a fast experience. Gaming hardware can be expensive, and we’d keep this package at its regular price, so $420 off is an incredible deal. Although we didn’t test this particular model, a previous MSI Katana 15 model was at the top of our list of the best cheap gaming laptops for several months.

Asus TUF Gaming A16

High-end power at an entry-level price

$1,299.99
on Amazon


$1,799.99
Save $500.00

For gamers looking for more than just entry-level performance, the Asus TUF Gaming A16 is a high-end laptop with a price reduced to mid-range. A laptop with an RTX 4070 GPU that’s $500 cheaper should catch any gamer’s attention. This GPU can play in all modern games with high resolution and high refresh rate. Even better: Its AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX CPU is said to deliver rapid performance in all areas and the 1 TB SSD leaves plenty of space for games. Its 16:10 display has a sharp QHD+ resolution and a 165Hz refresh rate, allowing for clear and fast gaming, and Wi-Fi 6 should ensure smooth downloads and online gaming sessions. (Although the Ethernet port almost guarantees this.) The visual design is boring, but that might suit your needs; We haven’t tested this exact model, but as we found with the smaller Asus TUF Gaming A14, this line is generally well built.

If you don’t need to take your games with you on the go, I found a bargain on this Acer Nitro 70 desktop. It’s aimed more at hardcore gamers than casual players, but this Black Friday discount helps broaden its appeal. The Nitro 70 isn’t my favorite aesthetic, but options are limited on prebuilt PCs (and often visually geared towards gamers), and prioritizing parts and value proposition is more important. Component-wise, the Nitro 70 features an AMD Ryzen 9 7900 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, 32GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM, and a 1TB M.2 SSD. That’s a decent value for a $2,000 PC, but if you’re paying $500 less, it’s a killer deal. Normally this GPU would be pricey at $1,500, and the processor allows for legitimate productivity and content creation and allows for much better multitasking and live streaming of games than a 5 or 7 tier processor from Intel or AMD.

For more bargains, check out our Black Friday deals summary page, which includes the full range of deals and more specific category-based deals.

The best Black Friday deals for PCMag’s Best of the Year picks

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About Matthew Buzzi

Senior Analyst, Hardware

I’m one of PCMag’s consumer PC experts and have a particular love for PC gaming. I’ve been playing games on my computer for as long as I can remember, which eventually led me (like many others) to building and upgrading my own desktop. Over my years, I have tested and tested many, many dozens of laptops and desktops and am always happy to recommend a PC that fits your needs and budget.

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