X
Business
Why you can trust ZDNET : ZDNET independently tests and researches products to bring you our best recommendations and advice. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Our process

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.

Close

Lenovo's best Black Friday 2021 deals: Don't think twice for these Thinkpads

Lenovo's Black Friday deals will be active for the next three days, so act fast if you're looking to score a new work machine.
Written by Sean Portnoy, Contributor
lenovo-black-friday-2021-deals-sales-specials-offers-schedule-laptops-thinkpad-desktops-chromebooks.jpg

Update: Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021 are done and dusted, so the deals below are no longer valid. Check out our ZDNet Recommends hub for a better look at the latest deals available or ZDNet's 2021 Holiday Gift Guide hub for recommendations on gifts for all. 

Many retailers have scaled back on doorbuster-style deals for this Black Friday, happy to extend sale prices for up to weeks at a time. Lenovo, however, is sticking with the doorbuster approach, as many of its best deals will occur at a specific date and time through Cyber Monday. In some cases the savings are minimal and the discounts are already baked into the online price, but for other systems, the price cuts are significant enough to make you set an alarm if you're interested. Here are six of Lenovo's best Black Friday deals for your shopping pleasure.   


While its original price is $319, this Duet is currently reduced to $229.99 at Lenovo's online store. It's a perfect gift for a student who needs a 2-in-1 system with detachable keyboard and touchscreen display. The Duet squeezes full HD (1,920x1,080) resolution into that 10.1-inch screen, which is easy to see thanks to its 400 nits of brightness. Other specs are typical of an entry-level Chromebook device:  MediaTek Helio P60T processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

A sub-$800 ThinkPad is a good deal already, but Lenovo is offering even a better deal this Black Friday, knocking the price down to $600. You'll get a system with a latest Intel 11th-generation Core i3 processor, 4 gigs of RAM, 256GB of storage and 14.1-display with full HD resolution. You also receive the benefits of the legendary ThinkPad line -- excellent keyboard, built-in ThinkShield security suite, military-grade-tested durability -- at an entry-level price.   

Here's another case where most of Lenovo's price cutting has already taken place, as this all-in-one isn't currently $1,499.99 as suggested in the ad, but $1,264.99. Nonetheless you can shave even more off that price if you wait to purchase this IdeaCentre until 11 a.m. on Cyber Monday. Built around a 24-inch full HD display, the desktop comes with a 10th-generation Core processor and sizable amounts of RAM (16 gigs) and storage (one terabyte), along with accessories like a wireless keyboard and mouse, webcam with physical shutter and JBL speakers by Harman.

If you want a mainstream laptop at a better-than-usual mainstream price, and you don't need an 11th-generation Intel Core processor, this IdeaPad 3 configuration will set you back just $400. You still get a very capable 10th-gen Core i3 chip, along with 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 15.6-inch full HD screen as well as such niceties as a webcam with a physical shutter to protect your privacy, a numeric keypad and built-in Amazon Alexa support.

Black Friday brings you a chance to snag this highly regarded ThinkPad for less than $1,000. It's a mere 2.5 pounds in weight, but the X1 Carbon still squeezes a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of memory and a 256GB solid-state drive inside. Other benefits include a 400-nit 14-inch full HD display, 16-plus hours of claimed battery life and a built-in fingerprint reader. Our review of the Gen 8 edition concludes that it "remains an excellent ultraportable laptop for business users" -- and the latest version has only gotten better.

Lenovo has made a name for itself in gaming PCs with its Legion family of desktops and laptops, and here's a big gaming desktop deal you don't want to miss. The Legion Tower 5i sale ($1,179.99, $420 off) gives you a rig with an 11th-generation Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6GB discrete graphics card.  Lenovo Vantage for Gaming software allows you to overlock and fine-tune system performance for your gaming sessions, while the multi-hued fans inside the Tower 5i offer cooling as well as a burst of color within the black chassis.

As always, we will be monitoring any additional deals that pop up on Lenovo's site over the weekend.  Be sure to follow this page for the most up-to-date promotions available.

Editorial standards