Is now a bad time to buy a laptop?
Wait if you can. Back-to-school is over and Black Friday is weeks away.
The year, best to worst
5 = best. ▶ marks this month.
Best windows
- July: Back-to-school season: Apple's 2026 education offer started July 16.
- August: Back-to-school season: Apple's 2026 education offer ran through August.
- November: Black Friday month. We don't have a laptop-specific source for this, so it follows the general holiday sale calendar.
Worst windows
- October: Back-to-school is over and Black Friday is weeks away.
How we know
The sale calendar. Month scores (1–5) are our judgment, based on the well-known retail patterns reported by the sources below. They're not numbers from those sources.
- Apple, College Student Offer 2026 Terms: Apple's 2026 U.S. back-to-school offer ran July 16 – September 24, 2026 (gift card with eligible Mac/iPad for qualified education buyers).
BLS CPI: Computers, peripherals, and smart home assistants (CUUR0000SEEE01, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted).
Inputs: monthly index values from 2018-09 to 2026-09; missing months skipped: October 2025 (Data unavailable due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations). Latest: 38.549 (September 2026), +9.70% vs. a year earlier.
Formula: change = 100 × (index[month] ÷ index[previous month] − 1), averaged by calendar month.
| Month | Avg change | Std dev | n | Fell |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | +0.73% | 1.23 | 8 | 2/8 |
| February | +0.46% | 0.82 | 8 | 2/8 |
| March | +0.32% | 1.10 | 8 | 2/8 |
| April | +0.53% | 2.18 | 8 | 3/8 |
| May | -0.32% | 0.89 | 8 | 5/8 |
| June | -0.15% | 1.28 | 8 | 3/8 |
| July | +0.44% | 2.00 | 8 | 4/8 |
| August | +0.34% | 1.49 | 8 | 4/8 |
| September | +0.10% | 1.87 | 8 | 3/8 |
| October | -1.06% | 0.59 | 7 | 7/7 |
| November | -1.03% | 1.55 | 7 | 6/7 |
| December | -0.94% | 1.20 | 8 | 6/8 |
Result: average monthly change -0.05%; the biggest average drops (or smallest rises) were in October (-1.06%), November (-1.03%), December (-0.94%). The gap between the best and worst month is 1.79 points, and the typical swing within a single month is 1.35 points. The CPI adjusts for quality and is sampled during the month, so it can miss short sale events. We show it as a cross-check; the verdict follows the sale calendar.
Last updated: page rebuilt October 26, 2026. Data status: bls: ok, last good October 26, 2026.
Shopping anyway?
FAQ
When is the best time to buy a laptop?
By our ranking: July, August, November. See "How we know" on this page for the sources and math.
When is the worst time to buy a laptop?
By our ranking: October.
My laptop fan sounds like a jet. Is that a sign?
It's a sign. Not about pricing, though.