Best early Prime Day computer deals: Top discounts on PC desktops

Amazon’s annual Prime Day sales event is about to kick off, giving you the chance to score some great tech deals. This year, Prime Day will run from July 11 through July 12, and should include great deals on everything from gaming PCs to all-in-ones, as well as more traditional desktop machines.

Even though Prime Day is next week, the deals are already underway and we’ve curated the best sales on computers from all over the internet. You’ll need to be a Prime member to take advantage of these steep discounts. If you aren’t a member already, check out our guide for how to get Amazon Prime for free.

This year, we’re seeing some great deals on desktop computers, particularly gaming PCs and all-in-ones. Other retailers have jumped in on the Prime Day action, and some of the best desktop PC deals can even be found outside of Amazon, so we’ve included those deals too.

Best Prime Day desktop computer deals:

• Lenovo Legion Tower 5i, Core i7/RTX 3070, 16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,355.40 (19% off on Amazon)
• HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop, Core i5/RTX 3060/8GB RAM/512GB SSD, $788.00 (22% off on Amazon)
• Acer Nitro 50, Core i5/RTX 3050/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $789.99 (34% off on Newegg)
• Skytech Siege Gaming PC, Ryzen 7/RTX 4070 Ti/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,749.99 (16% off on Newegg)
• Alienware Aurora R13, Core i7/RX 6700 XT/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $1,119.99 (39% off on Dell)
• Omen 45L, Core i9/RTX 4090/16GB RAM/1TB SSD/1TB HDD, $3,149.99 (21% off on HP)
• Yeyian Yari II, Core i7/RTX 4070 Ti/32GB RAM/1TB SSD/2TB HDD, $2,749.99 (28% off on Adorama)

Best Prime Day all-in-one computer deals:

• Inspiron 24 AiO, Core i7/MX 550/16GB RAM/512GB SSD/24-inch 1080p touch display, $949.99 (21% off on Dell)
• HP Pavilion AiO 27, Ryzen 3/8GB RAM/256GB SSD/27-inch 1080p touch display, $549.99 (35% off on HP)
• Dell Inspiron 24 AiO, Core i5/8GB RAM/512GB SSD/24-inch 1080p touch display, $729.97 (22% off on Amazon)
• HP Essential AiO 24, Ryzen 3/8GB RAM/512GB SSD/24-inch 1080p display, $489.99 (11% off on Walmart)

What to look for when buying a desktop computer

You’ll see a ton of options when searching for a desktop computer, but they all mainly fit into four main categories: productivity tower PCs, gaming PCs, mini PCS, and all-in-ones (AiO). Which you should end up buying is entirely dependent upon what your needs are and what you want to do with your computer. If you are looking for something that will work in a home office or family room, then a productivity PC or AiO with a solid CPU and lots of RAM and storage is probably the way to go. If gaming is your main concern, a gaming PC can offer a lot more bang for your buck than a laptop and you should focus on getting the best GPU possible. Or if you just want something that can fit anywhere and provide basic computing then a mini PC is a good bet.

As for a CPU, we recommend opting for at least the latest gen Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 which will provide plenty of processing power for everyday computing tasks. If you don’t intend to do any gaming on your computer then feel free to save some money by going with integrated graphics. However, if you are looking to get your game on, then we recommend at least an Nvidia GeForce 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT as these are the least expensive discrete graphics cards that can handle ray tracing. The latest gen GPUs are becoming more readily available in pre-built systems so opt for that if you have the money and want a performance boost. But they’re still running a bit expensive, so budget gamers will likely be better served with the previous generation cards.

As for RAM, we think its best to shoot for 16GB at the minimum for productivity and gaming, but for family computers and internet browsing, 8GB should suffice. Storage size is dependent upon your personal needs, but it is generally a good idea to opt for an SSD over an standard HDD as they are much faster and don’t significantly affect the price of a desktop. Additionally, if you intend to go for an AiO, you should look for a display with a minimum resolution of 1080p.