
The first Labor Day laptop deals have arrived — here are my 10 top picks for HP, Acer, Dell, Gigabyte, and more
THE SO WHAT
Consumer laptop discounting ahead of Labor Day is a reminder that AI-capable client hardware is now a commodity line item. If your org is delaying AI rollouts over endpoint specs, revisit assumptions — you can likely standardize on mid-range machines without blowing the budget.
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