My fellow gamers: here's a Black Friday laptop deal actually worth your time

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There are a lot of 16-inch gaming laptops out there, but not many are as sleek, portable, and simultaneously powerful as Asus’ ROG Strix G16. For Black Friday/Cyber Monday, it’s on sale for $1,199 — $300 off the regular price. 

The ROG Strix G16 is one of the best value 16-inch gaming laptops of 2025, with a competitive stack of hardware, sweet display, and a 5.8 pound frame. If you’re looking to cop a good deal on a gaming laptop before tariffs impact prices, this is one of the first machines I’d recommend. 

Also: Best Black Friday laptop deals 2025: 26 sales live now on MacBooks, Lenovo, HP, more

Why do we recommend this laptop for gamers and creators alike? Let’s take a look at the specs.  

First off, if you want a big screen, the ROG Strix G16 manages a 16-inch that balances affordability and hardware with a Full HD+ resolution and 165Hz refresh rate. Graphics are powered by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, with a max 300 nits of brightness for a good combination of accessibility and performance. 

Under the hood, you’ve got an Intel Core i7 processor 14650HX and 16GB of DDR5 RAM, paired with a 1TB SSD of local storage. This makes for a standard baseline of performance for the latest titles available for PC, like Baldur’s Gate 3, Borderlands, and Marvel Rivals. 

Also: We found the 100+ best Black Friday deals live now up to 75% off from Amazon, Walmart, Target & more

Gaming laptops require good cooling, and the ROG Strix G16 is no exception. You’ve got an end-to-end vapor chamber, tri-fan technology and extreme liquid metal applied directly to the processor to keep things cool and prevent heat throttling.

If you’re not a gamer, the ROG Strix G16 is still a competitive device for graphic design, animation, or video editing — especially with a form factor that’s easy to commute with. 

If you want the higher-end configuration with the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and 32GB of RAM, that one is also heavily marked down on Amazon for a whopping $500 off the regular price for $2,399.

How I rated this deal 

I gave this deal a 4/5 since it’s $300 off the already-competitive base price. This is a solid option for anyone looking to stay around that $1,000 price point but want a powerhouse laptop released within the last year. 

Deals are subject to sell-out or expire at any time, though ZDNET remains committed to finding, sharing, and updating the best product deals for you to score the best savings. Our team of experts regularly checks in on the deals we share to ensure they are still live and obtainable. We’re sorry if you’ve missed out on this deal, but don’t fret — we’re constantly finding new chances to score savings and sharing them with you at ZDNET.com. 

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Also: How we rate deals at ZDNET in 2025

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