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Microsoft’s Pi Day sale takes $314 off of some Windows laptops and desktops

Microsoft’s Pi Day sale takes $314 off of some Windows laptops and desktops

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Taking a slice off of the full price

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

As it has done for the past few years, Microsoft is celebrating Pi Day 2019 by marking down a selection of PCs by $314; in some cases, even more. There aren’t any deals here for its lineup of Surface computers. Instead, this promo places its focus on Windows laptops and desktops made by Dell, Razer, HP, and others.

Perhaps the highlight of the sale is Dell’s XPS 13, which is $314 off. Only the configurations outfitted with a 4K display have made the cut. The best value offers an 8th Gen Intel Core i5 8250U processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of solid-state storage for $799. If you want more power, the top-tier option bumps the processor up to an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 8550U, and the storage is doubled to 256GB for $999.

If you want to save some money, HP’s Pavilion x360 is also $314 off, bringing the price down to $485. This 15.6-inch 2-in-1 laptop largely matches the internal specs of the XPS 13, but it’s a bit bulkier and heavier, and only has a 1080p display.

A few desktop and laptop models suited for gaming are discounted as well, though many of them are still quite expensive. For example, Razer’s 15-inch Blade gaming laptop makes the list with a respectable $400 discount, though at $2,199, that’s a lot to pay for a machine that doesn’t have the latest Nvidia RTX graphics. However, it does come with a few features that may tempt you, including a 512GB SSD and a 144Hz display, which will make pretty much everything you do look smoother.

Image: HP

The HP Pavilion gaming laptop is $565 after a $314 discount. This 15-inch machine won’t be able to play most games smoothly with the graphics set to high (or even medium, unless you heavily tweak the settings), but it’s still a solid value considering that it features a GTX 1050 Ti dedicated video card and a backlit keyboard.

Dell’s Inspiron gaming desktop is also worth checking out. Normally $999 for the configuration that includes an Nvidia GTX 1060, 8th Gen Intel Core i5 8400 and 8GB of RAM, it’s down to $685 after a $314 discount for Pi Day. One of this desktop’s low points (on paper, at least) is that it lacks an SSD, which could come in handy because of an SSD’s higher data transfer speeds and faster load times when you’re gaming. Instead, the desktop has a 1TB hard drive that spins at 7,200RPM, which will be fine for those who aren’t expecting top speed. And keep in mind that if you want in on this deal, it’s fairly simple and affordable to upgrade to an SSD.

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