Best October Prime Day computer deals still available

Amazon’s latest sales event, Prime Early Access Sale, is ending soon but there is still a chance to score some great deals. This smaller version of Prime Day includes great deals on everything from gaming PCs to all-in-ones, as well as more traditional desktop machines.

The deals are underway and we’ve curated the best sales on computers for what some are calling “Prime Day 2” or “October Prime Day.” 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 Early Access Sale action, and some of the best desktop PC deals can even be found outside of Amazon, so we’ve included those deals too.

Best desktop computer deals:

• Zotac MEK Hero G1, Core i7-11700KF/GeForce RTX 3060Ti/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,369.99 (19% off on Amazon)
• Skytech Shiva, Ryzen 5 5600X/GeForce RTX 3080/ 16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,699.99 (29% off on Amazon)
• Thermaltake LCGS Shadow 360, Ryzen 5 5600X/GeForce RTX 3060/16GB RAM/1TB SSD/Liquid cooling, $1,199.99 (37% off on Amazon)
• Skytech Azure, Ryzen 5 3600/GeForce RTX 3070/ 16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,299.99 (13% off on Amazon)
• Skytech Siege 3.0, Ryzen 7 5800X/Radeon RX 6900XT/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,999.99 (26% off on Amazon)

Best all-in-one computer deals:

• Dell Inspiron 24 5000 All-in-one, Core i5-1135G7/Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics/12GB RAM/256GB SSD/1TB HDD, 24-inch 1080p touchscreen display, $725.00 (15% off on Amazon)
• Asus Zen 24, Ryzen 5 5500U/AMD integrated graphics/8GB RAM/512GB SSD, 24-inch 1080p touchscreen display, $799.00 (11% off on Amazon)

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 an 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.

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.