Buying a laptop: How to maximize savings and rewards

To the point What strategies should you adopt to save money and make the most of your laptop purchase? Let's see how credit cards and other tricks can help you.

Save on total cost Wait for annual promotional periods Student discounts and Apple Trade In American Express online offers Buy refurbished items or open boxes

Earn lots of points Buy gift cards at the grocery store Use an online rewards portal Unlock a welcome bonus

Insurance and extended warranty

Bottom Line Frequently asked questions

Laptops have become essential tools for professionals and students alike. Since this is a major expense, here are our tips for saving money on this purchase and earning maximum reward points!

Buy a laptop - Save on total cost

Wait for annual promotional periods

Annual promotional periods are an ideal time to make significant savings on your laptop purchase. These periods include :

Black Friday and Cyber Monday in November;
Boxing Day, on December 26;
Back-to-school in August and September;
Amazon Prime Days in July and October.

Don’t forget to look out for promotions at these key times to maximize your savings. What’s more, most companies offer flash sales throughout the year. Stay tuned!

Student discounts and Apple Trade In

Apple offers student discounts and a program called Trade In. Students, teachers and employees can benefit from educational prices on the purchase of a new MacBook or iPad.

What’s more, Apple offers the possibility of exchanging your old device for a discount on a new one, or having it recycled free of charge.

Visit educational discounts vary according to the product selected. For example, the discount is $150 for MacBook Air computers and between $200 and $400 for MacBook Pros.
The program Trade In program lets you save on the purchase of a new Apple device by exchanging an eligible old one.

We recommend that you regularly check the offers available on the Apple website, especially during the back-to-school period when additional offers are regularly proposed. For back-to-school 2024, for example, you can get up to $200 in Apple gift cards. The offer ends on September 30, 2024, and was also in force during back-to-school 2023.

American Express online offers

If you’re an American Express cardholder, check the online offers available to you regularly. In the past, Statement credits were offered for purchases on Dell, HP and Lenovo websites.

Buy refurbished items or open boxes

Another economical strategy is to buy refurbished items or open boxes. Often these products are almost new, having been returned by customers for various reasons. These items are inspected and tested by the manufacturer or seller for resale at a reduced price.

Refurbished items are products that have been returned to the manufacturer for various reasons. They undergo a rigorous testing and repair process before being released for sale.
Opened boxes are items that have been opened or returned by customers, but have been checked to ensure they are still in perfect working order.

Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart offer a wide range of refurbished laptops and open boxes. On Amazon, these items are identified as Warehouse Deals or Amazon Renewed. They are often in perfect condition, with only a few cosmetic defects on the box.

You can also find offers on sites like eBay and Computers Canada. However, be sure to check the manufacturer’s warranty conditions for these items.

Apple also sells refurbished items with a one-year warranty.

Buy a laptop - Earn lots of points

Buy gift cards at the grocery store

To earn extra points with the purchase of a laptop, use the gift card strategy at the grocery or convenience store. You can find the following gift cards:

Walmart at Couche-Tard;
Apple at Metro, IGA, Maxi, Super C, Adonis;
Amazon at Metro, IGA, Maxi, Couche-Tard, Super C, Adonis;
Best Buy at IGA, Maxi ;
Staples at Maxi.

By purchasing your laptop with gift cards, you waive the purchase insurance and extended warranty provided by some credit cards. However, the manufacturer’s warranty remains valid.

You can earn 5x points on your purchase with :

The American Express Cobalt Card;
Scotiabank Gold American Express^® Card (even 6x points at IGA) ;
The MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard^®; or
National Bank World Elite Mastercard^®.

Under normal circumstances, these “other” expenses would only earn one point per dollar spent.

With the American Express Business Edge^MD Card, purchases at electronics stores earn 3 Membership Rewards points per dollar, or 10 Membership Rewards points per dollar during the current welcome offer.

Use an online rewards portal

By registering on these platforms, you can earn money in the form of cashback or points when you make online purchases on partner sites, including stores from Apple, Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. Popular portals include :

Aeroplan eStore to collect Aeroplan points ;
Scene+ Rakuten to collect Scene+ points;
AIR MILES Shop to collect AIR MILES;
Rakuten to earn cash back;
Shop for Miles to collect Flying Blue miles.

Be on the lookout for promotions, too, as cash or points multipliers are common throughout the year.

Unlock a welcome bonus

The best way to make the purchase of a laptop profitable is to use this significant expense to reach the minimum spend required on a new credit card to unlock a welcome bonus.

These bonuses are often very generous for new customers, but require minimum spending of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Buying an expensive laptop can help you reach this threshold more easily.

Here are a few examples of cards that offer excellent welcome bonuses:

Finally, it is possible to combine these three strategies and make a “triple dip“. For example, you could :

Purchase Amazon gift cards at IGA with the Scotiabank Gold American Express^® Card to earn 6 Scene+ points per dollar (6,000 points);
Reach the $1,000 minimum spend, collect 25,000 Scene+ points and ;
Order the computer via Scene+ Rakuten to receive points equivalent to 1% of the purchase (1,000 points).

A $1,000 purchase that could earn 32,000 Scene+ points in one go – a 32% return! (since 32,000 Scene+ points are worth $320)

Buying a laptop - Insurance and extended warranty

Most credit card mobile device insurances exclude laptops from the scope of coverage. However, these same credit cards offer purchase insurance and extended warranties.

Purchase insurance: The device is covered for theft, damage and loss for 90 days following purchase.
Extended warranty: The manufacturer’s warranty is extended for a fixed period, often for an additional year or two.

In general, the entire purchase must be charged to the card for protection to apply. In some cases, insurance may apply when part of the purchase is charged to the card.

If you want to use the gift card strategy, be sure to read the details of the insurance policy. Using gift cards often cancels the purchase insurance and extended warranty offered by your credit card.

If you’re buying a refurbished item, be sure to also check whether this type of item is excluded from the insurance policy.

Here are some examples of good credit cards that offer insurance on purchases (including the NBC mycredit Mastercard and the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card, which have no annual fee):

Bottom Line

Before buying a new computer, take the time to look for the best deals, and wait for strategic times like back-to-school or Black Friday to take advantage of discounts.

Take advantage of this purchase to unlock the welcome bonus of a new credit card, and check if your valuable device is covered in any way by your card before signing up for the manufacturer’s extended warranty.

Buying a laptop - Frequently asked questions

How can I get financing for a computer?

If you can’t pay for your new computer in full, consider financing options. Many retailers offer affordable monthly payment plans, while credit cards often offer interest-free repayment periods for large purchases.

When to buy a computer at the best price?

To buy a computer at the best price, target promotional periods such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday in November, Boxing Day on December 26, the back-to-school season in August and September, and Amazon’s Prime Day in July. You can also take advantage of summer and winter sales in January and July, and discounts on older models when new models are released in fall and spring.

How to choose a laptop? What needs to be taken into account?

When buying a laptop, it’s crucial to consider processor power, RAM memory, storage capacity (SSD for fast booting), screen size and resolution, battery life, portability and connectivity (USB, HDMI ports). Unless you want to play very demanding games, the graphics card is less important.

What is the average budget for a good laptop?

The budget for a good laptop in Canada varies according to your needs:

Entry-level ($500 – $800): Sufficient for basic tasks such as Internet browsing and word processing.
Mid-range ($800 – $1,500): Ideal for multitasking, professional software and light creative work.
High-end ($1,500 and up): Perfect for demanding professionals, creatives and intensive video gaming.