Why You Can Trust CNET Need a Lenovo laptop? Rakuten's flash sale features deep discounts and hundreds of dollars in cash back
You can earn up to $300 in Rakuten Super Points on a handful of Lenovo laptops (and one gaming cube), which you can spend like cash on your next purchase.
We assume that most Cheapskate readers are no stranger to Rakuten, a great retail site that generally gives you 1% back with each purchase in the form of Rakuten Super Points. These points work like cash, which you can redeem on your next purchase. Well, hold onto your hats, because right now (and for two days only) Rakuten is giving you 20% back in Super Points on a small selection of Lenovo systems. Buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon for $1500, for example, and that's $300 easy bucks you can apply toward a set of headphones. Or half an iPhone .
To take advantage of these Rakuten deals, you need to have a Rakuten account, which you can create for free. Here are the Lenovo deals that will earn you 20% back. Just be aware that they won't last long -- these deals disappear on Feb 17. You might have noticed that the Rakuten site currently says these deals end on Feb. 14, but the folks at Rakuten have assured me that the offer really ends on Feb. 17. Even so, they expect to sell out of certain models fairly quickly, so the actual end date may be moot.
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The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a CNET favorite -- it's a best-in-class ultraportable that combines a premium design with extremely robust privacy and security features This seventh-generation iteration of the X1 is also thinner and lighter with better battery performance.
Rakuten is offering a second iteration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, this one sporting a smaller 512GB SSD. Clearly, the 1TB version is cheaper and otherwise identically equipped, so my advice is not exactly a hot take: Go for the other one, unless the inventory runs out by the time you read this. If this 512GB version is your only option, it's still a great deal, though, and lets you accrue more than enough Rakuten Super Points to pick up a set of Bose noise-canceling headphones, for example.
In a review of the Yoga C930, CNET's Joshua Goldman wrote that it was one of the best two-in-one laptops available. We loved a lot of the subtle design flourishes that made this laptop stand out from the competition, like the way the 360-degree hinges do double duty as the laptop's speaker system, and how the included pen is discreetly housed and charged in the C930's body. And right now, you can save the equivalent of $580, between the discounted price and 20% Rakuten points.
We haven't reviewed the C530, but this gaming desktop offers solid performance at a relatively low price. The cube shape and monochromatic red LED lighting is certainly eye-catching, and it has a handle for portability -- you can cart this system to gaming parties with ease. This is a good choice for a gamer with modest performance needs -- the Nvidia GTX 1660 is not a bleeding-edge video card.
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