Every laptop at Costco has a model number that looks like a Wi-Fi password. LDC16255-A087BLK-PUS. 16-FB0063CL. I assume somebody in the back room is generating them by sitting on a keyboard.
Behind the model numbers, though, is the stuff that matters, and it is a short list: how much memory, how much storage, and what you paid. So I went through what Costco has been listing and sorted it by value. A warning on prices: Costco laptop prices swing more than almost anything in the building. Every price below comes with the month I found it, and none of them should be treated as today’s price. Check the listing before you drive anywhere.
I think most people are overpaying once a laptop passes about $900. The exceptions are Mac people and anyone whose work needs the horsepower. Memory and storage do more for you every day than the logo on the lid. A laptop with 16GB of memory and a 1TB drive will feel fine for years. Pay for those two numbers, and let the rest of the spec sheet fight for your attention.
This was around $549.99 when I found it in March. For that you get an AMD Ryzen 7 250 processor, 16GB of DDR5 memory, a 1TB drive, and a 16-inch touchscreen at 1920 x 1200 with a backlit keyboard, running Windows 11. The model number is LDC16255-A087BLK-PUS, in case you wanted another Wi-Fi password.
Sixteen gigs and a terabyte for about $550 is the number to remember. The screen is a bright-enough 300 nits and the ports are ordinary, which tells you where Dell cut. For email, school, spreadsheets, and everything else a normal person does on a laptop, this is plenty.
Verdict: Buy. The budget pick.
Costco had it at $879.99 this summer, $220 off a regular price of $1,099.99, and it was still $880 at the end of August. It has a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 touchscreen. Inside is an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V processor, 32GB of memory, and a 1TB drive, with two Thunderbolt/USB4 ports, two USB-A ports, and HDMI 2.1. Earlier this year it dipped to $749.99 on sale, so the regular price is never the price to pay.
Thirty-two gigs of memory at that price is the headline. Most laptops near $800 make you choose between memory and storage. This one skips the choice. The screen is a 400-nit panel, brighter than the Dell, in a smaller body.
Verdict: Buy on sale. The most spec for the money, unless you can still find the LG on clearance.
Listed at $1,099.99 in August, item #4201004437. For that you get an AMD Ryzen AI 7 445 processor, 16GB of memory, a 1TB drive, and a 16-inch 2K touchscreen at 1920 x 1200, running Windows 11 Home. A deal site also listed an OmniBook 3 at $300 off a $1,099.99 regular price, which lands at $799.99.
At $1,100 it has to compete with an Acer that costs about $200 less on sale and carries double the memory. At $800 it is a very good deal. Same lesson as every laptop at Costco: the sale price is the real price.
Verdict: Buy on sale. At $1,099.99, the Acer is better.
This is the bigger OmniBook 5: an AMD Ryzen AI 9 465 processor, 32GB of memory, a 1TB drive, and a 16-inch screen. It was $1,199.99 on sale in June. In October, Costco.com listed it at $1,799.99 and out of stock online.
Here is the lesson: at $1,200 this is a nice machine, and at $1,800 it is a lot of money for something the Acer matches on memory for about $900 less. The discount is the whole story. Costco has swung laptop prices by hundreds of dollars on the same model in the same season, so patience is part of the spec.
Verdict: Buy on sale. Do not pay the regular price.
Still $1,259.99 in October, item #2042863. It has Apple’s M5 chip, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB drive. Some warehouses had it at $1,159.99 on sale in the last couple of months. It plays nicely with an iPhone and the rest of the Apple pile.
This is the sensible Mac. Most people who want a Mac do not need the Pro, and the Air costs about $700 less. For browsing, email, school, and streaming, it is more than enough.
Verdict: Buy if you want a Mac.
It was $1,399.99 in August. By October, warehouses had it on clearance at $899.97 to $999.97, item #2037878. It has an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 processor, 32GB of memory, a 1TB drive, and a 16-inch 2560 x 1600 touchscreen, running Windows 11 Home, and it weighs under 3 pounds.
At $1,400 this was the Acer with a nicer screen for $600 more. At clearance it is the best deal on this list: the same memory and storage as the Acer, a bigger and sharper screen, and a lighter body, for about the same money. The catch is stock. Most warehouses were already sold out when I checked, so call ahead before you drive.
Verdict: Buy on clearance if your warehouse still has one. Skip it at $1,399.99.
Most warehouses had it at $1,959.99 in October, with a member sale at $1,849.99. Item #1945139. It has an M5 chip with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, 16GB of memory, and a 1TB drive.
It is an excellent machine and a lot of money. For video editing, photo work, or anything that makes a fan spin, it is built for the job. For browsing, email, and streaming, the Air does the same work for about $700 less.
Verdict: Buy only if your work needs it.
Sixteen-inch touchscreen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor, 16GB of memory, a 1TB drive, Windows 11 Home as a Copilot+ PC. Most warehouses were still showing $1,099.99 in mid-October, item #2055389. I also found a June video of it at $799.99, which was $300 off.
Same laptop, a $300 swing in a few weeks. At $800 it is a decent deal. At $1,100 I would walk past it, because the Dell has the same memory and storage for half the money, and the Acer has double the memory for less. Snapdragon laptops can be great for battery life, but you are paying for that at $1,100.
Verdict: Skip it at $1,099.99. Reconsider at $799.99.
I am not a gaming laptop reviewer, so take this as a pointer and not a verdict. It has an AMD Ryzen 7 260 processor, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card, 16GB of memory, a 1TB drive, and a 15.3-inch 1920 x 1200 screen at 165Hz. Item #2013232. The regular price was $1,699.99 in October, and Costco has run it at $1,299.99, $400 off, more than once since August.
If you play games, this is the category to look in. If you do not, skip the whole shelf. You will be paying for graphics power you will never use.
Verdict: A gamer’s pick, not mine. Wait for the $1,299.99 sale.
If your warehouse still has an LG Gram Pro on clearance, that is the one I would grab. Otherwise, the Acer Aspire 14 AI for my own use, and the Dell 16-inch for anyone buying a laptop for school or a parent. Both give you 16GB or more of memory and a 1TB drive at a price that does not hurt. If you are a Mac person, the MacBook Air is the one to get.
Now tell me where I am wrong. What is your laptop price limit? And has anyone actually bought that Snapdragon HP, and did the battery life justify the price? I would like to know before somebody else buys it at $1,099.99.
Want the freshest Costco finds three times a week? Join the newsletter.
