We've reviewed hundreds of laptops and know what to look for in the finest laptops for any budget. The greatest inexpensive laptops can do everything that laptops costing hundreds of dollars can accomplish — and in some cases, even better.
We've also included options for you if your laptop budget is a little tighter or if you want to be able to gaming on your laptop. We have selections for the finest laptops under $500 and laptops under $300, which are the most affordable laptops available. If you're looking for a bargain, take a look at some of the greatest laptop offers currently available.
Acer Swift 3
It's difficult to find a speedy, well-built laptop at $650. One of the things you usually give up is processing power, which is restricted to low-end and/or last-generation Intel Core CPUs, as well as plasticky constructions that don't inspire trust in their long-term reliability.
Fortunately, Acer has responded with the Swift 3, which features AMD's latest Ryzen 7 4700U processor. You can obtain an eight-core laptop with AMD Radeon integrated graphics for roughly $650 (prices vary). This allows the laptop to do not only productivity tasks but also more demanding jobs such as video transcoding. The display isn't the finest we've seen, but once you see how well this budget laptop runs, you'll forgive it.
The Acer Swift 3 comes with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD for $650. It isn't a sleek or modern-looking laptop, but it is extremely well built, and you'll be hard pressed to find a speedier or better-constructed laptop for this price.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Go
Students typically seek a laptop that is convenient to carry around, delivers adequate performance for completing their assignments, and won't embarrass them when they pull it out to take notes. Oh, and it has to be reasonably priced. All of these criteria are met by Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Go, making it one of the finest laptops for college.
To begin with, it's the first Surface gadget to be sold at a low price, $550 for a 10th-generation Ice Lake Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 64GB PCIe solid-state drive (SSD). You can spend a little more, $700, to get twice the RAM and storage. These are astonishingly cheap pricing for a Surface laptop, and they should appeal to students of all levels.
The Surface Laptop go, on the other hand, is a highly portable tablet with a 12.4-inch IPS display that, while not exactly FHD resolution, is nevertheless of excellent quality and a joy to use. It's great for both productivity and binge-watching.
Finally, the Surface Laptop Go is a stylish gadget that comes in a range of colours, allowing students to select the one that best suits their needs. It's as well-made as the rest of the Surface line, and it has a similar appearance – it'll look excellent on a desk.
Lenovo Chromebook Duet
Chromebooks have become popular budget options in recent years, and many of them have won us over (See our list of the best Chromebooks). The detachable Chrome OS tablet is one model that hasn't done as well as others. That has changed with the launch of the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, which is not only a highly functional tablet but also a fantastic value thanks to the accompanying kickstand cover and detachable keyboard.
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet's low price comes with certain drawbacks. For example, performance isn't spectacular, but it's adequate for the jobs you'll be doing on it. The display is respectable but not fantastic, with a 16:10 1,920 x 1,200 resolution that isn't as pixel-sharp as Apple's entry-level iPad against which the Duet competes.
The Duet, on the other hand, is a great tablet for online browsing, light productivity tasks, and media consumption. It's a nice size for a tablet — albeit a little bulky with the kickstand cover and keyboard attached — and it's a joy to hold. This is not only the best budget Chromebook, but also one of the best budget laptops available.
You'll have to adjust to Chrome OS as well. It's not as feature-rich as Windows, and it works best with an active internet connection, but it's more developed now than it was previously. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet could be a terrific way to save a lot of money on your next update if you use a lot of Google web services and watch streaming services like Netflix.
Dell G5 SE Gaming Laptop
Although the greatest gaming laptops are usually pricey, the Dell G5 SE proves that they don't have to be. For just under $900, you can buy an AMD Ryzen 5 4500H CPU, AMD Radeon RX 5600M graphics chip, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD, with faster CPUs, more powerful graphics, extra and faster storage, and memory available if you don't mind spending a little more. A 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display is standard on all models. For $1,049, you'll receive a powerful laptop with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and the Ryzen 7 4800H processor.
With a decent build quality and surprisingly good gaming performance that rivals laptops with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, the G5 SE offers an all-around solid gaming package at an impressively competitive price. It does have its weak points, most notably a less than stunning display — it’s dull, but it offers a fast 144Hz refresh rate that’s great for gaming.
The keyboard is surprisingly good and offers RGB lighting for $30 more, and overall there are fewer sacrifices than expected to keep the price down on such a capable gaming machine.
There are far better gaming laptops out there, but we’d struggle to find one that’s as powerful as Dell’s G5 SE at this price point. It’s a fantastic, budget gaming machine.
HP Envy x360 13
It's difficult to get a laptop for video editing around $1,000. The more cores, the better when it comes to video editing. The greatest video editing machines, such as the Dell XPS 15 and the MacBook Pro 16-inch, will set you back more than $2,000.
HP has thankfully introduced the Envy x360 13 with AMD's latest Ryzen 5 4500U processor. For $730, you get an eight-core system with AMD Radeon graphics that, unlike many other laptops in its price range — or even above — can handle demanding video and photo editing jobs. When it comes to things like rendering video, the Envy x360 really surpasses several high-end laptops that cost far over $1,000.
The display on the Envy x360 is also rather good, with a wide colour gamut (71 percent AdobeRGB and 96 percent sRGB) and a DeltaE of 2.26. (not the most accurate, but not terrible either). It's also a bright screen, with a brightness of 399 nits and a contrast ratio of 1110:1. (we consider anything over 1,000:1 to be very good indeed).
You'll also get 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD for $730, which can be upgraded to 256GB for an additional $40. The Envy x360 is also a stylish 360-convertible 2-in-1 with pen capability, allowing you to be more creative. It's a fantastic creative laptop at an almost unbeatable price.
Dell Inspiron 13 7000
The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 achieves a wonderful balance as a professional laptop, whether you're drafting up another spreadsheet or winding down with a game at the end of a long workday. It comes with a ninth-generation Intel CPU — Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 CPUs are available — and up to 16GB of RAM, as well as a dedicated graphics unit. The normal model comes with an Nvidia GTX 1050 3GB for entry-level gaming, but a new-gen 1650 is also available, which can play a wide range of games provided the settings are tweaked properly.
. We'd anticipate this system to steal some fantastic design characteristics from the more premium XPS series, but make them available in a more inexpensive form, thanks to the usual Inspiron build quality. With just over four pounds, it's not the lightest laptop, but it boasts an excellent, spill-resistant keyboard, full Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth connections, and a top-mounted 720p webcam for video conferencing.
The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 is also available in a stylish white finish, which helps it stand out among its silver counterparts.
We'd anticipate this system to steal some fantastic design characteristics from the more premium XPS series, but make them available in a more inexpensive form, thanks to the usual Inspiron build quality. With just over four pounds, it's not the lightest laptop, but it boasts an excellent, spill-resistant keyboard, full Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth connections, and a top-mounted 720p webcam for video conferencing.
The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 is also available in a stylish white finish, which helps it stand out among its silver counterparts.
Microsoft Surface Go 2
The Surface Go 2 may be constrained by its small size and, at the starting level, a low-powered Intel Pentium processor — which can be upgraded to an Intel Core m3 for an additional $130 — but it provides something never seen before in the Windows world: a stylus. A budget-friendly 2-in-1 laptop. It has the same robust structure as its bigger brother, the Surface Pro 7, and a stunning, bright display to boot. What's the best part? It's actually tiny and light enough to be held like a tablet in one hand.
While performance isn't as smooth as an iPad or even a Chromebook, those devices can't accomplish nearly as much as the Surface Go 2, which runs the complete version of Windows 10. However, it falls short on the battery front. Since this is a device designed for portability, this is the most regrettable compromise. We also wish the fantastic Type Cover keyboard and Surface Pen were included with the package.
Despite its flaws, the Microsoft Surface Go 2 is unquestionably the greatest cheap 2-in-1 on the market. In this price category, competitors lack the great build quality and frequently have a less stunning display or keyboard.
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