Table of Content
The Flex 5 we tested, with 4GB of RAM, handled over two dozen Chrome tabs, Google Docs, the Slack web app and the Spotify Android app over the course of several workdays. Though it did occasionally choke, generally this only meant that the Spotify app crashed, or sometimes the Google Doc with this draft in it would crash and need to be reloaded. Note that we tested the Flex 5, with a 10th-generation processor and 4GB of RAM. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 offers a budget-friendly middle ground between Microsoft's premium tablets and larger laptops, with an affordable compact notebook design. From the color options and aluminum lid to the 11th Generation Intel Core i5 processor inside, the Surface Laptop Go 2 delivers a near-premium experience despite its low price.
It’s one of the few Chromebooks we found with an 11th-gen Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD for under $500 . It has solid build quality and one more USB-A port than the Lenovo Flex 5i. Its backlit keyboard and large trackpad are excellent and pleasant to use, and it has a fingerprint reader.
Key Features
All that makes it a perfect choice for multitasking, and any other tasks. 8GB fast memory can handle tons of tabs for multitasking, and it would not let you down, even for a while. Last but not the least, as it’s a small fast machine along with full day battery life, say, 10 hours, it’s a great choice for students, bloggers, and other travelers. The Mi NoteBook 14 e-Learning Edition can't be missed when you are talking about budget laptops. It's a more affordable version of the Mi NoteBook Horizon Edition which the company sells as a flagship unit in India.
Google's ChromeOS isn't nearly as power-hungry as Windows , so you can get by with a lower-end processor, slower storage and less screen resolution or RAM -- just a few of the components that make a laptop expensive. Remember to consider whether having a lighter, thinner laptop or a touchscreen laptop with a good battery life will be important to you in the future. Even better, if you're comfortable with it, think about an affordable laptop with a replaceable battery , upgradable memory, graphics card and storage, or all of the above.
Highly Portable And Affordable
For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 4.3 and 5.0 and 3DMark professional graphics tests. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet sports a 10.1-inch, 1920 x 1200 display that’s impressively colorful. However, the tablet’s screen has chunky bezels that might turn you off if you’re seeking a more modern look. But the Duet is a budget-friendly Chromebook, so we can concede the lack of slim bezels as a reasonable trade off. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet is a budget-friendly miniature 2-in-1 laptop with nearly 13 hours of battery life. The first is that while the keyboard feels spacious and provides satisfying tactile feedback, it can cause fatigue over time as the keys require a fair amount of force to actuate.
Keeping with what made its predecessors so good, the X1 Carbon packs in a lot of power and features in a thin, light, and stylish package. Its battery life can’t be beat so professionals needing a portable to take on the road will appreciate all that extra juice. And, while it isn’t ideal for creative projects, it handles productivity tasks like a pro, thanks to that 11th gen Intel Core CPU and Intel Iris Xe graphics, not to mention at least 8GB of RAM . On top of that, it’s Evo-certified so you know it’s a quality machine, not to mention brimming with security features. Higher-end components like Intel Core i-series and AMD Ryzen processors and premium design touches like thin-display bezels and aluminum or magnesium bodies have made their way to laptops priced between $500 and $1,000.
An option with long battery life
The MacBook Air is consistently their most affordable portable machine, and it is usually the only one Apple sells for less than $1,000. If macOS is a must but the MacBook Air is not the right machine for you, consider other MacBooks as well. While Chromebooks can run ChromeOS-specific and Android apps, some people need the full Windows OS to run heftier applications, such as video-editing suites. With that comes a need for a faster processor with more cores, more memory -- 8GB RAM is the bare minimum -- and more storage for applications and the operating system itself.
The 11th-gen Intel Core i5 processor has a higher maximum clock speed than the Core i3 on the Inspiron 14, and its Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics processor is more powerful than the basic UHD graphics on the Dell. This doesn’t make the Aspire 5 a gaming laptop, but it helps a bit for light photo or video editing, and the extra power will speed up CPU-intensive tasks. Chromebooks don’t generally make good tablets, but the Duet 5 has a bright, beautiful OLED display and more than 10 hours of battery life. It only has USB-C ports, though, and its Snapdragon processor can’t handle multitasking as well as the Intel-based Chromebooks we tested. Battery life is important in any kind of laptop, as laptops stop being quite so versatile if you can't use them away from a charge point. Still, most laptops provide at least 10 hours of mixed usage, while the best can go over 20 hours.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel)
It's not the lightest laptop at just under 4 pounds, but it has a great, spill-resistant keyboard, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth connectivity, and a top-mounted 720p webcam for conferencing. We've reviewed hundreds of laptops, so we know what to look for in the best laptops regardless of the price. The best budget laptops you can buy do everything that laptops cost hundreds of dollars more can do — and in some cases, they do it even better. The Acer Chromebook 514 with an ARM Kompanio processor offers stylish design and above-average battery life at an affordable price. The HP Laptop 17 is an excellent budget laptop for general use, with a sharp, colorful screen for multi-window productivity (as well as de-stressing after the work day is done). Random-access memory, better known as RAM, affects how many tasks a computer can take on simultaneously.
KOPACK’s laptop backpack is one of our go-to favorites because it doesn’t cut any corners but still manages to have a minimalist appearance while giving you convenience and portability. It’s soft and cushy, so it’ll keep your laptop safe and scratch-free. It’s got a built-in organizer with enough room for a tablet, a notebook, pens, and your laptop’s plug. Best of all, it’s got a slot to slide a USB cable through so you can charge your phone while you’re out on the go (although you’ll have to buy a separate power bank to do that).
If you are under budget, and you need a simple laptop for basic daily tasks, then the HP Chromebook 14-inch is available at $200. If you have similar tasks like entertainment, small business tasks, educational purposes, and basic gaming, the following laptops are a great fit for you. An eye-catching 15.6 inches large screen with an HD IPS display, AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, 8GB fast memory for multitasking, 256 GB storage, Backlit KB, WiFi 6, Bluetooth, and counting. As for the specs, the laptop is powered by a 10th Gen Intel Core i3 processor and it's also one of the few laptops on this list that comes with an SSD, and not just an HDD. This notebook also has a webcam, which is something that's missing on even the Mi NoteBook Horizon edition. So today, we have picked up the top 5 laptops of our choice, which are extremely good for your daily home usage.
But, the company's most powerful laptop, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, still hasn't been updated to Apple silicon. Despite the availability of the new bigger and better M2 MacBook Air, the M1 MacBook Air is staying around and that's a good thing. As Apple's entry-level laptop it is still our go-to recommendation for a MacOS laptop for basic everyday use.
Pay attention to the types of processors found in different laptops. Comparing processor power across brands can be tricky because speed ratings are rarely consistent from one manufacturer to another. If you encounter an unfamiliar processor, search for comparisons to known brands online. If a laptop is marketed with a processor that either doesn’t list its speed or doesn’t provide any comparison data, don’t buy it.
The memory and storage drive are both user-upgradeable, meaning you can potentially save some money by getting a cheaper configuration first and upgrading it yourself later on. That way, you can allocate more of your budget toward a better GPU and display. The Acer Aspire 5 continues to be one of the best laptop deals available. Available in 14-, 15.6- and 17.3-inch sizes, I am partial to the 15.6-inch size because it's relatively compact and lightweight but still full-featured. Acer has a wide range of configurations to choose from starting under $400.
As a cherry on top, they can relax and play their favorite graphics-intensive games after a long day of productivity. With a durable chassis, crisp 1080p webcam, great performance, and graphics, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is one of the best business laptops on the market. This machine is a crossover piece of hardware, offering a price point similar to most general-purpose laptops, but also a graphics card which can play games, so it may be a good compromise choice for some families. The other appealing thing about this machine is that its highly powerful processor and huge memory make it one of the fastest laptops under $500.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon remains the best Lenovo laptop if you can afford one, but the ThinkPad X13 is an excellent, low-price alternative. Lenovo's Yoga 9i refines a proven formula, making it one of the best Lenovo laptops around. But it's still those classic ThinkPad features — a durable design (with MIL-STD-810G strength), best-in-class keyboard, and stealthy black/red aesthetics — that carry the X1 Carbon to greatness. Often when you opt for a slimmed-down model, you lose all the useful ports, meaning you can’t connect devices such as mice without upgrading. This two-in-one device is a Windows tablet to which you can add a magnetic clip-on keyboard which turns it into a fully functional laptop.
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