It also has an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Due to their dependence upon the cloud/internet, Chromebooks break the rules we've laid out above. It has Intel iris Xe graphics, a 16-inch display with 1200p resolution and full touchscreen support, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, and more. This laptop contains an 11th-gen Intel Core i3 processor, a 128GB NVMe SSD, and 8GB RAM. It has a 15.6-inch display with 1080p resolution on an IPS panel, too. To be sure, you should be ready to compromise in one or two aspects. Keyboard quality is impressive and there are a pleasing number of connection options available too, including two USB-C ports, a USB-A port and Bluetooth 5. Chromebooks may be an acquired taste but they're growing in popularity as machines for both work and play. As an affordable general-purpose laptop, there are very few devices that come close to the HP Pavilion 14. It's pretty much as good as Windows gets in a laptop under $350. Its preinstalled Windows 11 S operating system limits you to software from the Windows Store, but you can convert to regular Windows 11 Home with a few clicks. Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro laptop $910 $469.99 at Microsoft (opens in new tab). Read our full Asus Chromebook Flip CX5 review for more details, Key specs - Processor: Intel Core i3-1115G4; RAM: 8GB; Storage: 128GB SSD; Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080p; Weight: 1.95kg. To make sure that the laptop you're buying can connect to your TV, for example, check that it has an HDMI port, rather than an outdated VGA port. It won't set the world ablaze as an update, but Microsoft has made just enough tweaks to make it the best budget laptop bar none. This a Geek Squad Certified Refurbished laptop. If youre disconnected, there is still the option to operate offline in Chrome OS, and all the work will be backed up as soon as youre back online. Unfortunately, that recommendation comes with the caveat that its only available for purchase for IT admins buying hardware for educational establishments. If you want a Surface Pro-style detachable but youre on a budget, its hard to know where to look. Read our Lenovo IdeaPad Duet for more details, Key specs - Processor: MediaTek Helio P60T; RAM: 4GB; Storage: 64GB eMPC; Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080p; Weight: 0.92kg. HDMI, and Windows 10 S for the operating system. Some use USB-A ports, others USB-C and some a mix of both. When youre really strapped for cash its easy to get into a cheaper is better mentality, but with laptops thats not necessarily the case. Read our full Medion Erazer Crawler E10 review for more details, Key specs - Processor: Intel Core i5-10300H; RAM: 8GB; Storage: 256 or 512GB SSD; Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080p; Weight: 2.2kg. (, Read Great Stories Offline on Your Favorite, Dell Inspiron 15 3511 Intel i3 128GB 8GB RAM Laptop, Acer Aspire 5 Intel i3 128GB SSD 1080p 15.6" Laptop, HP 15 Intel i3 256GB SDD 8GB RAM 15.6" Touch Laptop, Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Intel i5 512GB SSD 14" Laptop, Acer Aspire 3 Intel i5 256GB SSD 8GB RAM 15.6" Laptop, PC Magazine Digital Edition (Opens in a new window), How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files, How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac, Read Our Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 (2021) Review, Read Our Acer Chromebook 514 (2022, Kompanio 828) Review, Read Our Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook Review, Read Our Dell Chromebook 11 (3100) Review, Read Our Asus VivoBook 15 (F512JA-AS34) Review, Read Our Dell Inspiron 15 3000 (3511) Review, Acer Chromebook 514 (2022, Kompanio 828) Review, best 2-in-1 convertible and hybrid laptops, Gateway 15.6-Inch Ultra Slim (2022) Review, What to Do When Your Computer Screen Won't Show a Picture, The Best Laptops for College Students in 2022, The Best Laptops for Video Editing in 2022. Lenovo ThinkBook 15 laptop $1,589 $776.99 at Lenovo (opens in new tab). It's also worth noting the type of USB ports a cheap laptop houses. Includes a 15.6-inch touchscreen and a new 12th-generation Intel Core i5 processor among other great specs. As capable as it is affordable, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 is a midsized convertible that gets the basics right. It also has an 11.6-inch display and a USB-C port among other ways to connect. Windows Central is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. All of the Windows laptops on our list have quad-core processors. But as our top tested laptop picks below show, that doesn't mean they're not capable productivity partners. Plenty of low-cost laptops have screens measuring 12 to 14 inches diagonally, but 15.6-inch models that can serve as desktop PC replacements are rarer. Lenovo pioneered 2-in-1 laptops with 2012's IdeaPad Yoga 13, and the IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 puts the company's convertible experience to good use. It has Wi-Fi 6, USB-C, and a 15.6-inch display on an IPS panel with 1080p resolution. Build quality is impressive, with the CX5 designed in such a way that it weighs under 2kg and avoids feeling overly bulky despite its larger display. With this laptop you'll get an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, 16GB DDR5 RAM, and a 512GB M.2 solid state drive. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Microsoft Surface Laptop Go $700 $549.99 at Best Buy (opens in new tab). The VivoBook has an Intel Celeron N4000 processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB flash storage, and Windows 10 in S mode. Acer Swift X Creator laptop $1,040 $924.99 at Amazon (opens in new tab). You'll find all the best brands like Microsoft, Samsung, Asus, Dell, and the other major names. Best Android phone 2022: The best Android smartphones, Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro review: Mid-range perfection, Anker Soundcore Life Q30: Effective ANC on a budget, Huawei MateBook D15: A thoroughly decent laptop, Samsung Galaxy Book Go: Youre better off with a Chromebook, Huawei MateBook 16s: Big screen, big power, small size, Razer Blade 14: A fantastic compact gaming laptop, Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2: A top-class budget buy. You shouldn't always expect a touch-screen display, however. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University. This deal comes through Lenovo's official eBay storefront. With this laptop you'll get an AMD Ryzen 3 3250U dual-core processor, 128GB SSD for storage, and 4GB RAM. The original Microsoft Surface Laptop Go headed this list for two years, but now there's a new sheriff in town: the Go 2. In fact, there's very little to dislike about the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 Chromebook. This would be a great machine if you want to watch media on the go. Lenovos IdeaPad Duetis a good Chromebook option but small and underpowered. Today's good news is that you'll have to accept fewer compromises with budget laptops than you did in the past. Some applications, particularly games, have a minimum required RAM below which they will not function as intended. The machine comes with one year of Microsoft Office 365. Not only is this down to a low price, and a great laptop for productivity, it also has a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card so it can be used for gaming in your spare time. Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 laptop $940 $549.99 at Best Buy (opens in new tab). Its keyboard and touchpad are comfortable and its Core i3 processor can handle everyday apps with aplomb. The in-built speakers sound pretty poor and some may find the laptop's aesthetic a little business-like but those minor gripes aside, this is an affordable laptop that ticks all the right boxes. Wed like a bit more body to the keyboard and more warmth to the sound, but this is a fantastic, compact 2-in-1 that still comes in at a wallet-friendly price. There was a problem. (A 4GB RAM count remains more common in Chromebooks and under-$300 Windows laptops.) MultiVersus is blowing up on PC and Xbox because it knows what fans want, Intel loses $500 million in Q2 2022, cites 'sudden and rapid decline in economic activity', How to protect folder with password on Windows 11, MultiVersus tier list: All characters ranked, STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl preorder Bonuses, editions, and where to buy. It would be great if the IdeaPad 1 had a USB-C port and 8GB instead of 4GB of memory (don't expect to multitask much or open more than two or three browser tabs), but then it would cost considerably more. The newest integrated graphics solutions can hold their own in browser-based games and even some online games like World of Warcraft. Best Budget Big-Screen Laptop for General Use. That's the sort of big ticket item you don't want to be impulse buying. Your subscription has been confirmed. HP Stream 14-inch laptop $260 $190 at Amazon (opens in new tab). As a general rule, even the best cheap laptop will be slower than an expensive one, and won't be able to multitask as effectively or play demanding AAA games. At around the 400 mark, you'll start seeing laptops incorporating more powerful Intel Core i3 and i5 core CPUs, along with AMD's equivalents, the Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5. Levite has been in the deals game since 2012. Wi-Fi 6, isn't widespread yet among budget laptops, though you will see it in a few models.). In part because of their added complexity compared with traditional clamshell designs, you won't find quite as many affordable ones, but there are a few Windows and Chrome OS-based models that cost $500 or below. (See more about how to choose a laptop CPU. Ive also covered the launches of dozens of groundbreaking technologies, from hyperloop test tracks in the desert to the latest silicon from Apple and Intel. Above-average port selection, including USB-C and microSD, Better keyboard than most budget notebooks, Slightly superior performance to like-priced alternatives, Though not unique at this price, 128GB SSD is restrictive. We're still opposed to cheap Chromebooks with dinky 11.6-inch screens, but we may have to change our stance on CPUs: Historically, we've warned that inexpensive models with ARM rather than Intel or AMD processors can be sluggish. Consumers seeking a real computer for the price of a toy need look no further. Yes, it could have more ports (you're only getting one USB-C and USB-A), but this is an exceptional, beautifully made and affordable main machine that won't let you down. You're in the middle of summer and you've put the previous semester far behind you, but the next one is coming up faster than you think. Families on rock-bottom budgets or planning to give personal laptops to multiple kids will find the Inspiron 15 3000 a worthy choice. Whether you're creating reports with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, or sketching and scribbling with the pen, it's a fine choice for students and small-business entrepreneurs alike. NY 10036. We believe there's a gap in the market for large-screen Chromebooks and Asus clearly does too. There's no reason to spend a fortune on a new portable PC when the best cheap laptop can hold its own against more expensive competition. Sure, it would be nice if its 8GB of memory and 256GB solid-state drive were doubled, but this 3.1-pounder doesn't feel shortchanged. Its impressively sharp 5-megapixel front and 8-megapixel rear cameras make it equally useful for Zoom meetings and snapping shots or videos as you make your rounds as a realtor, or record fender-bender damage as an insurance agent. (A lower-resolution screen, which is a feature of some of these machines, can consume less power, all else being equal, and end up being a benefit of sorts.). In terms of batteries, an ideal budget laptop has one with six cells or more. Well, for starters, the HP Pavilion 14 is sturdily constructed and looks great. Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop $1,000 $869.99 at Amazon (opens in new tab). You will receive a verification email shortly. The laptop somehow manages to be both super affordable and a decent gaming setup thanks to its Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card and 15.6-inch display with a 144Hz refresh rate. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. At the very least, look into getting a new laptop if you need one. All rights reserved. Not a bad way to save on a solid Dell computer. You can definitely find PCs that will offer you enough performance to tackle your day-to-day tasks without a hitch. And the keyboard cover is included, not a pricey optional extra (are you listening, Microsoft Surface product managers? Available in scads of configurations from vendors like Amazon and Best Buy as well as Lenovo, it's a winning pick for families, students, and small-office entrepreneurs seeking a capable, flexible laptop. This is not the same as the flash memory used in a true solid-state drive (SSD), and it will feel a tad sluggish if you're used to an SSD. Acer Aspire 5 laptop $380 $274.99 at Amazon (opens in new tab). Refurbished Geo GeoBook 120 Minecraft Edition $260 $134.99 at Best Buy (opens in new tab). The flashiest, fanciest laptops boast ultra-colorful, ultra-high contrast OLED screens. The higher demands of AAA titles, though, still require a discrete GPU, which you won't find in this price range. Sold through Lenovo's official eBay store. It really is outstanding value for money even if it does push the boundary of what one would consider cheap. Windows 10: Unless you're going for a Chromebook, the single most important thing to watch out for when buying a cheap laptop is that it runs the latest version of Microsoft's operating system Windows 10. Inexpensive laptops are in short supply these days, with many of the best models going in and out of stock frequently. Yes, it's only $299 list price (and maybe less than that if you hunt around resellers). J.D. If you can afford it, we recommend hunting for a laptop with 8GB of RAM. READ NEXT: The best external hard drives you can buy. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU isn't a speed demon, but it's perfectly adequate for everyday productivity and creative apps, and just 1.54 pounds as a tablet (2.24 pounds with keyboard and kickstand). When it comes to storage, a handful of inexpensive systems still use spinning hard drives, with capacities often at 500GB, but increasingly, inexpensive Windows machines opt for small-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) of 128GB or 256GB capacity. Probably the least expensive way to treat yourself to a beautiful OLED display you're going to find. Get the best of Windows Central in in your inbox, every day! He was there for the first Prime Day and has braved the full force of Black Friday. I've appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news. The 3100 offers perky browsing performance in a compact package, making it ideally suited for daily classroom life. One of Dell's latest and greatest with a 12th-gen Intel Core i5 processor, a 512GB SSD with NVMe, and 8GB RAM. It's somewhat drab and only has a 59Hz refresh rate but corner-cutting is to be expected at this kind of price so a lacklustre display can be forgiven. The display's colors are uneven and the system's 128GB solid-state drive is smaller than we'd like, but the model F512JA-AS34 we tested was a low, low $399.99, so it's hard to gripe. In terms of speed, its a step up from the smaller Lenovo IdeaPad Duet, using Qualcomms Snapdragon 7c chipset to deliver decent everyday performance. Its slim, lightweight and attractive with a great keyboard, ensuring this is a machine kids will actually enjoy doing their work on. New York, (See our picks forthe best touch-screen laptops.) PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. A USB-C port would be nice, but you can't have everything. Dell Inspiron 15 3000 laptop $430 $323.99 at Dell (opens in new tab). Next, you'll want to make sure that the specifications are up to scratch. Acer Aspire 5 Slim laptop $500 $460.65 at Amazon (opens in new tab). Storage: Budget laptops have less onboard storage than their high-end counterparts but can still take advantage of Solid-State Drives (SSDs) and Embedded Multi-Media Cards (eMMCs), both of which are storage formats that will speed up your laptop considerably. PCMag Digital Group. The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14 is a knockout budget laptop, with excellent performance and a bevy of modern trappings that almost make you forget it rings up at less than $600. You get a laptop loaded with an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor, 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card. A Solid Alternative to the Asus VivoBook 15. Gateway Ultra Slim notebook $450 $199 at Walmart (opens in new tab). It comes with a 12.4-inch touchscreen, a 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and a 128GB SSD. You don't need deep pockets to play games. Spend your money wisely, and check out these price drops we've already rounded up for you. Its screen isn't the brightest, but it flips and folds behind the keyboard to give you the versatility of laptop, tablet, and presentation kiosk or easel modes just like systems twice the price. (That's especially true with Chromebooks; more on them later.) Opt for these CPU lines if you need more than just the basics. It includes an Intel Celeron 1.1GHz processor, 4GB RAM, and 64GB flash storage that can be expanded with an SD card. Open the smooth hinge and you'll be greeted by a keyboard that's immensely satisfying to use and a 12.4in, 1,536 x 1,024 touchscreen display that's crisp, roomy and accurate. Below, you'll find a comprehensive buying guide detailing all the things to consider before splashing out on a budget laptop along with a list of what we deem the best cheap laptops available. You get a machine with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. If you can't tell an Intel Core i5 from a Ryzen 3, don't know the difference between a Chromebook and a laptop, or are simply looking for some buying advice, read on. Users can upgrade RAM (at their own risk). Webcam privacy shutter and fingerprint reader, Relatively heavy for a 14-inch ultraportable. Check out our sample selectionssome of our favorites from recent hands-on reviewsthen keep reading to learn what trade-offs to expect and how to match a budget notebook's strengths and weaknesses with what you plan to do with it. Our review gave the Surface Laptop Go 4.5 stars out of 5 and called it one of The Best laptops. The battery life for a cheap laptop should come in at a minimum of seven or eight hours, and these days, many will last quite a bit longer. In short, there's very little not to like about the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2. The CX5 is currently our favourite 15.6in Chromebook and is eminently affordable by laptop standards. The Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14 is a 14-inch laptop with full HD (1,920 by 1,080 pixels) screen resolution (not an unsatisfactory 1,366 by 768), a snappy keyboard (not a patch on Lenovo's famed ThinkPads, but a lot nicer than you'd expect), and a bonafide (albeit small-capacity) solid-state drive (SSD) instead of the puny, poky eMMC flash storage of some super-economy notebooks. Convertible laptops are the show-offs of the notebook world, flipping and folding between laptop, tablet, and presentation easel modes with versatility that makes fixed-form-factor systems jealous. The Dell Inspiron 15 3000 (3511) excels as a budget laptop that can handle day-to-day tasks and some very light gaming, and it even comes with Windows 11all for under $400. We would love to recommend this laptop for anyone who only requires a laptop for basic needs. Like many Chromebooks in the $200-to-$300 range (we've seen this one as low as $239), Dell's Chromebook 11 (model 3100) has a petite 11.6-inch screen. Also, know that budget machines with this little local storage, among them many Chromebooks, are using what is called "eMMC memory" as their main storage. Asus TUF A15 gaming laptop $1,149 $849 at Microsoft (opens in new tab). The Nvidia GPU kept most AAA games running smoothly enough during testing, just don't expect it to run truly demanding titles at high settings. With an RRP of 680, the Intel Core i5 version of this notebook is dearer than all of the other non-gaming options on this list. This laptop from Medion is available for what is considered a bargain-basement price in the gaming arena. Ultimately, cheap laptops aren't famed for their processing power, and you certainly won't be given much choice over what kind of CPU your laptop ships with. It is also equipped with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card. It's pretty loaded and should be quite fast for you. If you see a laptop going for a rock bottom price, it might be because its incredibly outdated, uses cheap design materials or a combination of both. Includes an Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD, and even has a 15.6-inch 1080p display with a 144Hz refresh rate. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Chromebooks are a great option if you're after a cheap laptop and this offering from Lenovo is one of the most compact, affordable and versatile around. Its a tablet that ships with a clip-on keyboard cover, plus a magnetic back cover that doubles as a kickstand. The deal includes three months of Game Pass Ultimate, too, so you can put your new laptop to the test. Chromebook detachables are better bargains, but Microsoft's mini can serve consumers and small office denizens well. If you love the detachable 2-in-1 concept but balk at the cost of a Surface Pro or Apple iPad and accessories, the IdeaPad Duet 5 is the slate of your dreams. Finding a nifty convertible for $429 complete with stylus pen is enough to raise an eyebrow, but Asus' Chromebook Flip CM3 delivers with little compromise. Reasonably priced accidental damage coverage, Display limited to 1,366 by 768 resolution. You also may get an SD card slot. Most cheap laptops will have 4GB of RAM, which is enough for work but too little for demanding photo/video-editing tasks or gaming. But it's a stellar value, with an Intel Core i7 rather than Core i5 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 rather than RTX 3050 Ti (or an even lower GTX 1600 series) GPU. If Lenovo's Yoga series leads the way among 2-in-1 convertibles, Microsoft's Surface family stars among Windows detachables, which are lightweight tablets with snap-on keyboards that can both serve as laptops and challenge Apple's iPad slates. And its choice of Intel Core and AMD Ryzen processors and fairly generous memory and storage make it a thoroughly useful productivity and creativity platform for all kinds of users and applications. Inside, you're getting more than enough performance grunt for everyday work tasks and even a spot of photo editing. It handles general web browsing and streaming well enough but begins to struggle when running single-core heavy web-based apps. This 12-inch Chrome OS laptop weighs just 2.5 pounds and packs impressive performance, as well as a 3:2 screen aspect ratio that makes tablet operations feel more like holding a pad of paper than wielding an ungainly 16:9 widescreen 2-in-1. Of course, as with anything cloud-based, you'll need to be online to access it. If you can stretch to the 500 mark, you'll find cheap laptops with up to 256GB of SSD storage, which is a solid investment if you're a digital hoarder. Many of the best budget laptops now offer impressive specifications without wallet-busting price tags, meaning you don't need to limit your search for a budget workstation to the realm of tablets, Chromebooks or refurbished laptops. If you prefer Windows to Chrome OS and want a plus-size view of Netflix, YouTube, or just emails and spreadsheets, it'll fit nicely into your family room. Economy models don't have the latest and fastest processors or the most memory and storage, and you shouldn't expect an ultra-colorful, high-resolution screen. Lenovo's IdeaPad 1 14 proves that you can have a decent, and even enjoyable, Windows 10 experience on an under-$300 laptop, as long as you don't need USB-C ports and can make do with a basic processor.
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