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.
But if your laptop budget is a bit lower, or if you want to be able to game on your laptop, we’ve included options for you as well.We have options for the best laptops under $500 and the best laptops under $300 , which is as cheap as laptops get.If you’re looking for savings, you can also check out some of the best laptop deals happening now.
Contents Dell XPS 13 (9315) Surface Laptop Go 2 Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 HP Victus 15 Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop Microsoft Surface Go 3 Frequently Asked Questions Show 2 more items Dell XPS 13 (9315) A surprisingly affordable ‘premium’ Windows laptop Jump to details Acer Swift 3 The best budget laptop More Surface Laptop Go 2 An excellent budget laptops for students Jump to details Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 A Chromebook 2-in-1 that won’t break the bank Jump to details More HP Victus 15 Solid gaming for less than $1,000 Jump to details HP Envy x360 13-inch AMD A budget laptop for video editing Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop A business laptop for less Jump to details Microsoft Surface Go 3 The all-around best 2-in-1 for less Jump to details Show 5 more items Dell XPS 13 (9315) A surprisingly affordable ‘premium’ Windows laptop Read our in-depth review Pros Aggressive price Very compact design Great battery life Comfortable keyboard Display is bright and high quality Cons No headphone jack Performance is lacking Why you should buy this : It’s an amazing laptop for under $1,000.
Who it’s for : Anyone who wants a premium laptop for much less money,
Why we picked the Dell XPS 13 9315 :
Yes, the XPS 13 9315 costs $829 for its entry-level model, which is at the high end of the budget range.
But it makes this list because you simply won’t find a Windows laptop for less than $1,000 that can match the XPS 13’s excellent build quality, attractive aesthetic, and outstanding battery life.
For that low price, you get a 9-watt Intel Core i5-1230U CPU with 10 cores and 12 threads that delivers competent productivity performance.It’s not the fastest laptop we’ve reviewed but it’s sufficient to get your work done.As a lower-watt part, though, it affords outstanding battery life.
You even get a 512GB SSD, which is a lot at this price, with a build quality and good looks that are unusual without spending a lot more.
Dell XPS 13 (9315) A surprisingly affordable ‘premium’ Windows laptop Surface Laptop Go 2 An excellent budget laptops for students Read our in-depth review Pros Thin and light Comfortable keyboard and trackpad Good port selection Good performance Cons No backlit keyboard Display’s pixel density is low No Surface Pen support Why you should buy this : It’s the best budget laptop for students.
Who it’s for : Students, buyers on a budget.
Why we picked the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 :
Students usually want a few things in a cheap laptop — something that’s easy to carry around, that provides good enough performance for getting their homework done, and something that’s not going to embarrass them when they pull it out to take notes.Oh, and it needs to be affordable.Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop Go 2 meets all those criteria — making it one of the best laptops for students in college .
We’ve linked to our Surface Go review above because the biggest change to the Surface Go 2 is the upgrade to 11th-gen Core CPUs.
Graphics have been upgraded to Intel Iris Xe, the entry-level storage has been doubled to 128GB, there’s an improved webcam, and the laptop ships with Windows 11 Home instead of Windows 10 in S mode.The Surface Laptop Go 2 is also a highly mobile device with a 12.4-inch IPS touchscreen display that, although it’s not quite FHD resolution, is still of very high quality and a pleasure to use.
Surface Laptop Go 2 An excellent budget laptops for students Mark Coppock/Digital Trends Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 A Chromebook 2-in-1 that won’t break the bank Read our in-depth review Pros Good enough productivity performance Excellent battery life Surprisingly good display Folio kickstand and keyboard included Strong value Cons Keyboard is too cramped Limited to Wi-Fi 5 Why you should buy this : It’s the best budget Chromebook.
Who it’s for : Anyone on a budget who doesn’t mind sacrificing performance for extreme value.
Why we picked the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 :
Chromebooks have become popular budget choices over the last few years, and many have won us over as well.
One style that hasn’t done as well as some others is the detachable Chrome OS tablet.That changed with the introduction of the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, now in its third generation, which not only is a very usable tablet but one that represents tremendous value thanks to the included kickstand cover and detachable keyboard.
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3’s low price brings some limitations and basic specs.Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage don’t deliver stellar performance, although it’s good enough for the kinds of tasks you’ll want to run on it.
The display is very nice, with a 15:9 2K (2000 x 1200) resolution that’s not as pixel sharp as Apple’s baseline iPad that the Duet competes against.
If you want a tablet for web browsing, light productivity work, and consuming media, then the Chromebook Duet 3 and Chrome OS have you covered.
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 A Chromebook 2-in-1 that won’t break the bank More Mark Coppock/Digital Trends HP Victus 15 Solid gaming for less than $1,000 Read our in-depth review Pros Solid productivity performance Decent 1080p gaming performance Good keyboard and touchpad Conservative good looks Affordable Cons Confusing configurations Poor battery life Ho-hum screen Why you should buy this : It’s the best budget gaming laptop.
Who it’s for : Gamers and only gamers.
Why we picked the HP Victus 15 :
Although the best gaming laptops are typically expensive, the HP Victus 15 is a great example of why they don’t need to be.Often priced at less than $800, you get some impressive specs.
That includes a 12th-gen Intel Core i5-12500H, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 1650 Graphics Card, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD), with options for faster CPUs, more powerful graphics, extra and faster storage, and memory if you don’t mind spending a little more.Every model comes with a 15.6-inch, 1080p IPS display, and for just $40 more, that display can run at a refresh rate of 144Hz.
With a decent build quality and surprisingly good gaming performance, the Victus 15 offers an all-around solid gaming package at an impressively competitive price.It does have its weak points, most notably that the starting graphics card isn’t as powerful as what you’ll see in more expensive laptops, but it’s still enough for entry-level gaming.
HP Victus 15 Solid gaming for less than $1,000 Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop A business laptop for less Pros Large display Good keyboard and touchpad Solid build quality Spill-resistant keyboard Cons Display is only Full HD CPUs one generation behind Why you should buy this : It’s the best budget business laptop.
Who it’s for : Office workers who want to save the cash for other investments.
Why we picked the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 :
Whether you’re typing up another spreadsheet or winding down with a game at the end of a long workday, the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 strikes a great balance as a business laptop .It features powerful and efficient general computing power, like an 11th-generation Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD.
With the typical Inspiron build quality, we’d expect this system to borrow several great design features from the more premium XPS range but make them available in a more affordable form.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.
The Dell Inspiron 15 3000 also comes in an attractive business black paint job, which helps it fit in with any setup.
Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop A business laptop for less Mark Coppock/Digital Trends Microsoft Surface Go 3 The all-around best 2-in-1 for less Read our in-depth review Pros Excellent build quality Superior display for a budget machine Great Active Pen support Small and light Surprisingly good real-world performance Cons Can get expensive Mediocre battery life Keyboard and touchpad are cramped Why you should buy this : It’s the best budget 2-in-1.
Who it’s for : Anyone who needs the on-the-go mobility of a small, 2-in-1.
Why we picked the Microsoft Surface Go 3 :
The Surface Go 3 may be limited by its small size and, at the entry level, by a low-powered Intel Pentium processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage — the processor can be upgraded to an Intel Core i3 and twice the RAM and storage for $230 more — but it offers something never before seen in the Windows world: A truly budget-minded 2-in-1 laptop .Its build is every bit as solid as its bigger sibling, the Surface Pro 8 , and it boasts a beautiful, bright display to boot.
The best part? It’s actually thin and light enough to be held in one hand like a proper tablet, which is a key reason why we see this as the best budget 2-in-1 laptop.
While performance doesn’t feel as smooth as on something like an iPad or even a Chromebook, those devices can’t do quite as many things as the Surface Go 3, which runs a full version of Windows 10.On the battery front, however, it’s a bit lacking.That’s its most unfortunate compromise since this is a device made for portability.Also, we still wish the excellent Type Cover keyboard and Surface Pen came bundled in.
Microsoft Surface Go 3 The all-around best 2-in-1 for less Frequently Asked Questions Are budget laptops any good? Absolutely! Depending on what you need your laptop to do, budget options can be just as good as their high-end counterparts.
If you only need a laptop for watching Netflix and answering emails, a budget Chromebook can save you hundreds of dollars and perform no worse than something that costs $2,000 or more.
That said, you do need to be careful about which system you pick.Budget laptops tend to make some sacrifices where the expensive options don’t, so be sure to make sure that the system you’re interested in can do what you need it to before buying.
Do any budget laptops have Thunderbolt 4? Certain features are less common in budget laptops, and Thunderbolt 3 is one of them.Plenty of budget laptops offer USB-C support, but only some provide Intel’s Thunderbolt 4 spec.
Do budget laptops have good battery life? Some do, and some don’t.The models that prioritize portability tend to offer a little more, and you’ll want to skip a dedicated graphics chip if you want the most battery life.
However, you can find plenty of budget systems that offer a full workday and beyond on a single charge.
In some cases, budget laptops offer better battery life than many laptops that cost a few hundred dollars more.Many Chromebooks also offer impressive battery life thanks to how lightweight the software is.
Can I find a good display on a budget laptop? Definitely, but as with battery life or specific ports, you’ll need to pick and choose the right laptop.A good display will need to be a key component of the laptop, as color accuracy and contrast can be some areas where savings can be made on certain systems.
The best-looking screen of our budget recommendations comes with the HP Envy x360 13, which is yet another reason why it’s our pick for the best video editing laptop.
Is AMD better for budget laptops? AMD’s release of the Ryzen 4000 line of CPUs shook up the budget laptop space, and since then AMD has released the Ryzen 5000 and Ryzen 6000 range series.
In short, the fastest machines we’ve tested that aren’t based on Intel’s 45-watt powerhouse CPUs have been running AMD, and that’s a major advance.
Intel is still a far more dominant force in the laptop space with a wider range of options available, but as far as the CPUs that go into budget — and even premium thin and light — laptops, Ryzen chips rule the performance roost.That’s changing, though, as Intel’s 12th-gen Alder Lake CPUs make their way into shipping machines.
Even so, we strongly suggest that you consider AMD when picking your next budget laptop.If you can find one that matches your needs, you’ll get much better performance per buck.
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