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The 5 Best Budget And Cheap Laptops - Winter 2024 Reviews

Updated
Best Budget & Cheap Laptops

While premium laptops have gotten more expensive over time, cheap and budget options have improved significantly in quality. You can easily find great devices that perform just as well as more costly models, from dirt cheap under-$300 Chromebooks to budget gaming laptops with a dedicated GPU costing up to $1,200. Naturally, there are always compromises when it comes to budget and cheap laptops. Some have a lower-quality display and less processing power or lack features like biometrics, so knowing what matters to you most and what you can compromise on is essential.

We've tested over 105 laptops, and below, you'll find our recommendations for the best cheap and budget laptops you can get. You can also check out our recommendations for the best laptops under $300, the best student Chromebooks, and the best budget and cheap gaming laptops.


  1. Best Budget Laptop

    The best budget laptop we've tested is the Acer Swift 3 14 (2020), a 14-inch Windows ultraportable. Acer's Swift laptops aren't exactly budget models, but because this one was released in 2020, the price has decreased considerably, so you're getting a lot for your money. It has a sturdy build, a thin and light design, and all-day battery life. The display looks sharp and gets reasonably bright; it's fine for most indoor use but not outdoors in broad daylight. Ports include two USB-As, one USB-C/Thunderbolt 4, a full-size HDMI, and a headphone jack.

    Spec-wise, this laptop is available with an Intel 11th Gen CPU. These processors are two generations behind Intel's current offerings, but they're still more than adequate for general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, and video playback. The keyboard deck has a fingerprint sensor, so you can log in quickly and get straight to work. Our only major issue is that the webcam's video quality is bad; the image looks underexposed, and the microphone sounds staticky.

    Another option is the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15 (2021). Like the Acer, it's a Windows ultraportable but with a slightly larger 15.6-inch display. It has a better webcam and a numpad; however, it doesn't support Thunderbolt 4, and the display looks a tad washed out. Its AMD Ryzen CPU performs well, and while its battery life isn't as good as the Acer's, it still lasts long enough to get you through a typical workday.

    See our review

  2. Best Budget 2-In-1 Tablet

    If you like the 2-in-1 tablet form factor, get the Microsoft Surface Go 3 (2021). At 10.5 inches, this tablet PC is incredibly compact, making it easy to carry. It has a sharp IPS display with stylus support, an excellent 1080p webcam that puts pricier laptops to shame, and a Windows Hello facial recognition camera for quick logins. You can use it without the keyboard attached to save space and can pop it back on when you need to type something out. The keyboard is surprisingly comfortable to type on; the downside is that you have to buy it separately, and the same goes for the stylus.

    You can get this tablet with an Intel Pentium Gold or Core i3 CPU. Both are fine for simple tasks like web browsing, emails, and video playback, but don't expect to do anything remotely intensive. We recommend getting a model with 8GB of memory, as you'll get a much smoother experience with fewer slowdowns when multitasking. The battery lasts about seven hours of light use, which isn't great but not bad for such a small device. Unfortunately, the port situation is grim; you only get one USB-C, a proprietary charging port, and a headphone jack.

    The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 (2021) is a better option if you only need a device for media consumption. It sports a gorgeous OLED display with full DCI P3 coverage, and its battery lasts nearly eight hours of video playback. It's a little bigger at 13 inches but still compact and lightweight. The keyboard isn't nearly as good, and Chrome OS is more limited in the type of applications you can install, so you need to ensure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app.

    See our review

  3. Best Budget Gaming Laptop

    For gaming within a budget price range, we recommend the ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (2023), a 16-inch all-AMD model. For around $1,000 USD, you can get this laptop with a Ryzen 7 7735HS CPU, Radeon RX 7600S GPU, 165Hz FHD display, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. This configuration delivers a smooth gaming experience at 1080p or 1440p, even in demanding AAA titles. Its display also boasts an impressive response time for clear image quality with minimal ghosting, and it supports variable refresh rate (VRR) to limit screen tearing. You don't have to worry about thermal throttling, but this laptop does get fairly hot and loud. Thankfully, there aren't hotspots centered on the WASD cluster.

    It has Wi-Fi 6 wireless connectivity and an Ethernet port. The rest of the port selection is great as well, with plenty of USB-A and USB-C ports and a true HDMI 2.1 port. The 512GB storage in this configuration will likely fill up quickly with the size of recent titles, but you can get a 1TB SSD if you're willing to pay more. It's also worth noting that the storage (along with the memory) is user-replaceable, and there are two M.2 storage slots. As for the battery life, you can expect a little over an hour when gaming, which is fairly typical.

    See our review

  4. Best Cheap Laptop

    The best cheap laptop we've tested is the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023). It's a great option for younger students or anyone needing a simple device for web browsing and video playback. Although there are many configuration options, we recommend the Core i3 model paired with an FHD touch-sensitive display, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage, which you can regularly find on sale for $400 to $500 USD on Lenovo's website. The cheaper configurations are fine if you have an extremely light workload; just know they'll stutter or slow down more quickly when multitasking and have a lower-quality screen.

    The display of the Core i3 model mentioned above is bright enough for use in well-lit settings and is reasonably color-accurate. The keyboard feels spacious but a tad mushy, and unfortunately, the touchpad is small and not always responsive. Its 1080p webcam is surprisingly good, and its battery life is outstanding at around 13 hours of light use. If you're unfamiliar with Chrome OS, know that this operating system is limited in the type of applications you can install, so you must ensure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or Android app.

    See our review

  5. Best Cheap Gaming Laptop

    If you want to spend as little as possible, we recommend the Lenovo LOQ 15 (2023). This laptop is available from third-party sellers but is most consistently available directly from Lenovo. You can configure it with an AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS or Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050, RTX 4050, or RTX 4060 GPU. Both RTX 3050 and 4050 options deliver high and consistent frame rates for 1080p gaming. For the best 1440p experience, we suggest the higher-end RTX 4060, as it has 8GB of VRAM, which helps to minimize pop-in and stuttering in demanding titles. We also recommend a configuration with 16GB of memory—and if you're comfortable doing so, you can upgrade it on your own. For storage, you can opt for either 512MB or 1TB options. There's also an extra M.2 slot if you'd like to add more space yourself.

    Connectivity-wise, if you play online games, there's Wi-Fi 6 connectivity and an Ethernet port to ensure the best connection possible for competitive play. Lastly, for displays, your choices range from a 60Hz or 144Hz FHD panel to a 165Hz QHD option. The latter two are your best bet for gaming. The response times for these displays aren't great, so you can expect to see some ghosting. However, both the 144Hz and 165Hz displays support VRR, which can help reduce screen tearing.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 (2023): The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 (2023) is a good alternative to the Acer Swift 3 14 (2020) if you want a bigger screen or more processing power. However, it doesn't support Thunderbolt 4, and its battery lasts only six to seven hours of light use. See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Mar 05, 2024: We've replaced the ASUS TUF Dash F15 with the ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition as our new budget pick since the F15 is now discontinued and harder to find in stock. We've also replaced the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 (2021) with the Lenovo LOQ 15 (2023) as our cheap pick since it's available with faster Ryzen CPUs and NVIDIA 40-series GPUs, providing significantly better gaming performance. Removed the HP Victus 15 (2022) from the Notable Mentions because it's discontinued and hard to find. Added the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 (2023) as a Notable Mention.

  2. Feb 08, 2024: Minor text edits for clarity. No changes in product picks.

  3. Jan 10, 2024: Replaced the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022) with the ASUS TUF Dash F15 (2022) because the G14 is discontinued and hard to find.

  4. Nov 28, 2023: Verified that all picks are valid and available. No change in recommendations.

  5. Nov 02, 2023: Replaced the Lenovo Chromebook C340 15 (2023) with the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023) because the C340 is near its end-of-life (OS support).

All Reviews

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best cheap and budget laptops you can get. We factor in the price (a cheaper laptop wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no laptops that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).

If you prefer to make your own decision, here’s the list of all of our laptop reviews, sorted by price from low to high. Keep in mind that most laptops are available in various configurations, and the table only shows the results of the model we tested, so it’s best to see the full review for information about other variants.