The 3 Best Laptops Under $400 - Spring 2024 Reviews

The best laptop under $400 we've tested is the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook 14 (2023). This 14-inch Chromebook is great for younger students or anyone needing a simple device for light tasks like text processing, web browsing, and video playback. It's a little chunky compared to an Apple MacBook Air, but it's compact enough to be portable. Plus, its battery lasts around 13 hours of light use. We recommend the Core i3 configuration paired with 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and an FHD touch-sensitive IPS display, which you can often find on sale for around $400 USD on Lenovo's website. Cheaper configurations exist; however, you'll have to compromise on performance and display quality.

The FHD IPS display is one of the best features of this laptop. Its brightness reaches around 360 cd/m², which is rare on budget Chromebooks. That's sufficiently bright for good visibility indoors, possibly even outdoors on a cloudy day. Above the display is an excellent 1080p webcam, so people can see and hear you clearly on video calls. Regarding the keyboard and touchpad, the former feels spacious but mushy, while the latter is small and occasionally unresponsive. Unfortunately, there are no biometrics for quick logins, which is to be expected for a budget-friendly device.

The best Windows laptop we've tested under $400 is the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 (2023). This 15-inch ultraportable is available with various Intel 13th Gen U-series CPUs and up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. These Intel processors can easily handle light productivity tasks like text processing and web browsing. The cheaper configurations come with a low-quality TN panel. We highly recommend spending a bit more for an IPS display, as it has better viewing angles and color reproduction.

The keyboard feels comfortable to type on for an extended period; it's just a little mushy. As for the touchpad, it's small but responsive. Unfortunately, its battery life is rather short at around six to seven hours of light use, so you'll have to plug it in for a short time to get through a typical work or school day. Ports include two USB-As, a USB-C, an HDMI, and an SD card reader. The USB-C supports video output and charging. The power button has an integrated fingerprint sensor to log in quickly.

If you need a device mainly for media consumption but with the flexibility to do some work when needed, we recommend the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 (2021), a 13-inch Chrome OS tablet with a detachable keyboard. This form factor lets you take the keyboard off when viewing content, which is convenient in tight spaces like an airplane and makes the device easier to hold as a tablet. You can simply pop the keyboard back on when you need to type something out. It isn't a particularly good keyboard, as it feels rather cramped, but it'll get the job done.

What makes this device stand out is its beautiful OLED display. It's sharp, bright, and colorful, and like all OLEDs, it displays deep, inky blacks, making it a great device for dark room viewing. The speakers get reasonably loud, although they don't have much bass and sound slightly unnatural. It doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack, so it's best to use wireless headphones. The battery lasts around eight hours of video playback or 10 hours of light use, giving you plenty of time to get through multiple movies and TV show episodes. The display supports pen input if you want to take notes or draw, but you must buy the stylus separately.