The 4 Best Laptops Under $700 - Fall 2024

The best laptop under $700 we've tested is the Lenovo Yoga 6 13 (2023), a 13-inch Windows convertible model. With its aluminum and plastic chassis, it feels better built than many other models in its class. Configured with AMD Ryzen 7000 series mobile processors, this laptop can easily handle general productivity tasks like spreadsheets or word processing, and you can get 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage for around the $700 price point. Its FHD+ IPS display is great for productivity tasks as it offers more vertical real estate than a more traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, but it isn't the brightest, so don't expect to be able to use it comfortably in direct sunlight. Otherwise, you get quite a large touchpad for a 13-inch laptop and a great backlit keyboard. Battery life is also excellent, lasting up to 10 hours of light use or nine hours for video playback, so you don't have to worry about charging it to get through the day. If you have trouble finding it, you can get it directly from Lenovo's website. 

The Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020) is also a great option. Its regular price is $999, but since its discontinuation, Walmart is selling its remaining stock for less than $700 USD (base model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage). The build quality is industry-leading, and Apple's M1 SoC still feels snappy almost four years after its debut. You also get Apple's amazing haptic touchpad, an excellent webcam, and full-sounding speakers. Unfortunately, port selection is where it falls short, as it only has two USB-Cs with support for a single external monitor.

Our best under-$700 Chromebook pick is the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2022). As the 'Spin' name suggests, this is a 2-in-1 convertible, so you can set it up in tent mode for media consumption or flip the screen around and use it as a tablet. This laptop sports a thin and light design, an FHD+ display with pen input support, and Thunderbolt 4 support. The display supports pen input and comes with a stylus that you can dock into the side of the laptop. Battery life is amazing at over 13 hours of light use, and you can charge the laptop over USB-C.

Spec-wise, this laptop is available with various Intel 12th Gen CPUs, ranging from a Core i3 to a Core i7. Performance isn't a problem; these CPUs are more than fast enough for anything you'd need to do on a Chromebook. The problem is availability. The Core i5 model with 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage is the most widely available, and even that model is getting hard to find. There's a newer version available, which we haven't tested but expect will perform similarly. It has faster Intel 13th Gen CPUs and a higher-resolution 1440p webcam. You can see the 2023 model on Amazon or Best Buy.

The HP Victus 15 (2022) is our best gaming pick. For under $700 USD, you can get a model with an Intel Core i5-12500H CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 60Hz FHD display. This CPU/GPU combo provides a relatively solid 60 fps gaming experience at 1080p, though you'll have to tweak the graphical settings a bit to get there. Its 8GB RAM amount isn't ideal for gaming, as it'll significantly impact performance, but thankfully, you can upgrade the memory yourself. Doing so might end up being cheaper, anyway. You'll also want to upgrade the storage drive, as 512GB isn't much these days. The biggest downside is the 60Hz display—you're better off plugging it into an external monitor.

As for the overall build, this laptop feels sturdy despite its all-plastic construction. The keyboard feels spacious and reasonably tactile, and the port selection is varied, including a true HDMI and Ethernet port. There are no biometrics like a fingerprint sensor or facial recognition camera, though we don't really expect it at this price range. Unfortunately, this laptop isn't very portable, as it's rather bulky and heavy, and like most laptops with a discreet GPU, the battery lasts only an hour or so when gaming.

The best 2-in-1 tablet we've tested is the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 (2021). Since this is an older model, you can often find the base Core i5 model on sale for around $700. The catch is that the $700 price tag doesn't include the keyboard, so if you want the whole package, you'll have to spend more. Still, the versatile tablet form factor makes the Surface Pro one of the best laptops for everyday use at its price point. You can detach the keyboard to make it easier to hold or save space, like on a kitchen counter, and pop it back on when you need to type something out. Its 3:2 display looks sharp, gets bright enough to combat glare, and has a 120Hz refresh rate to make touch input feel more responsive.

Above the display sits an excellent 1080p webcam and a Windows Hello IR camera for quick logins. The keyboard feels good to type on; there's also a stylus that you can buy as an accessory. The battery lasts only around seven hours of light use, but luckily, the power adapter is fairly compact, and you can also charge via its USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports.