Best Laptops for the Money

If you wanted a decent portable computer a decade or so ago, you’d have had to fork over thousands of dollars. Luckily, technological advancements have made laptops relatively cheap (especially compared to fully decked-out PCs) while still maintaining solid physical characteristics and specs. Nowadays, it is relatively easy to find a decent laptop that won’t set you back more than $700, with various notable brands vying for the top spot.

If you’re primarily concerned about the budget, you will have to make some concessions in build quality and capabilities. A 15-inch laptop that doesn’t cost a lot might come with a flimsy cooling system and relatively cheap external materials, making it more likely to crumble under heavier use.

Most modern laptops have switched from bulky spinning hard drives (HDDs) to the new solid-state drives (SSD). While this radically improves performance, it typically presents a challenge where a machine doesn’t have a vast memory bank to store data. On the other hand, an inexpensive laptop might have a sluggish CPU with an integrated GPU, making it less suited for specific industries and tasks. Understanding the tradeoffs of a budget laptop will make it much easier to choose one that suits your needs and requirements.

In this list, we’ll take you through all the laptops that can offer the most bang for your buck. While some laptops will be more budget-friendly, others are more suited to users who need portability and peak performance.

Dell has consistently produced high-quality small laptops that suit the general public and can fill most work and school-oriented needs. This XPS 13 is no different. Weighing just 2.7 lbs, this is one of the lightest laptops around, but don’t let that lack of size fool you.

Its 13.3-inch display houses plenty of extremely efficient gear to produce excellent results. The 10^th generation Intel i7 processor is lightning fast at 4.9GHz, allowing users to switch between multiple demanding programs at will. While the XPS 13 doesn’t have a dedicated GPU, the integrated model will work just fine for most tasks that don’t involve gaming or demanding model design.

This model has a large 512GB SSD, which is a rarity among laptops, allowing users to carry enormous amounts of data with them at all times. However, the RAM takes a bit of a hit, as it only has 8GB of 2133MHz RAM onboard, which is below most contemporary laptops in its price range. Since the Dell is so lightweight and thin, concessions have been made to the exterior design and available jacks. While it has a USB 3.1, it only comes with a single USB slot, making it cumbersome to use if you intend to stick multiple flash drives or a separate mouse.

It also doesn’t have an Ethernet slot, so you’re stuck with Wi-Fi even at home. However, if you’re able to get past the shortcomings of the exteriors, the Dell is a beautiful piece of tech that performs exceptionally well in its price range. If you don’t need a powerful gaming rig and need to focus on the sheer versatility of a powerful CPU combined with impeccable mobility, the XPS 13 won’t let you down.

Pros

• 10th gen i7 Cpu with 4.9GHz
• 13.3-inch full HD screen
• Extremely light and durable
• 512 GB of SSD memory

Cons

• Only one USB slot
• Integrated GPU
• A bit pricey

Specification

• Price $599.00
• Memory 8 GB
• Storage 512 GB
• Processor Intel i7-10510U
• Graphics Intel

Although it might be a stretch to call this a fully functioning laptop, the Surface Go 2 provides a seamless blend of utility and mobility with a lightweight, tablet-like device that can serve as a laptop when needed. If you would rather not lug around a weighty laptop over your shoulder, the Surface Go’s 1.2 lbs are going to be the most attractive feature. This 2-in-1 device has a small 10.5-inch screen and doesn’t have a dedicated keyboard or anything other than a USB-C port and a headphone jack.

It’s a perfect entry device if you need to carry some vital information and need something more accessible than a mobile phone. While this device doesn’t boast the most powerful system specifications, especially considering its price tag, it can hold its own for light daily tasks and some minor work. With 8GBs of RAM and an SSD with 128GB, this device is perfect if you don’t need a robust workstation to meet your daily quota. The 1.7GHz Intel i9 is powerful enough to launch browsers and most mundane programs while not taxing the relatively small battery. Microsoft advertises 10 hours of use for this device. While this is usually an exaggeration, the tablet’s limited functionality and versatility make it last longer since you won’t be powering up games on it.

The laptop has to be paired with a keyboard input if you want to use it as a laptop, which does not come with the product and will need to be purchased separately. Overall, if you need a starter laptop that can be used pretty much everywhere and can function as both a laptop and a tablet, depending on your setup, the Surface Go 2 is an excellent piece of tech that fulfills that niche.

Pros

• Small but durable
• Weighs only 1.2lbs
• Doubles as tablet and laptop
• 128GB SSD

Cons

• Extremely limited use cases
• Accessories sold separately
• Only one USB-C port available

Specification

• Price $332.99
• Memory 8 GB
• Storage 128GB
• Processor 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1
• Graphics Intel

Not everyone can afford a brand-new MacBook Air. However, owning this revolutionary piece of tech means getting the most out of Apple’s top-performing CPUs and ingenious design. That’s where Apple’s refurbished program is the best way to get a hold of the Air on a budget. When purchasing a refurbished model, you get a year of warranty. The laptop comes almost as good as new, and you can take advantage of Apple’s financing options to spread out the cost over 12 months.

The MacBook Air boasts a 13.3-inch display with a stellar 2560×1600 resolution that is unparalleled for the price. While you might think that the smaller display makes higher resolution meaningless, that isn’t exactly true. Images and text become much crisper and are easier to discern. There’s a reason that MacBooks are highly sought after for image editing, after all. This model has 8GB of RAM, perfect for multitasking and powering up demanding programs. The M1 core is a combined 8-core CPU and a 7-core GPU, providing excellent performance in a small package.

Users have 256GB of SSD space to slowly fill out with necessary programs and data. This laptop skimps a bit on connectivity since it doesn’t have much more than other slimmest products on the market. There are two Thunderbolt ports suited for USB 4 and USB 3.1 connections. The battery life of a MacBook air is usually stellar. However, note that you’re getting a refurbished product, which may reduce the overall battery life slightly due to use and testing. Perhaps one of the MacBook’s biggest downsides is the cooling.

Due to the extremely tight space and specifications, the device has a suboptimal cooling and heat dispersal system, proving to be troublesome if it’s left to run extremely demanding programs for too long. Overall, if getting a new MacBook Air is out of the question due to cost, a refurbished model will do just fine. It won’t be easy to spot the difference, and you can get years of use with it. While the savings are not extreme, they can still impact the user’s choice.

Pros

• Design and performance quality
• High-resolution screen
• Compact
• Lightweight

Cons

• Refurbished product
• Poor cooling system

Specification

• Price $849.00
• Memory 8GB
• Storage 256GB
• Processor Apple M1 chip 8-core CPU
• Graphics Apple M1

The Acer Aspire 5 comes in several configurations, mainly in the available memory capacity and RAM. The baseline 4GB RAM, 128 SSD device is one of the most efficient on the market for a laptop with a full HD 15.6-inch screen. However, there’s also a slightly more powerful 8GB/256GB option for those that need the boost, and we’d highly recommend sticking to this version if you want a machine that can run more demanding programs.

The Acer Aspire 5 has a mobile intel processor regardless of what you go for. The base version has an i3, while the upgraded ones have an i5 or i7, depending on your budget and requirements. The i5 model is a clear winner when it comes to performance. While this laptop doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card, relying on the integrated Intel UHD graphics, you can still get a bit of gaming or graphic design done. However, it won’t perform well with those that require full-blown graphics chips like on a desktop PC.

Still, when it comes to system specifications, the Acer Aspire 5 is hard to beat. The 15.6-inch screen is the main selling point, considering there are rarely options on the market that have high system specs and a larger screen to make more use of it. Performance-wise, Acer is generally solid, but the build quality usually suffers as a result. The laptop’s outer casing is not made of the best materials, but it gives the device enough durability to survive for a couple of years. The laptop also doesn’t have stellar cooling, so you might want to pair it with a pad for more demanding programs.

Overall, the Acer Aspire 5 proves to be a worthy contender, definitely one of the best laptops if you are low on budget but need some serious system specifications.

Pros

• Excellent system specs
• 15.6-inch display
• High-performance CPU
• Budget-friendly

Cons

• Lower exterior build quality
• No dedicated GPU

Specification

• Price $533.99
• Memory 8 GB
• Storage 256 GB
• Processor Intel Core i5-1035G1
• Graphics Intel UHD Graphics

If budget is not a concern, then one of the best laptops that money can buy you in 2021 is definitely the newest generation of ASUS ZenBook Pros. Outfitted with some of the most impressive components, the UX581 is miles ahead of the competition and behaves similarly to a high-end desktop PC that you can move around.

The UX581 also comes with a dual display, allowing you incredible freedom when allocating apps and effectively increasing the available screen size by about 50%. The 15.6-inch main display has a whopping 3840×2560 resolution, giving you incredible details and making it the best option for graphic design by far. This beast houses a 10^th generation i7 processor with up to 5GHz speed when overclocked.

It also has a gaming-grade GeForce RTX 2060 inside, making it perfect for heavy-duty editing, image processing, design, and modern games. The UX581 also has 16GB of RAM, which is plenty for most users, and 1TB of SSD storage to help you store precious data and files while on the move. Users that want even more performance can opt for additional hardware upgrades, like an i9 processor or 32 gigs of RAM.

The secondary display adds an entirely new dimension to graphic design, programming, image editing, and animation. Both displays will react to the stylus, allowing you to jot down ideas or make works of art. This laptop weighs 5.5 pounds, which might be a challenge to carry around. However, for a fully functioning workstation, it might be worth the cost and effort.

Pros

• Latest gen performance
• Incredible efficiency
• Ergonomic and intuitive to use

Cons

• Expensive
• Lean towards art and design
• Better options for gaming exist

Specification

• Price $3,298.98
• Memory 16GB
• Storage 1TB PCIE
• Processor NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
• Graphics Intel Core i7-10750H