The Best Budget Laptops to Get Your Money's Worth

Sometimes it can be difficult to justify Chromebooks over $500 due to their software limitations. But in hardware, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) makes a serious case for a Chromebook at its price, which starts at $650. While our top pick for best cheap laptop, the Asus Vivobook 14, has broader appeal because it's a Windows device, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is an undeniably more enjoyable piece of tech to use.

It's better in many ways, including its display, chassis, keyboard, and touchpad. It has close to the same battery life, lasting up to 16 hours in video playback, which is the best battery life I've ever seen on a Chromebook and is right up there with its Mac and Windows rivals. Yes, there are limitations with ChromeOS to consider, but the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is a winner for tight wallets.

Note: Lenovo's 12 GB version of this Chromebook is sold exclusively at Lenovo.com, and it is often sold out.

We don't normally recommend 5-year-old laptops, nor do we usually recommend cheap Apple products. The M1 MacBook Air (9/10, WIRED Recommends) from 2020, however, is a rare exception. While it has been superseded by a bevy of more recent Airs, it remains a powerful laptop for the money. Our model is still going strong despite daily use. The battery is in good shape too (surprisingly), still allowing for a full day's work. The one downside is that you can only buy the base model with 8 GB of unified memory and 256 GB of storage. That's fine for basic things like web browsing and document editing, but if you're looking to push it, you'll likely hit some slowdowns. It also has a sharper and more colorful screen than almost any other laptop on this list.

Make sure you pay no more than $600—we've seen newer M3-powered MacBooks go for as low as $849, or M2-powered MacBooks dip to $750, so it might be worth saving for something more modern.

Rumor has it that Apple may soon launch a new $600 MacBook that replaces the M1 MacBook Air, powered by the A18 iPhone chip. It might be prudent to wait another month or two. Otherwise, the M1 MacBook Air is the best cheap MacBook you can buy right now.

Most cheap laptops won't last you too long. They're a holdover laptop to get you to something faster and more premium-feeling. Not the Framework Laptop 12 (7/10, WIRED Recommends). Like other Framework computers, the Laptop 12 is completely upgradable, allowing you to access and swap out nearly every internal component. So long as Framework continues to hold up its end of the deal, you could upgrade the Framework Laptop 12 over the years and keep it around through many generations of CPUs. The amazing part is just how easy Framework has made it to install components and upgrade them yourself—it can be done in minutes.

The DIY Edition, which doesn't come with RAM and storage, starts at just $549. While the performance and display aren't exactly premium, I was surprised by how high-end the touchpad and keyboard feel. If you want something affordable (and highly customizable) that you want to last more than a few years, this is it.

Chromebooks have a reputation for being underpowered. To change that, Google launched Chromebook Plus in 2023, an umbrella category for a new class of devices from various manufacturers. The “Plus” stands for better performance—faster processors, more memory, more storage, and better video cameras. One of my favorites is Lenovo's Flex 5i Chromebook Plus (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It's among the fastest Chromebooks we've tested at this price, featuring an Intel Core i3-1315U CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of flash storage.

The Flex 5i has two USB-C ports (one is used for charging) plus one USB-A port. You also get a microSD card slot for expanding the storage capability, making this a good choice for those who don't want to keep everything in the cloud. The 14-inch touchscreen uses a 2-in-1 design, making it ideal for media streaming. As on most Chromebooks, the screen isn't the best, with mid-level brightness and a standard 1,920 x 1,080-pixel screen resolution.

There are plenty of other great Chromebook Plus models, so make sure you read our Best Chromebooks guide for more cheap laptops.

The Acer Aspire Go 14 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) won’t win any style or performance awards, but it holds up well as an incredibly affordable Windows laptop. The one major thing it has going for it is fantastic battery life. I was able to hit upwards of 14 hours on a charge, which could make this a great budget option for students who need something that’ll last a whole day on campus.

The Aspire Go 14 comes in two low-power processor flavors, with your choice of an AMD Ryzen 3 7320 CPU or an Intel Core i3 N-series. Either way, you’ll get basic tasks like browsing and writing done with ease. Just keep in mind this is a $300 laptop (occasionally less on sale), so the screen quality, sound, and webcam are far from great.

You shouldn't buy a Windows laptop under $300. Don't even bother. The good news is that some solid Chromebooks come in under $300, which increasingly have good specs. The Acer Chromebook CX14 is the best example of this trend. Despite costing under $300, this 15-inch Chromebook comes with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The 15-inch screen goes up to 300 nits of brightness, and even though the colors are a bit off, it's a 1080p resolution. The Intel Celeron CPU inside won't blow you away, but for the price, it certainly gets the job done.

There's also the Asus Chromebook CX14 (6/10, WIRED Review), a 14-inch version of this same laptop, which has a slightly sharper screen and an overall smaller chassis.

16-inch laptops tend to be more expensive than smaller options, making them hard to find under a certain price. The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 (6/10, WIRED Review) is a 16-inch laptop that manages to squeeze out just enough quality to make it worth the price. While the display has typical deficiencies (such as poor color coverage), I do appreciate that it doesn't have a matte finish, which brings out more clarity in the panel. A larger screen means less pixel density, yes, but if you need a larger screen at a low price, the IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 is your best bet.

Beyond the screen, I also thought the keyboard was tiresome to type on. But I was impressed by the sturdy build quality of this laptop, as well as the inclusion of the touchscreen and 360-degree hinge.

Cheap gaming laptops are hard to come by, especially ones that are worth buying. Finding a gaming laptop under (or around) $1,000 is almost impossible, especially one with decent performance. One exception is the Acer Nitro 17 (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It certainly isn’t the flashiest laptop in the world, but the RTX 4060 gives it plenty of power for its price. The trade-off is the huge 17-inch screen, making for one of the most oversized, heavy laptops we've tested (it weighs 6.3 pounds). But for cheap gaming laptops, performance is paramount, which makes the Acer Nitro 17 the best cheap gaming laptop you can buy.

Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet Gen 9 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) quickly became one of my favorite gadgets of 2024 despite its small size. That’s the whole point with this 11-inch detachable laptop, which is incredibly fun to use around the house and throw in a bag when it’s time to go. The keyboard detaches from the screen, so it makes for a nice tablet when paired with ChromeOS's Android apps, and then you can get some work done when you attach the keyboard. At nearly 10 hours on average, its battery life will easily get you through the day, too.

It's powered by a battery-sipping MediaTek Kompanio 838 processor that can handle more than 10 Chrome tabs open at a time. The small keyboard and trackpad require an adjustment if you’re coming from a full-size keyboard, but they’re also what help it stay portable. The included Lenovo Pen is great as well for signing documents or doodling, and you can easily dock it out of the way on the back of the display when you don’t need it.

Cheap laptops tend to skimp on the display. Not the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It sports a 15.6-inch AMOLED screen, the same type you'll find on all sorts of premium Windows laptops. It looks fantastic, with vivid colors and details—a huge step up from almost every other laptop at this price.

Beyond just the display, it's also just 0.47 inches thick and 2.58 pounds. That’s less than half an inch, making it the thinnest and lightest Chromebook Plus you can get right now. The Intel Core i3-100U processor, meanwhile, handles ChromeOS with ease. This is also one of the few Chromebooks with Google’s Quick Insert key, which gives you easy access to shortcuts for accessing GIFs and emoji, a list of recently opened websites, AI tools, and integrated Google Drive search, among other things.