Best cheap laptops 2021: Amazing budget and mid-range notebooks for less than $500 / £500

(Pocket-lint) - Owning a coagulated laptop whitethorn beryllium indispensable for your enactment oregon study, but it doesn't needfully person to outgo much than $500 / £500 to get the occupation done. 

While galore guides and reviews thin to absorption connected the best laptops for immoderate budget, not everyone wants to walk apical wealth connected specified a device. 

The bully quality is that there's plentifulness of reasonably-priced fund and mid-level devices retired there. And, to assistance you determine the close 1 for your needs, we've gathered unneurotic a enactment of the precise champion laptops nether $500.

In this guide, we person chosen to absorption connected full-featured laptops, alternatively of Chromebooks. With that said, if you bash request thing elemental for web browsing and basal productivity, past you mightiness privation to cheque retired our usher to the best Chromebooks available.

In addition, we've enactment unneurotic a speedy conception astatine the bottommost featuring immoderate useful tips connected however to find the champion laptop for you. Now, let's dive into our selections.

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What is the champion fund laptop? Currently, our apical proposal is the Lenovo IdeaPad 5. However, we besides counsel checking retired the Asus VivoBook 15, Microsoft Surface Go 3, Huawei MateBook D15 and HP Stream 11.

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Our Top Pick: Best Budget Laptop

Lenovo IdeaPad 5

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For

• Powerful processor
• Big FHD display
• USB-C charging

Against

• Memory is not upgradable
• No touchscreen oregon fingerprint reader

This Lenovo IdeaPad 5 is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor, and we deliberation it's the astir almighty fund laptop.

This instrumentality volition devour up productivity tasks without breaking a sweat and tin adjacent grip immoderate airy gaming.

The SSD retention keeps things feeling snappy and the USB-C charging makes it ace convenient to support topped up passim the day.

Budget laptops we besides recommend

While the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 is astatine the highest of this list, it's not needfully the close laptop for everyone, particularly arsenic it lone conscionable squeaks successful nether the $500 / £500 mark. That's wherefore we've besides selected the pursuing devices for you to consider. 

Asus VivoBook 15

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For

• Powerful Intel processor
• Large afloat HD screen
• Slim and lightweight

Against

• Memory is lone partially upgradable
• Old fashioned DC powerfulness adapter

In presumption of specifications, the Asus VivoBook 15 is rather akin to Lenovo's IdeaPad 5, but it is alternatively powered by an Intel Core i5 processor.

In practice, portion the Ryzen processor is simply a spot amended connected paper, some execute truly well.

If you're an Intel loyalist, past this is astir apt the champion fund laptop successful that realm. It's plentifulness almighty with bully connectivity options and a speedy SSD - a delight to use.

Microsoft Surface Go 3

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For

• Windows 11 preinstalled
• 2-in-1 design
• All-day artillery life

Against

• The keyboard is not included
• The processor is connected the slower side

Now, it's important to enactment instantly that the Surface Go 3 doesn't travel with a keyboard by default - you'll person to bargain 1 - but, adjacent with the added expense, it tin beryllium had for comfortably nether $500 / £500.

At its core, the Surface Go 3 is simply a large 2-in-1 tablet/laptop hybrid, and astir radical volition truly bask utilizing it seamlessly arsenic some devices. We recognize that it won't beryllium to everyone's tastes, and, successful an perfect world, you'd upgrade the processor to the amended mentation available.

However, if you privation a 2-in-1 with immoderate style, the Surface Go 3 is simply a truly bully option.  

Huawei MateBook D 15

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For

• Modern plan with bladed bezels
• Upgradable storage
• USB-C charging

Against

• Low webcam makes for unflattering angles
• No touchscreen

The Huawei MateBook D 15 offers unthinkable worth for money. It's got a sleek metallic plan and a modern slim-bezel show with the convenience of USB-C fast-charging.

The Core i3 processor isn't the astir almighty happening around, but it'll bash the occupation nicely for basal productivity, video calls and streaming content. 

Despite being slim and light, determination are plentifulness of ports for connecting accessories, too.

HP Stream 11

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For

• Incredibly cheap
• Great artillery life
• Super portable

Against

• Weak processor
• Low connected storage

This 1 mightiness beryllium amended suited arsenic a kids laptop, alternatively than thing you trust connected each day, arsenic its constricted retention and anemic processor mean it can't bash excessively overmuch dense lifting.

That said, for an incredibly debased terms tag, you get a full-on Windows laptop. It truly is exceptional worth for money. It'll grip the basics with nary occupation and it's ace lightweight and portable.

It offers large artillery beingness and is disposable successful a scope of colours, arsenic well.

Other products we considered

When trying to fig retired what we judge to beryllium the champion laptops presently disposable nether $500/£500, we spent hours pouring implicit spec sheets and comparisons arsenic good arsenic investigating the devices successful real-world scenarios. We see a scope of factors erstwhile it comes to recommending devices - and besides erstwhile a caller instrumentality enters our apical 5 selections. We don't conscionable origin successful our ain testing, either, but besides user reviews, marque prime and value, too.

In each of our roundups, determination are besides galore products we trial that don't marque the last cut. Since they whitethorn beryllium the close acceptable for immoderate people, however, we've listed them below.

• Microsoft Surface Go 2
• Samsung Galaxy Book Go 14in
• HP Pavilion 15.6in

How to take a fund laptop

When it comes to purchasing a large fund laptop nether the $500 / £500 mark, you volition inevitably person to marque immoderate compromises to enactment wrong budget. You're not going to find a top-spec gaming instrumentality successful this terms range, but, if you support expectations realistic, you tin onshore yourself a highly susceptible machine.

To assistance you hone successful connected the champion enactment for you, present are immoderate things you should beryllium reasoning about:

What bash you request the laptop for?

An evident payment of laptops, erstwhile compared to phones oregon tablets, is that you get a carnal keyboard. This makes them overmuch much suitable for tasks similar typing, moving connected spreadsheets and the like. If the tasks that you request to implicit are that simple, past you mightiness privation to see a Chromebook, arsenic you could perchance prevention adjacent much there.

All of the options connected our database tally Windows, and that means they tin tally the widest assortment of bundle offered by immoderate operating system. This tin beryllium large if you request to tally a niche programme for enactment oregon a hobby arsenic you'll astir surely find a Windows-compatible mentation for immoderate bundle imaginable.

If you request to bash thing much taxing specified arsenic editing videos oregon playing games past you'll privation to wage peculiar attraction to the processor. Some of the options connected our database are amazingly susceptible fixed the terms scope and volition beryllium capable to tally apps similar Adobe Premiere and adjacent play games similar Overwatch astatine mean settings.

AMD oregon Intel?

Intel and AMD person a agelong past of going toe-to-toe connected show and pricing. Until reasonably recently, Intel was beauteous overmuch the lone bully prime for a laptop CPU, but AMD has made immense strides successful caller years - truthful overmuch so, it has fundamentally made the other true.

In this terms range, the champion processor you volition find is either an Intel Core i5 oregon AMD Ryzen 5. If you privation the astir show for your money, we'd urge going for the Ryzen option. AMD's Ryzen 5 chips outperform Intel's i5 successful astir each respect whilst besides tending to beryllium cheaper and expanding the artillery beingness of the device.

Intel's Core i5 processors are, of course, inactive precise bully and with each caller iteration, some companies proceed to innovate and adjacent the show spread further.

At location oregon connected the go?

Laptops springiness you the luxury of computing from anyplace you like, arsenic opposed to being stuck astatine location with a desktop PC. If you'll beryllium travelling astir a lot, past you'll decidedly privation to wage attraction to the artillery beingness offered, arsenic good arsenic noting the size and value of the device. If you extremity up with a laptop that is excessively large and heavy, past you'll astir apt ne'er privation to instrumentality it anywhere.

Pay attraction to however the instrumentality charges, too, since immoderate laptops tin beryllium charged via USB-C, conscionable similar a smartphone. This is particularly handy, arsenic it means you'll lone request to bring 1 charger erstwhile travelling, and tin apt get 1 from idiosyncratic other if you hap to hide it. Laptops with aged schoolhouse DC connectors are not cross-compatible and tin often adhd rather a spot of other value to your bag.

If you'll chiefly beryllium utilizing it astatine location past you mightiness bask having a bully large surface to look astatine and value becomes acold little of a concern. Similarly, it doesn't substance excessively overmuch astir the charger oregon artillery beingness arsenic you'll ever beryllium adjacent an outlet. So determination are immoderate imaginable savings to beryllium had by ignoring those specs.

More astir this story

Every merchandise successful this database has been assessed thoroughly to guarantee it volition execute precisely arsenic a recommended prime should.

There are scores of fund laptops vying for contention, but not each connection the close premix of design, specs and performance, or, indeed, connection a terms tag that represents bully value.

With a $500 / £500 terms limit, determination are people concessions successful immoderate of these areas, but we purpose to supply a database of recommendations that suits antithetic types of users searching for an inexpensive model.

As with immoderate roundup, though, it's not imaginable to present a database that works for everybody, which is wherefore we thin connected the experiences and opinions of the wider Pocket-lint squad - arsenic good arsenic thoroughly assessing the areas supra - successful bid to bash our champion successful this regard.

What we ever thin to debar erstwhile compiling these picks are needless spec comparisons and selling lines; we conscionable privation to supply an casual to recognize summary that gives you an thought of what each charging presumption is similar to use. Our verdicts are concise, but this is purely successful the involvement of brevity.

Writing by Luke Baker. Originally published connected 15 May 2020.