When it comes to shopping for the best cheap laptops, you can do a lot with $1,000. (Heck, even $500 cuts some mustard nowadays.) But you’ll probably have to make some compromises along the way to stay below that price point.
This doesn’t mean you have to settle for a general clutter that doesn’t check any of the boxes on your list of must-have specifications. It just means you want to shop around a little smarter than with unlimited funds.
This is where we come in. The Mashable team is reviewing new laptops with other operating systems and use cases, and we’re introducing several affordable machines that meet most, if not all, of our features and build quality standards.
As of December 2024, we believe the most productive affordable MacBook is the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air with the latest generation M2 chip. It’s fast enough for most people, lasts all day, has a wonderful keyboard, and starts at $999 (although it’s on sale for less than $900). In addition, it recently gained a welcome for building up to 16GB of base RAM.
Among Windows PCs, the Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (Gen 9) is the most productive sub-$1,000 computer tested lately. It has a dynamic processor and smart battery life, doubles as a tablet, and starts at $899. 99.
If you really like Microsoft machines, check out the Surface Laptop Go 3. The company’s cheapest offering is a super-portable computer with a sleek look and a clicky keyboard. I urge buyers to find it on sale, given its older processor. . Otherwise, it starts at $799. 99.
The most productive affordable Chromebook is the $499 15. 6-inch HP Chromebook Plus, with its large, dynamic display and capable performance. It also supports some useful AI features and media editing apps.
Budget gaming laptops aren’t much better than the Acer Nitro V 15, which combines an attractive design with excellent Triple-A functionality for $999 as tested. (The basic style is only $749. ) We’re also introducing the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE as an even less expensive “cheap gaming laptop” option: it streams high-end titles well, comes with an excellent 120Hz display, and retails for just $649. Formation
Lately we have the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 on hand to test (specifically the 2023 model with a 12th generation Intel processor priced at $399. 99). If it seems to offer a higher price tag than HP’s 15. 6-inch Chromebook Plus, it may simply be a new contender for the “best reasonable Chromebook. “
We’ll also review the Asus Vivobook S 14, a new Copilot PC with a Lunar Lake processor and OLED display, as well as the Check Framework Laptop 13, a serviceable computer that turns out to be a long-term value. We were big fans of an old version.
The Mashable team will be keeping a close eye on other competitions as we tour the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. While most of the laptops announced at the massive tech showcase are possible high-end features packed with cutting-edge features, we may see next-generation budget features from brands like Acer, Asus, and Lenovo.
Read on to hear from Mashable’s expert on the best budget laptops of 2024. FYI: We’ve indexed the prices and specifications of our test units, which may not apply to the base laptop model.
Read Mashable’s full review of the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air (M2).
Apple’s mid-2022 13-inch MacBook Air M2 is rarely as fast as the newer M3 model and lacks dual external monitors and WiFi 6E via its successor. (Get this news edition if you want the most productive MacBook at any price. )But these are simple sacrifices you need to make if you don’t want to spend more than $1,000. All in all, this is an obvious tip for budget-conscious Apple users who want a reliable laptop for every day.
The M2 MacBook Air “delivers everything you need [for] any job centered around using a computer,” to quote Mashable Tech Reporter Alex Perry’s review. That includes an all-day battery life, a snappy keyboard, and “enough horsepower to handle everyday tasks with ease.” It also sports a 1080p FaceTime HD camera that produces a clear picture in low light, plus a four-speaker setup with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support. Despite needing a few more ports, it effortlessly clinched our Mashable’s Choice Award — and after a base RAM bump to 16GB in Nov. 2024, it’s now a better value than ever. (It technically isn’t the cheapest MacBook available, as you can still buy the $699 M1 MacBook Air, but that model’s too outdated to endorse at this point.)
Note that Apple has discontinued the MacBook Air M2 in a 15-inch screen size, however, some configurations were still available at third-party stores like Best Buy at the time of writing.
Read Mashable’s full information about Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (Gen 9).
Lenovo’s Yoga 7i is an entry point into the AI PC box. Its 2-in-1 design will also appeal to thrifty buyers torn between a computer and a tablet.
Hailing from Lenovo’s popular Yoga line, this convertible is an understated workhorse. A little boring, sure — the fact that it can flip into tablet and tent modes is probably the most exciting thing about it — but no-nonsense competence has its appeal. “I’m a tab hoarder, and the Yoga 7i 2-in-1 14 was able to handle my crazy daily research antics flawlessly with its Intel Core Ultra 5 125U processor,” said Mashable contributor Sarah Chaney. Bonus: It doesn’t run hot and won’t die on you mid-day.
When you get to the finer details of the design, the Yoga 7i comes across as a bit random. Its keyboard is “well-spaced and pleasantly elastic,” Chaney wrote, with an adjustable backlight and an integrated Copilot key that turns on Microsoft’s AI assistant. But its trackpad lagged during testing. Its hybrid shape gives it versatility, but its hinges are very strong and its screen is a bit dark. It has a clever array of ports, but we wish its USB-C ports weren’t limited to just one side. Still, those drawbacks can be fixed for $900 if all you really care about is the right looks.
Read Mashable’s full information about Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3.
You can boost your budget with other tech giants, but the Microsoft Surface Go 3 2023 is a smart and reasonable computer for logo loyalists and those who need an eye-catching ultrabook. “I can see this being the everyday engine for young academics or Gen Z users are looking for a computer that can handle casual use with taste and sophistication,” said Kim Gedeon, former editor-in-chief of Mashable Tech.
The 12. 4-inch Surface Laptop Go 3 is necessarily a “Windows Air,” Gedeon wrote, with superior build quality that wouldn’t fall out of position among Apple’s ranks. And let’s not get her started with her nimble, sleek keyboard, which she calls “one of the most productive I’ve used in my entire computer review career. “Its crisp and responsive touchscreen is another strong point (even if its bezels are a bit large).
Unfortunately, the internals of the Surface Laptop Go 3 are much more disappointing. Its 12th Gen Intel processor is now two generations away from 2024, and its battery life was a mediocre 8 hours in our tests. But at least it’s on sale at Amazon and Best Buy: I occasionally see it for $700 or less, which is a lot more moderate given those specs.
Read the full Mashable on the HP Chromebook Plus 15. 6-inch.
HP’s 15. 6-inch Chromebook Plus is a low-end computer geared towards Google-based productivity and casual entertainment. It makes trade-offs when it comes to build quality that may take some getting used to, but overall, the value is adequate for the fundamental cloud. multitasking based.
The 15. 6-inch Chromebook Plus is a sleek, big-screen computer from Google’s “Plus” line of upgraded ChromeOS computers that costs just $499. In fact, it seems reasonable in some ways (see: its inflexible keyboard, poor audio quality, and questionable durability). ), and its battery life sucks, but its solid functionality and spacious, colorful anti-glare prove that it can largely overcome those drawbacks. It also comes with some useful artificial intelligence equipment that you would need. possibly won’t find it on non-“Plus” Chromebooks, adding a log sync tool and Google Photos Magic Eraser. “It’s unfair to compare a Chromebook to other types of computers,” according to my detailed review, “however, as a lifelong MacBook user, I feel compelled to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this computer. “
It’s worth mentioning that while the 15. 6-inch Chromebook Plus offers the best value for money, it’s not the best value of the Chromebook Plus group. (As mentioned above, we’re testing a $399. 99 Asus model lately. ) You’re no fool paying its $500 list price, but if you can wait, look for it on sale.
Read Mashable’s full version of the Acer Nitro V 15.
Gedeon put things succinctly in her review: “If you’re just looking for a gaming laptop that ditches all the bells and whistles for impressive gaming performance, the [Acer] Nitro V 15 is the one for you.”
The Mashable’s Choice Award-winning Nitro V 15 is all about power, power, and power. Although it contradicts the definition of “cheap,” we think it’s the most productive gaming computer under $1,000. The style we tested is “packed with delicious internals capable of handling triple-A games,” Gedeon said, adding a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 H-series processor for desktop-level power and graphics. The decent Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 found that it was capable of running Cyberpunk 2077, “one of the most graphics-intensive games on the market, like a champ. “
Unsurprisingly, Acer has made some noteworthy trade-offs to offer that level of oomph at this price point, namely in the realms of display quality (it’s not bright or vivid) and extra fixings (there’s no RGB keyboard or 1080p webcam). Its pathetically short battery life also means it’ll set up permanent shop on your desk — preferably with a microfiber cloth at the ready nearby, as it clings to fingerprints with a passion.
Read Mashable’s full information about the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE.
The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (the “GE” stands for “gaming edition”) is a budget-friendly beaut for gamers who are tired of trying to keep up with new titles’ fancy hardware requirements — and those who are sick of short-winded gaming PCs.
Acer’s original Chromebook 516 GE from late 2022 was a fantastic cloud gaming machine, and the new “Plus” version is even better: It kept everything good about the first version — a 1080p webcam, an anti-ghosting RGB keyboard, a 120Hz display, and even its $649 price tag — then tacked on a couple upgrades. There’s a newer Intel Core 5 120U processor inside of it, for one, which nabbed it the highest Geekbench 6 multi-core score out of all the Chromebooks we’ve tested this year. It also comes with a suite of Gemini AI features. Most notably, though, its battery life increased to over 10 hours per charge — that’s great for a Chromebook and incredible for a gaming laptop. (As things currently stand, it’s the only Chromebook we’ve tried that’s come anywhere close to Google’s “up to 10 hours of battery life” promise.)
When it comes to game-streaming capabilities, the Chromebook Plus 516 GE left Mashable’s Perry “fairly impressed.” He experienced some input latency when playing titles via Xbox Game Pass, but hardly noticed any video buffering or stuttering. (Games looked the best when streamed via Nvidia GeForce Now’s Ultimate tier, he said.) Though Perry said he’d never swap it for his gaming consoles or Steam Deck, he called the Chromebook Plus 516 GE “an incredible value” and an “excellent” pick for anyone who’s into game streaming. “If you want to cheat your way into sort of having a high-end gaming laptop, this is a way to do it,” he wrote.
Next time, Acer will simply make it less bulky, leave its lid design blank (the half-matte/half-gloss look is “clunky,” according to Perry), and give users the option to decrease their refresh rate. (This will keep the battery life when not in use for gaming. )
All of the laptops in this guide have been field-tested by Mashable staff or participants. At a minimum, it involved examining their build quality and examining them as part of a daily workflow for several weeks at a time. We worked on other types of documents, checked emails, watched videos, took photos with their webcams, participated in video calls, listened to music (via Spotify), played games (if possible), and experimented with unique software features or cases of use.
Additionally, most of the laptops featured here were made to run industry-standard benchmark software (all but the M2 Apple MacBook Air). We run these benchmarks because they replicate real-world tasks to produce scores we can use to easily compare different laptops’ performance. We also conducted a battery life test on each laptop to gauge their power efficiency. We recently started implementing these benchmarks in our testing, and you can expect to see them in all of our new laptop reviews going forward.
We evaluated the laptops’ overall performance by running the appropriate version of Primate Labs’ Geekbench 6. This test measures CPU performance in a handful of common tasks, and we recorded the resulting multi-core score. The higher the score, the better.
To get an idea of the graphical prowess of gaming computers, we also played Cyberpunk 2077 on them. We chose this game because it is a graphically intense AAA name that pushes many systems to the limit of their functionality. If the computer was supplied with a discrete/dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics card (as opposed to a built-in GPU integrated into the CPU), we played Cyberpunk once with its DLSS generation disabled and again with DLSS enabled in the High preset without ray tracing. This tests the raw GPU power of the device and its functionality with AI scaling, respectively.
We tracked this with 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark for gaming PCs and recorded their scores. Again, the upper the better.
We look to see about 11 to 12 hours of battery life in the MacBooks we test, with 15-plus hours being exceptional, and nine to ten hours in the Windows laptops we review, with 12-plus hours being ideal. Gaming laptops are a different story: They only need to last at least two hours per charge to get our approval, earning extra brownie points for reaching the four-hour mark. Meanwhile, eight hours is our baseline for Chromebooks, but nine to ten hours is best.
We’ve already evaluated the staying capacity of computers in other ways. (More on this shortly. ) We used UL Solutions’ PCMark 10 battery voltage check on the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go and Acer Nitro V 15, as well as Principled Technologies’ CrXPRT 2 battery life check on the HP Chromebook Plus 15. 6-. inch. Both tests ran a series of applications and applications until the computer failed.
On the Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (Gen 9) and Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE, we played a video trying to play a 1080p looped edit of Tears of Steel, an open source Blender short, at 50% brightness. .
To standardize our battery life checking methodology, we will now use the Tears of Steel summary on all MacBooks, Windows laptops, and Chromebooks. We’ll stick to the PCMark 10 battery life check for gaming laptops.
After comparing a laptop’s practical functionality and benchmark test results, we made our final recommendations based on whether we thought it was value for money. For the purposes of this guide, a “cheap laptop” is defined as one that costs less than $1,000.
Finally, it’s worth noting that those aren’t the only reasonable laptops we’ve tested: we’re constantly testing and comparing new models in other categories, and many don’t make it into the final selection. With that in mind, you can expect this consultant to continually evolve. We are looking for new first-class suitors.
Certain times of the year are better for laptop shopping than others. If you’re looking for a good deal on a laptop, we recommend buying around Black Friday, during back-to-school season (with a close watch on Amazon’s Prime Day sale), and over long holiday weekends. If you’re just after brand-new models with the latest specs, bargains be damned, you’ll see them hitting the market in January and February after the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
For more data and purchasing advice, consult our advisor on when you buy a laptop.
Haley Henschel is a Chicago-based senior grocery reporter at Mashable who reviews and discovers deals on popular tech, from laptops to gaming consoles to VPNs. He has years of experience covering the grocery shopping holidays and can tell you what’s really worth buying on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. His paintings have also explored the driving forces of virtual trends in the grocery shopping space, from dupes to 12-foot skeletons.
Haley earned a B. A. in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and honed her screening and winnowing skills at the Daily Cardinal. In the past he covered politics for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, researched exotic puppy ownership for Wisconsin Watch, and blogged for some of his favorite real TV stars.
In her free time, Haley enjoys playing video games, drawing, walking around Lake Michigan, and spending time with her parrot (Melon) and dog (Pierogi). He needs to ride a horse again. You can stay with her at X at @haleyhenschel or contact her via email at [email protected].