The best budget laptops for 2022

We've reviewed hundreds of laptops, so we know what to look for in the best laptops regardless of the price. The best budget laptops you can buy do everything that laptops cost hundreds of dollars more can do — and in some cases, they do it even better.

But if your laptop budget is a bit lower, or if you want to be able to game on your laptop, we've included options for you as well. We have options for the best laptops under $500 and best laptops under $300, which is as cheap as laptops get. If you're looking for savings, you can also check out some of the best laptop deals happening now.

Acer Swift 3

The best budget laptop

Why you should buy this: It's the best budget laptop.

Who it's for: Anyone who doesn't mind sacrificing style for power.

Why we picked the Acer Swift 3 (AMD):

Finding a fast, well-built, cheap laptop for $650 isn't easy. Normally, one of the things you give up is processing power, relegated to low-end and/or last-generation Intel Core CPUs, in addition to builds that are plasticky and don't elicit confidence in their long-term viability.

Fortunately, Acer has come on strong with the Swift 3 equipped with AMD's latest Ryzen 7 4700U CPU. For around $650 (prices fluctuate), you get an eight-core laptop with AMD Radeon integrated graphics. That helps the laptop not only perform productivity tasks with aplomb but even churn through demanding tasks like encoding video. The display isn't the best we've seen, but you'll forgive it once you see how well this budget laptop performs.

The $650 Acer Swift 3 also gets you 8GB of RAM and a large 512GB SSD. It's not a sleek or modern-looking laptop by any means, though it is very well built, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a faster or better-built laptop for this kind of money. It even had a backlit keyboard, too.

Surface Laptop Go 2

The best budget laptop for students

Why you should buy this: It's the best budget laptop for students.

Who it's for: Students, buyers on a budget.

Why we picked the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2: 

Students usually want a few things in a cheap laptop — something that's easy to carry around, that provides good enough performance for getting their homework done, and something that's not going to embarrass them when they pull it out to take notes. Oh, and it needs to be affordable. Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Go 2 meets all those criteria — making it one of the best laptops for students in college.

We've linked to our Surface Go review above because the biggest change to the Surface Go 2 is the upgrade to 11th-gen Core CPUs. Graphics have been upgraded to Intel Iris Xe only (no more Intel UHD graphics), the entry-level storage has been doubled to 128GB, there's an improved webcam, and the laptop ships with Windows 11 Home instead of Windows 10 in S mode.

Most importantly, it's the Surface clamshell laptop offered at budget prices, in this case, $600 for an 11th-gen Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB PCIe solid-state drive (SSD). You can spend a bit more, namely $700, and double the RAM. Those are remarkably low prices for a Surface laptop and should appeal to students at all levels.

The Surface Laptop Go 2 is also a highly mobile device with a 12.4-inch IPS touch screen display that, although it's not quite FHD resolution, is still of very high quality and a pleasure to use. It's solid for both productivity and media binging and looks good doing it too. It comes in a variety of colors to let students choose just the right one for them. It's as well-built as all Surface devices and shares a common aesthetic — it'll look great sitting on a desk.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet

The best budget Chromebook

Why you should buy this: It's the best budget Chromebook.

Who it's for: Anyone on a budget who doesn't mind sacrificing performance for extreme value.

Why we picked the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3:

Chromebooks have become popular budget choices over the last few years, and many have won us over as well (See our list of the best Chromebooks. One style that hasn't done as well as some others is the detachable Chrome OS tablet. That changed with the introduction of the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, now in its third generation, which not only is a very usable tablet but that represents a tremendous value thanks to the included kickstand cover and detachable keyboard.

The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3's low price brings some limitations and basic specs. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage don't deliver stellar performance, although it's good enough for the kinds of tasks you'll want to run on it. The display is very nice, with a 15:9 2K (2000 x 1200) resolution that's not as pixel sharp as Apple's baseline iPad that the Duet competes against.

If you want a tablet for web browsing, light productivity work, and consuming media, then the Chromebook Duet 3 and Chrome OS have you covered. It's a very comfortable size as a tablet — although it's a bit chunky with the kickstand cover and backlit keyboard cover attached — and it feels great in hand. Not only is this the best budget Chromebook, but it's one of the best budget laptops you can buy, period.

You will have to get used to Chrome OS too. It's not as functional as Windows, and it works best when you have an active internet connection, but it's more fleshed out today than it was in the past. If you find yourself using a lot of Google web services and watching streaming services like Netflix, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 could be a great way to save a lot of money on your next upgrade.

Dell G15 Gaming Laptop

The best budget gaming laptop

Why you should buy this: It's the best budget gaming laptop.

Who it's for: Gamers and only gamers.

Why we picked the Dell G15:

Although the best gaming laptops are typically expensive, the Dell G15 is a great example of why they don't need to be. Starting at just under $900, you get some basic specs. That includes a 10th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 1650 Graphics Card, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD, with options for faster CPUs, more powerful graphics, extra and faster storage, and memory if you don't mind spending a little more. Every model comes with a 15.6-inch, 1080p IPS display tuned to 120Hz.

With a decent build quality and surprisingly good gaming performance, the G15 offers an all-around solid gaming package at an impressively competitive price. It does have its weak points, most notably the starting graphics card isn't as powerful as what you'll see in more expensive laptops.

The keyboard is surprisingly good and offers orange lighting, and overall there are fewer sacrifices than expected to keep the price down on such a capable gaming machine.

There are far better gaming laptops out there, but we'd struggle to find one that's as powerful. It's a fantastic, budget gaming machine.

HP Envy x360 13-inch AMD

The best budget laptop for video editing

Why you should buy this: It's the best budget laptop for video editing.

Who it's for: Video and photo editors who demand fast performance and a low price.

Why we picked the HP Envy x360 13 (Ryzen):

Finding a laptop for video editing under $1,000 isn't easy. When it comes to video editing, the more cores the better. The best video editing laptops like the Dell XPS 15 and MacBook Pro 16-inch will cost you well over $2,000.

Fortunately, HP has released the Envy x360 13 with AMD's Ryzen 5 4500U CPU. For $700, you get an eight-core machine with AMD Radeon graphics that can handle demanding video and photo editing tasks unlike many other laptops in its price range — or even higher. The Envy x360 actually outperforms many premium laptops costing well over $1,000 at tasks like rendering video.

The Envy x360 even has an excellent display, with a fairly wide color gamut (71% of AdobeRGB and 96% of sRGB) and a DeltaE of 2.26 (not the most accurate, but not terrible either). But it's also a bright screen at 399 nits and enjoys an excellent contrast ratio of 1110:1 (we consider anything over 1000:1 to be very good indeed).

The $730 also gets you 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, which can be upgraded to 256GB for only $40. And the Envy x360 is also a great-looking 360-convertible 2-in-1 with pen support, giving you some creative flexibility. It's a great creative laptop for an almost unbelievably low price.

Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop

The best budget business laptop

Why you should buy this: It's the best budget business laptop.

Who it's for: Office workers who want to game in their off hours.

Why we picked the Dell Inspiron 15 3000:

Whether you're typing up another spreadsheet or winding down with a game at the end of a long workday, the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 strikes a great balance as a business laptop. It features powerful and efficient general computing power, like a ninth-generation Intel CPU — options include Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 chips — and up to 12GB of RAM

With the typical Inspiron build quality, we'd expect this system to borrow several great design features from the more premium XPS range, but make them available in a more affordable form. It's not the lightest laptop at just over four pounds, but it has a great, spill-resistant keyboard, Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth connectivity, and a top-mounted 720p webcam for conferencing.

The Dell Inspiron 15 3000 also comes in an attractive business black paint job, which helps it fit in with any setup.

Microsoft Surface Go 3

The best budget 2-in-1

Why you should buy this: It's the best budget 2-in-1.

Who it's for: Anyone who needs the on-the-go mobility of a small, 2-in-1.

Why we picked the Microsoft Surface Go 3:

The Surface Go 3 may be limited by its small size and, at the entry-level, by a low-powered Intel Pentium processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage — the processor can be upgraded to an Intel Core i3 and twice the RAM and storage for $230 more — but it offers something never before seen in the Windows world: A truly budget-minded 2-in-1 laptop. Its build is every bit as solid as its bigger sibling, the Surface Pro 8, and it boasts a beautiful, bright display to boot. The best part? It's actually thin and light enough to be held in one hand like a proper tablet, which is a key reason why we see this as the best budget 2-in-1 laptop.

While performance doesn't feel as smooth as on something like an iPad or even a Chromebook, those devices can't do quite as many things as the Surface Go 3, which runs a full version of Windows 10. On the battery front, however, it's a bit lacking. That's its most unfortunate compromise since this is a device made for portability. Also, we still wish the excellent Type Cover keyboard and Surface Pen came bundled in.

But even with its fair share of faults, the Microsoft Surface Go 3 is absolutely the best budget 2-in-1 you can buy. Competitors in this price range lack its high build quality and often have a less impressive display or keyboard.

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