If there's one key takeaway I've learned after testing the latest laptops for over six years, from premium powerhouses to wallet-friendly machines, it's that you'd be surprised at just how much you can get out of the best laptops under $500.
Let's be honest. With the RAM crisis seeing prices skyrocket on all kinds of tech with no end in sight, it isn't getting any easier to save big on your next laptop upgrade or an essential machine for work or your studies. Finding value is more important than ever, which is why my team of laptop experts and I have done the legwork to find bargain hits that aren't just affordable — they're well worth the money, too.
As you might expect, many of these laptops won't blow you away with their performance, but for everyday tasks, writing in documents, watching shows and more, these machines will do the trick. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 is now our top recommendation as the best laptop under $500, but there are other laptops to put on your radar. This guide will help you find the right laptop for under $500, so let's get saving.
Finding a laptop under $500 that does everything you need it to is the dream, as I'm all about making the most of a machine's price-to-performance balance and getting the most for what is spent. With my team and I spending years testing laptops, with value always at the front of our minds, we've got a good idea of what works for under $500 (and what definitely doesn't).
Originally, the MacBook Neo was one of the best laptops under $500, especially for students, since Apple brought the price down for education. However, since Apple officially raised the price of MacBooks as of June 2026, the MacBook Neo got a $100 price hike. Unfortunately, it no longer qualifies for this guide. If you're willing to spend that extra $100, though, it's still one of the best budget laptops to get.
The best laptops under $500 to buy right now
Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.
The best laptop under $500 overall
The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x is the best example of just how much you can get out of a laptop under $500. From its incredible, all-day (and beyond) battery life of over 16 hours to its impressive performance for the price, along with Lenovo's signature premium keyboard for comfy typing, this laptop raises the bar for just $449 (grab it for this price at Walmart).
Delivering 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD for less than other machines offering just 8GB of RAM (looking at you, MacBook Neo) is one thing, but it also offers up a 15.3-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS touchscreen. Plus, the Snapdragon X chip inside has plenty of power for basic tasks, like juggling multiple tabs in Chrome, writing up documents and more.
Another welcome perk here is the keyboard, which brings a surprisingly comfortable typing experience at this price. If you're doing a lot of typing for work, studies or writing up countless emails, the IdeaPad Slim 3x makes it a treat.
But it’s not all wins: the display is on the dim side, and we noticed that watching darker shows made this limitation obvious — shadowy scenes just don’t pop.
If you need a dependable, budget-friendly laptop with unbeatable battery life and a keyboard that won’t slow you down, the IdeaPad Slim 3x is the safest all-round pick we’ve tested.
- Read our full Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x review
The best laptop under $500 for students
On paper, the Acer Aspire Go 15 doesn't look like it will impress. But in real-world testing, it knocks it out of the park as a do-it-all machine for basic tasks, all with a comfortable keyboard and reliable battery life that any student will appreciate.
This budget machine is for anyone looking for a cheap laptop that delivers everything you need for an incredibly low price of $299. That's a hard bargain to beat, and way less than what any of the best iPads cost. Yet in return you get a full-on Windows 11 laptop with plenty of ports, a comfy keyboard and 10+ hours of tested battery life.
Sure, the laptop is a little sluggish, so don't expect to work on big assignments that require photo or video editing work. That, and the 720p webcam sucks, but those are the trade-offs you make for getting a full-fledged laptop this cheap. For note-taking, researching papers, studying for exams and watching shows on its sizeable 15.6-inch (1920 x 1080) LCD display, this does the job for a whole lot less than its competition.
If you need an affordable workhorse for work or school, the Acer Aspire Go 15 is an easy recommendation to make.
- Read our full Acer Aspire Go 15 review
The best Chromebook under $500
See that "Plus"? That means the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 means business. And it even has some Google AI features here that will actually come in handy — even if they're more of a nice-to-have than anything else.
Think captioning a video in real time, editing a few photos, generating new wallpapers and testing out the text generation tools. That stuff is usually reserved for more premium notebooks above this price point, so grabbing this for just under $400 is quite the bargain. Otherwise, this Chromebook is more than capable of handling everyday tasks, from productivity to pure entertainment.
On the latter, expect to watch shows with a sizeable 15.6-inch (1920 x 1080) IPS display, even if its brightness and color production isn't quite so high. But another perk is the amazing speakers it offers, which is a rarity in laptops this cheap. Regardless, you're getting impressively speedy performance here, along with plenty of ports to connect monitors and PC peripherals to.
For $399 (or less during a big sale)? The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 excels in its price range.
- Read our full Acer Chromebook Plus 515 review
The best 2-in-1 laptop under $500
I love the value proposition of Lenovo's 11-inch Duet 3, which gives you a nice, bright screen, plenty of ports and the speed of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 chip for under $500.
I generally think this is one of the best Chrome tablets you can buy, and the fact that Lenovo includes the keyboard cover at no extra cost helps it double as a surprisingly effective 2-in-1 Chromebook. Admittedly, typing anything more than an email on the flimsy detachable keyboard cover takes some practice, but you can do it!
While you can also consider the original Lenovo Chromebook Duet a good buy if you're short on cash, those who can afford it will be well-served by the excellent Duet 3.
I think the small size and detachable keyboard make the Duet 3 the most portable PC on this list, and with 10+ hours of tested battery life, you can count on using it for a full day of work, school or just scrolling on the couch.
- Read our full Lenovo Duet 3 Chromebook review
The best laptop under $300
Right now, this is one of the cheapest laptops we've tested, but even at its extremely budget-friendly $269 price (you may find it for around $300 these days), the Asus Chromebook CX15 doesn't disappoint. At that cost, it's almost suspicious how cheap it is, and while its performance certainly won't knock anyone's socks off, for everyday tasks, it's a winner.
Asus' Chromebook delivers the full ChromeOS experience despite its somewhat lackluster specs under the hood (8GB of RAM, 128GB for storage and Intel Celeron N4500 won't be breaking records anytime soon).
That means you can take advantage of the Chromebook's online-based power, so expect to browse through multiple tabs, watch shows on its generously big 15-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) display and benefit from Google's cloud storage.
For families after a machine to answer emails, look up important sources online or just kick back and watch shows, the CX15 has you covered for well under $300. There aren't many ports, and remember, this is far away from being a powerhouse, but it's a steal at that price tag.
- Read our full Asus Chromebook CX15 review
Battery life testing compared
When it comes to laptops under $500, we've found that long battery life isn't at the top of their list of priorities. Still, most can run just past a full work day (around eight hours), which is fine for a little work while travelling before trying to find an outlet.
There is one outlier, though. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x is actually one of the best laptops for battery life, which goes to show that budget machines can last quite a while. For a better look at how long our top recommendations last, check out our test results below.
Best Laptops Under $500 Battery Life Tests
In our battery test, we set the laptop display to 150 nits of brightness (which is on the dim side) and set it to endlessly browse the web via Wi-Fi until it shuts down.
Battery life (hh:mm:ss)
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x | 16.483333333333334 |
| Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 | 10.5 |
| Acer Aspire Go 15 | 10.25 |
| Acer Chromebook Plus 515 | 8.266666666666667 |
| Asus Chromebook CX15 | 7.433333333333334 |
Performance test results compared
All of these laptops will feel a bit cheap and slow compared to the best laptops on the market today, but some feel speedier and look better than others.
Performance is key in this price range, since if you're not careful, you can end up buying something that will drive you nuts or quickly become obsolete. With that in mind, here's a graphical breakdown of the scores every laptop on this list earned in our Geekbench CPU performance tests, which gives you a general idea of how they compare in terms of raw speed.
Best Laptops Under $500 Geekbench Results
Slide through to see our Geekbench scores
Geekbench 6 (single-core)
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x (Qualcomm Snapdragon X) | 2124 |
| Acer Aspire Go 15 (Intel Core i3-N305) | 1309 |
| Acer Chromebook Plus 515 (Intel Core i5-1235U) | 1767 |
| Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2) | 0 |
| Asus Chromebook CX15 (Intel Celeron N4500) | 467 |
Also tested
How to choose the best laptop under $500 for you
It can be tricky to know how much you should reasonably expect from a laptop that costs less than $500.
You’re not going to get bleeding-edge performance or a super premium design. And you might have to make a few compromises on the display, such as how well it handles colors and how bright it gets. But that doesn’t mean you have to make do with a laptop that feels cheap; rather, you’re looking for one that's affordable. So here are a few things to keep in mind when shopping for a laptop under $500.
Chrome or Windows or Mac?
ChromeOS offers a lightweight operating system that runs on even the most basic hardware, yet still provides a comprehensive suite of features and web-based apps to get a lot of day-to-day computing tasks done. Furthermore, it now supports Android apps.
Windows, on the other hand, requires a little more power to ensure it runs smoothly. But it supports a huge range of software, far more than Chrome OS can currently dream of. And Windows is being improved upon on a regular basis, meaning you’ll be able to get the best software Microsoft can offer years after you’ve bought your laptop.
As for macOS (if you're a student grabbing one for under $600, that is), expect a satisfyingly simple yet progressively customizable operating system that benefits anyone who is already in the Apple ecosystem (with an iPhone, iPad, etc.). It's very user-friendly, though don't expect it to be your main driver for playing games.
Clamshell or convertible?
Sub-$500 laptops generally come in two varieties — traditional clamshell laptops or dynamic 2-in-1 convertibles. Clamshells are usually the cheapest of the bunch, and provide a traditional laptop experience with a keyboard and a non-touch screen. But if you want a touchscreen device that can also double as a tablet, convertibles (or detachables, like the Duet 3) are worth considering.
Is a laptop with a 720p display any good?
Unless you're truly strapped for cash, you shouldn't settle for most laptops with a 720p display. Plenty of affordable notebooks start with a display resolution of 1080p, which will make a big difference when it comes to streaming Netflix shows or working on Word documents for hours on end.
How to get a great laptop for cheap
Now more than ever, people are eager to find a great deal on a good laptop.
Obviously, that's part of the reason I maintain this list—great laptops for under $500 are always in demand.
But after the Trump tariff fallout and the RAM crisis, more readers than ever are on the hunt for affordable electronics. So, to help you find the best possible price, I update this list regularly with the best prices and links to the best deals on these products.
First and foremost, check out our regularly updated list of the best cheap laptop deals to see if someone here has found a killer deal on the model you want. You might also want to check out the latest cheap MacBook deals, which now may bring the MacBook Neo down to an even lower price.
Next, scour Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, Walmart and other retailers to see if they have the model you're after on sale. If the model you're hunting for is in high demand, consider creating accounts with each major retailer and setting up email alerts so you get notified as soon as the cheap laptop you want is back in stock.
Finally, consider using a free price-tracking tool like CamelCamelCamel to track prices on the laptop you want across multiple retailers and find the best deal!
How we tested these laptops
To find the best laptop, we run every machine through a rigorous suite of benchmarks and real-world tests to gauge how it will perform during everyday use.
We measure the average brightness and color quality of each laptop's display using our in-house light meter and colorimeter. For general performance, we run our machines through tests that include Geekbench 6 (CPU performance), as well as various 3DMark tests to measure graphics capabilities. We also run a file transfer test to measure how fast a machine's hard drive is, and a custom battery test that has the machine browse the internet over Wi-Fi until it runs out of juice.
When testing Chromebooks, we run our machines through web-focused tests that include JetStream 2, a Web-based benchmarking suite that runs over five dozen tests designed to measure how well systems handle the kind of applications they’re most likely to encounter on the Internet.
When testing dedicated gaming laptops, we run benchmarks for popular games such as Assassin's Creed Shadows, Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2. For more information on our testing process, check out our guide to how we test.
