The best laptops under $500 in 2026 — we tested budget models to find the real winners

I've been reviewing laptops for years, and if there's one key takeaway I've learned after testing everything 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.

No, many of these 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. We're still in awe of what the Acer Aspire Go 15 offers for (get this) $299, but there are other Chromebooks and, yes, now even a MacBook, to put on your radar. I'm here to help you find the right laptop for under $500, so let's get saving.

Written by

Written by

Darragh Murphy

To find a laptop under $500 that does everything you need it do is the dream, as I'm all about making the most of a machine's price-to-performance balance and making the most of 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).

The best laptops under $500

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The best laptop overall under $500

I like to recommend the Acer Aspire Go 15 to folks looking for a cheap laptop because it delivers everything you need in a laptop for an eye-wateringly low MSRP of $299.

That's less than an iPad costs, 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 and the 720p webcam sucks, but those are the trade-offs you make for getting a full-fledged laptop this cheap.

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.

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The best student laptop under $500

With $500 or less, we were once limited to just getting a Windows laptop or Chromebook. But now, Apple is shaking up the game with its MacBook Neo, but that only counts if you're a student.

If you are a student, though, then you can just about grab this impressive laptop for $499 (that's $100 less than its usual retail cost). To grab a MacBook Neo at this price is astounding, as you're essentially getting the perks of a MacBook Air (that's over $1,000) at a fraction of the price. For students, that's a huge advantage to carry around.

With a premium aluminum design in a bunch of fun colors, a bright display to watch your shows (and, of course, read your notes when studying) and long battery life that lasts over 13 hours, you'd be hard-pressed to find the features in any other laptop in this price category. Plus, that A18 Pro chip is no slouch, as it even keeps up with the performance of a MacBook Air with M2.

There are some usual sacrifices you can expect in a budget laptop, like being stuck with 8GB of unified memory and a lack of keyboard backlight. But otherwise, if students can get their hands on this, it's the best budget investment they can make for under $500.

Read our full MacBook Neo review.

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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.

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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.

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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, 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.

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Battery life testing compared

None of the laptops on this list are going to give you much raw power, which is to be expected at these low prices. But just because they're cheap doesn't mean they have cheap batteries. In fact, manufacturers are quick to claim otherwise.

But you can't always trust a laptop maker's claims about battery life. That's why we run every laptop we review through a series of battery tests to see how long it actually lasts on a full charge, rather than trusting manufacturer claims.

Note that these tests don't reflect real-world use patterns since we have to set every laptop to the same settings in order to do fair comparisons. Thus, while the times listed here are accurate and useful as a comparison point, your own experience with a laptop's battery life will likely vary quite a bit.

That's because when we run 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 dies. Then we repeat the process a few times and average the results.

However, when you use your laptop you're probably adjusting brightness regularly and doing all sorts of different tasks at the same time. So while I stand by our testing and the battery life results we compare in the chart below, I want to be clear that your own experience will vary!

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Performance test results compared

All of these laptops will feel a bit cheap and slow compared to fancier machines, but some feel speedier and look better than others.

I mention this because 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 quick graphical breakdown of the scores every laptop on this list earned in our Geekbench CPU performance tests, which give you a general idea of how they compare in terms of raw speed.

You also spend a lot of time staring at your laptop screen, so you should have a sense how they compare before you buy. A bright laptop can be nice because it ensures you can use the laptop outdoors in sunlight, whereas a dim laptop might be a hassle to look at or give you eye strain after hours of using it in bright light.

In the chart above, I offer a quick rundown of the average brightness of each laptop on this list, as measured in our testing lab by our Klein 10-A colorimeter. Don't worry too much about what different amounts of nits mean. The important thing is that higher nits = brighter, and the average brightness is an average of the whole screen.

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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 $500, 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.

Don't settle for less than 1080p
Unless you're truly strapped for cash, you shouldn't settle for most laptops with a 1366 x 768 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.

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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.

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