Searching for the best laptop on a budget can be challenging.
Its difficult to discern the difference between a great deal and a poorly constructed mess of plastic.
And how much should you pay for it?
Photo courtesy of Microsoft
Weve even highlighted options for gamers looking to save money and those on an ultra-tight budget.
Probably not as good as youd like.
It always seems like an uphill battle to build (and keep) a decent amount in savings.
But what if your car breaks down, or you have a sudden medical bill?
Ask one of these companies to help…
There are plastic pieces, but youll find an overall sturdy construction built to impress.
The highlight of the Surface Laptop Go 2 is its 12.4-inch PixelSense display.
Larger displays are nice but the smaller 12.4-inch, multi-touch option helps make the unit light and portable.
The PixelSense display also makes watching movies and other content a joy, thanks to its high resolution.
One award it does win?
Our pick as our best budget laptop.
If youre looking for budget Windows laptops, youve found the best option with the Surface line.
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5
Chromebooks have a strong advantage over Windows laptops in the low-price category.
Our top budget Chromebook pick is theLenovo Chromebook Duet 5.
Thats a solid battery life for any machine.
Out of the gate, well give you the price $849.
You wont need to worry about plastic cracking as the Macbook Air is crafted from a block of aluminum.
Macbooks tend to have outstanding battery life and this model is no exception.
If youre looking for the best battery life, youll find it here with the Macbook Air.
Its the best budget laptop for gamers.
At 4.8 pounds, this gaming machine with a blue backlit keyboard isnt lightweight though.
A 120 Hz screen means that action in your game reaches your eyes as it happens with smoother detail.
This combination provides you with a well-built gaming laptop at a competitive price.
In-game, loading screens may take longer when you start a game or move between areas.
Dont expect much battery life from a gaming computer though.
Youll want to keep the charger handy and keep battery use to a few hours when gaming.
This is our cheapest budget laptop pick at less than $130.
However, the laptop can easily handle browsing the web and working on Google documents.
On the inside, youll find a lackluster Intel 1.1 GHz Celeron processor and 4 GB of RAM.
While thats enough to surf the web, we wouldnt push ChromeOS with too many open tabs at once.
A 32 GB solid-state drive provides some storage for offline files.
If you work with larger files, we recommend the cloud for most storage.
As Google designed ChromeOS, it pairs nicely with other services, including Google Drive.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 11 isnt an impressive laptop in terms of power, but the price is impressive.
If youre looking for an ultra-budget computer for basic web use, this may be the option for you.
Our analysis involved hands-on testing and market research, looking at specific factors that affect user experience.
For starters, what is a budget laptop for you?
Is it under $1,000, $500 or $200?
Second, what do you plan on doing with the computer web browsing, photo editing, gaming?
For vivid colors, check for an LED backlight.
If you’re free to get an IPS in-plane switching display, thats even better.
Our top pick for the best budget laptop is theMicrosoft Surface Laptop 2, which comes at $600.
We also recommend the:
Michael Archambault is a senior writer for The Penny Hoarder specializing in technology.
When you log into your bank account, how do your savings look?
Probably not as good as youd like.
It always seems like an uphill battle to build (and keep) a decent amount in savings.
But what if your car breaks down, or you have a sudden medical bill?
