7 Best Cheap Laptops to Buy in 2026 (and Some to Avoid)
Compare Top 7 Budget Laptops
Other Budget Laptops to Consider
Here at WIRED, we never recommend products we haven’t tested ourselves—and I’ve tried hundreds of laptops over the years. I left many laptops off this list due to price, quality, or both. While I stand by my top-pick recommendations above, there are a few additional laptops I’ve tested that are still worth buying for a particular use case.
Photograph: Luke Larsen
Lenovo LOQ 15 for $1,400: This fantastic gaming laptop used to sell for $900, despite coming with an RTX 5060. And unlike so many other affordable gaming laptops, this one comes with a solid IPS panel that has not only a fast refresh rate but also great image quality. So no, it’s not extremely cheap, but it’s worth considering because it remains the best value in gaming laptops right now.
Acer Chromebook Plus 516 for $479: Chromebooks are really at their best when they cost less than $500. They thrive as cheap laptops that don’t feel cheap. The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 has one primary advantage over other laptops around this price: its touchpad. I care a lot about touchpad quality, as it’s an area where budget laptops tend to make compromises despite being a component that can impact day-to-day laptop use. Poor touchpad quality can make simple things like drag-and-drop or text selection frustrating. The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 has a really nice touchpad with a smooth surface for your finger to swipe or drag across. It makes a huge difference.
Acer Nitro V 16 for $900: No gaming laptop selling for this price is going to be perfect. Far from it. The Acer Nitro V 16 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) has a big compromise that I need to warn you about up front: its 135-watt power adapter. It’s just not enough to keep the Nitro V 16 fully powered during many of the GPU-heavy games I tested, such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong. That means even if the laptop is plugged in, it’ll start to drain the battery when you tax the GPU hard enough. That sounds awful, and it is. Acer could have easily sold the Nitro V 16 with a larger adapter. But the battery only drains in certain games and only when playing in Turbo or Performance modes. Stick to Balanced mode, and you’ll be fine, as it only drops performance by around 5 percent. All said, I still think the MSI Cyborg A15 is the better laptop for this reason.
Lenovo Chromebook Duet Gen 9 for $379: Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet Gen 9 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) quickly became one of my favorite gadgets of 2024, despite its small size. That’s the whole point of this 11-inch detachable laptop, which is incredibly fun to use around the house and throw in a bag when it’s time to go. The keyboard detaches from the screen, so it makes for a nice tablet when paired with ChromeOS’s Android apps. With the keyboard attached, you can get some work done. At nearly 10 hours on average, its battery life will easily get you through the day, too.
Cheap Laptops to Avoid
Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: 16-inch laptops tend to be more expensive than smaller options, making them hard to find at a cheap price. The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 (6/10, WIRED Recommends) is a 16-inch laptop that tried to squeeze out just enough quality to make it worth the price. While the display has typical deficiencies (such as poor color coverage), I do appreciate that it doesn’t have a matte finish, which brings out more clarity in the panel. I also found the keyboard tiresome to type on, and ultimately feel the OmniBook 3 is the better laptop for the price.
Asus Vivobook 14: As one of the first cheap laptops to use the Snapdragon X, I praised this laptop through 2025 for its excellent battery life. But once the OmniBook 5 and OmniBook 3 came along, I stopped recommending the Vivobook 14. That’s primarily because of how much better the OLED screens are on the OmniBook devices compared to the washed-out display that comes on the Vivobook 14. But if you ever see this drop to below the price of the OmniBook 3 and want the cheapest Windows laptop possible, it might be worth considering.
What Are Important Specs in a Cheap Laptop?
Read our guide on How to Choose the Right Laptop if you want all the details on specs and what to look for. In short, your budget is the most important factor, as it determines what you can expect out of the device you’re purchasing. Next, you should consider display size, chassis thickness, CPU, memory, storage, and port selection. While appropriate specs can vary wildly when you’re considering laptops ranging from $200 to around $1,000, there are a few hard lines I don’t recommend crossing.
For example, don’t buy a laptop if it doesn’t have a display resolution of at least 1920 x 1080. In 2025, there’s just no excuse for anything less than that. You should also never buy a laptop without at least 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Even in Chromebooks, these specs are becoming the new standard. You’re selling yourself short by getting anything less. Another rule is to avoid a Windows laptop with an Intel Celeron processor—leave those for Chromebooks only.
Specs are only half the battle, though. Based on our years of testing, laptop manufacturers tend to make compromises in display quality and touchpad quality. You can’t tell from the photos or listed specs online, but once you get the laptop in your hands, you may notice that the colors of the screen look a bit off or that the touchpad feels choppy to use. It’s nearly impossible to find laptops under $500 that don’t compromise in these areas, but this is where our reviewers and testers can help.
How Much RAM Do You Need in a Cheap Laptop?
The simple answer? You need at least 8 GB of RAM, but you’ll likely want at least 16 GB. These days, lots of Windows laptops that fall into the “budget” category come with 16 GB of RAM standard t, as part of the Copilot+ PC marketing push. That’s a great value that ensures you’ll get the best performance out of your laptop, especially when running heavier applications or multitasking. Either way, it’s important to factor in the price of the RAM because manufacturers will often charge $100 or even $200 to double the memory.
On Chromebooks, there are some rare occasions where 4 GB of RAM is acceptable, but only on the very cheapest models that are less than $200. Even budget Chromebooks like the Asus Chromebook CX15 now start with 8 GB of RAM.
Prices are constantly shifting, however, largely because of the ongoing memory shortage. We are starting to see the return of 8 GB in laptops like the MacBook Neo and Dell XPS 13, but I recommend opting for 16 GB if at all possible.
Are There Any Good Laptops Under $300?
Yes, but you need to be careful. Don’t just go buy a random laptop on Amazon for less than $300, as you’ll likely end up with an outdated, slow device you’ll regret having purchased. You might be tempted by something like this or this, but trust me—there are better options, some of which you’ll find in this guide.
For starters, you shouldn’t buy a Windows laptop for less than $300. That price puts you solidly in cheap Chromebook territory. These Chromebooks are budget-level in terms of quality, but they’re still better in almost every way than their Windows counterparts of a similar price. A good example is the Asus Chromebook CX15.
If you want a Windows laptop that won’t give you instant buyer’s remorse, you’ll need to spend at least a few hundred more. Once you hit $500 or $600, there are some more solid Windows laptops available, such as the HP OmniBook 3. Even in that case, though, you’re making some compromises in features like touchpad quality and chassis thickness. But as a general principle, Windows laptops only start to become worth buying in the $500-plus range.
Should You Get a Cheap Windows Laptop or Chromebook?
The eternal question. If you’re looking for a laptop for less than $500, I highly recommend that you opt for a Chromebook. I know that won’t be a possibility for everyone, as some people require certain applications that require a Windows laptop or a MacBook. If you do decide to get a Chromebook, make sure all of your connected accessories and other devices are compatible.
Chromebooks give you access to a full desktop Chrome browser, as well as Android apps. While that leaves some gaps for apps that some may need, you might be surprised by how much you can get done without the need to install any software. Most applications have web versions that are every bit as useful.
While Chromebooks are most well-known as junky student laptops, the “Chromebook Plus” designation has filled in the gap between dirt-cheap Chromebooks and $800 Windows laptops. You’ll find some great Chromebook Plus options in the $400 to $600 range that have better performance and displays and look a bit more like a modern laptop. The Acer Chromebook Plus 514 is a great example of this. You can read more about the differences between Windows laptops and Chromebooks here.
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