How to choose the best affordable laptop for you?

A cheap laptop won’t give you the same experience as a pricey model. Some cheap laptops can play video games at decent levels others are better fit for only browsing and watching some videos. The most important thing is to understand what you do on your laptop to pick the right affordable laptop.

TLDR;

$500 affordable laptop specifications

At $500 or less, specifications for an affordable laptop would be an Intel Core I3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processor with at least 8GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD storage with a 1080p 12.5 to 14-inch display. Aim for 9 hours of battery life. Mostly, Chromebooks and Windows laptops fall in this price point.

Specifications $500 laptop

• Processor Ryzen 3 or Intel I3
• Ram 8GB
• Storage 128GB SSD
• Graphics card Integrated Intel XE or AMD Radeon
• Screen 1080p 14 inches full HD
• Battery life 9+ hours
• OS Chromebook or Windows

$600 affordable laptop specifications

A $600 budget would get you an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 processor with at least 8GB of RAM, at least 256 GB SSD storage, a 1080p 12.5 to 14-inch display, and at least 9 hours of battery life. Generally, laptops at this price range have better performance, better build quality, and longer battery life than the $500 ones. At this price, you are better off getting a Windows laptop or a second-hand Apple MacBook.

Specifications $600 laptop

• Processor Ryzen 5 or Intel I5
• Ram 8GB
• Storage 256GB SSD
• Graphics card Integrated Intel XE or AMD Radeon
• Screen 14 inch full HD
• Battery life 9+ hours
• OS Chromebook or Windows

Pick your platform

When starting to pick your laptop, you should consider your platform. There are three main platforms used at the moment by most people. These are Mac, Windows, and Chromebooks.

Mac

The main advantage of using a Mac is the operating system. Macs use macOS, which is a Unix-based operating system. This gives you a more stable and secure platform than Windows. Windows has been known to have security vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. macOS also looks nicer and more streamlined than Windows.

Windows

Windows has been the most popular operating system for years. This is because it is more customizable than Mac and it is cheaper. You can find Windows laptops for cheaper than Mac laptops. Windows also has a larger range of software available for it.

Chromebooks

Chromebooks are becoming more popular as they offer a good mix of the advantages of both Mac and Windows. They use Chrome OS, which is a lightweight and fast operating system. This makes Chromebooks great for browsing the web and using online tools. They are also cheaper than Macs and Windows laptops.

How are you planning on using your laptop?

Consider these usages if you’re looking to buy an affordable laptop for casual web browsing, word processing, watching movies, video and photo editing, gaming, programming, or all of the above. Make a list of all the tasks you want to do with your laptop. Keep in mind that this list can change depending on your needs in the future so keep it updated!

What to look for in a laptop for browsing, social media, and video streaming?

Picking an affordable laptop for web browsing comes down to the screen size and the laptop’s battery life. The processor speed doesn’t matter much because browsing isn’t very demanding. You can get by just fine using an AMD Ryzen 3 or Intel Core I3. Most people use chrome as their browser, which is very hungry for RAM, get one with at least 8GB. This will ensure you can browse the web with multiple tabs open. Get a 256GB SSD drive for storage, an SSD gives you faster read and write speeds when accessing files from your storage. The display should be at least full HD resolution. When browsing the web, you aren’t using any graphics most of the time. It would be best to get integrated graphics, like Intel XE or AMD Radeon.

Specifications for web browsing, watching videos, and social media

• Processor Ryzen 3 or Intel I3
• Ram 8GB
• Storage 128GB SSD
• Graphics card Integrated Intel XE or AMD Radeon
• Screen 1080p 14 inches full HD
• Battery life 9+ hours
• OS Chromebook or Windows