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Top 10 Cheap Laptops Under $500

Written by PT Editor on 27 March 2020.

Top 10 Cheap Laptops Under $500

^{Photo by Howard Bouchevereau on Unsplash}

I had the pleasure of entering the stay-at-home order issued in my state with a failing laptop. Apple said it was a failing hard drive, but all I knew was that it was making horrific noises it probably shouldn’t have been.

Funnily enough, it’s pretty hard to find inexpensive laptops when nobody in your state is leaving their homes. And, since I run a photography website, having a laptop is pretty important.

So, I started frantically searching Amazon for “cheap laptops,” “best laptops,” and “best budget laptop 2020.” Basically, I was thinking of every possible keyword I could find because I had little to no idea what I was really looking for. All I knew was that I couldn’t afford another MacBook.

I eventually found a pretty good cheap laptop, and figured someone else could use my experience to get themselves set up with an inexpensive laptop too.

So, without further ado, here is a list I compiled of good cheap laptops under $500.

HP Stream
Acer Aspire 5 Slim
Acer Chromebook Convertible Laptop
Samsung Chromebook 11.6”
Samsung Chromebook 3
Acer Flagship Chromebook
Lenovo IdeaPad
Asus VivoBook
Acer C720-2844 11.6-inch Chromebook
Dell Inspiron 11 Convertible Chromebook

HP Stream

best laptops under $500 - HP Stream

I had never heard of the HP Stream before I started doing research on inexpensive laptops. The HP Stream is a 14-inch laptop with 1TB of cloud storage that runs on Windows 10.

It features a 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. It also comes with free Office 365 for the first year you own the computer, which is a fun add-on. I’m assuming this is one of those cheap laptops with Windows 10 that manufacturers sell for students.

It also features a rather impressive 14-hour battery life, which is good for travelers, although it isn’t especially light.

It’s also important to note that, since this laptop comes in Windows 10 S Mode, you can only download applications from the Microsoft store onto it.

Other HP Stream specs:

14-inch screen
2.6 GHz processor speed
4 GB RAM
64 GB storage
Windows 10
1366 x 768 display resolution
14-hour battery life
4.4 lbs

At $220, the HP Stream tops our list of cheap laptops under $500.

Acer Aspire 5 Slim

Cheapest laptops under $500 - Acer Aspire 5 Slim

The Acer Aspire 5 Slim is great if you need a slightly larger laptop than the HP Stream. The Acer Aspire features a 15.6” full HD screen, which is helpful if you’re going to be doing photo editing on your laptop.

It comes with a backlit keyboard (for late night editing sprees), a 4 GB RAM, and 128 GB of storage.

It’s battery life isn’t very impressive because of all of its features, though, at an average of 7.5 hours.

It’s similar to the HP Stream in some other regards, though. It also comes with Windows 10 in S Mode.

Other Acer Aspire 5 Slim specs:

15.6” Full HD screen
3.5 GHz Ryzen 3 2200U processor
4 GB RAM
Windows 10
128 GB memory
7.5-hour battery life
3.97 lbs

At $330, the Acer Aspire 5 Slim is also one of our best cheap laptops under $500.

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Acer Chromebook Convertible Laptop

Cheap laptops under $500 - Acer Chromebook Convertible Laptop

If you need one of these cheap laptops under $500 to double as a tablet, then the Acer Chromebook Convertible Laptop is for you.

This laptop is run on chrome OS, which means you won’t need to buy any additional virus protection and it comes with all of the Google apps you probably use already (Chrome, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Docs).

This laptop also comes with 100GB of Google Drive space so you can save your files both on your computer and in the cloud.

Lastly, it features a 11.6” touchscreen so you can use it as a laptop or a tablet.

Other Acer Chromebook Convertible Laptop Specs:

11.6” Full HD touchscreen
2.4 GHz Celeron N3060 processor
4 GB RAM
Chrome OS
32GB built-in memory (100GB memory on Google Drive)
10-hour battery life
2.8 lbs

The Acer Chromebook Convertible Laptop is available on Amazon for $265, making it one of the best cheap laptops around. In fact, the Acer Chromebook Convertible Laptop is actually one of the most sold cheap laptops on Amazon.

Samsung Chromebook 11.6”

Best laptop under $200 - Samsung Chromebook 11.6”

Next up, we have the Samsung Chromebook 11.6”.

This Chromebook features a 11.6” 1366 x 768 HD screen and a 4GB RAM.

It runs on Chrome OS and is Bluetooth compatible. At just 2.4 lbs, this Chromebook works for on-the-go professionals (although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend using it as your sole laptop).

Other Samsung Chromebook 11.6” Specs:

11.6” screen
4 GB RAM
1.6 GHz processor
1366 x 758 display resolution
32GB hard disk
2.4 lbs
11-hour battery life

With a price tag of $195, the Samsung Chromebook 11.6” it should be on a cheap laptops under $200 list, instead of our cheap laptops under $500. However, despite the price, it is still one of the best performing inexpensive laptops on the market.

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Samsung Chromebook 3

Best laptop under $200 - Samsung Chromebook 3

If you’re looking for laptops under $500, then any and all Chromebooks are the place to start. The Samsung Chromebook 3 is pretty similar to the Samsung Chromebook 11.6” in that it runs on Chrome OS, features an 11.6” screen and has a 4GB RAM.

However, it is also a little bit heavier (read: harder to break), and comes with an anti-reflective display so you can work wherever your job takes you.

Other Samsung Chromebook 3 Specs:

11.6” Anti-Reflective screen
1366 x 768 display resolution
2.16 GHz Celeron 3865U processor
4GB RAM
16GB hard drive
Chrome OS
10-hour battery life
3.6 lbs

The Samsung Chromebook 3 is available on Amazon starting at $160.

Acer Flagship Chromebook

Acer Flagship Chromebook - Best laptop under $200

The Acer Flagship Chromebook is yet another Chromebook that topped our cheap laptops under $500 list.

It’s one of the best cheap laptops because it features a larger screen (15.6”), 16GB of storage, and an especially fast processor.

Other Acer Flagship Chromebook Specs:

15.6” screen
1366 x 768 display resolution
1.6 GHz Intel Celeron processor
2GB RAM
16GB hard drive
7-hour battery life
4.3 lbs

The Acer Flagship Chromebook is one of the best budget laptops under $500 because Amazon is no longer selling it new. However, it is available refurbished from Amazon and comes with a 90-day guarantee from Amazon as well.

You can pick up an Acer Flagship Chromebook for $160.

Lenovo IdeaPad

Lenovo IdeaPad - Best laptop under $500 in 2022

I used a Lenovo when I was starting my business, so I have a special place in my heart for them. Thankfully, Lenovo keeps cranking out cheap laptops for others just starting out.

The Lenovo IdeaPad came out in 2019, so it is still rather new. It features a 15.6” screen, a 4GB RAM, and an impressive 128GB hard drive.

It runs on Windows 10, making it one of my favorite cheap laptops with Windows 10.

Other Lenovo IdeaPad Specs:

15.6” screen
1366 x 768 display resolution
2.5 GHz AMD A Series processor
4GB RAM
128GB hard drive
Windows 10
6-hour battery life
4.6 lbs

The Lenovo IdeaPad is available on Amazon for $300.

Asus VivoBook

Asus VivoBook - Best laptop under $500

The Asus VivoBook is the thinnest laptop on our cheap laptops under $500 list, making it excellent for schoolwork and on-the-go office work because you can slip it into just about any backpack or messenger bag.

It comes with an 11.6” screen, a 4GB RAM, and one year of Microsoft Office 365 included.

But, impressively, it is only .7” thick and weighs 2.2 lbs.

Other Asus VivoBook Specs:

11.6” screen
Intel celeron N4000 CPU processor
4GB RAM
64GB storage
Windows 10 in S Mode
10-hour battery life
2.2 lbs

For $240, the Asus VivoBookwill pay for itself in no time. Besides, you’d have to pay $70 for Microsoft 365 just by itself.

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Acer C720-2844 11.6-inch Chromebook

Acer C720-2844 11.6-inch Chromebook - Best laptop under $200

This Acer 11.6-inch Chromebook is yet another Chromebook on our inexpensive laptops list. It’s small, it’s versatile, and it comes with just enough storage capacity to act as a secondary laptop for your business.

This Chromebook will last all day on a single charge, is powerful enough to watch 4K videos, and feels rather sturdy for its small size.

Other Acer 11.6-inch Chromebook Specs:

11.6” screen
1.4 GHz Celeron 2955U processor
4GB RAM
16GB hard drive
Chrome OS
8.5-hour battery life
4 lbs

You can purchase a refurbished Acer 11.6-inch Chromebook for $120 on Amazon.

Dell Inspiron 11 Convertible Chromebook

Dell Inspiron 11 Convertible Chromebook - Best laptop under $200

Unfortunately, the Inspiron 11 is the only Dell to make our cheap laptops under $500 list. Lately, Dell has been releasing less equipment, but the cheap laptops they are releasing are of solid quality.

This Chromebook features a rather small screen at 11.6 inches. It runs on Chrome OS, obviously, and weighs just 2.9 lbs. It features strong audio and is durable, so you won’t mind if your kids get their hands on it.

Additionally, it features a 9-hour battery life so you won’t need to worry about having constant access to an outlet.