High demand for cheap Windows and Chrome OS laptops (also known as Chromebooks ) spurred on by the pandemic paired with parts-supply shortages have made …
High demand for cheap Windows and Chrome OS laptops (also known as Chromebooks) spurred on by the pandemic paired with parts-supply shortages have made it harder to find the best laptop under $500. Below, you’ll find some straightforward buying advice based on our years of testing and review experience to help you understand just what to expect from a laptop priced under $500. It’ll also let you know what to look for if you want to continue your budget laptop hunt on your own. Use these picks to sort through the competition and don’t make rash decisions when you’re shopping, because there are a lot of cheap laptops that are just not worth it. As a rule of thumb, resist buying out of desperation — don’t spend $500 because you can’t find a cheaper laptop deal available, for example. Buying a need-it-now laptop can be like shopping for food while hungry. Even for a laptop, $500 can be a lot of money, and you’ll likely be holding onto it for at least three years, if the statistics Intel and PC manufacturers hurl at us are correct. You can also try to make your current laptop last a little longer. If you need something to tide you over for a few months, dig into possible places to buy refurbished machines and explore nonprofit or educational discounts if you’re eligible. Also, if there’s something you really want in a laptop, like a touchscreen, backlit keyboard or HDMI port, check the manufacturer’s specs closely to make sure it has it. You’ll regret it if you don’t. If you suspect you’ll be holding onto your new laptop for a while, see if you can stretch your budget to buy a slightly more expensive laptop to accommodate a little more memory or a processor with more cores than you were otherwise considering. If you haven’t thought about it, look at AMD Ryzen processors as alternatives to Intel Core for Windows laptops or alternatives to Intel Celeron and Pentium for Chromebooks. Even better, if you’re comfortable with it, think about an affordable laptop with a replaceable battery (if you can find one), upgradable memory, graphics card and storage, or all of the above. Furthermore, while you might be working remotely now, you won’t be stuck at home forever. Remember to consider whether having a lighter-weight and thin laptop with good battery life will be important to you in the future. Read more: Best monitors under $200 you can get right now You can always add an external drive or two (or five, if you’re me) at some point down the road.
