When it comes to shopping for the best cheap laptops, you can do a lot with $1,000. (Heck, even $500 cuts some mustard nowadays.) But you'll probably have to make some compromises along the way to stay below that price point.
That doesn't mean you have to settle for a total clunker that doesn't tick any of the boxes on your must-have specs list. It just means you have to shop a little smarter than someone with unlimited funds.
This time of year, that means timing your laptop purchase with Amazon's flagship Prime Day sale. Live from July 16 to 17 for Prime members (which is free to try for 30 days), the event will feature steeper-than-usual discounts on a wider assortment of laptops than Amazon usually offers. In addition to the usual MacBook markdowns, we also expect to see a lot of older Windows laptops, budget Chromebooks, and starter gaming laptops on the menu.
Prime Day is also noteworthy because it prompts competing sales at other retailers. Best Buy's Black Friday in July sale from July 15 to 17 will give Amazon the biggest run for its money simply because the store stocks way more laptop brands and configurations. It's also known to match or one-up Amazon's pricing where their inventories overlap, so cross-checking deals between the two is key. (Bookmark our guide to the best Prime Day laptop deals if you don't want to scour the myriad listings yourself.)
Not sure which cheap laptops you should be looking for on Prime Day? Keep reading: The Mashable team is constantly reviewing new laptops, and we can recommend several affordable machines for different budgets, operating system loyalties, and use cases based on our hands-on testing.
What is the best cheap laptop?
As of mid-2024, we believe the best cheap MacBook is the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air powered by the previous-generation M2 chip. It's speedy enough for most people, it's got a great keyboard, and it starts at $999 (though it's often on sale for less than $900).
Among Windows laptops, the Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (Gen 9) is currently the best cheap laptop we've tested. It has a newer processor and a good battery life, it doubles as a tablet, and it comes in at a starting price of $899.99.
Below, we go deeper on these picks and some other solid options. FYI: We've listed the pricing and specs of our testing units, which may not apply to each laptop's base model.