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 Prime Big Deal Days, Amazon's "October Prime Day" sale. (It's live from Oct. 8 to 9 for members of the retailer's Prime subscription service, which is free to try for 30 days if you don't want to commit.) During the event, we expect Amazon to offer uncharacteristically good discounts on a wider assortment of laptops than usual — think mid-range Windows models and starter gaming machines. Year-round lows on Amazon's regularly reduced roster of MacBooks should also be on the menu.
Prime Big Deal Days is especially noteworthy because it's prompted competing sales at other retailers. Best Buy's 48-Hour Flash sale on Oct. 8 and 9 (weird coincidence!) 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 during Prime Big Deal Days? 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 late 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 well under $900). Among Windows PCs, the Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (Gen 9) is currently the best laptop under $1,000 that we've tried. 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.
We've gone deeper on these picks and some other solid options below. FYI: We've listed the pricing and specs of our testing units, which may not apply to each laptop's base model.
Other cheap laptops on our radar
We currently have the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 in hand for testing — specifically, the 2023 model with a 12th-generation Intel processor that retails for $399.99. We're interested in seeing whether it's a better value than our current "best cheap Chromebook" pick, the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch.
In addition, two of our previous picks were recently replaced with newer models that we look forward to testing soon.
One is the Framework Laptop 13 (13th Gen Intel Core), a lightweight Windows laptop with replaceable, repairable parts. It required a bigger upfront investment of $1,049 — or $849 if you went with the DIY Edition — but its modular design translated to long-term savings for users who like to upgrade their specs every few years. In mid-2024, it was succeeded by the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra Series 1), which comes with a newer processor, a better webcam, and a $50 price bump. We'll see if it's worth it.
We also gave the chop to the Acer Chromebook 516 GE a little while back; it was discontinued following the spring 2024 launch of the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE. The latter is effectively the same laptop with a newer processor, a darker finish, and some new Gemini AI tools, so while we can't fully recommend it just yet, it does look great on paper. We'll update this guide once we've finished reviewing it.
