So what makes a good laptop? What makes it a good deal? Is it the premium specs? The design? Or is it the performance and usability?
While many people know what they are looking for and what they are going to use their laptop for, most of us are just going to buy whatever “nice” and “cool” laptop in the market today. So either we end up with a laptop that is downright disappointing or paying more for overrated components. Either way, it hurts our pocket. And we definitely don’t like that.
Believe it or not, you can buy a laptop for less but performs on par with the $1500 premium line. So to help you wade your way through the myriad choices of computing machines, we reviewed and tested a dozen of laptops and present you the top 5 laptops that give the best value for your money.
Acer Aspire S13 – an affordable MacBook Air Alternative
- Windows 10
- 3in Full HD IPS Screen, antiglare
- Up to Intel Core i7 6th-gen processor
- Intel HD Graphics 5200
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB SSD
- HDMI
- Up to 13 hours battery life
This laptop packs everything you love in a MackBook Air and more for only $637.99. It is thin and light-weight, which makes it ultraportable. It has a Full HD (and optional pre-order touchscreen) display with antiglare properties.
And if you are working on your laptop for long periods of time, you will be happy to know that you can toggle the Acer Bluelight Shield Setting. Which is designed to lower blue-light emission of the S13 to reduce eyestrain and prevent eye fatigue.
It also sports a very powerful audio system which came as a surprise as the speakers are sometimes the usual sacrifice for the budget-friendly line of laptops. The Dolby Audio App allows you to choose from multiple profile sounds (Game, Movie, Voice, Music). But, we prefer and recommend the Dynamic setting. The S13 also has an equalizer if you want to really dig deep.
Performance-wise, the Acer Aspire S13 features a Corei7 Intel processor coupled with a 512GB SSD storage and 8GB RAM. It is fast and accurate. You can throw any task with S13 and expect better results compared to the other laptops in the same price range. And the battery life is better too.
Although there are many things to love about the S13, we find quite a few flaws too. It is such a shame that its amazing display is partnered with a stiff and shallow keyboard with uneven backlighting. So you can’t expect a good typing experience here. It’s poor palm rejection also makes the cursor jumps around the documents. Plus, the fan is making such an annoying high-pitched noise.
All in all, the Acer Aspire S13 comes with a ton of power in a small package. Yes, it has its minuses, but the pluses are much too great to ignore.
Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1 $799.00
- Windows 10 Home
- 6in HD Display
- Intel Core i5
- Intel HD Graphics 5200
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB SSD
- HDMI
The Dell Inspiron line is known for being reliable and affordable. With its latest Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1, it surely offers the latest excitement without pumping up the price.
Unlike most of the laptops on the market today which mimics the MacBook too closely, the 15 700 boasts a stylish design of its own. The Notebook’s interior has a beautiful, lightly brushed, dark-gray aluminum finish. And the diamond-cut edge adds a really nice minimalist sparkle to the machine’s overall outline.
As for the performance, the Dell Inspiron 15 700 boasts of an Intel Core i5 processor with an 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD storage. So you can expect a solid job of file transferring, multitasking and processing spreadsheets. We even tried streaming an episode of Breaking Bad on Netflix with twelve other tabs on Chrome, while running a full system scan in the background and we haven’t noticed a hint of lag. But of course, you can’t run 4k games on this laptop.
While the 15 700 model ticks off a lot of crucial components on our checklist, it also comes with a few minutes. The glossy touchscreen creates distracting reflections and its power button is poorly placed. You can easily press it by accident. And the audio, keypad and battery life is a major letdown.
If it is not much of an issue to you, undoubtedly Dell Inspiron 15 700 makes a good run for your money.
HP Spectre x360 (2016)
- Windows 10 Home
- 6in Full WLED-backlit IPS Display
- Intel Core i5
- Intel HD Graphics 5200
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB SSD
We have yet another 2-in-1 in our list, the HP Spectre x360 (2016). And nothing can beat its combination of speed, battery life, style and full-size ports in the 2-in-1 category.
Starting at $949.99 the HP Spectre x360 offers incredible value for money for two years now. It is sporting a very sleek design with silver metal matte-finished unibody and rounded rear edge. This makes Spectre x360 the most attractive laptop on the market.
The display features a glossy 13.3 inch full HD IPS touchscreen with ultrathin side bezels. Images are bright and colorful. It delivers crisp, vibrant and realistic graphic that makes watching movies or playing games a really great experience.
As for the performance, you will never be disappointed with Spectre x360. It has the new 7th generation Kaby Lake CPU with 16GB RAM and 512 GB SSD. This means multitasking, video streaming and even opening 20 tabs of Chrome is a breeze. Coupled with its high-resolution display, I enjoyed playing Counter Strike. But for more graphic demanding, especially the new 4k games doesn’t run well.
The only issue we encounter with the Specter x360 is it can generate reflections on the display which can be distracting. There is also a concern for the steep price. However, the price is justified by the robust hardware. In all honesty, you can’t get this kind of deal by spending the same elsewhere.
Lenovo Miix
- Windows 10 Home
- 2inch HD Display
- Intel Core i5
- Intel HD Graphics 5200
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB SSD
For a price of $599.99, the Lenovo Miix 510 offers a premium look and feel with its aluminum chassis and stylish mechanical hinges which allow you to tilt the screen for up to 170 degrees. It is also thin and light but surprisingly feels solid in the hand.
Also check: Wired Earphones vs Wireless Bluetooth Earphones
The display offers sharp and vibrant color picture. We watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with the Miix 510 and we noticed that the colors just seem to pop. It shows the different contrasting colors of the different scenes in the movie without spoiling any details of the iconic scenery that made Star Wars memorable.
On top of that, the Miix 510 offers a solid performance that productivity- minded users will greatly appreciate. It features a Core i5 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB Storage, a powerful combination that ensures fast and accurate execution of tasks. As a matter of fact, I tried splitting the screen. One with a YouTube streaming, while the other has 12 tabs of Chrome. It didn’t show any kinds of lag or slowdown even if I keep on switching tabs and windows. I even ran a full system scan in the background with Windows Defender and everything ran smoothly.
Alas, the Lenovo Miix 510 has also a letdown. Its speakers and keypad really need improvements. The fan noise is too loud to ignore. It has no memory card slot for expansion. And an additional $40 for the Active Pen. But since all the other components of this laptop are a total thumbs up, we can certainly forgive these few setbacks.
Asus ZenBook UX305
- Windows 10 Home
- 3inch IPS LCD Screen
- Intel Core M-5Y10 CPU
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB SSD
- 11 hours Battery Life
Asus ZenBook UX305 is one of the most exciting laptops on the market today. It absolutely nailed the premium metal look and feel which, in fact, makes Asus the nearest competitor of Apple when it comes to ultrabook design.
Although the UX305 sports a slim design, it didn’t thin on connectivity. While most ultrabook has only two USB ports, the ZenBook UX305 has three and they are all USB 3.0. There is also an SD card reader slot, a microHDMI port, and a headphone jack.
For your daily workload, like opening a couple of tabs on Chrome, video streaming, opening several spreadsheets, the ZenBook UX305 completes the job done without a hitch. But beyond that, it will have trouble keeping up with the pace. So if you are a serious worker or gamer ( here are some great reviews about gaming laptops if you’re into that), you might need a laptop worth more fire power. As for the battery life, we got this machine running for 11 hours and 50 minutes.
The only downside is it’s poor audio system and lack of keyboard backlight. Well, considering all the features we have taken into account, these sacrifices are an absolute bargain.
You see, you don’t really need to pay a steep price when there are actually a couple of laptops that offers both excellent performance and usability at a lesser price. If we left out your favorite low budget-high performance laptop, please, use the comments below and let us now which one you think need to be on this list.
Ben Sawyer is a blogger and content contributor, from Queens, NYC. Currently, he likes to share his knowledge, helping people in any way he can, one article at the time.
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