The 5 best laptops under $700 in 2024

While there are a lot of high-end laptops on the market, that doesn’t mean you can’t find a well-priced laptop that can handle most of your needs for less than $700. Of course, there are some compromises you need to make here and there, but if you need something for simple things like productivity, browsing, and watching content, you aren’t going to miss out on much. To that end, we’ve gone out and found some of our favorite laptop picks that are going for less than $700.

The Best Laptops Under $700 in 2024

• Buy the Lenovo Ideapad 3i 15 if you want the best overall laptop under $700.
• Buy the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 if you want the best 2-in-1 laptop under $700.
• Buy the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 if you want the best Samsung laptop under $700.
• Buy the HP Pavilion Plus 14 if you want the best small-screen laptop under $700.
• Buy the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook if you want the best Chromebook laptop under $700.

Lenovo Ideapad 3i 15

Best overall laptop under $700

Lenovo makes many excellent laptops, so it’s no surprise that the Lenovo Ideapad 3i 15 is one of the best laptops under $700. For starters, it comes with a well-sized 15.6-inch monitor that runs an FHD resolution, but, more importantly, it’s touch-enabled, which is a great little addition for those who prefer that sort of control. The peak brightness is mid-range at 300 nits, but that’s honestly not too bad for the price tag, especially since that should be more than enough for most places without direct sunlight.

In terms of performance, you get the Intel Core i5-1155G7, which is a mid-tier CPU that will handle most, if not all, productivity tasks just fine, so if you want this for work or school, it will absolutely hold up to scrutiny. The 3.74 pounds and 0.78 inches of thickness also mean that it’s relatively easy to carry around by sticking it in a bag, making it perfect for an academic or corporate environment, especially given its minimal aesthetics. Also, while the build itself is relatively good, it’s important to note that the trackpad has been designed to be off-center to the right, which might be fine for right-handed people, but left-handed people might suffer quite a bit, so it’s something to consider.

Another thing to consider is that it only comes with 8GB of RAM, and while that’s workable, 16GB would be a much better number. Luckily, you can upgrade it yourself or through a computer store relatively easily, so that’s not a dealbreaker. As for battery life, you’re looking at around six to seven hours or so, which isn’t the bet on the market, but it’s pretty good for the price you’re paying; there tends to be a lot of access to outlets these days, so it’s also not a dealbreaker either.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2

Best 2-in-1 laptop under $700

If you use many of Microsoft’s services, such as Teams or Office, then going for a Microsoft laptop makes a lot of sense, especially since you maintain the same ecosystem. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 is a surprisingly good laptop for its price. The screen is 12.4 inches big, making it similar to a large tablet, and you certainly use it as such, especially since it’s touch-enabled, so this is a good 2-in-1 option as well. It only weighs 2.48 pounds, too, so it’s easy to carry, and while holding it in your arms for long periods of time might get tirings, it’s still doable for short bursts such as in presentations and the like.

In terms of power, though, it has a lot more than your average tablet, with an Intel Core i5-1135G7, which is an 11th-generation Intel CPU and a mid-range processor that will handle most productivity tasks without too much issue. It’s excellent if you want to watch stuff or browse the internet too, and while you won’t be able to do any serious gaming, you can likely get some casual or indie gaming going, which is something a traditional tablet won’t be able to offer. As for RAM, you’ll get 8GB, which isn’t ideal, but for the size and price, it’s really not bad, and the same applies to the 128GB of storage, which you can actually upgrade with something like one of these external hard drive deals.

That said, the Surface Laptop Go 2 has a few other great features that make up for the issues, with the biggest one being a fingerprint-reading power button, which can be very handy if you need 2FA authentication and don’t want to use your phone. The screen also has 330 nits of peak brightness, while the battery life can last you a very impressive seven or eight hours of battery life, which, again, for a tablet-sized device with laptop specs, is pretty good. Also, it works well with the Windows Ink stylus and provides a pretty good experience, although you will have to buy the stylus separately.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2

Best Samsung laptop under $700

There are a lot of folks out there with Samsung devices, and as an ecosystem, it’s probably only second to Apple’s. As such, if you want to stay within the Samsung ecosystem without spending a ton of money, then the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is the way to do it. It also helps the Chromebook 2 look really sleek with a 2.71-pound weight and a thickness of just 0.55 inches; it’s comparable to things like the MacBook Air, which is impressive given it costs almost half the price.

Another great feature is the gorgeous QLED screen, which gives you some vivid colors and excellent image reproduction, even though it only runs at a resolution of 1920 x 1080. That said, it is rather annoying that the bottom bezel is so thick, especially in a world that has come to appreciate thinner and thinner bezels. Luckily, the keyboard is excellent to type on and more than makes up for the large bezel, as does the orange color, which is pretty unique and great for those who enjoy the extra bit of flair.

As for performance, it comes with an Intel Core i3-10110U, which would usually be underpowered, but since it runs ChromeOS, it doesn’t eat up as many resources as you would expect on a Windows laptop. The same applies to the 8GB of RAM, of which you’ll get more use out of since you won’t lose have of it to the OS. That said, you are stuck to only using ChromeOS, so if you need to run specific apps, be sure they’re compatible or available. The only other slight problem is the 128GB of storage, which, again, isn’t a dealbreaker since you can expand it with external storage or rely on cloud services.

HP Pavilion Plus 14

Best small-screen laptop under $700

If you prefer a smaller screen, this 14-inch HP Pavillion 14 is a surprisingly great option, especially since it does quite a lot for the price tag. While the design is pretty much the same as the previous generation, maintaining the sleek and minimalist design, the specs under the hood are powerful for such a small laptop. The keyboard is excellent to use, with nicely raised keys, a nice click, and key travel, although they don’t compare favorably to some of HP’s other higher-end offerings. Even so, it’s a comfortable laptop to type on for long periods, so that’s not a dealbreaker.

In terms of performance, you get the AMD Ryzen 5 7540U to work with, and it has quite a lot of productivity power while also being a relatively efficient CPU so it doesn’t soak up power. In fact, battery life overall is pretty great, and you’ll get up to 12 hours on the lightest use and probably closer to about nine hours with something like web browsing and things of that nature. You’ll also very much appreciate that you’re getting 16GB of DDR5 RAM rather than the usual 8GB that you might expect, which means a smoother experience compared to some other choices on the list.

It’s also worth noting that it comes with a lovely OLED display that provides sharp images and high color reproduction, even though it runs a 1920 x 1200 resolution. It also can handle 95% of Adobe RGB, which is a shame since you’re not likely to get a ton of graphical rendering work done without a graphics card, of which there is no option. Even so, the screen does run at a 120Hz refresh rate, which is the sort of smooth experience you’ll find on a flagship phone, so it’s somewhat of a compromise.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook

Best Chromebook laptop under $700

It’s not often that we see a Chromebook with an OLED screen, but the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook manages just that and with a pretty excellent price tag too. With a 13.3-inch screen running an FHD resolution, it can manage most day-to-day tasks easily, and the fact that it’s essentially a tablet means it’s easy to carry around and use in most environments. That’s certainly helped by the impressive 400 nits of peak brightness, and while it might not compete with direct sunlight, it should be fine in most other cases.

That said, you are running on a mobile chip rather than a desktop processor, and while the Snapdragon 7cG2 is still pretty powerful, it’s not at the level of something like an Intel i5 or a Ryzen R5, so there is that to consider. Luckily, you are dealing with ChromeOS, so it’s not as resource-hungry as Windows, and it will handle productivity tasks just fine; the main struggle will be with more creative tasks. You could also, in theory, get some gaming done, but you’ll have to stick to more casual games that don’t tax the Duet 5’s resources too much.

In fact, the 8GB of RAM means you aren’t going to be able to access a lot of apps and tabs at the same time, especially if you’re running something heavy, and the 128GB of storage isn’t a lot and will, like other Chromebook devices, have you rely on cloud storage instead. Even so, something you will love is the long battery life, managing up to a whopping 15 hours or so, which means you’ll easily get a full day’s worth of work out of it, plus some extra time at the end of the day for watching content. Given that the Duet 5 is often heavily discounted, it gives you one of the best value for money on this list.

How We Chose These Laptops Under $700

Processing power

The sort of CPU you do tends to play a big role in how much a laptop will cost, with the only thing costing a lot more being the GPU, which means that if you’re aiming for a laptop under $700, you’re going to have to make some compromises. The first one is that you aren’t really going to find a lot of laptops with a discrete GPU, and those that you do find will probably have older entry-level GPUs, RTX 2050, and maybe even GTX 1050 or 1650, all of which aren’t ideal. You could potentially find a laptop with something like an RTX 3050 for under $700, but that will be on sale from its original MSRP, and we’d rather focus on laptops that are already below $700 without any discounts. That means we’ve focused on laptops that don’t have GPUs, which would inflate the price by over $700.

Another compromise is the sort of CPU you’ll find in these laptops. For the most part, it’s not going to be anything better than mid-tier CPUs, such as the Intel Core i5 and the AMD Ryzen R5, which are still relatively good CPUs. Don’t get us wrong, but you won’t be getting a ton of processor-heavy work done. Of course, some options will also go below that of the Intel Core i3 or even mobile chips like the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2, which are both entry-level CPUs and not that powerful. Either way, we’ve done our best to pick laptops as close to the mid-range as possible, but ultimately, there are only so many options out there that are both cheap and powerful.

RAM

RAM is one of those things that can be a bit hit-and-miss when it comes to laptops at this price bracket. The good thing is that pretty much all laptop brands don’t bother with 4GB of RAM anywhere, which is excellent given the fact that 4GB is barely enough to run Windows, let alone other apps. That said, 16GB is a better amount of RAM to have since it gives you some headroom and a smoother experience overall without having to constantly manage apps and the number of tabs you have open. Of course, finding laptops with 16GB for under $700 is hard, and we only managed to find one that we’d recommend with any confidence.

All that said, 8GB of RAM on ChromeOS isn’t too bad, so when it comes to Chromebooks, we were more focused on other specs rather than RAM.

Battery Life

One of the good things about laptops at this price point is that they tend to have good battery life, although it can still be quite a wide range. That means, on average, battery life will be around six to seven hours, while the best-case scenario might be that you get up to 15 on certain laptops. Of course, there’s very little that can be done when it comes to battery life, so we’ve done our best to pick laptops that should at least last you a whole workday without charging, although you may be cutting it a bit close. That said, there are some portable power stations that you could potentially take with you that might extend that time quite significantly. While they are bulky, they’re also versatile beyond just powering your laptop.

Screen

One thing that you’ll probably find quite surprising is that screens on laptops in the price range can get pretty good, and we’re not necessarily talking about size or resolution. In fact, most of the laptops here don’t go over FHD, but some do have OLED screens, which is a tech usually reserved for higher-end devices that easily go over $1,000, if not more. To that end, we’ve done our best to have as many options with great screens as we can, especially since it’s the one thing that can punch above its weight class and add some really excellent quality of life.

This article is managed and created separately from the Digital Trends Editorial team.

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