

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 more than 8GB of RAM or a processor with more cores than you were otherwise considering. 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.Īlso, if there's something you really want in a laptop, like a touchscreen, a backlit keyboard, DDR4 RAM, an HD webcam, Intel UHD Graphics, AMD Radeon Vega Graphics or an HDMI port, check the manufacturer's specs closely to make sure it has it. You can also try to make your current laptop last a little longer. Buying a need-it-now laptop can be like shopping for food while hungry.Įven 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.

The Lenovo Duet Chromebook is better as a secondary device for on-the-go productivity tasks and entertainment.Īs 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.

If you need a Chromebook for full-day use, go with the Flex 5i. The Lenovo Duet Chromebook is similarly priced to the Flex 5i but is a detachable two-in-one - i.e., a tablet with a removable keyboard cover. Lenovo has another two-in-one option on our best budget laptop list, the Lenovo Duet Chromebook. It is definitely one of the best Chromebook models for its price, power and size. The touch display is also pen-enabled so you can write or draw it with a USI pen. While it's not overflowing with extras, the Flex 5i Chromebook does have a privacy shutter on the webcam so you can physically block it when it's not in use. Battery life is great, too, at nearly 11 hours. This Lenovo 13-inch Chromebook two-in-one has a full-HD display as well as excellent performance and battery life for the money, thanks to an Intel Core i3-1115G4 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive.
