Best cheap laptops under £200, £300 and £500
False economy is rife in the world of laptops
The truth about budget laptops is that if you're paying less then £500, you'll have to make some compromises. We've seen sub-£500 Best Buy models in the past, but they're few and far between. But just because a laptop doesn't earn our highly prized Best Buy accolade, it's by no means an indictment of its value for money.
In this article, we’ll take you through our top picks of the best cheap laptops for less than £500, and give our expert tips on where you can make compromises – and where you shouldn't. We'll also outline what to look for in a cheap laptop for a child.
Whatever your budget, our lab tests reveal which models are worth your money and which aren't. See our expert pick of the best laptops.
Best cheap laptops - what you need to know before you buy
- Laptops for less than £200: If you’re looking for a decent laptop that costs less than £200, you won't get many bells and whistles, but there are a few options available that have scored reasonably well in our tests. Ultra-cheap laptops are often best suited to more basic computing tasks such as writing documents and sending a few emails. They're also ideal for children who only have basic homework to do.
- Laptops for less than £300: Up the budget to £300 and you’ll start to find higher-scoring models with faster processors and better screens.
- Laptops for less than £500: If your budget can stretch to £500, you'll find a lot more to choose from. Models often have faster Intel Core i3 – and, at a stretch, i5 – processors, as well as speedy solid-state drives (SSDs) and vibrant Full HD screens.
Also consider whether you want to include a cheap monitor to help you work more efficiently. See our pick of the best computer monitors to find out more.
Top cheap laptops under £500, £300 and £200
Below, we've gathered the very best laptops for less than £500, ranked by Which? test score. We've been sure to pick out the best models for less than £300 and less than £200, too, in case your budget is very tight.
We select and update these products monthly, and, where possible, the price is updated daily. Due to the fluctuating nature of prices, some laptops' prices might rise above £500 occasionally. However, we would expect these devices to be priced below £500 for the majority of the time.
- BEST BUY
- GREAT VALUE
HP
Chromebook x360 13b-ca0002sa
£550Test score 77%
While it is far from the fastest laptop we’ve tested, there is plenty to like about this laptop including its battery life, and it scores very well. It earns a Best Buy and is well worth looking at thanks to its reasonable price, and is often on offer so can be found for even less.
Read full review- BEST BUY
- GREAT VALUE
This laptop is a rare Best Buy at this price, and also achieves Great Value status. While it’s not perfect and you will have to make some compromises – including with the speakers and build quality – it’s well worth looking at if it’s towards the top of your budget.
Read full review- GREAT VALUE
HP
Chromebook x2 11-da0502na
£499Test score 71%
If you need a compact, versatile laptop that you can take anywhere, then this two-in-one from HP should be on your shortlist. It’s best suited to basic tasks and the screen and sound quality aren't the best in the business. Still, for the money it is one of the better Chromebook laptops out there.
Read full review- GREAT VALUE
The Swift 1 is a firm favourite, and the 2021 edition continues that trend. It comes in at well under £500 (sometimes under £300 when on offer) but has some really useful features not often found on laptops this cheap. It includes a fingerprint reader, a Full HD screen and a half decent processor, along with excellent battery life. It's pick of the bunch when it comes to cheap laptops.
Read full reviewAnyone looking for a compact, versatile laptop will appreciate the Asus Flip CM3200FM Chromebook’s compact proportions and flexible 2-in-1 design – as well as its affordable price. The undeniably sub-par quality of the screen could be a sticking point, however, but for the money you might be willing to overlook this.
Read full review- GREAT VALUE
Acer
Aspire 1 A114-61
£300Test score 68%
The affordable Acer Aspire 1 A114-61 has excellent battery life and is portable. However it’s only powerful enough for the most basic tasks, while the screen and sound leave a lot to be desired. Still, for the money it is one of the better Windows laptops out there, especially if you're looking for a cheap basic laptop for a child or someone who only wants to check their emails.
Read full review- GREAT VALUE
Yes, the screen isn’t the best. And, no, the sound quality isn’t great. But it feels a little uncharitable to be overly critical of the compact Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Chromebook, when you consider its low price. This is definitely one to consider if your budget is tight.
Read full review
HP
Chromebook 11a-na0000na
£180Test score 67%
This laptop is fantastically light and has long battery life (over 12 hours in our tests). The screen is very drab, but for the money you might be tempted anyway.
Read full review- GREAT VALUE
This is a great-looking and versatile Chromebook for under £500. It's faster than some of its rivals, too, with a Core m3 processor that should see it comfortably easing ahead of Celeron and Pentium-powered budget alternatives.
Read full review- GREAT VALUE
Lenovo
IdeaPad 5i Chromebook Gen 6 14-inch
£229Test score 65%
It feels a bit cheaply made and doesn’t have the best screen we’ve seen. But if your budget is tight and all you want is a very simple laptop for light work, then Lenovo’s sub-£400 IdeaPad 5i Chromebook Gen 6 is worth considering.
Read full review
Asus
C424 chromebook (C424MA-EB0079)
£200Test score 64%
It’s no powerhouse, the screen isn’t the best and battery life is only average. But the Asus C424 Chromebook (C424MA-EB0079) is definitely worth considering if portability and price are your chief concerns.
Read full review
Recommendations checked February 2023.
Can't see the model you're interested in? Take a look at our expert laptop reviews.
Cheap laptops to avoid
Shopping at the budget end of the market is not easy. We've named the worst offenders as Don't Buys, because of poor performance, battery life, display quality, or often all three. The Don't Buy laptops below are definitely models to avoid.
- DON'T BUY
Fusion5
T90B+ Pro
£199Test score 45%
Fusion5 is apparently popular on Amazon, but our tests reveal this budget laptop is a complete false economy. It’s slow, poorly made and the battery life is awful. Other than that, it’s great.
Read full review- DON'T BUY
Our testing indicates this is a really poor model. The laptop we looked at was slow, had terrible battery life, an appalling screen and bad speakers. There are many better laptops for the same money. Avoid this one.
Read full review
The pros and cons of cheap laptops
If you’re thinking of buying a cheap laptop, you should know what you can and can’t do with your new machine.
Pros of cheap laptops
- Portability: Very cheap laptops under £250 tend to be small, which means they often weigh around 1kg or less. They’re also typically very thin, so should slide into even the smallest of bags.
- Battery life: Because these laptops have low-power processors, they often have exceptionally long battery life. Some of the best models we’ve tested easily last more than 10 hours, so you shouldn't get caught out if you’re away from a power source for longer than you expected.
- Cheerful designs: Some budget laptops have more colourful, slightly rugged designs. While this won’t ever make or break a laptop buying decision, it can be a nice bonus.
Cons of cheap laptops
- Speed: While laptops costing around £500 will be fast enough for almost everyone, if you cut the budget much more than this, speed will suffer. The very latest models are fine when web browsing, but they will slow down significantly if you try to have several programs running at once. Most very cheap laptops have lower-end Intel Celeron and Atom processors. Read more about processor brands in our guide to Intel, AMD and Nvidia.
- Screen quality: Some cheaper laptops have screens that are significantly duller, with lower resolutions than their more expensive counterparts. This isn’t a universal truth, however, and some ultra-cheap laptops have impressive screens. Our laptop reviews reveal all.
- Low storage: Small and cheap laptops, especially Chromebooks, have little storage. These laptops are best for working on documents stored in cloud services such as Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. If you have a large collection of photos and videos, you might need to keep them on an external USB hard drive. Don't buy a Chromebook with less than 32GB, and avoid Windows laptops with less than 64GB.
Our reviews assume the laptop user is an adult or a student in further education (sixth form, college or university, for example), who will have certain minimum requirements.
If you're buying for a younger child who only needs a laptop to do their homework, you can spend as little as £150 on a new budget model that should be up to the job. That’s not to say you should completely ignore our reviews, as few budget laptops excel in our tests, but it does mean you can be a little more flexible.
That said, you should aim to buy a laptop that’s not too old. Cheap laptops from a few years ago were slow when they launched and might feel even slower today, as programs and the web have become more demanding for older computers.
What to look for in a cheap laptop
Here are the minimum specs to look for if you’re buying for a younger child and have a budget of less than £200.
- Operating system: Windows 11 in S mode or ChromeOS
- Processor: Intel Celeron or Pentium
- Memory: 4GB Ram
- Storage: 64GB of storage (Windows) or 32GB of storage (ChromeOS)
We'd recommend a smaller, 11-inch screen (to make the laptop easy and safe to carry around). Avoid big, heavy laptops that a child will struggle to carry.
You should also check it's going to be compatible with Windows 11 - use our free Windows 11 requirements checker tool. If it's not compatible, don't necessarily rule it out as it gives you the opportunity to haggle with the seller. After all, Microsoft will still support Windows 10 until October 2025, which may well suit your needs.
Steer clear of:
- Processor: Intel Atom and older Intel Celeron processors (look out for model number starting with N3 and N40, such as N3060 or N4020, as these are old and slow).
- Memory: 2GB Ram (it's just not enough).
- Storage: 16GB storage (this will get full up very fast).
If you opt for Windows 11 S, your computer will only be able to install apps from the Microsoft Store. This means there's much less chance of your child accidentally downloading an app that’s actually a virus or full of spam. You can also set up their Microsoft account to be a 'child' account linked to your own account, so you can limit what they're allowed to do with the laptop.
Chromebooks are also worth a look. In fact, your child might already use one at school, as these are popular among educational institutions. Read our guide to Chromebooks for more.
We’d recommend sticking to models from well-known brands, sold by trusted retailers, as you can more easily guarantee that they’re new and have a valid warranty. You'll also have access to a dedicated customer-support service via the manufacturer’s website.
Buying a no-name brand from an online marketplace such as Amazon Marketplace or eBay, for example, means you might get little or no support. Some brands don’t even have websites, making them impossible to contact.
Not sure whether to opt for a Chromebook or Windows laptop? Our guide on Chromebooks vs MacBooks vs Windows laptops can help you make the right choice.
Getting a good deal on a cheap laptop
Laptop deals are a dime a dozen if retailers' special offers are to be believed, but just because a deal exists, doesn’t mean it’s special. Indeed, sometimes the 'sale' price is simply the usual price but with a big red label on it.
We've put together a full guide on laptop deals, including five top picks updated monthly, and a full suite of advice on how to get the best out of the UK's biggest retailers.
Comments