Laptops have become a necessity for doing your routine tasks like checking and sending an email, creating reports, and web surfing. And you don’t need an expensive high-end laptop for performing the tasks mentioned above. Now you can find the best laptop under $300.
It is wrong to think that budget-friendly laptops cannot give you the superior performance you need for being productive. The hardware components being used in today’s laptops can efficiently handle complex tasks, and you can even smoothly play the new generation games like Pubg and Fortnite.
With brands launching laptops every other week, it could be quite confusing which one to get for efficiently performing your work. There are laptops available on the market, which can offer you quality features and enhanced performance whose prices lie in the $300 budget.
You just have to look for them so that you end up being more productive in your work. So to make your decision easier, we have created a list of the best laptops under $300 2024. In this article, we have carefully reviewed the best laptops so that when you are ready to buy a laptop computer, you have enough knowledge to get the best machine.
- HP Stream 11 – Best Laptops Under $300 for Watching Movies
- Asus VivoBook L203MA – Best Laptops Under $300 for Playing Light Games And Using Photo Editing Software
- Microsoft Surface Go – Best Laptops Under $300 with High-quality Display
1. HP Stream 11
HP is a famous laptop manufacturing brand that always comes with amazing features and caters to a wide number of customers. The HP Stream 11 is a small and portable laptop that is quite suitable for daily use. It has a stylish design and a shiny purple paint job with white keyboard keys. The plastic lid of this laptop does not leave any finger marks on it.
It features an 11.6 inches screen and a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, which offers a sharp image quality. You can enjoy watching movies on such a sharp display. At just 2.5 pounds, the HP Stream 11 is a lightweight laptop, and you can carry it with you to your school and college.
The HP Stream 11 features a 1.6-GHz Intel Celeron N3060 processor, which provides fast performance for doing routine tasks and hence makes it one of the best laptops under $300. With a 4GB RAM, you can easily run light web development software and won’t have to face lags. This laptop offers good graphics for light gaming purposes with an Intel Graphics 400 processor.
PROS
- Affordable
- Long battery life
- Lightweight and portable
- Attractive design
- Fast processing
CONS
- Heats up quickly
With an average battery laptop of 8 hours, you can use this laptop for a long time when web browsing or doing light photo editing. The HP Stream 11 is an ideal laptop for students who need a laptop for performing less complex tasks. Its attractive design and compact build make it quite suitable for carrying it with you.
2. Acer Chromebook Spin 311
Chromebooks are extremely popular nowadays due to their exceptional portability, and now many brands have been launching them. The Acer Chromebook Spin 311 is a 2 in 1 laptop that can easily be converted into a tablet for quick access and use. This laptop has an 11.6 inches IPS touch display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, which offers sharp colors. Having a lightweight of 3.3 pounds, this laptop is portable and can be taken anywhere quite easily.
The Acer Chromebook 311 uses the Chrome operating system, which allows you to access all your chrome applications easily. This OS has been designed to give ease of use, and all you have to do is log in with your Google account credentials, and you are good to go. You can also access your Google documents and make changes to it.
Coming to the hardware specifications, the Acer Chromebook 311 has an Intel Celeron n4120 processor, which is powerful enough for carrying out daily tasks efficiently. It comes with a 4GB LPDDR4 memory, which offers fast performance and consumes less power. You can smoothly multitask using this laptop and be extremely productive.
PROS
- Ease of use
- Quick access to your files
- Fast performance
- Long battery life
- Compact design
CONS
- Low screen resolution
The Acer Chromebook 311 comes with a Lithium-ion battery, which provides an average battery life of 10 hours. This is a long time for getting your work done as well as playing a few light games online. This laptop has thick bezels for protecting the screen from damage. The bottom of the laptop is beefy in size, which makes it firm and durable. You should consider buying this compact-sized laptop for increased productivity and quick access to your files.
Although this laptop is considered to be the best laptop for students we have short-listed more laptops for a better option. Take a look at Best Laptops for engineering students.
3. Asus VivoBook L203MA
The Asus VivoBook L203MA is a budget-friendly laptop that is highly capable of efficiently performing routine tasks without lags. This is best suited for students who are looking for a powerful machine under $300, which can be quite useful when browsing the web for studying.
The Asus VivoBook L203MA has a sleek design and a solid build making it long-lasting. The smooth and shiny lid has a white-colored Azus logo located at the center. This laptop has an 11.6 inches display, which is a decent screen size for a laptop that is used for day-to-day tasks.
With an Intel Celeron N4000 processor, the Asus VivoBook L203MA offers improved performance for daily web surfing and using MS Office applications. This laptop has a 4GB LPDDR4 RAM for fast processing of applications. The RAM size is sufficient for playing light games and using photo editing software. This laptop offers 64GB EMMc flash storage, which is large enough for storing your work files and images.
PROS
- Affordable
- Solid hinge design
- Quickly performs tasks
- Offers comfortable typing
- portable
CONS
- Dim display
The small size of the Asus VivoBook L203MA makes it easy to carry around with you. This laptop can be rotated up to 180 degrees due to the presence of a solid hinge. It has a massive touchpad and a comfortable keyboard, which has enough space between the keys to offer you a smooth typing experience. With a long battery life of more than 10 hours, you can easily complete your assignments on time without delays. This laptop has all the necessary ports for quick data transfer and is quite affordable.
4. Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-C1YA
The Acer Aspire 1 has a stylish design which constitutes a textured black color and an overall slim build. The lid of the laptop has a small Acer logo embedded at its center. It features a 14 inches HD display screen with a high resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The display has a decent level of brightness and offers a sharp image quality making it one of the best laptops under $300. The large display makes it ideal for watching movies with your friends as well as doing work.
It comes with a preinstalled Windows 10, which is ideal for people who don’t want to use the chrome operating system available in the Chromebooks. The Acer Aspire 1 is powered with an Intel Celeron N4000 processor and 4GB RAM, which offers fast processing for performing basic tasks. It lets you stream YouTube videos at a fast pace without slowdowns considering that you have a fast internet connection.
The Acer Aspire 1 has an average battery life of 6.5 hours, and if you only use it for browsing and basic tasks, then it can last even longer. This laptop constitutes a large keyboard with the keys having a white font. You will get to enjoy typing due to its soft keys. The touchpad is located on the left side of the deck and is decently large for making finger gestures.
PROS
- Large display
- Lightweight
- Fast performance
- Sleek design
- Affordable
CONS
- Low battery life
With the help of BlueLightSheild technology used in this laptop, you get to protect your eyes from the intense blue light coming out of the screen, which can cause eyestrain. For better connectivity, the Acer Aspire 1 offers several ports excluding the USB type C port. It has lightweight of 3.6 pounds so you can carry it with great ease. This laptop offers increased productivity for daily tasks and is worth buying.
5. CHUWI Herobook Pro
Chuwi is a fairly new laptop brand, which has been launching amazing laptops for all price ranges. The Chuwi Herobook Pro is claimed to be the most affordable laptop that comes with a 14.1 inches screen. It offers an IPS display with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. Such a high resolution is rarely present in budget-friendly laptops.
This laptop features an extremely slim design making it look quite elegant. The lid has the Chuwi logo at the top left corner, which is different than the usual laptop designs. It has a shiny silver paint job both on the lid and the keyboard deck. So overall, it has a stylish and attractive look that you can’t get your eyes off.
When it comes to the hardware specifications, the Chuwi Herobook Pro features an Intel N4000 Quad-core Gemini Lake processor for efficiently handling routine tasks. It also has an integrated Intel UHD 600 graphics processor, which allows you to enjoy amazing graphics of light online games. With an 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD, all your applications will run smoothly without slowdowns.
PROS
- Extremely slim
- Attractive looks
- Fast speed when loading applications
- Comfortable typing
- High-quality display
CONS
- Plastic body
The Hero book Pro has an average battery life of 9 hours, which is amazing in an inexpensive laptop. This laptop has a full-sized keyboard with bigger keys, so you can get the most out of typing. It features the Windows 10 Operating System, which is preferred by most computer users. It is an ideal laptop for students and office workers who want efficient performance for quickly doing their routine tasks.
6. ASUS L402YA
Asus always comes up with powerful and affordable laptops, which makes it an amazing laptop brand. The Asus L402YA has an all-black paint job with a slimmer lid as compared to its deck. It constitutes a 14 inches display screen and a resolution of 1366×768 pixels. The screen size and display resolution offer a good quality picture for streaming videos.
The 3.6 pounds lightweight of this laptop makes it easy to hold and carry with you. The Asus L402YA has an AMD Dual-core E2-7015 1.5GHz processor and a Radeon R2 graphics coprocessor. This combination makes the laptop extremely efficient and fast for multitasking and running complex applications.
It features a 4GB RAM and 64GB EMMC flash storage for storing your videos and images. This laptop offers several ports for efficient data transfer, including the USB Type C port. The best thing about this laptop is that it does not heat up quickly even if you have been playing games for a few hours.
PROS
- Affordable
- Fast processing capability
- Quality display
- Large screen
CONS
- Low storage capacity
The Asus L402YA has an average battery life of more than 5 hours, which is what you get in most budget-friendly laptops. The battery life is still quite sufficient if you are someone who uses a laptop for light gaming and using MS Office applications. This laptop is best suited for people looking for something less expensive but still offers better performance.
7. Microsoft Surface Go
Microsoft Surface Go is a good entry-level laptop for people who are on a tight budget. This is an extremely lightweight laptop weighing only 1.15 pounds. It can be easily converted to a tablet by lifting the magnesium stand, which comes with it. It comes in a gold color and is easy to carry.
The Microsoft Surface Go has a 10 inches display screen, which may seem quite small, but it is ideal for people who prefer portability over everything. The display has a resolution of 1800×1200 pixels, which offers sharp images. You can binge-watch your favorite movies and tv shows on this high-quality display.
It features an Intel Pentium 4415Y Dual-Core processor, which performs all your daily tasks quickly. It has 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC storage. The storage is low, but if your laptop use is limited to web browsing and watching movies, then this storage capacity is quite adequate for storing your files.
PROS
- Quality display
- Lightweight
- Portable
- Fast performance
CONS
- Small screen
Microsoft Surface Go comes with a pen for using it on the touch screen display. The keyboard of this laptop has a touchpad, so you don’t have to rely on the pen for controlling the cursor on the screen. The average battery life of this laptop is over 6 hours, which is decent for getting all your work done. If you don’t have serious use for a laptop apart from using Office applications, then you should go for this laptop.
Because of its featured, we have also short-listed this laptop under best laptops under $400.
8. Acer Swift 1
Acer Swift is a slim and light laptop that has all the features that you need to get your daily computing work done efficiently. This laptop has a silver color lid which carries an Acer logo at the center. The deck of the laptop also has the same silver paint job, whereas the bezels on the screen have a black color. It has a stylish look and smooth texture, which does not leave finger marks on it.
The Acer Swift 1 features a large display screen of 14 inches and a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The display offers bright colors and a quality picture when you are streaming Netflix movies on it. The thin bezels of the screen let you have a wide display for watching tv shows with your friend.
Coming to the performance of this laptop, it has an Intel Pentium Silver N5000 processor, which makes you smoothly multitask and switch between applications without too much lag. With a RAM size of 4GB, you can effectively perform your basic computing tasks without slowing down the machine and also enjoy light games. It has a weight of just 2.9 pounds, so you can carry it with great ease to your workplace.
PROS
- Lightweight
- Stylish design
- Added security due to fingerprint reader
- Long battery life
- Improved performance
CONS
- A bit slow for complex tasks
The best thing about this laptop is that it features a fingerprint reader, which is located below the keyboard on the right side of the deck. It adds more security to your system, and you don’t have to go through the trouble of remembering a password. The Acer Swift 1 has a long battery life, which makes it one of the best laptops under $300. Its battery can last for more than 10 hours, which is quite important in a budget-friendly laptop.
9. ASUS Chromebook C202 Laptop
The Asus Chromebook is an excellent laptop for students who need to take it to school for their daily work. The solid build of this laptop makes it long-lasting, and it can survive a few bumps here and there. Despite its rugged build, it has a lightweight of 2.65 pounds for easily carrying it to school.
This laptop has an 11.6 inches display screen and a resolution of 1366×768 pixels. It is a decent screen size for a student or a kid who wants to play games on it and watch movies. The anti-glare screen prevents causing eye strain when you are constantly sitting in front of a laptop.
The Chromebook C202 is powered with an Intel Celeron N3060 processor and 4GB RAM. The RAM size and the Celeron processor offer fast performance for carrying out daily computing tasks effectively. With a 16GB eMMC flash storage, you can store all your school-related files and edit them later.
PROS
- Solid build
- Ideal for students
- Long battery life
- Ease of use
- Lightweight
CONS
- Not for heavy processing tasks
This laptop consists of a solid hinge that holds the keyboard deck and the screen. With the help of this hinge, the laptop can be rotated to 180 degrees and can sit flat on a table for group viewings. It features an average battery life of 10 hours, which can last an entire day if all you do is web browsing and edit files. The Chrome operating system of this laptop makes it easy to use by kids, and it is an ideal laptop for under $300.
Although this laptop is considered to be one of the best in this category if you are a heavy task performer then you should have a look at best laptops under $500.
10. Lenovo IdeaPad 320
Lenovo has been making amazing laptops that focus on high quality and improved performance. The Lenovo Ideapad 320 is an affordable laptop that offers all the great features you need for improved productivity. This laptop has a slim build and a stylish design, which makes it an attractive machine. The denim blue paint job on the lid and the deck make it look shiny and smooth.
It features an Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core processor and a 4GB RAM, which makes it fast for performing routine tasks and doing web browsing. It won’t slow down if you open several tabs on a chrome browser. This laptop also has the Intel HD graphics 620 processor for enjoying playing light games without any glitches.
The Lenovo Ideapad 320 has 15.6 inches widescreen and a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, which is ideal for watching high-quality movies. The display offers the right amount of brightness and vibrant colors for a brilliant viewing experience. The full-sized keyboard of this laptop lets you enjoy typing.
PROS
- High processing power
- Snappy keyboard
- High-quality display
- Offers large storage
- Slim design
CONS
- Low battery life
It comes with a 1TB SATA storage that offers a large capacity for storing all your images, videos, and applications. This laptop offers an average battery life of 6 hours, which is adequate for performing your tasks and watching a movie. The Lenovo Ideapad features several ports for efficient data transfer. It is a perfect and affordable laptop for increased productivity.
Conclusion
There you have it, a detailed review of some of the best laptops under $300. The above-reviewed laptops have their good features and a few bad ones as well. But when you are on a budget, you have to make the best choice among the available options.
We hope that after reading this article, you are ready to buy an affordable laptop that is best suitable for your needs.
Take a look at these products from the same price range, that are available right now on Amazon:
- Dell 15.6 HD 1366x768 LED-backlit Display
- Intel Celeron N4020 CPU
- DDR4 4GB memory, 128GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD storage
- USB3.0
- Windows 10 Home
- Intel Celeron N4020 Dual-Core Processor 1.1GHz Up to 2.8GHz / 4GB SDRAM / 64GB eMMC Storage
- 14-inch HD LED Display (1366 x 768) / Integrated Intel Graphics
- Webcam / Wi-Fi 802.11 / Stereo speakers
- 2 USB Type-A HDMI / Card reader / 1 headphone/microphone combo
- 3-cell Li-ion Battery / AC power adapter / Windows 10
- Lightweight and Portable: Possessing a 14.1" Display, the Hyundai Thinnote is built with quality and precision. It’s sleek, lightweight and portable design is made for anyone and everyone.
- Expandable Storage: Increase your storage space with its built-in 2.5" SATA HDD Slot. Equipped with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage, increase the Thinnote’s storage with its microSD slot that supports...
- Dual Band WiFi: Stay completely connected and perfectly productive. Easily connect to reliable WiFi connection for enhanced streaming, downloads and web surfing. Rapidly stream or download massive...
- Windows 10 Home S Mode: Pre-Installed with Microsoft Windows 10 Home S Mode, the most secure Windows ever built, experience fast boot times and added protection against phishing and malware.
- PROCESSOR:Intel Celeron N4020 (1.1 GHz base frequency, up to 2.8 GHz burst frequency, 4 MB L2 cache, 2 cores)
- MEMORY: 4 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM (1 x 4 GB) Transfer rates up to 2400 MT/s. 1 x 4 GB; STORAGE: 64 GB eMMC
- DISPLAY: 14" diagonal, HD (1366 x 768), micro-edge, BrightView, 220 nits, 45% NTSC
- Ports: 1 X USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C; 2 X USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A; 1 X AC smart pin; 1 X HDMI; 1 X headphone/microphone combo; 1 X multi-format SD media card reader; 1 X HP True Vision 720p HD camera with...
- OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 10 Home in S Mode. Accessories: Legendary Computer Travel Laptop Backpack with USB Charging Port Fitting up to 15.6 Inch Laptop
