The best laptops you can buy for under $500 in 2025

When you're on the hunt for the best laptop under $500, you need to be careful.

In the highly competitive laptop market, you get what you pay for. That means it can be very dangerous to buy a "cheap" laptop. Choose wrongly, and you'll be stuck with a slow, outdated computer that causes more problems than it solves. Mashable regularly tests the best affordable laptops overall, but if $500 is your upper limit, then you're going to be priced out of some popular budget laptops. But even then, we still highly recommend a handful of computers that will fit nicely into your budget.

Not all of the laptops we tested made our final cut, like the Samsung Chromebook 4. Credit: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable

A quick guide to laptop pricing

You can buy a cheap Chromebook for as little as $100, while our favorite gaming laptop will set you back over $3,000. And in our guide to the best laptops in general, you'll find machines that span a wide spectrum of prices. With $500 to spend, you'll be priced out of Ultrabooks, MacBooks, and most gaming laptops.

Typically, laptops fall into one of the following categories:

• Chromebooks ($100-$650): These computers have minimal storage and are designed to run mostly web applications. They're light, portable, and very affordable. Cloud-based gaming Chromebooks also offer an alternative to gaming laptops.

• Budget laptops ($250-$750): Even the best budget laptops won't have the most impressive specs, but they should have enough RAM and storage for everyday use at school or work.

• MacBooks ($850-$3,500): The cheapest MacBook worth buying (the M2 MacBook Air) will set you back $850 when it's on sale, while a fully specced-out MacBook Pro can cost as much as $3,500.

• Ultrabooks ($1,000-$3,500): These high-end laptops have enough processing power to handle tasks like photo and video editing. They typically have a sleek and modern aesthetic, too. MacBooks also fall into this category.

What are the best laptops under $500 in 2024?

Below, we've put together a detailed guide to the best budget laptops for under $500, including Chromebook picks. The right laptop will vary depending on your needs, but the Acer Aspire 5 is our overall top pick for our money. Check out all the contenders below.