Best Laptops:
If you’re looking for a good laptop but aren’t in mood of spending thousands of dollars? Don’t worry, there are plenty of laptop options available for under $ 500.
Experts at Social Tomatoes can help you make the right choice with good portability and power and a reasonable price. Our list of budget laptops features the best models that achieve the perfect price-performance ratio ending up as Best Laptops under $500.
LENOVO IDEAPAD S340

HIGHLIGHT: AN AFFORDABLE, RELIABLE, HIGH-QUALITY BEST LAPTOP FOR EVERYDAY TASKS
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 laptop with a 15.6-inch display based on the IPS-matrix Full HD-resolution with wide viewing angles. This configuration is the best budget laptop option. It features an 8th Gen Intel quad-core i5-8265U processor, 8GB of RAM; and a 128GB SSD, 720p HD webcam, and up to 8.5 hours of battery life. If you’re looking for the best laptops for college or web browsing use; hence, this is a great option i.e. it is one of the best budget laptops.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS LENOVO IDEAPAD S340
- Display: 6 ″, 1366 X 768 HD, IPS
- CPU: Core i5, 8265U, 1.60 GHz to 3.90 GHz
- RAM: 8 GB DDR4
- Storage device: 128 GB SDD
HP 15 Laptop

HIGHLIGHT: QUALITY LAPTOP WITH SERIOUS ASPIRATIONS
The HP 15 boasts some pretty respectable specs, making it ideal for day-to-day tasks; including regular web surfing, document editing, streaming, and college use.
I wish the display was a little sharper and brighter. But, this laptop has a powerful battery that is unlikely to run out of power even if you are away from the mains, most of the day. It’s one of the best budget laptops you have at this price.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS HP 15
- Display: 6 ″, 1366 x 768 pixels, VA
- CPU: Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz
- RAM: 4 GB DDR4
- Storage device: SSD, 128 GB
DELL INSPIRON 15 3000 3583

HIGHLIGHT: STYLISH, ULTRAPORTABLE DESIGN
The Dell Inspiron 15 3000 3583 in its aluminum design is a great model for home and college use. The laptop has a fairly solid ultra-portability, thanks to its thin dimensions; lightweight and powerful battery (up to 11 hours, depending on configuration and use).
It has an aluminum lid and keyboard that add durability and style. Inside is a 4th Gen Intel Core Celeron 4205U processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD drive. The processor and RAM will remain relevant for years, but you may run out of disk space. Unfortunately, in this price range, Dell does not offer an SSD over 256GB for this model. Otherwise, the Inspiron 15 5000 offers up-to-date specs and a decent feature set. For example, the power button on the upper right corner of the keyboard has an integrated fingerprint reader for easy and secure login. It is a valuable touch on a mid-range laptop.
The 15.6-inch screen has a standard Full HD resolution (1366 x 768 pixels) but does not support a touchscreen display. This benefit is available on the more expensive Dell Inspiron 15 (5551, 5558, 5749, 5758). But the display may seem a little dim if you are working in a bright office or outdoors. And everything is fine in artificial light. It is also the Best Laptops under $500.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS DELL INSPIRON 15 3000 3583
- Display: 6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixels, IPS
- CPU: Core i3, Celeron 4205U, 1.6GHz
- RAM: 8 GB DDR3
- Storage device: SSD, 256 GB
ACER ASPIRE 5

HIGHLIGHT: BUDGET LAPTOP WITH A LARGE SCREEN
The updated configuration of the Acer Aspire 5 is a welcome improvement over its predecessor; and is a worthy, albeit compromised, choice for buyers looking for an inexpensive laptop with a large screen.
The Aspire 5, one of the pillars of Acer’s extensive line of budget laptops, gets frequent updates. The 2019 version reviewed here (model A515-54-359G) is a sleek, lightweight 15-inch laptop with a Full HD display based on quality IPS matrices.
The new Aspire 5 costs about $ 500 and is the upper end of the budget notebook market. The cheapest Aspire 5 costs around $ 350, but the added cost provides an improved display, better performance in everyday computing tasks; and excellent battery life, up to 7.5 hours. Aspire 5 is the best choice if you have a budget of $500.
There are a few downsides, such as a lot of pesky crackers and “average” build quality. This Aspire 5 is a trade-off like any budget laptop, but better than many others; thus, making into the list of best laptops.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ACER ASPIRE 5 A515-54-359G
- Display: 6 ″, 1920 × 1080 pixels, IPS
- CPU: Core i3, AMD Ryzen 3 3200U, 2.1 GHz
- RAM: 4 GB DDR4
- Storage device: SSD, 128 GB
Why buy a $500 Laptop?
If you have decided to buy the Best Laptops under $500. It does not mean that you are looking for a poor quality laptop; built with not very durable materials and with poor performance. By now, the best 500 dollar laptops in the list above are perfectly able to guarantee maximum fluidity, in most common tasks such as:
- Web browsing on the main search engines;
- Writing and editing documents on the Office package (or similar);
- Entertainment on the most popular social networks;
- Playback of multimedia files in streaming or on YouTube;
- Use of work management.
Clearly, the speech changes if you want to approach gaming or video editing. It is necessary to purchase special devices for decent performance. Also, it is possible to physically update the internal components; thus improving the actual performance of the terminal according to your needs.
For example, I have identified the best $500 laptops to buy, but it has a small SSD. In this case, it is possible to evaluate the option to change integrated SSD by buying a larger and better SSD. Or you can use an external hard drive. The same argument can be extended to RAM, given that in the market, you can find DDR4 RAM banks for a few tens of dollars.
IMPORTANT – It is good to check before purchasing, if it is possible to replace/ increase the RAM and internal memory of the laptops.