With dozens of different makes and models available, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of laptop options. When you don’t know what to look for, it becomes difficult to find the best laptops under $700 in 2023.
If you are going to spend this amount of money, you should expect to get a powerhouse of a machine in return.
At this price point we move away from the Chromebooks and other specialized devices meant primarily for web browsing. Any unit listed below can run multiple programs simultaneously and still get decent speeds.
Below we’ve picked five of the absolute best laptop under 700 dollars covering a broad range of uses. From school notebooks to work computers to gaming rigs, one of the contenders below is sure to meet your needs.
10 Best Laptops Under $700 in 2023
HP Pavilion – Best Gaming Laptop Under 700 Dollars
If you don’t have enough money to buy a thousand dollar gaming rig, you won’t find a better budget gaming laptop than this HP Pavilion — especially if you like the neon green color scheme!
- Excellent processor and GPU
- Low price
- Backlighting only available in green
- No solid state drive
Key features & details
Let’s get right down to it — for these specs, you simply won’t find a better price.
HP’s offering is very close to what you’d get with more gaming-focused brands like MSI, but with some minor changes.
The big draws to this model are the green backlighting and accents, and a narrow bezel design so you get more viewing area out of your 15 inch screen.
With a GTX 1050 you’ll get great frame rates on medium to high settings with nearly any game.
There’s just one downside to going with a gaming model at this price point. Unfortunately it has a hard disk drive rather than an SSD, but you can’t expect to get everything for this low a cost.
Want a solid state drive for quieter, faster operations? This model can be customized to include that feature, although the price will go up above $700.
Trust us that the SSD is worth the price bump, though! Once you’ve had a whisper quiet laptop with blazing fast data retrieval and bootup, you won’t ever go back.
Hardware specifications for HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop Processor Intel i5-8300H (8MB Cache, 2.3 – 4GHz) RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 1TB HDD Graphics GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB) Display 15.6″ HD IPS display, 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution Operating System Windows 10 Home Battery Life 7.5 hours Weight 5.18 lbs Other Features RJ-45 jack for wired connections
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 – Best College Pick
Need a portable computer that’s powerful, adaptable, lightweight, and at a low price so you can still afford books for the semester? Dell’s Inspiron is our pick for the best laptop for college students under $700 currently available.
- 2 in 1 display
- Low price
- No solid state drive
- No optical drive
Key features & details
We know college students often need to save money whenever possible, which is why we picked a budget model for our top college pick.
For just over $600, you get a whole lot of power packed into a lightweight device. You won’t have any problems carrying this thin 2-in-1 model around classes all day.
With this combo of CPU and RAM, you can expect great speeds even if you need to run multiple apps during classes.
For this pick, we went with a laptop featuring a larger 1TB HDD.
While it doesn’t boot up quite as fast as a unit with an SSD, you’ll have more space for storing your school projects.
With the full HD screen, you’ll also get great visuals when streaming videos in your down time!
Hardware specifications for Dell Inspiron 15 5000 Processor intel Quad Core i5-8250U (6MB cache, up to 3.40 GHz) RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 1TB HDD Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 620 Display 15.6 inch Full HD IPS touch screen display, 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution Operating System Windows 10 Home Battery Life 7 hours Weight 4.85 lbs Other Features 2-in-1 rotating hinge
Acer Swift 3 – Top Business Choice
Looking for an extremely dependable laptop that will last a whole work day before needing to connect to the power outlet? The latest model Acer Swift is our top pick for the best business laptop under $700 right now.
- Excellent specs and high end display
- Fast boot up with a solid state drive
- No touch screen
- RAM can’t be upgraded later
Key features & details
Whether you run a home office, small business, or large scale corporation, there are always the same basic features you’ll want to find in a business computer.
Acer nails all of them with this model, offering up a durable but lightweight machine with scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass.
The 256GB SSD offers more speed than our other picks, but at the trade off of less storage space.
That isn’t likely to be a major downside for business use though, since you’ll likely be storing data in the cloud and collaborating on documents online anyway.
One of the biggest draws here is the battery. The Swift has long enough battery life to last a full work day before needing to plug in.
Best of all?
You get a fingerprint reader for keeping your sensitive business data safe from prying eyes.
Hardware specifications for Acer Swift 3 Processor AMD Ryzen 7 2700U (up to 3.8GHz) RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 256GB SSD Graphics AMD Radeon RX 540 (2GB) Display 15.6″ IPS Corning Gorilla Glass display, 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution Operating System Windows 10 Home Battery Life 9 hours Weight 4.63 lbs Other Features Fingerprint reader, backlight keyboard
Lenovo Yoga 730 – Best 2-In-1 Hybrid Laptop
Do you prefer versatility and portability over all other features? The Lenovo Yoga is our pick for the best 2-in-1 laptop available under $700 on the market.
- Thin and lightweight
- High end CPU
- Smaller storage capacity
- Highest price
Key features & details
With a 2-in-1 design, you get a solid workhouse of a computer that can also flip around to work as a tablet.
As a bonus, hybrid laptops like the Yoga tend to be much thinner and lighter than normal portable computers.
This model is less than an inch thick when closed, making it extremely comfortable to hold and very portable.
You don’t really lose out on any features even with that thing design though, as there’s a huge array of ports included for connecting to external devices.
Like many new models, this unit also comes standard with a fingerprint reader so you can protect your data without remembering a password.
Note that the version of the Yoga we’ve picked only has a 128GB SSD.
This model can be customized before ordering however, so a bigger SSD is available if you’re willing to go up above the $700 mark.
Hardware specifications for Lenovo Yoga 730 Processor Intel Core i5-8250U (6MB cache) RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 128GB SSD Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 620 Display 15.6″ FHD IPS touch screen display, 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution Operating System Windows 10 Home Battery Life 8 hours Weight 4.17 lbs Other Features 2-in-1 design
ASUS VivoBook S15 – Best Overall Under $700
Looking for the cream of the crop in terms of high end specs, extra features, and plenty of personalized color options? The VivoBook S15 is our pick for the best overall laptop under $700 for any kind of user!
- ultrabook sizing and weight
- Excellent specs
- High price
- No dedicated graphics card
Key features & details
Here we are at our best overall laptop pick!
While it will cost you the full $699.99, this version of the VivoBook is worth the cost, combining most of the best features of our other contenders above.
What you get here is as thin and light as an ultrabook but with enough power under the hood to replace your desktop computer.
The excellent design doesn’t end at the low weight, however. The nano edge bezel offers more viewing area than our other picks even though the chassis is the same overall size.
This model is also available in a variety of color schemes, from a professional white and gold motif to an eye-popping neon blue and green combo.
With a high end display, fast booting solid state drive, backlit keyboard, fingerprint sensor, and plenty of battery life, you can’t go wrong with the VivoBook.
Unless you specifically need a built-in graphics card for gaming, this should be your top pick for the best overall laptop in the price range.
Hardware specifications for ASUS VivoBook S15 Processor Intel Core i5-8250U Processor (up to 3.4Ghz) RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 256GB SSD Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 620 Display 15.6” FHD display with nano edge bezel, 1920 x 1080 pixels resolutionl Operating System Windows 10 Home Battery Life 8 hours Weight 4.0 lbs Other Features Backlit keyboard, fingerprint sensor
Dell Latitude 3180 – Best College Laptop
If you are looking for the perfect college laptop to take with you to class, but are on a budget of under $700, you should take a look at the Dell Latitude. It comes with Microsoft Office pre-installed and is running Windows 10 Pro.
- Microsoft Office Pro Preinstalled
- Windows 10 Pro
- Small, portable size
- Low resolution screen
- Small storage space
Dell is a great brand if you are looking for a budget laptop. The Latitude 3180 is a great companion for any college student.
Key features & details
The Latitude has a small 11.6-inch display which means the overall footprint of the laptop is smaller than your normal 13-15 inch laptop. Perfect to carry around in a backpack when going from class to class.
One of the biggest draws to this laptop for college students will be the inclusion of Microsoft Office Professional. You will have full access to their fantastic software such as Word, Excel, and more!
The screen on the Latitude 3180 is small and has a less than ideal resolution. In this day and age we want to see all of our laptops with at least a full HD display, no matter the screen size.
Overall the Dell Latitude 3180 is a fantastic laptop for college students. If you are looking to buy one for someone else or for yourself to take to class, know that it will be a strong sidekick.
Hardware specifications for Dell Latitude 3180 Processor Intel Celeron N3350 (1.10 GHz) RAM 4GB DDR4 Storage 64GB SSD Graphics Intel HD Graphics Display 11.6-inch LCD, 1366 x 768 pixels resolution Operating System Windows 10 Pro Battery Life 10 hours Weight 4.5 lbs
Microsoft Surface – Best Thin and Light Laptop
The Surface Laptop is a beautiful mix of stylish design and functional specifications. The internals are fast enough to do whatever you need, and it is slim and light enough to carry with you all day. A win win!
- Beautiful display
- Thin and light
- Only 4GB of RAM
- Small storage space
The Surface line of products from Microsoft is known to have beautiful design and outstanding displays. This laptop doesn’t stray from that formula, and it makes it one of our favorite laptops on the market.
Key features & details
The high resolution, 13.5-inch screen is without a doubt the best part of this laptop. Colors pop off the screen and the overall clarity is superb.
The Surface Laptop is one of the most light and portable laptops on the market. That doesn’t mean it feels cheap, it feels premium all while staying extremely lightweight.
The one place this model of the Surface Laptop skimps on is in the RAM and SSD storage space. Only 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space are on board, so you may need to invest in more external storage for your files.
Microsoft has created a fantastic and portable laptop here. It can do anything you want it to, and look pretty while doing it.
Hardware specifications for Microsoft Surface Laptop Processor Intel Core m3 7Y30 (1.00 – 2.6 GHz) RAM 4GB DDR3 Storage 128GB SSD Graphics Intel HD Graphics Display 13.5-inch LCD, 2256 x 1504 pixels resolution Operating System Windows 10 S Battery Life 14.5 hours Weight 2.76 lbs
HP Pavilion x360 – Best for Artists
The Pavilion x360 is a great 2-in-1 laptop that comes in at a very competitive price point. With a core i3 processor and 8GB of RAM, this beauty has more than enough power to run photoshop or your favorite art app without an issue.
- Decent battery life
- Nice display
- Pen included
- Only 128GB of storage
- Integrated graphics
If you are a practicing artist or an aspiring one, you should consider picking up a HP Pavilion x360. With the included stylus and the capable specs, this laptop can help you create better art.
Key features & details
The full HD display was very solid. It has decent brightness and some very punchy colors…all of which are a recipe for a fantastic display.
This is what really takes this from a normal 2-in-1 to a next level experience. Use the included stylus to draw, sketch, and ultimately make the best art you can.
This seems to be a recurring section here on the under $700 reviews. The main place companies such as HP are cutting costs is by reducing both the RAM capacity and the storage space.
The HP Pavilion x360 may not have as many bells and whistles as some of their other 2-in-1 choices, but this laptop is a real workhorse. Do yourself a favor and give it a look.
Hardware specifications for HP Pavilion x360 Processor Intel i3 8130U (2.2 – 3.4 GHz) RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 128GB SSD Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 620 Display 14-inch LCD, 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution Operating System Windows 10 Battery Life 9.25 hours Weight 3.75 lbs
ASUS ZenBook 13 – Ultra-Slim Laptop
The latest ZenBook 13 from Asus isn’t good at speed. However, it has the best display and a keyboard that’s as smooth as butter. Plus, it finally addresses a key difficulty in Asus’s laptop design.
- Decent battery life
- Fast fingerprint sensor
- Stellar display
- Janky touchpad
- HDMI port should be USB-C
- Shell is a smudge magnet
Key features & details
The ASUS ZenBook 13 is another laptop from ASUS during this list but this one is coming from ASUS’s ZenBook series. The chassis of this laptop voted in Slate Gray, which furnishes a premium and stunning look. To make this notebook an ultra-slim, all the powerful specs are protected in a 0.5 thin aluminum body which has a weight of 2.5 pounds.
The display of this laptop sports 13.3-inch of full HD WideView display which provides precise colors from up to 178-degree wide-angle. And the best thing about this ultrabook is that it has the ASUS Eye Care feature that takes care of your eyes from strain while you are working for a long time.
This portable notebook is provided with the 8th Generation Intel Core i5-8265U processor and ultra-fast 512GB of SSD storage. It runs on the Windows 10 operating system and for smooth multitasking, it is supported by 8GB DDR4 RAM. Aside from its hardware, it also has an in-built fingerprint sensor that allows you to log in with just a single touch and you no need to type the password at all times.
Hardware specifications for Asus Zenbook 13 Processor 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8265U Processor RAM 8GB DDR4 RAM Storage 512GB SSD Graphics Intel HD graphics 620 Display 13.3-inch Full HD WideView Display Operating System Windows 10 Battery Life 15 hours Weight 2.5 lbs
Lenovo Ideapad L340 – Laptop with Performance
The Ideapad L340 Gaming Laptop is a little more budget-friendly than other Lenovo gaming machines.
- Excellent 1080p gaming performance
- Reasonably priced
- Good battery life
- Comfortable keyboard
- JClickPad button clicks are too loud
- 512GB SSD is a little tight for gaming
Key features & details
If you are trying to find a gaming laptop with a modern and powerful set of hardware configuration then this Lenovo Ideapad L340 is a great choice for you. Lenovo has recently launched the gaming laptops in their most popular Ideapad series.
The display of this laptop is 15.6 inches of full HD IPS display with 1920 x 1080 resolution. This laptop has Lenovo Vantage Eye Care Mode that helps to reduce the risk of eye tension and exhaustion by playing games for long hours. It has interesting features such as for playing the game it has ‘quick’ Mode and for work it has ‘quiet’ mode, you are able to quickly shift that mode with just one click.
This Lenovo Ideapad L340 laptop has a 9th gen Intel Core i5-9300H processor with max turbo frequency up to 4.10 GHz inside. The processor of this laptop is coupled with 8GB of RAM to deliver a smooth multitasking operation experience. For smoother gameplay, it has 4GB of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 dedicated graphics card.
Hardware specifications for Lenovo Ideapad L34 Processor 9th Gen Intel Core i5-9300H Processor RAM 8GB DDR4 RAM Storage 1TB HDD512GB SSD Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB Graphics Display 15.6-inch Full HD IPS Display Operating System Windows 10 Battery Life 9 hours Weight 4.84 lbs
Picking The Best Laptops Under $700 In 2023
Design
While many laptops in this price range will have very similar specs, they often differentiate themselves through overall weight and display design.
To get the most RAM and biggest storage capacity, we recommend sticking with 15.6 inch models in this price range.
Even at that standard size, you can still find plenty of thin and lightweight ultrabook models that are 4 pounds or less, however.
That’s particularly helpful if you’ll be carrying your laptop around between home, work, or school on a regular basis.
Don’t forget to look for extras like high end Corning Gorilla Glass either, as that can make a sub-$700 laptop much more attractive than more expensive models!
Features
Aside from the specs like RAM and CPU speed, it is absolutely critical to compare the extra features between models to ensure you get the best deal and most options.
When models in this price range have similar specs, we recommend picking a unit with a fingerprint scanner and backlit keyboard for the best experience.
There’s plenty of variety available in $600 – $700 machines outside those features as well. Hybrid tablet / laptop models are available here, as well as traditional portable computers to sit on your lap or a desk.
Touch screens are becoming the norm, and it won’t be long before most laptops come standard with touch functionality.
Having a touch screen makes it easier to use some Windows 10 apps that are meant for tapping rather than clicking.
Overall Performance
After deciding on size, weight, and design, your main concerns should be in how fast your laptop can load apps and boot up Windows.
To get the best performance at this price, we recommend sticking to a minimum of 8GB of RAM and a 7th gen processor. If you can bump up to 16GB or get an 8th gen, then even better.
In most cases, you won’t find a full rack of 16GB unless you pick a refurbished model, which we didn’t include in our picks.
When you get into this price range, you can also often find laptops with dedicated graphics cards.That can be a big selling point if you want a work machine that’s also capable of high end gaming in your spare time.
Gaming Performance
When spending this amount of money, you want to make sure you get stable frame rates at decent graphics settings no matter what kind of games you play.
At this price range, we recommend GeForce GTX 1050 as your bottom line graphics card, with little to no wiggle room. In some cases you may even be able to find machines on sale with a GTX 1050i for slightly increased performance.
Laptops with integrated shared graphics exist in the $600 – $700 range, but they aren’t even worth considering if you intend to use the computer primarily for gaming.
Be sure to get a full HD screen with 1920 resolution as well, so your games always look their best!
Battery
While more battery life is always better, the specific number of hours you should look for will vary depending on your usage needs.
You’ll find that many machines with larger, higher end displays tend to have less overall battery power.
We’ve picked a range of models below that cover the gamut in battery life, but in most cases we recommend picking a unit that estimates between 8 – 14 hours so you don’t need to frequently plug into an outlet.
In terms of battery life, there’s simply no way around it — you will always get less charge with gaming models unfortunately, as the GPU uses up more power. Be on the lookout for anything with 5 – 6 or more hours of battery life for gaming models.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it okay to buy a refurbished laptop?
Yes! As long as the seller of the refurbished item has a lot of positive reviews and is well known in the space, we often suggest people pick up a refurbished model to save a bit of money.
Can you game on these laptops?
No, generally speaking. They just don’t have enough graphical horsepower to pump out a high-quality experience.
Can we upgrade the specs of these laptops?
Yes, all of the laptops mentioned above are upgradable. You can upgrade its RAM, HDD Storage, or even replace HDD to SSD to boost performance, but keep in mind that when opening your laptop you may void its warranty.
Can we photo edit/video edit on these laptops?
Yes, you can do photo and video editing on these laptops, I’m pretty sure it can handle Adobe Photoshop for photo editing and Video Maker, Sony Vegas or other similar apps for video editing and it can render them pretty good too.
What must-have at this price range?
With this price, you can have a decent GPU, an SSD, 4 to 8GB RAM, a decent graphics card and a juicy battery. And it comes with a bag too!
Are these laptops customizable?
Yes, definitely. It’s up to you if you customize a laptop, as long as it gives you the satisfaction you wanted, you definitely could.
What are the pre-installed applications?
All of these laptops are powered by Windows 10, already installed with Microsoft office 365, an anti-virus usually McCafe, and other basic software applications. But I’m pretty sure in the meantime you will only need Microsoft office, right?
Is it worth getting SSD on a laptop?
Yes, everything is faster and easier with an SSD (solid-state drive), faster booting up, loading programs, switching between tasks. SSD is a type of storage that replaces the traditional clunky hard drive.
How long can a laptop last?
If you don’t drain the battery, it will last much longer. You should expect to replace your laptop once every four years, that’s based on cost analysis, plus the average time it takes to wear out the internal parts of a laptop is three to four years others last for 10 years depending on its build quality.
Resources
- Christopher Null, HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop Overview, Forbes
- Eric Grevstad, Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 Review, PC Mag
- Gabe Carey, Acer Swift 3 Review, Tech Radar
- Joshua Goldman, Lenovo Yoga 730 Review: Still A Great 2-in-1, CNET
- Gabe Carey, Asus VivoBook S15 S530UA Review, PC Mag