Budget Laptops

Laptops with good performance and great value

While budget laptops used to have relatively weak internals to match their affordable price tags, manufacturers are releasing more powerful notebooks for much less than you'd expect. Opting for a pre-configured retail version of a notebook is one way to score a killer deal. You can't upgrade these laptops before purchase -- and specific configurations tend to come and go quickly -- but you can get a good mix of features without breaking the bank.

One prime example is the 15.6-inch Asus N53SV-B1 (*Est. $900), a fixed retail configuration that ships with an Intel Core i5-2410M processor, 6 GB of RAM, a 640 GB hard drive and Nvidia GeForce GT 540M switchable graphics. Reviewers say the Asus laptop is a great value, as it includes a number of features found on laptops that cost much more, including a Blu-ray drive, facial recognition and HDMI and digital audio ports. The machine actually came out earlier this year at a higher price point, but its cost has decreased as it has advanced in age.

User reviews are few but largely positive. The only major complaints concern the keyboard; it's not backlit, and users say that the dedicated number pad isn't laid out normally. Its inclusion also led Asus to make the standard keys too small for many users' tastes. The single independent review we found of the N53SV-B1 is very appreciative of the notebook's performance chops; it says the machine is fast for daily usage and editing and productivity tasks and good for watching movies, although the sound output is a bit lacking. Users disagreed on this front; they enjoyed the Bang & Olufsen-powered audio. The two-year warranty and HD display also earn praise.

The Asus U36Jc-B1 (*Est. $860) is another ultraportable Asus laptop that gets high marks for value, and it manages to pack discrete Nvidia graphics into its 3.2-pound frame. The 13.3-inch laptop ships with an Intel Core i5-480M processor, 4 GB of RAM, 500 GB hard drive, an HDMI port and three USB ports, including one USB 3.0 port.

Reviewers say the Asus U36Jc-B1 delivers impressive performance, even for gaming, and it has a comfortable chiclet-style keyboard. It also performs very well in a recent independent test, where the Asus U36Jc-B1 posts higher scores than any other 13-inch laptop save for the Samsung Series 9, which costs significantly more. Battery life is also very good, lasting for nearly nine hours in that test. However, reviewers have plenty of complaints about the touchpad, which PC World deems "a horror show." The touchpad has a hard time responding to multi-touch gestures, and the mouse button requires too much force. Users also say the Asus U36Jc-B1 has an absurd amount of bloatware.

One manufacturer-configurable notebook joins the two Asus laptops in the budget ranks; several experts say that the Sandy Bridge refresh of the HP Envy 14 (*Est. $1,000 and up) delivers some of the best bang for your buck around. Although you can spend more for bigger and better components, reviewers say the base configuration sits in a sweet spot of the price-to-performance ratio. The base model includes a second-generation Intel Core i5-2430M CPU with integrated HD 3000 graphics, a 500 GB hard drive, 6 GB of RAM and a discrete, switchable AMD Radeon HD 6330M graphics card with 1 GB of onboard memory.

With its unusual 14.5-inch screen size, the HP Envy 14 is a bit bigger and heavier than ultraportable laptops, but HP used the extra space to add extras like a slot-loading DVD player, a webcam and USB 3.0, HDMI and mini DisplayPort connections. The backlit keyboard and fast and responsive multi-touch trackpad are generally considered high points, although some found the touch controls to occasionally be finicky.

The visuals are a mixed bag. Experts say the glossy 1,366-by-768-pixel display provides vibrant colors, but the glossy screen is prone to glare, and Charles P. Jeffries at NotebookReview.com complains that the 14.5-inch screen size distorts the 720p resolution. The Beats audio technology is called above average, however. "This Dr. Dre–approved combination of hardware and software promises 'studio-quality sound' and delivers it -- along with richer bass than I've heard on any laptop without a subwoofer," Brian Westover writes at PCMag.com. Other publications report similarly good results, but find the bass slightly less explosive than advertised.

Performance is solid all around. The HP Envy 14 outpaces the average benchmark scores of similar laptops in all of Laptop Magazine's tests, especially the 3DMark06 test, which tests the 3D performance of a system. Reviewer Sherri L. Smith chalks the high scores up to the discrete AMD graphics, a feature many laptops in this price range lack. The speedy 7,200 RPM hard drive accesses data faster than the 5,400 RPM models found in similar laptops. Battery life rings in neither good nor bad at roughly five hours. "Quite average, really," Dana Wollman writes at Engadget.com, and other reviewers agree.

While you can find speedier and more attractively designed laptops, reviewers say that overall, virtually no laptop -- other, perhaps, than the base version of the Dell XPS 15z -- brings this mixture of performance, features and design to the table. "Its design and quality are unparalleled amongst immediate competitors," Jeffries writes at NotebookReview.com. Wollman at Engadget.com agrees. "If what you want is a well designed, strong performer with all the screen real estate of a 15-incher, it's still tough to argue against the Envy 14," she says in her conclusion.