Best Laptop for Under $500?

[James Falconer]

Curious if anyone has feedback here for me. In your opinion, what is the best laptop you can buy for under $500?

 

[Leonel Funes]

There are some great deals over on HP right now! I was looking for a replacement pen but noticed they have some Presidents' Day sales going on - the Pavilion line has always been good for the price. If you don't need a tablet mode for your laptop, you can get a 15.6" Pavilion with 8GB RAM/1TB HDD for around $419 right now.

 

[James Falconer]

Have the links handy?

 

[RumoredNow]

Izzat CAD?

Microsoft Store usually has some good prices and the Signature Series is a good bet without all the bloatware.

B&H ships to Canada and their customer service is top shelf all the way. They usually have deals on leftover stock they tend to snap up so if last gen doesn't bother you you can get good bang for the buck.

You probably want something in what they call the "work" grade: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/business-laptops/ci/35802/N/3531923714

 

[RumoredNow]

Oh... B&H also does used, refurbs and closeout deals...

 

[ArtistJD]

How about these ones?

https://www.michipel.com/best-laptops-for-computer-science

 

[hudson31]

ASUS VivoBook F510UA is a good laptop you can buy right now. It comes with 8th gen Intel Core i5-8250U processor, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Intel UHD 620 graphics, and 15.6 inches FHD (1920×1080) display.

You can also check here for more options: https://www.bestlaptopninja.com/best-laptops-under-500/

 

[hudson31]

Check this guide:
https://www.bestlaptopninja.com/best-laptops-under-500/

 

[jarvannaer]

I want to know how important an ipad pen or surface pen is.Do you need them?

 

[ArtistJD]

Check this guide:
https://www.bestlaptopninja.com/best-laptops-under-500/

Relax champ. You actually put the same link on this thread twice. I don't want to assume you won't be coming back here again.

You got a write up, though.

 

[Geodude074]

+1 for the ASUS VivoBook F510UA. It's my new laptop for school. Hands down the best $500 laptop you can buy.

My review on Amazon haha.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUvbUpU3756462

Pros:
* 15.6" display in 14" body
* Thin and light
* 1920x1080 screen
* IPS matte display with good color accuracy, deep contrast, and wide viewing angles
* Quad-core i5-8250u
* 5-9 hours of battery life
* Lots of usable ports
* Decent keyboard and trackpad
* Extra m.2 slot for SSD, 4 total RAM slots for 32GB total
* Solid build quality
* Silent at idle, quiet at full throttle

Cons:
* No dedicated GPU
* Meh speakers
* Fingerprint reader sometimes takes 2-3 tries to work (not sure if this is Asus or Microsoft's fault)

For the money, this is the best $500 budget laptop you can buy. It's a near ultrabook notebook at a budget laptop price. A few years ago, a laptop with these kind of specs would cost $800 and up, and a $500 laptop would get you a 1366x768 screen with a washed out TN panel and a dual-core i5.

This laptop has no compromises, and the pros easily outweigh the cons. You get a thin and light laptop with quad-core performance and a good screen with good battery life. Geekbench 3 score was 3172/12439, which is 10% shy of my old desktop i7-4770k at 3496/13396, crazy. In battery saving mode with normal web browsing it lost 11% battery in one hour. In best performance mode it lost 20% battery in one hour. The keyboard is good, I get over 100 wpm, and the trackpad is accurate and responsive, I don’t hate using it. And unlike other premium $1000+ ultrabooks like the Macbook, this laptop has a ton of usable ports.

But understand this is still a budget laptop. The i5-8250u is good, but there’s no dedicated GPU, so this is not a gaming laptop. The screen is good but it’s not the best, it doesn’t have 100% RGB color accuracy, and it’s not super bright either. Keyboard is good, but it’s still a thin laptop, so there’s not a lot of travel. Trackpad is decent, but it’s not made of glass. Build quality is solid, but it’s made of plastic not aluminum, so it still flexes (but not that much). Battery life can get you through a whole day if you leave it on battery saving mode, otherwise bring your charger.

Ignore people who comment saying this laptop needs a backlit keyboard, or that the keyboard flexes. They're comparing a $500 budget laptop to a $1000 ultrabook, which doesn't make sense.

The most underrated feature of this laptop is the expandability. Popping off the back panel is easier than baking a pie, just take off the screws (two hidden ones in the rubber feet) and pop off the panel, takes less than 5 minutes. There's an available m.2 SSD and 4 total RAM slots with an 8GB stick in place, leaving you room for 32GB total, that’s insane. I got a 500GB m.2 SSD for $90, making this a $600 laptop in total, and it’s money well spent (considering the 128GB SSD version is $620).

So if you’re on a budget and you’re looking for the best laptop in the $500 range, this is it.