Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 15-inch review: Far from the cutting edge

Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 15-inch review: Far from the cutting edge

Deja vu. Just like last year's Microsoft Surface Laptop 3, the 2021 Surface Laptop 4 indistinguishes itself by its utter averageness. It's still not particularly light, or fast or feature-packed. It's not inexpensive or full of cutting-edge tech and it doesn't have an especially long battery life. It's faster and has better battery life than the older model, but so does every other laptop updated for 2021. But it's also still reasonably portable, sufficiently fast, pleasantly sleek looking, durable, somewhat upgradeable, and backward-compatible with previous power supplies and Surface Connect accessories sold by Microsoft. 

Very little has changed for this generation. It's been bumped to the 4000-series of the AMD Ryzen 7 mobile processor and 11th-gen Intel Core i7-11875G7, plus storage and memory increases and newer Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Given the rote upgrades, it's a bit annoying that Microsoft chose to use the last generation (Zen 2) of the AMD CPUs rather than the current and faster 5000 series (Zen 3), though that's probably due to the timing of the laptop's release. It's also par for the course: the Surface Laptop 3's AMD CPU was also an older-than-current generation.

Like

• Retains the thin, sleek look
• Solid performance and battery life

Don't Like

• Screen still has wide-ish bezels
• Too few ports
• Can't upgrade memory

The Ryzen 7 4980U processor in the 15-inch system is dubbed the Ryzen 7 Microsoft Surface Edition. That made sense last year when the processor differed from the rest of its siblings by the addition of an extra graphics core (compute unit) its Vega 9 integrated graphics. But this year's CPU is effectively identical to the Ryzen 7 4800U, albeit with clock speeds a mere 200MHz faster, and in fact its Vega 8 integrated GPU has one CU less than the chip in the Surface Laptop 3. 

Note that this year's AMD model will always outperform last year's simply because the older model used a lower-end Ryzen 5, not a Ryzen 7, and the AMD model will likely outperform the Intel model, at least on multicore-intensive tasks, simply because it has 8 cores compared to the Intel's 4. 

The 3:2 aspect ratio, 201 pixel-per-inch display is the same as before; nothing to get excited about unless you're upgrading from an old laptop with a dim screen. It's fine for work, but somewhat washed out for Netflix. There are two color profiles which come with it, a standard sRGB and an "Enhanced" mode, but the latter seems to be the native screen profile and looks like it just increases the contrast. It retains the same old sufficient 720p webcam and the paucity of ports -- one each USB-A and USB-C plus an analog headphone jack. 

Read more: Meet Microsoft's new Modern family of work-from-home audio accessories

The under-the-hood-only updates mean much of what we liked and disliked about the Surface Laptop 3 remain the same, from the slim and sleek design to the insufficient number of ports and soldered memory. This year I'll toss in the somewhat stodgy looking  screen bezels because it uses the same screen in the same chassis as before; even Apple finally overcame bezel inertia for the MacBook Pro a few years ago. 

Still slim and still Microsoft Surface Connector powered.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Down to business

Microsoft offers only AMD processors in its consumer-focused models, but both AMD and Intel for its Surface Laptop 4 for Business line. The two sales channels differ by the variety of configurations and version of Windows they offer -- Windows 10 Home versus Windows 10 Pro. The biz prices are about $100 higher.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (15 inch)

Price as reviewed	$1,700, £1,649, AU$2,699
Display	15-inch 2,496 x 1,664 (201 ppi, 3:2 aspect ratio) pen and touch display
PC CPU	2.0GHz AMD Ryzen 7 4980U
PC Memory	16GB 4,267MHz LPDDR4
Graphics	AMD Vega 8
Storage	512GB SSD
Ports	1 x USB-C, 2 x USB-A (1 in power brick), headphone jack, 1 x proprietary (Surface Connect port)
Networking	Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200, Bluetooth 5.1
Operating system	Microsoft Windows Home (2H20)
Weight	3.4 lbs/1.5 kg

The pricing for the 15-inch model starts at $1,300 (£1,469, AU$2,499) for AMD and $1,800 (£1,799, AU$2,849) for Intel, but the AMD base models have only 8GB of RAM. You really can't run Windows 10 very well in 8GB except for maybe lightweight cloud-based applications and possibly enterprise remote PC software like Citrix Desktop. The flip side is that 32GB is overkill for most software you'd be running on this laptop. So if you're going to opt for the 15-inch Surface Laptop 4, I recommend the 16GB memory, 512GB SSD models.

That's still a lot to pay for what you get compared with competitors: Laptops like the Lenovo Yoga 9i, a 2-in-1 which is smaller at 14 inches but superior in almost every other way for hundreds less. On sale, it might be a different story. That model even has discrete graphics for gaming; there's not a ton of graphical muscle here with the integrated Intel Iris Xe or AMD Radeon Vega 8 graphics. The heavyweight multiplatform shooter Outriders was choppy even at the lowest graphics preset, but lightweight Hades, the recent award-winning indie game, ran perfectly. 

Overall, the Surface Laptop 4's AMD CPU performed very well for its size class. At 11-12 hours, battery life was much improved over the previous generation, to the tune of about 2.5 hours, and quite competitive for its size. 

Toss in some wonky USB-C and touchscreen behavior I experienced -- they both stopped working until a random reboot fairy sprinkled some magic dust on them -- and it's hard to place the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 in the top tier of models we've tested over the past couple of years. But you'll probably be perfectly happy with it, especially if your IT department buys it for you.

Geekbench 5 (multicore)

Surface Book 3 (15-inch)

Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch Intel)

Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482

Surface Laptop 4 (15-inch AMD, 2021)

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance.

Cinebench R20 (multicore)

Surface Book 3 (15-inch)

Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch Intel)

Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482

Surface Laptop 4 (15-inch AMD, 2021)

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance.

3D Mark Fire Strike Ultra

Surface Book 3 (15-inch)

Surface Laptop 4 (15-inch AMD, 2021)

Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch Intel)

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance.

Video streaming battery test

Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch Intel)

Surface Laptop 4 (15-inch AMD, 2021)

Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482

Surface Book 3 (15-inch)

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance.

PCMark 10 Pro Edition (complete)

Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch Intel)

Surface Book 3 (15-inch)

Surface Laptop 4 (15-inch AMD, 2021)

Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

System configurations

Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-1165G7; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 4,267MHz; 128MB Intel Iris Xe graphics; 512GB SSD
Microsoft Surface Book 3 (15-inch)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (1909); 1.3GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7; 32GB DDR4 SDRAM 4,267MHz; Intel Iris Plus Graphics and 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti with Max-Q design; 512GB SSD
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch, Intel)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (1903); 1.3GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,667MHz; 128MB (dedicated) Intel Iris Plus Graphics; 256GB SSD
Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (15-inch, AMD, 2021)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (2H20); 2.0GHz AMD Ryzen 7 4980U; 16GB LPDDR4 SDRAM 4,267MHz; tkGB (dedicated) AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics; 512GB SSD

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Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: A special edition that feels ordinary

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: A special edition that feels ordinary

Intel heralded the arrival of the "ultraportable gaming laptop" at CES 2021, rolling out a trio of low-power 11th-gen H series processors intended for systems prioritizing portability and battery life above raw performance, promising workday-long battery life and thin, businesslike designs. 

The $1,400 Acer Predator Triton 300 SE uses the Intel Core i7-11375H, a "special edition" -- "SE," get it? -- of its 35-watt i7-11370H sibling. It supports Intel Turbo Boost 3.0, which potentially allows the CPU to attain a peak single-core frequency of 5GHz compared to 4.8GHz for the not-so-special part. That's all great on paper, but ultimately, while it's a solid Triton gaming laptop with nicer looks than the rest of its family, you don't gain any noticeable advantages from the special CPU.

While it definitely has a sleeker, more businesslike design than the more powerful models, it's not nearly as bizzy as, say, the 13-inch Asus ROG Flow X13 two-in-one or Razer Blade Stealth 13. It's not nearly as "ultraportable" either -- while the performance of the smaller models lags the Triton, they will more than likely also get upgraded to 11th-gen CPUs and the new GeForce RTX 3050 that was just announced, so it's just a matter of time. 

Like

• Relatively light
• Can open 180 degrees
• Some nice design touches

Don't Like

• Doesn't use Nvidia Advanced Optimus
• Single-channel memory
• Can't change performance modes unless there's at least 40% battery and it's plugged in

The Predator Triton line sits in the enthusiast middle of Acer's gaming laptops, between the entry-level Nitro series and the more aggressively game-focused Helios models. So it makes sense that the Triton line would be Acer's choice for the quad-core, low-power CPU.

Acer's offering only a single model of the $1,400 Triton 300 SE (approximately £1,290 or AU$2,340 if you convert from euros). It comes with 16GB RAM (upgradeable to 24GB), a GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q graphics processor, a 512GB SSD and a 144Hz 14-inch 1080p display with a 100% Adobe RGB color gamut. It includes many of the 11th-gen perks, including a USB-C and Thunderbolt 4 connector and Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics. There's also a full-size HDMI 2.1 connection. But it's missing some features as well, such as Wi-Fi 6E. 

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Price as reviewed	$1,400, £1,290 (approx.)
Display size/resolution	14-inch 1,920x1,080 pixels, 144Hz 100% Adobe RGB
PC CPU	Intel Core i7-11375H
PC Memory	16GB 3,200MHz DDR4
Graphics	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q, Intel Iris Xe (96 execution units)
Storage	512GB SSD
Ports	1x USB-C/Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, audio combo jack
Networking	Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1
Operating system	Microsoft Windows Home (2H20)
Weight	3.8lbs (1.7kg)

The configuration is pretty much the only one it could offer. Strip it down more and it makes less sense, bump it up and it probably wouldn't fit into the power or thermal requirements of the design. To me, the SE model seems like a trial balloon to see if there's a market for a laptop built around the i7-11375H and other low-core-count 35w CPUs.

The newest non-SE Triton 300 models slated to ship in July don't have the SE's pretty silver finish. They have the same 15-inch black chassis as the models from earlier this year, with much better gaming specs that include up to the new eight-core 11th-gen i7 CPUs, GeForce RTX 3070 and 32GB RAM, with 360Hz 1080p or 165Hz QHD displays. Those start at $1,699. There's also a new 17-inch model coming in July.

Thin, yes, but not ultrathin.

Lori Grunin/CNET

Though it doesn't look much like a Razer at first glance, the Triton 300 SE has the same thick, uniform, slab-like shape of one, albeit with far more detailing, such as extensive vents and surface colors and textures. Those include a brushed silver lid and accents that switch between blue and red depending upon the viewing angle and lighting. 

I like the way the bottom screen bezel turns the reflection of the keyboard backlight into an abstract rainbow. The screen can tilt back flat; even if you never plan to use it at such an oblique angle, it still means it can tilt back far enough to accommodate most situations, such as (ahem) lying in bed with the laptop perched against your bent knees.

The Triton has a decent set of connections for a 14-inch laptop: a full-size HDMI, two USB-A, one USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 and a combo audio jack.

Lori Grunin/CNET

The keyboard is decent for both typing and gaming, with good travel and a mechanical-sounding click. There are dedicated Turbo and PredatorSense buttons, with media keys down the right side, and a touchpad disable function key for gaming. It lacks per-key RGB lighting, but has three zones to configure and the backlight shines brightly through the keycaps.

Nothing about the 720p webcam stands out -- it's the usual ho-hum camera you find on so many midrange laptops -- and it lacks an IR camera for use with Windows Hello login. There is a fingerprint reader on the smallish touchpad, though.

It's hard to capture the laptop's attractive shade of warm silver and textured finish. One of the notable touches is the highlight color on the hinge, which switches between blue and red depending upon the angle.

Lori Grunin/CNET

Does the low-power CPU matter?

The laptop has four performance modes: quiet, default, extreme and turbo. Turbo cranks it up to the most power, overclocking both the CPU and GPU and spinning the fans up to a jet engine. But it doesn't seem to push performance significantly beyond the standard mode, which automatically adjusts (within a cap) clock frequencies and power consumption. 

Generally, the laptop's performance is solid. Given the positioning of the CPU, you'd expect it to be all about battery life, but at 7 to 8 hours on default balanced settings, it's hardly outstanding. You can extend it to 9 or 10 hours by dialing back the settings to maximize battery life, and it can certainly handle a full workday, but that's not atypical for mainstream gaming laptops anymore. 

The CPU has only four cores compared with eight in the 11th-gen H series i7 and even the six-core i5 -- Intel had to drop some cores to fit the chip into a smaller space. There's always some tradeoff for laptop shrinkage. The Turbo Boost-enabled 5GHz single-core speed isn't much of a selling point either. I couldn't get a single core to hit more than 4.3GHz. I think the system's performance is hampered by limitations like the single-channel memory. It's just not worth sacrificing the cores from a six-core, 35-watt part like a Core i5.

It's decent for unplugged gaming, another selling point, provided it's not something that needs to push the system to the max for good frame rates. For instance, Hades repeatedly slaughtered me at more than 100 frames per second (and frequently more than 140fps) both on and off battery, and without draining it too quickly. You'll generally be able to get better than 60fps in 1080p on GPU-intensive games out of the RTX 3060.

The Triton's hinge allows it to open 180 degrees, a rarity among gaming laptops.

Lori Grunin/CNET

Unfortunately, the system doesn't use Nvidia's Advanced Optimus, which lets you force a switch between the discrete GPU and integrated CPU for the display. You can use Windows' graphics settings to assign specific applications to use the discrete GPU, but there's no wholesale way to force it.

Another drawback is you can't change modes while on battery or if the battery level is less than 40%. Not being able to drop down to quiet after sitting down in a meeting, for example, is especially annoying, though you can go into the custom settings and set the fans to slower speeds. And it might be a bug, but the laptop ignored Windows' setting for "do nothing" on closing the lid, which may be an issue for some people.

I have no serious complaints about the Predator Triton 300 SE. It's a good, well-designed intermediate-size laptop for the money to balance your working and gaming lives. But much of what Acer did here could be applied to the standard Triton 300 models; despite the new CPU, the SE just isn't as special as it seems.

Geekbench 5 (multicore)

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)

Dell G5 15 Special Edition (2020)

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Cinebench R20 CPU (multicore)

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)

Dell G5 15 Special Edition (2020)

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Cinebench R20 CPU (single core)

Dell G5 15 Special Edition (2020)

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Streaming video playback battery drain test (minutes)

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Far Cry 5 (1080p)

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)

Note:

NOTE: Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming test (1080p)

Dell G5 15 Special Edition (2020)

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)

Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)

3DMark Time Spy

Dell G5 15 Special Edition (2020)

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)

Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile

Note:

NOTE: Longer bars indicate better performance

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

Dell G5 15 Special Edition (2020)

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)

Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

3DMark Port Royal (RTX)

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)

Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Configurations

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (2H20); 3.3GHz Intel Core i7-11375H; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3,200MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q; 512GB SSD
Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (2004); 3.3GHz AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS; 6GB DDR4 SDRAM 4,266MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (16GB GeForce RTX 3080 mobile in XG Mobile)
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401IV)	Microsoft WIndows 10 Home (1909); 3.0GHz AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3,200MHz, 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 with Max-Q Design, 1TB SSD
Dell G5 15 Special Edition (2020)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (1909); 1.6GHz AMD Ryzen 7 4800H; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3,200MHz; 6GB AMD Radeon RX 5600M; 512GB SSD
Razer Blade 15 Advanced (early 2021)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (2009); 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-10875H; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3,200MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q; 1TB SSD

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Best budget laptop for 2022 best budget laptop 2022 best laptop computers under 500 dollars best budget laptop under 500 best budget laptop under best budget laptop for students best budget laptop for gaming best budget laptop for photo editing best budget laptop for music production best budget laptop for college best budget gaming laptop

Best Budget Laptop Under $500 for 2022

Best Budget Laptop Under $500 for 2022

Shopping for a new laptop can be a little intimidating with the vast range of models out there. You can't tell the difference between an expensive and an affordable laptop by looks alone, and their performance and functionality can vary greatly. However, such a huge market also means that you can find plenty of high-quality laptops at an affordable price, with plenty of great models starting at less than $500. In fact, it might even be worth it to grab one for yourself as an extra device for work or for games.

If you're searching for a laptop under $500, here are the best budget laptops you can buy right now. If you're not sure what to look for in a good budget laptop -- other than price -- jump to our buying advice right below our recommendations. This advice is based on our years of testing and review experience to figure out what to expect from a laptop priced under $500. It will also let you know what to look for if you want to continue your budget laptop hunt on your own. 

Use these picks to sort through the competition. Because there are a lot of cheap laptops that aren't worth it, try not to make rash decisions when buying. 

Josh Goldman/CNET

Gateway was best known for low-cost desktops and laptops back in the '90s. In 2020, the brand was revived for a new lineup of laptops and tablets sold exclusively through Walmart. Those models were recently updated with 11th-gen Intel processors and we tested both 15.6- and 14.1-inch models. The latter gets our vote as an inexpensive option for getting school work done while still being light enough to carry around campus for the day. 

The attention-grabber is the Intel Core i5 processor that provides reliable performance, despite being paired with cheaper components. The keyboard is comfortable, but not backlit, and the touchpad isn't the most precise. Also, the built-in fingerprint reader is hit-or-miss. Still, it has lots of ports so connecting a mouse or an external display isn't an issue and the full-HD display is decent too, all things considered. Plus, the battery lasted a couple minutes shy of 10 hours on our streaming video test.

Sarah Tew/CNET

This Lenovo Chromebook IdeaPad Duet is essentially a Chrome version of the first Microsoft Surface Go. Like the Go, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet is a 10-inch tablet with a detachable keyboard and touchpad-- making it a compact touch screen laptop. Unlike Microsoft, though, Lenovo includes the keyboard. The Lenovo Duet is essentially a smaller, albeit less powerful, Pixel Slate that makes more sense for more people with a cheap laptop price that's more in line with what people expect a Chromebook to cost.

The Chromebook Duet screen is small, however, so if you're regularly using it at a desk, we recommend attaching an external monitor to its USB-C port. You'll probably want to connect a wireless keyboard and mouse, too. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

The Acer Aspire 5 15-inch clamshell continues to be one of the best laptop deals available. This sub-4-pound Windows laptop includes an AMD Ryzen 3 3350U processor, 4GB of memory and a speedy 128GB SSD. This budget laptop also features a USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB-C port, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, Ethernet and an HDMI port. 

The Acer Aspire even has a backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader for quick sign-ins -- rarities at this price. The 4GB RAM and 128GB solid-state drive storage don't allow you to have many programs or lots of browser tabs open simultaneously but you can add more of both down the road. 

Asus

Amazon currently offers an older Core i3 8GB model for under $450, a reasonable price for a Windows laptop with an Intel Core processor. You'll also see listings with 4GB RAM, but that's way too little memory for Windows, which barely gets by on 8GB. Don't confuse it with the thinner, lighter, more expensive Asus VivoBook S15.

Lenovo

The Windows version of the Flex two-in-one has the beefed up specs (at least over a Chromebook) necessary to run Windows, though probably not very fast -- the dual-core Intel Core i3 processor and 4GB of RAM are the reasons the price is low. But it has a bigger full HD screen than the Chromebook model.

Are laptops under $500 any good?

As a rule of thumb, resist buying out of desperation -- don't spend $500 because you can't find a cheaper laptop deal available, for example. Buying a need-it-now laptop can be like shopping for food while hungry. Even for a laptop, $500 can be a lot of money, and you'll likely be holding onto it for at least three years, if the statistics Intel and PC manufacturers hurl at us are correct.

You can also try to make your current laptop last a little longer. If you need something to tide you over for a few months, dig into possible places to buy refurbished machines and explore nonprofit or educational discounts if you're eligible. Also, if there's something you really want in a laptop, like a touchscreen, a backlit keyboard, DDR4 RAM, an HD webcam, Intel UHD Graphics, AMD Radeon Vega Graphics or an HDMI port, check the manufacturer's specs closely to make sure it has it. You'll regret it if you don't.

If you suspect you'll be holding onto your new laptop for a while, see if you can stretch your budget to buy a slightly more expensive laptop to accommodate more than 8GB of RAM or a processor with more cores than you were otherwise considering. If you haven't thought about it, look at AMD Ryzen processors as alternatives to Intel Core for Windows laptops or alternatives to Intel Celeron and Pentium for Chromebooks.

Even better, if you're comfortable with it, think about an affordable laptop with a replaceable battery (if you can find one), upgradable memory, graphics card and storage, or all of the above. Furthermore, while you might be working remotely now, you won't be stuck at home forever. Remember to consider whether having a lighter, thinner laptop or a touchscreen laptop with a good battery life will be important to you in the future. 

Read more: Best Monitors Under $200 You Can Get Right Now

You can always add an external drive or two (or five, if you're me) at some point down the road. But if your internal storage is the type of slow-spinning hard drive that comes in a lot of cheap laptop models, fast external storage is unlikely to help speed up loading Windows or applications. You can frequently set a system to boot from an external solid-state drive if necessary.

You may see references to Intel Optane in conjunction with slow (5,400rpm) spinning hard drives; Optane is fast solid-state memory that acts as a temporary storage space for frequently accessed files on the hard drive to speed things up. It helps, but not as much as an SSD drive. 

And finally, if you're replacing an old Windows laptop that's not up to running Windows anymore, consider turning it into a Chromebook.

What are the trade-offs on laptops under $500?

As long as you manage your expectations when it comes to options and specs, you can still get quite a bit from a budget laptop model, including good battery life and a reasonably lightweight laptop body. 

A bright spot is you don't have to settle for a traditional clamshell laptop with a fixed display and keyboard. You can also get a convertible laptop (aka a two-in-one), which has a screen that flips around to turn the screen into a tablet, to position it for comfortable streaming or to do a presentation. Keep in mind that all convertibles work as both laptops and tablets. A touchscreen is a prerequisite for tablet operation, and many support styluses (aka pens) for handwritten and sketched input. Don't assume a stylus is included, though.

One thing you won't find at these cheap laptop prices: a MacBook or any other Apple laptop. An iPad will run you more than $500 once you buy the optional keyboard (though it might work out to less if you look for sales on the tablet or keyboard), which is above our budget here. A base-model iPad with an inexpensive Bluetooth keyboard and cheap stand for the iPad might suffice.

You'll see a lot of cheap laptops listed as coming with Windows 10 S, a stripped-down and locked-down version of the operating system intended for use by schools -- it only allows you to install applications from the Windows Store, forces you to use Microsoft's Edge browser and includes a subset of the administrative tools in Windows 10 Pro. You can upgrade to the full version for free, though.

It doesn't feel like there's much to make the new Windows 11 a must-have upgrade, but if it's going to be important to you for some reason, be careful about checking that the laptop will meet the requirements. These inexpensive models can be especially at risk of not making the cut.

It's easier to find inexpensive Chromebooks than Windows laptops, making them one of the most popular budget laptops on the market, though we're also seeing a lot more Chromebooks in the $500-to-$1,000 range. That's because Google's Chrome OS isn't nearly as power-hungry as Windows (check the specs), so you can get by with a lower-end processor, slower storage and less screen resolution or RAM -- just a few of the components that make a laptop expensive. 

But the flip side is Chrome and Google apps are more of a memory hog than you'd expect, and if you go too low with the processor or skimp on memory, the system will still feel slow. Chrome OS is also a much different experience than Windows; make sure the applications you need have a Chrome app, Android app or Linux app before making the leap.

Since Chromebooks are cloud-first devices, however, you don't need a lot of storage built-in. That also means if you spend most of your time roaming the web, writing, streaming video or playing Android games, they're a good fit. If you hope to play Android games, make sure you get a touchscreen Chromebook.

For a cheap gaming laptop, though, you'll still have to break the $500 ceiling to support most games. The least expensive budget laptops suitable for a solid gaming performance experience -- those with moderately powerful discrete graphics processors -- will run you closer to $700. Here are our recommendations if you're looking for the best gaming laptop under $1,000. 

Although, if you like to live on the bleeding edge, cloud gaming services such as Google Stadia and Microsoft Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's Game Streaming will let you play games on laptops with specs that hit the under-$500 mark. 

What to look for in laptops under $500

While Chromebooks can run Chrome OS-specific and Android apps, some people need the full Windows OS to run heftier applications, such as video-editing suites. If you want a good video editing laptop, the HP Chromebook with Intel Celeron processors provides 5.4 times high-resolution video editing than the basic HP laptop. With that comes a need for a faster processor with more cores, more memory -- 8GB RAM is the bare minimum -- and more storage for applications and the operating system itself. A lot of these have 4GB or 6GB, which, in conjunction with a spinning hard disk, can make for a frustratingly slow Windows laptop experience. But demands on Chromebooks are growing, so if your Chrome needs to run beyond the basics you should think about paying more for more memory and a faster processor.

• A lot of Windows laptops in this range use AMD Athlon and lower-end A series or Intel Celeron and Pentium processors to hit the lower price. I don't really recommend going with an Athlon instead of a Ryzen or a Celeron/Pentium instead of a Core: Windows is too heavy for them, and in conjunction with the 4GB memory a lot of them have, you may find them abysmally slow at best.
• Because of their low prices, 11.6-inch Chromebooks are attractive. Samsung Chromebook has a fantastic screen and nearly 10 hours of battery life. But we don't recommend that size for any but the youngest students. And if you're both going to be looking at the screen frequently for remote learning, 11 inches can get really cramped.
• SSDs can make a big difference in how fast Windows performance feels compared with a spinning hard disk, but they also push the price up. So if your budget can stretch a little and you want more storage, you may want to consider stepping up from base storage options to a 128GB SSD. 
• In the budget price range, you have to watch out for screen terminology when it comes to specs: An "HD" screen may not always be a truly high-definition screen. HD, which has a resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels, is called "Full HD" so marketers can refer to lesser-resolution displays (1,280x720 pixels) as HD. In Chromebooks, HD usually refers to a screen with a resolution of 1,366x768 pixels. On the upside, the boom in 14-inch laptops trickles down to this price range, which allows for more FHD options in the size. 
• A frequent complaint I see is about "washed-out" looking displays with poor viewing angles. Unfortunately, that's one of the trade-offs: A lot of these use TN (twisted nematic) screen technology, which is cheap but meh.
• Pay attention to networking. Inexpensive models with older chipsets may only support Wi-Fi 3 (or 802.11b/g/n). Wi-Fi 3 is limited to 2.4GHz channels; those are slower than more recent chipsets with Wi-Fi 4 (aka 802.11ac) that add a 5GHz channel as well. I haven't seen any laptops in this price range with Wi-Fi 6, the newest version; chances are you won't have any Wi-Fi 6 access points to connect to, though, so you likely won't miss it now. The specifications aren't always correct on the shopping sites, so if you see a model that doesn't seem to have Wi-Fi 4, double-check on the manufacturer's site before ruling it out. Remember, Chromebooks are designed to work predominantly over the internet, so Wi-Fi speed and stability are crucial. 

Considering all specs and options -- battery life, storage space, screen resolution, screen size, core processor performance, general machine and battery performance -- you'll find some of our top picks for 2022's best Windows laptops and Chromebooks under the $500 budget in the list above, along with their pros and cons.

How we test computers

The review process for laptops, desktops, tablets and other computer-like devices consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our expert reviewers. This includes evaluating a device's aesthetics, ergonomics and features. A final review verdict is a combination of both those objective and subjective judgments. 

The list of benchmarking software we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve. The most important core tests we're currently running on every compatible computer include: Primate Labs Geekbench 5, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10 and 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra. 

A more detailed description of each benchmark and how we use it can be found in our How We Test Computers page. 

The best laptops in every category

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Asus ROG Zephyrus review: A gaming laptop that lifts itself up to cool itself down

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Asus ROG Zephyrus review: A gaming laptop that lifts itself up to cool itself down

Gaming laptops are getting slimmer and more powerful, a concept most PC gamers would applaud. But until now, the best components have still been restricted to bigger, bulkier systems that were often laptops in name only.

Helping this evolution take the next step is the new Nvidia Max-Q concept, which combines more energy-efficient versions of GeForce 10-series graphics chips with thinner laptop bodies. It was announced at the 2017 Computex trade show, where several prototype designs from different PC makers were showcased.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The first real-world example of Max-Q we've tested is the new Asus Zephyrus laptop. It's a 15-inch system from the Asus Republic of Gamers line, which covers a wide range of laptops and desktops. The main configuration will cost $2,699, which converts to around £2,100 or AU$3,600. If you're curious about the name, Zephyrus was the Greek god of the west wind.

The laptop version of Zephyrus is a 15-inch gaming laptop that's incredibly slim despite its Intel Core i7 and Nvidia GeForce 1080 GPU, which is really the combo you want for high-end PC gaming. It's just 17.9mm thick and a hair under 5 pounds. A typical laptop with a similar set of parts can weigh 8 pounds or more, and be much, much thicker.

The Zephyrus on top of a similarly configured 17-inch Asus gaming laptop. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

The main configuration, with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, will cost $2,699 when it's available at the end of June. That's the same hardware as we tested, with one exception -- our early test model had 24GB of RAM, instead of the standard 16GB. Asus says prices for other configurations and regions will be announced "in the coming months," but the flagship price works out to around £2,100 or AU$3,600.

A cooling lift

Part of the secret to getting an Nvidia 1080 card in a laptop so thin is a hidden vent under the system. Keep the lid closed, and it looks like any slim midsize laptop. Open it up, and the entire bottom panel lifts away, creating a 6mm-high air chamber to help keep the system cool.

The bottom panel separates when the lid is open, creating a 6mm high cooling zone.

Sarah Tew/CNET

When you flip open the laptop lid while holding the Zephyrus in your hands, it looks like the entire bottom surface is lifting away, and the opened panel feels flimsy, flexing easily when touched. On a flat tabletop, it feels much more stable, and unless you're craning your neck looking for it the effect is very subtle, just lifting the rear of the system ever so slightly. 

Because the front panel doesn't taper down like many gaming (and nongaming) laptops do, Asus also includes a rubber wrist rest that fits right up against the front lip. 

A plea for touchpad sanity

The one thing that struck me as a bit odd is the touchpad, which gets moved to the right side of the keyboard. It can also double as a numberpad with the tap of a button, which turns on backlit numeric keypad icons. We've seen similar setups on laptops such as the Acer 21 X and the Razer Blade Pro, but it's never come off as a particularly good idea.

The right-side tough pad doubles as a backlit number pad. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

That's because laptop users have years -- sometimes decades -- of muscle memory invested in traditional below-the-keyboard touchpads. One messes with that classic setup at one's own peril. Keeping that admonition in mind, I found it responsive and easy to use for a gaming laptop touchpad. Since gamers are more likely to use a mouse or gamepad most of the time, touchpads on gaming laptops tend to be second-rate. This one exceeded my modest expectations.

Slim and speedy

This wasn't the fastest gaming laptop we've ever tested, but it certainly held its own against recent high-end competitors. In our tests, the performance fell between some recent gaming 14- and 15-inch laptops with Nvidia 1070 GPUs and giant backbreaking 17-inch models with the Nvidia 1080. I was very pleased with the overall performance as a gaming machine, especially considering how slim and portable it is. One caveat: As mentioned before, we tested a unit with 24GB of RAM, the final version will have only 16GB.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Of course, with high-end parts in such a small chassis, there's not a ton of room for a big battery. In our preliminary tests, the system ran for a bit less than 2 hours 30 minutes on a single charge, and that was just for streaming HD video, not even playing games. We'll update that number with an official score in our final review.

I also tested the Zyphyrus with an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Only a year ago, VR on a laptop was a near impossibility. Now, it's much more common, and available even in midpriced gaming laptops with GeForce 1060 GPUs. The problem is usually the number of ports. In this case, using all four USB-A ports and the single USB-C port, I was able to connect the Oculus headset, both sensors, a gamepad and even a mouse, all at the same time (although it required a USB-C to USB-A dongle for my wired mouse).

Sarah Tew/CNET

The built-in 15.6-inch display also has some impressive specs. It's a 120Hz display (most laptop screens are 60Hz) that supports Nvidia's G-Sync technology. This means that it syncs the GPU output to the screen's refresh rate, allowing for smoother-looking games. I liked that the display itself was matte, eliminating excessive screen glare, but for $2,700 you might be looking for a higher native resolution than the unexciting 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution found here.  

A gimmick, but a good one

Maybe you really do need a hidden riser under the bottom panel in order to get a powerful Nvidia 1080 GPU inside a 5-pound, 15-inch laptop. In practice it looks a little silly and certainly doesn't make the body feel sturdier or more damage-resistant. But it didn't take away from my overall experience while gaming with the oddly named Zephyrus.

Sarah Tew/CNET

It's really the sky-high price that's going to be more of a deal-breaker than the design quirks. But then again, I did recently say a lot of nice things about a $9,000 gaming laptop, so this may not be so extravagant after all.

We'll provide further performance and battery life results in an upcoming full review of the Asus Zephyrus. 

Multitasking Multimedia Test 3.0 (in seconds)

Origin PC Eon17-X 129 Asus ROG Zephyrus 167 Razer Blade Pro 176 Alienware 15 R3 198 Acer Aspire VX 15 326

Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in seconds)

Geekbench 4 (Multi-Core)

Origin PC Eon17-X 18132 Alienware 15 R3 14060 Asus ROG Zephyrus 13942 Razer Blade Pro 13541

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

Origin PC Eon17-X 4970 Razer Blade Pro 4456 Asus ROG Zephyrus 4095 Alienware 15 R3 4054 Acer Aspire VX 15 1252

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Bioshock Infinite (fps)

Origin PC Eon17-X 218.62 Asus ROG Zephyrus 180.94 Alienware 15 R3 178.42 Razer Blade Pro 161.31 Acer Aspire VX 15 77.58

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (fps)

Origin PC Eon17-X 96.4 Asus ROG Zephyrus 84.3 Alienware 15 R3 82.1 Acer Aspire VX 15 31.8

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

System Configurations

Asus ROG Zephyrus	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core I7-7700HQ; 24GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeFroce GTX 1080 with Max-Q Design; 512GB SSD
Alienware 15 R3	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,666MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070; 512GB SSD + 1TB HDD
Razer Blade Pro	Microsoft Windows 10 Home; (64-bit); 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ; 32GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,133MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080; (2) 256GB SSD RAID 0
Origin PC Eon17-X	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 4.2GHz Intel Core i7-7700K; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GTX 1080; (2) 256GB SSD RAID 0 + 2TB HDD
Acer Aspire VX 15	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050; 256GB SSD

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