Best Laptops Under $600 in 2023 – our top laptop picks
If you are looking for the best laptops under $600, then we have you covered right here.
With a $600 budget, you can get devices created for school, light work, and streaming videos. Budget laptops like this have to make sacrifices to cut costs and deliver a robust and considerable rig in a portable configuration. If you’re looking for something you can carry with you anywhere and do your work without any hassles, these will be the best options to choose from.
If you browse through laptops in this price range, you’ll see recognizable names like Asus, Acer, HP, and Lenovo. These companies concentrate their efforts on using the best processors on a budget, usually while sacrificing GPUs and screen resolution. This makes laptops under $600 great for office work, web browsing, and light streaming – but not so great for gaming.
With that being said, there are quite a lot of options to choose from. To make the search easier for you, we have done the homework and rounded up what we think are some of the best laptops under 600 USD.
Products at a Glance
How we picked
For this guide, we looked at several laptops from different manufacturers, compared them, and then picked the ones we thought were the best. These laptops have been chosen based on specs like processor, display features, battery life, and other important factors. Further, we are always looking out for new products to add to our guides and keep them as updated as possible – so check back here again for more updates.
Best Laptops Under $600 in 2023 – our top laptop picks
- 15.6-inch FHD display
- 8 hour battery life
- Lightweight
- No fingerprint reader
If you are looking for the best laptop for 600 dollars, then you should look at the Acer Aspire 5 Slim laptop, which we think should be one of the best Acer laptops for non-gaming purposes.
The laptop comes with a 15.6-inch display with FHD resolution, so you can expect to see clear visuals. Plus, it is an IPS display, which means you get wider viewing angles and fewer reflections.
Under the hood, the laptop runs on the AMD Ryzen 3 3350U Quad-Core processor, which is powerful enough to handle everyday tasks and multitasking. Along with this, you get AMD Radeon Vega 6 Mobile Graphics, which should give good graphics performance while gaming and media consumption.
Further, the model we have selected has 36GB DDR4 RAM as well as 1TB SSD, which we think might be sufficient for most users. However, depending on your budget and storage requirements, you can use a different combination.
Coming to portability, the laptop weighs only 3.9 pounds, which should be portable for most users. To add to that, you get around 8 hours of battery life, which should be sufficient to get a day’s worth of use.
As far as connectivity is concerned, the laptop has multiple USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1, USB 3.1 Gen 1, USB 2.0, HDMI, and other ports.
- 15.6-inch FHD display
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
- Lightweight
- Only 60Hz refresh rate
If you are looking for a budget gaming laptop for under 600 USD, then we think that this MSI GF63 Thin model is a solid choice.
Much like some of the best MSI laptops, this one, too, sports a 15.6-inch FHD display, which should deliver clear visuals. Along with this, the laptop gives you a 60Hz refresh rate, which may not sound like a lot but is sufficient for running most games.
On the inside, the laptop has an Intel Core i5-11400H processor, which should be powerful enough to run demanding games as well as applications. Plus, you get an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card, which is powerful enough to run AAA games like League of Legends, Far Cry 5, GTA 5, and more. If you’re looking to run AAA games and have a bit bigger budget, you can check out the best gaming laptops under $800.
The variant that we selected for this guide comes with 8GB RAM along with 256GB SSD, which is basic for running games. However, if you need more, you can choose to upgrade RAM and storage at an additional cost.
- AMD Ryzen 3 5300U processor
- Touchscreen display
- Lightweight
- HD+ resolution, not FHD
If you want a portable laptop under the $600 price tag, then you should check out this new HP laptop.
The laptop sports a 14-inch screen with a 1366×768 resolution, which should deliver clear and crisp images on a small screen. Plus, this display has thin bezels, which should give more screen space. Further, this display is touch-enabled, so you should be able to get more intuitive controls.
On the inside, the laptop has an AMD Ryzen 3 5300U processor, which should give you responsive performance and make multitasking easier and faster.
To cut down on loading times and make boot-ups faster, the laptop comes with 16GB RAM, which should be sufficient for most people. Plus, you get 1TB of SSD, which is enough storage for most users.
Much like some of the best lightweight laptops, this one, too, weighs 3.2 pounds, which should be portable for most people.
As far as connectivity options are concerned, the laptop has SuperSpeed USB Type-C, USB Type-A, HDMI 1.4, and more. Plus, much like some of the best laptops for working from home, you also get an HD webcam, which should come in handy for virtual meetings.
- 15.6-inch FHD display
- Touchscreen display
- Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor
- Average battery life
If you are looking for a 2-in-1 laptop under $600, then you should consider the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i.
The laptop sports a 15.6-inch display with FHD resolution, so you can expect the laptop to deliver clear, high-quality pictures. Plus, the display is touchscreen, which should give you more flexibility in controls.
Under the hood, the laptop has an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, which is powerful enough to handle basic as well as demanding tasks. Plus, the CPU comes with integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics, so you can expect good graphics while gaming, media consumption, and basic photo editing.
The model we have selected has 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD, which should be sufficient for most users. However, you can choose to upgrade this configuration, depending on your budget and requirements.
- 17.3-inch display
- 20GB RAM
- Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor
- HD+ resolution, not FHD
If you are looking for a 17-inch laptop with a $600 budget, then you need to check out the Asus Vivobook, which we think should be a non-gaming contender on the best 17-inch laptop list.
The laptop comes with a 17.3-inch screen with an HD+ resolution (1600×900), which should deliver good picture quality. Plus, the laptop has an LED backlight, which promises energy efficiency.
Under the hood, the laptop runs on an Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor that has 4 cores and 8 threads along with a 3.6GHz max boost speed, which should be capable of running multiple applications and multitasking.
The variant we have chosen for this guide has 20GB RAM and 512GB SSD, which should reduce loading times and provide sufficient storage. However, you can select a different configuration, depending on your needs.
How to pick the best laptop under $600
Although they may not be as powerful as some of the best laptops under $ 1,000, the aforementioned products still boast impeccable components for their price points. When searching for some of the best laptops under $600, a powerful CPU and internal GPU aren’t exactly the most foundational aspects one might want, but it’s a nice option to have now that laptops have improved without costing too much more MSRP.
With that being said, here are some considerations –
CPU
To start with, you need to decide what kind of processor you need for your laptop – you can choose between Intel and AMD. If you’re choosing Intel, you can have a Gen 10 or Gen 11 processor. Those are reliable chips that will give enough power to process a lot of information for a long time. If you’re going for AMD, though, the 5000 series is the best option. This a series that was highly recognized when it came out and has shown extraordinary results over the years.
With that being said, if you want to get a new laptop and have a sizable budget, then you can consider investing in one of the best Intel 13th gen laptops or even the best Intel 12th gen laptops. Both these CPUs are quite powerful and are built on the latest architecture, so you can be assured about their performance.
RAM
Now, if you look at some of the options available in the market, you will notice that most budget laptops come with at least 8GB RAM. This is because you need at least 8GB RAM to run modern applications. With a $600 budget, you will have no trouble finding a laptop with this amount of RAM. Further, if you need to use a bunch of demanding software, then we’d recommend getting 16GB RAM or more.
Display
With $600, you can get laptops with small as well as large displays. Depending on your preference, you can go for 13-inch laptops to 17.3-inch laptops. Then, you can easily find FHD and HD laptops, and we’d suggest you go for at least FHD resolution for good picture quality.
Can you buy a good laptop for $600?
There are plenty of good laptops in the sub-$600 range. You don’t have to spend thousands on a laptop to get a great performance and quality design. Check out brands like HP, Acer and ASUS for good options.
How many years should a good laptop last?
Most good laptops should last from 3 to 5 years. Some will last longer, but the components won’t work as well.
What is the best gaming laptop under $600?
For our money, the Acer Aspire 5 is a great gaming laptop. It has a built in graphics card, saving you extra cash, and is a fab budget option for mid-range gaming.
Our Verdict
If you are looking for the best laptop under 600 dollars, then we think that the Acer Aspire 5 Slim is a solid choice. The laptop has a 15.6-inch display with FHD resolution, so you can expect good picture quality. On the inside, the laptop has an AMD Ryzen 3 3350U along with AMD Radeon Vega 6 Mobile Graphics, so the laptop should be able to run multiple tasks and also deliver good quality graphics. Further, the laptop is quite lightweight, so if you travel a lot, this laptop should be quite portable for you.