Best laptop under $300 in 2023

The Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R7VH Slim has the biggest hitting processor on this page by some margin – one of the latest gen AMD Ryzen 7000 series no less – the Ryzen 3 7320U. Not only is this a fantastic budget performer as far as processing power goes, but it’s also highly energy efficient, meaning this machine is capable of a very impressive 11-12 hours of battery life duration.

You get 8GB of RAM which is decent at this price point, and it’s the latest LPDDR5 – meaning greater future-proofing. The machine looks good, has reasonable build quality, and the keyboard comes with a numpad.

The only real downside is the limited 128GB SSD size, which doesn’t afford much space, but given the quality of the rest of the components, it’s still well worth buying this laptop and just expanding the storage yourself either with an external SSD or through upgrading the internal SSD.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 is a convertible 14-inch laptop available around the $300 mark. The hinge allows the lid of the laptop to bend back on itself, turning the laptop into a 14” tablet, complete with touchscreen functionality (though you can also use this in the normal laptop mode too).

This machine comes with another AMD Ryzen processor, though of a fairly old gen (though still capable) – the Ryzen 3 4300U. Again you get good battery duration – up to around 10 hours on battery saving mode.

The overall build quality on this Lenovo machine is notably good considering its low price. On top of that the webcam (720p) and accompanying mic are both above average for this price point, and you get an SD UHS card reader too.

Again the limitation comes in the storage (only 128GB SSD) and also this time the RAM, which is capped at 4GB DDR4. Although the storage can be expanded with external hard drives, unfortunately the soldered memory cannot be upgraded, so you’re stuck at 4GB, which may put some people off.

If you’re not satisfied with the limited memory and disk space of the above picks, then the 14-inch ASUS VivoBook 14 could be the choice for you.

Not only does this machine come with 12GB of DDR4 RAM, which is all you’ll need for an affordable general purpose laptop like this, but you also get a whopping 512GB of SSD storage, which is by far the most you’ll see out of any laptop in this price range.

The 11th Gen Intel Core i3-1115G4 is also a decent runner in terms of performance, even if the approx 7 hour battery life isn’t as good as the Ryzen picks on this page.

The laptop has decent build quality, has slimline dimensions, and at 3.10lbs is highly portable. The keyboard even comes with a fingerprint scanner.

The main downside however, is the brightness, which caps out at a mere 210 nits: about 75-100 nits below some of the other selections on this page. Not ideal for bright conditions, even inside. Besides though, there’s little to complain about.

If Chrome OS appeals to your needs then this Lenovo Chromebook C340 15 is a nice affordable option.

It has a 15-inch display but remains light by virtue of it being a Chromebook therefore requiring less powerful (and therefore weighty) components. The processor and integrated graphics aren’t the best, but don’t need to be to generate a similar level of performance, thanks to Chrome OS’ reliance on the cloud.

For the same the Chromebook doesn’t require much storage – capping out at 64GB – although it would have been nice to see more than 4GB of RAM, particularly given the time you’ll be spending opening tabs in your Chrome web browser.

Battery duration is better thanks to the reduced draw of the components – lasting up to 12 hours max, which is not bad at all (and the best of any of our picks here). Although there’s no SD card reader, you get charging support and video output on the USB-C socket, as well as a Kensington lock for added security.

The biggest disappointment of the machine is the lack of stylus support for the touchscreen… although it does have a touchscreen where others don’t so this is still a net gain. On top of this, the keyboard is the best of all the laptops on this list.