Best Budget Laptop PCs

A Selection of Laptops Price Under $650 for a Variety of Uses and Prices

If you are looking to get a full featured laptop PC for as little as possible, Toshiba offers a very solid value in the Satellite L505-S5969. It offers many of the same features that can be found in many laptops in the price range including Pentium Dual-Core T4200, 3GB of DDR2, 320GB hard drive, dual layer DVD burner, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics and 802.11b/g Wireless. It also offers an eSATA peripheral port for high speed external storage and a larger keyboard with numeric keypad. All of this in a package that comes in around $500. An alternative if you can't find this model is the Gateway NV5214u that is based on an AMD platform instead of the more ubiquitous Intel.

In terms of overall capabilities, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 really sets itself apart from other systems on the list. The downside is that some of the advance features also reduce some of the base components. Uses will be restricted to just 1GB of memory and 160GB hard drive space to achieve a sub $650 price tag but it is using faster DDR3 memory. So why does it get the top nod? It comes with a large number of features not found on many budget systems including eSATA, HDMI, ExpressCard/34 slot and even a dedicated NVIDIA G210M graphics processor. If you don't need the graphics, an integrated graphics version is available for slightly less.

While there are some extremely small and affordable laptops on the market, many of the latest sacrifice a DVD drive. Acer's Aspire Timeline AS4810T manages to produce a system for under $650 that has a 1-inch profile and just over found pound weight. It uses the new Intel CULV platform based around a Core 2 Solo SU3500 processor that allows it to run for upwards of 8 hours. Other features include 4GB DDR3 memory, 320GB hard drive, DVD burner, LED backlit display, 802.11a/g/n wireless and HDMI output. If you absolutely need a smaller laptop and are willing to use some older technology, there is the Hypersonic Avenger AG2 12-inch laptop still available.

One of the biggest problem areas for budget laptops is 3D graphics. The low costs don't allow companies to typically use anything beyond integrated solutions. MSI's CX600-049US is one of the few laptops that comes with a dedicated graphics processor, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330. While this isn't going to be a solution that will bring the highest level of PC gaming, it does allow for casual gaming and improved visuals. The system also has a larger 16-inch display. Other features include Pentium Dual-Core T4200 processor, 4GB DDR2 memory, 320GB hard drive, dual layer DVD burner and 802.11b/g/n wireless. Prices run around $600. Another unit that features good graphics is the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550.

For anyone out there that is looking to get a low cost laptop to do graphics work, the display and its color representation is going to be critical. Many of the low cost laptops sacrifice screen color by using low cost panels and backlighting. Dell's Inspiron 15.4-inch WLED display provides it with some of the best overall color and brightness. Dell offers a wide range of parts configuration but it is possible to get a Pentium Dual-Core T4200, 3GB of DDR2 memory, 160GB hard drive, dual layer DVD burner, and 802.11b/g wireless for around $600 to $650. Be warned that the small 4-cell battery in the low cost configurations provides below average running times. For those looking for a smaller laptop, the Inspiron 14 offers a similar display.