January 5, 2022Top 6 Best Laptops Under 800 Dollar: 2022 Guide

Most of the time, people think that you won’t be able to buy a high-quality laptop for just under $800. But that’s not true at all! 

There are hundreds of laptops that you can buy for just $800 and below. Not every expensive laptop is good and not every affordable laptop is bad. You just have to make a little bit of effort to find an affordable laptop with great specs and high-quality materials. 

Nonetheless, $800 isn’t exactly too high nor too low. I could say that it’s the middle ground because you’ll notice in some laptops in that price range is that they’ll have a high-end CPU and an average GPU or vise versa or both can be average. 

The trick to finding the laptop for you is to determine where you will be using it. Whether you’ll use it for gaming, school, work, business, etc. Determining where you’ll use your laptop will help you decide which specs you’ll need to ensure that the laptop will provide you with the specs that you particularly need.

For example, better gaming laptops would have an AMD CPU/GPU or at least an Intel Core i7 CPU. Since AMD specializes in better gaming graphics and the i7 is the recommended Intel Core for gaming. But if you’ll only use it for school, work, or casual use in general, then you won’t need to have an AMD CPU/GPU and you can opt for a lower Intel Core generation.

Overview

Top 6 Best Laptops Under $800

The HP 15-DY2024NR, 11th Generation laptop is a great affordable laptop that is jampacked with great features that won’t break the bank. It is a stylish, well-built, mid-tier laptop best used for casual use.

Performance

The HP 15-inch laptop is equipped with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD storage, and an Intel Iris Xe graphics processor. With the 11th Generation processor, high RAM, and SSD storage, it makes this laptop fast, snappy, and also, you can store a considerable amount of files. The “Tiger Lake” processor gives the laptops’ performance a boost, as well as the decent capacity of RAM. 

Its processor and graphic processor, the Intel Core i5-1135G7, and the Intel Iris Xe are great processor chips, especially if you’re only planning to use this for casual use. For gaming, it’s an average processor, but still great for less demanding gaming softwares.

Build, Design, and Hardware

The HP 15 does not look like your typical boring office laptop. With its sharp edges and silver build, it looks quite sleek and minimalist that you would typically find in more expensive laptops. 

It sports a sleek, attractive, but modern look. The HP 15-DY2024NR weighs a little over 3.75 lbs and is only 0.71 inches thick, making it easy to bring along everywhere you go. Compared to other laptops, the HP 15 is much lighter, nevertheless, it is still made with sturdy materials to ensure that the laptop will last you for several years of usage. 

This laptop has a ‎15.6-inches display and a ‎1920 x 1080 pixels screen resolution which is perfect for casual usage and moderate gaming. 

Despite the fact that the 15-DY2024NR is a rather compact piece of hardware, HP has not skimped on port allocation. The laptop has two high-speed USB-A ports, a USB-C port, an HDMI-out, a headphone jack, and a micro-SD card slot, allowing for a wide range of connectivity. It’s nice to see some older connections reintroduced in a market where USB-A and HDMI are frequently dropped. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 provide wireless communication.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is comfortable to the touch, smooth, and snappy, putting it well above some of the more compact laptops available on the market. Another thing to keep in mind is that it isn’t backlit.

The touchpad is somewhat similar to the MacBook touchpad, with plenty of mobility for your fingers. It’s silky smooth and precise in its tracking. Although it lacks a fingerprint reader for Windows Hello logins.

Is it great for gaming, casual use, or both?

This laptop does not falter even with a ton of tabs open in search engines, however, when it comes to gaming, we recommend that you don’t go too crazy since it might start to lag. Less-intensive or less-demanding softwares will work great for this laptop such as Minecraft, but trying to load GTA here would be overkill.

Overall, this laptop is best for casual use and casual gaming only.

Next up on the list of laptops under $800 is the Acer Swift 3 which is equipped with a great gaming processor and graphic processor and a multi-touch display. It also has Windows 10 for fast and efficient usage. It is affordable and offers you great features that you’ll only find in other expensive laptops. This may be the laptop that you’re looking for.

Performance

The Acer Swift 3 is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U Octa-Core Mobile Processor that has a speed that can go up to 4.1 GHz with an  8GB LPDDR4 RAM. With these, you are seriously in for a ride of multitasking without any lag. You can simultaneously have multiple tabs open, Youtube, without showing any signs of slowing down or lagging.

This laptop also comes with the AMD Radeon graphics card, which on the Dirt 3 racing game benchmark, it averaged 79 frames per second. This is faster than the average laptop frame rate of 47 frames per second.

Build, Design, and Hardware

The Acer Swift 3’s design is quite similar to the HP 15, although the Acer Swift 3 is darker in color. Despite their difference, they both sport an attractive, sleek design.

It weighs about ‎2.65 lbs and 0.63-inches thick. This laptop is lighter and thinner, making it much easier to bring along on the go.

The Acer Swift 3 has a 14-inch display with a ‎1920 x 1080 screen resolution. This gives you a crisp image whenever you watch movies, although the color payoff is not as great with only 251 nits of brightness compared to the average 285 nits of brightness. But overall, it is still has a great display and screen resolution, however, it might fall short when it comes to demanding gaming softwares since the graphics may turn out duller than it’s supposed to be.

The Acer Swift 3 comes with a reasonable amount of ports. A Kensington lock slot, a USB Type-A 2.0 port, and a headphone jack are located on the right side. A battery charge indicator is also included. The DC jack, one USB Type-C port, an HDMI port, and one USB Type-A 3.2 port are all located on the left side. A little area below the keyboard on the right side is the fingerprint reader.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is comfortable to use and not too loud when you type, making it perfect for school or work settings. Although it doesn’t come with a numpad since the Acer Swift 3 is on the smaller size, making it hard to fit in. The keys are the same color as the whole build which some people don’t like. However, it does has one backlight option that can help to add a bit of contrast.

Its touchpad is also a great size for its 14-inch display. It is responsive and smooth, making it efficient to use. 

Is it great for gaming, casual use, or both?

Overall, the Acer Swift 3 is much more efficient to use for casual use such as for school or work since it’s smaller and is not exactly heavy gaming appropriate. Nevertheless, you can still use this laptop for less demanding gaming softwares such as Roblox or Minecraft to avoid any lags. Not to mention, it is also portable, so it’s easier to bring along.

The Acer Aspire 5 is an entry-level laptop that is perfect for school, work, and even business since it is capable of computing tasks which is one of its many amazing features. This laptop is a literal all-in-one laptop that works best for casual use and moderate gaming, plus the best thing about the Acer Aspire 5 is that it is affordable considering all the amazing features it is equipped with.

Performance

The Acer Aspire 5 is equipped with an efficient and fast AMD Ryzen 3-3350U processor. This AMD processor was intended for use in mid-range portable laptops. This CPU is quad-core, whereas the previous was dual-core, thus it is swift enough to run with Windows software despite not having a lot of horsepowers.

Furthermore, this laptop includes the AMD Radeon Vega 6 Graphics processor, which was created using a more advanced 7nm process than previous generations. Despite the fact that it is not a specialized graphics card, it is nevertheless capable of running a variety of games at 30 frames per second at 1080p with modest settings.

The lid of the Acer Aspire 5 is made of aluminum, which is surprising given its price. With a silver-ish color scheme and a brushed aluminum finish chassis, this laptop is also visually appealing. The build of the laptop is made out of a coating to help to prevent unwanted fingerprints and smudges to some extent, which is wonderful because it means you don’t have to wipe your device as often. Overall, this laptop looks and feels nice, and it may remind you of a MacBook, but at a lower price point.

The 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080p Full-HD IPS display on the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K compact notebook features Acer’s ComfyView technology.   With its anti-glare matte coating, this ComfyView technology helps reduce eye strain and glare no regardless of how long you use your laptop.

The screen on this laptop also incorporates BlueLightShield technology. The display reduces high-energy blue light, which can give you vibrant colors while simultaneously protecting your retina from harmful blue light that can cause digital eye strain.

The port variety is quite good considering its price. A Gigabit Ethernet port, a full HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, and a single USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port are located on the left side. Given the Aspire’s small 128GB solid-state drive, you’ll need these USB connections to attach external storage devices.

A USB 2.0 Type-A port and a combo audio jack are located on the right side. Unfortunately, there is no built-in memory card reader, so you’ll have to use a USB adapter to read memory cards from your digital camera or Android phone.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Acer Aspire 5 has a comfy keyboard and several unique capabilities that we haven’t seen before in an affordable laptop. The Acer Aspire 5 offers a spacious backlit keyboard with a narrow 10-key numeric keypad, which is great if you use numbers often.

A big trackpad sits beneath the keyboard, which is smooth and efficient and does an excellent job of preventing accidental swipes from your hands while you type. The Aspire 5 trackpad model contains an inbuilt fingerprint reader, which is unexpected given its price. Nonetheless, it’s a fantastic addition.

Is it great for gaming, casual use, or both?

This laptop is not designed to be extremely fast that it would be great for gamers. If you want a gaming laptop, then the Acer Aspire 5 is not the laptop for you. But for daily use such as work, school, business, or simple games like Roblox and Minecraft, then this laptop has a high-quality graphics processor for those simple tasks.

The Acer Nitro 5 is a laptop from Acer that delivers advanced performance in gaming for gamers. The Nitro lineup of gaming PCs and accessories is ideal for casual gamers who are ready for something better. 

Performance

The Acer Nitro 5 provides you with mid-tier specs with an Intel Core i5-10300H processor which is not from the 11th generation of processors from Intel. Despite that, the processor is still great and can still work for a handful of games. It is also equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD. 

This laptop supports the most recent NVIDIA technologies with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. You’ll be in for a ride since this GPU is designed for high graphics. That being said, the Acer Nitro 5 is made for real-world gaming such as Assasin’s Creed. The GPU is powerful enough to run your games at Full-HD 1080p with a reasonable frame rate. Ray-Tracing, DLSS, and AI are all used in the games that are supported. These additional tools will help with making your games as realistic as possible.

Build, Design, and Hardware

The Acer Nitro 5 has a black finish with red trimmings with its keyboard backlight. Although there are other good-looking laptops, this one is not entirely unattractive. With its minimalist design and darker color scheme, it’s perfect for those who are looking for a simple gaming laptop.

It also has a decent display with 15.6-inches and an average screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. 

Considering its price, it also has a good variety of ports with the left side having a Kensington Security Slot, Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, combination headphone/microphone jack and on the right side with one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, HDMI 2.0 output. An additional port on the back was also added for the power socket. 

Keyboard and Touchpad

With this Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55-53E5 RTX 3050 model, you’ll get a backlit keyboard. It’s a full-size keyboard with a numeric keypad and well-tactile keys. By default, the key lighting turns off after 30 seconds, but you may change this functionality using the integrated Acer Nitro program. If the illuminated keys are bothering you, you can even turn them off. 

Lastly, the trackpad beneath the keyboard is a good size and comes with a Windows precision driver, which means it can recognize your touch gestures.

Is it great for gaming, casual use, or both?

The Acer Nitro 5 is made for real-world gaming but can also be used for a handful of other games with its good GPU. Although you can also use this for casual use, it would be better to get a cheaper laptop if you’re only planning to use it for school or work.

The Asus L210 is the perfect choice for students and workers who want to bring in their laptops to school or work since this laptop is highly efficient, portable, and quite cheaper compared to other Chromebooks.

Performance

The Asus L210 is equipped with an Intel Celeron  N4020 processor which is perfect to use in studying and working settings. This processor is fanless that has 4GB of RAM, 64GB of eMMC storage, and an Intel UHD Graphics 600 chip. 

They are mid-range specs that are sufficient for online browsing, office applications, and, of course, the most basic gaming. Both the CPU and GPU were not made for any mid to hardcore games since they don’t offer the same features as compared to an AMD CPU and GPU. 

With this being said, the Asus L210 can handle a few open applications, but make sure that you don’t have many open tabs all at the same time since it’ll begin to lag. 

Build, Design, and Hardware

The Asus L210 has a black minimalist finish that is made out of thick plastic. But despite the heavier covering, it is still quite portable, weighing only 2.31 pounds and measuring 0.67 inches thick. Plus, the fanless CPU and eMMC storage both cut weight and contribute to the package’s portability.

Its 11-inch display, on the other hand, is far too dim. It has an HD 1366 x 768 screen resolution, and the matte coating is nice for working outside, but it results in a fairly boring, colorless screen. The display makes photographs and videos look a little lifeless. But considering its price, this is not much of a deal-breaker.

A great addition to this laptop is that it is cleverly designed 180° lay-flat hinge to make it easier to collaborate with other people. 

Lastly, price-wise, you have a great ports selection. USB 2.0, USB 3.2, USB Type-C, HDMI, audio jack combo, and micro-SD card are among the ports available. Wi-Fi 5(802.11ac) and a built-in camera on the upper bezel provide wireless communication.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is relatively basic, with light keys and little tactile feedback. The Enter key alone is a luminous yellow color, which adds a splash of style to the otherwise basic deck. On the right side of the primary keyboard on the Asus laptop L210, there is no number pad. This was cleverly implemented by Asus on the trackpad. It has a touchpad with a digital number pad that you can turn on and off with a button on the touchpad.

Is it great for gaming, casual use, or both?

As mentioned, the Asus L210 is not made for any hardcore gaming. This laptop was made for students or workers to work on and browse through the web. The display also doesn’t have a great color payoff, so it might not also be great for movie watching. Although you can use this laptop for simple games, it might not be very ideal since it might lag and the colors may turn out dull.

But in terms of calculating, note-taking, or anything work or study-related, this laptop is for you. Additionally, it is also portable so you can bring it with you during class.

The ASUS VivoBook 15 F515 is a modern all-rounder from ASUS that is intended to keep up with your everyday working or studying demands without spending a fortune. The ASUS VivoBook 15 F515 is an affordable laptop that can still manage to give a quality appearance that would be appropriate for a laptop twice its price. It provides adequate performance for the price, all while being encased in a pleasingly built body. 

Performance

Build, Display, and Hardware

The Asus VivoBook 15 is a well-made laptop with a sleek design and vibrant color combinations. The Asus is abandoning the silver metal theme. We saw the slate gray and blue finishes, as well as coral crush, grey, and translucent silver. The cover is gray-coated aluminum, and the deck is a polished gray with barely apparent crosshatching. The slate gray is unquestionably the star of the show.

It comes with an 86% screen-to-body ratio, a 15.6-inch FHD, and a 178-degree viewing angle. The 15.6-inch 1080p display on the Asus VivoBook 15 F515 is sharp and bright, although it lacks precise color reproduction. The screen can only display 68 percent of the sRGB color spectrum, which is much less than comparable laptops. But considering the price, this laptops’ display is quite impressive.

For a laptop that’s only 0.7 inches thick, this laptop offers a great array of ports.  Two USB 2.0 ports, a microSD card slot, and charging and battery status LED indicators are located on the left side. A DC jack, a USB 3.1 port, an HDMI port, a USB Type-C port, and a headphone/mic combo jack are all found on the right side.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Asus VivoBook 15 comes with an island-style keyboard that provides a highly comfy typing experience, thanks to tactile keys and a unique ErgoLift raised hinge that compensates for flaws such as shallow key travel. Although the keyboard has 1 millimeter of travel, the keys are somewhat shallow for a 15-inch laptop.

Other than a relatively small amount of pads and low travel, but nice springiness of keys, its keys are well spaced and widely spaced. A 4.1 x 2.8-inch touchpad sits beneath the keyboard, and it’s spacious, snappy, and sensitive to Windows 10 motions.

Is it great for gaming, casual use, or both?

The Asus VivoBook 15 is great for students or workers since it’ll help you with all your computing or studying needs. This laptop is not equipped with the right materials to use for gaming. So, using this laptop for gaming might be a little bit of a stretch for this laptop. 

Important Factors To Consider Before Buying A Laptop

CPU & GPU

Your CPU and GPU will determine the performance of your laptop so getting a newer version of both the CPU and GPU would be advisable. We suggest that if you’re going to opt for an Intel Core processor, at least get an 8th Generation i5. You can also get an NVIDIA GeForce GTX or RTX or a Ryzen 5 and above. 

Combined with a great GPU such as an AMD Radeon, then you’ll be able to get an amazing laptop. But if you’re not much into graphics such as playing hardcore games, photo and video editing, then an integrated GPU is fine.

RAM

We recommend that you should have at least 8 GB of RAM to help your laptop work more efficiently when you’re doing tasks or playing games since RAM is a place to store and access data for a short period.

Storage and Memory

Between an HDD or SSD, we recommend that you choose one with an SSD because it’ll boost your laptops’ bootup speed compared to an HDD. But if you don’t have any other choice, an HDD is still a great option, just make sure that you get at least 512 GB-1 TB. 

Display and Screen Resolution

In this price range, you can look for an FHD (Full High Definition) or higher resolution. A Full High Definition with a minimum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels is what we suggest. If at all possible, get one that has IPS (In-Plane Switching). Liquid crystal displays are used in these monitors to provide vibrant colors. 

Where will you use your laptop?

Determining where you’ll use your laptop is one of the most important deciding factors since there are thousands of laptops you can choose from. Some laptops work better for work and some work better for gaming, So, determine where you’re going to use the laptop then you can go from there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Difference Between SSD and HDD

An SSD is newer and more advanced storage compared to the traditional HDD. So if you were to choose a laptop, choose one that is equipped with an SSD since they aren’t mechanical in any way. Solid-state SSDs also consume less power, resulting in longer battery life. While lower-cost laptops still use traditional hard drives, the majority of midrange to high-end devices have SSDs.

Solid-state drives, unlike hard disks, do not have moving parts and are shock-resistant. If you drop your laptop, the read/write head of an old-school hard drive is likely to move, potentially causing data loss. SSDs don’t have this problem.

But in some cases, some laptops have both. An SSD is used to store the system partition, which includes the operating system, application programs, and frequently used files. Other material is saved on a standard HDD, which is bigger and less pricey, and includes movies, images, and documents.

Final Thoughts

Finding the right laptop that is both affordable and has great features can be tricky, especially if you don’t know much about laptops. So, I hope that this guide will help you to find the perfect one for you. Take your time reading and researching about possible choices since buying a laptop, sometimes, is a big decision.