Best Budget Laptops of 2025: Top Picks Under $700

Finding a capable laptop under $700 has never been easier, but the market is crowded with options that look impressive on paper and disappoint in practice. After testing a dozen models, here are the picks that consistently deliver.

**Acer Aspire 5 (2025) — Best Overall Under $600**

The Acer Aspire 5 continues to be the benchmark for budget laptops. The 2025 model ships with an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD at $549. The 15.6-inch IPS display hits 350 nits of brightness — above average for this price range — and covers 70% of the sRGB color space, making it acceptable for light photo editing.

Battery life averages 8.5 hours in mixed use. The keyboard is comfortable for extended typing sessions, and the trackpad is large and accurate. Build quality is plastic, but it feels solid without flex.

**Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i — Best for Students**

At $649, the IdeaPad Slim 5i with Intel Core i5-1334U offers a more premium feel with its aluminum lid and compact 14-inch form factor. It weighs 1.46kg — light enough for daily commuting. The display covers 100% of sRGB, which is exceptional at this price.

The downside: only 8GB of soldered RAM, limiting future upgrades.

**HP Pavilion 15 — Best Display Under $700**

HP’s Pavilion 15 now ships with a 2.8K IPS display option at the $699 price point — a resolution previously found only in $1000+ machines. Text rendering is noticeably sharper than 1080p competitors. Paired with a Ryzen 5 7530U and 16GB of RAM, it handles multitasking comfortably.

**What to Avoid**

Chromebooks with ARM processors often appear in budget roundups but are not a fair comparison — they run ChromeOS and lack Windows application compatibility. Similarly, avoid any laptop with less than 8GB of RAM or an HDD-only configuration in 2025.

For most users, the Acer Aspire 5 remains the default recommendation at this price tier.