Been looking for one of the Best Laptops Under $1000? One thousand dollars seems to be a magical border regarding the price of laptops. It is not a small sum of money, but when talking in the context of the laptop budget, it is considered enough for mid-range or budget laptops.
When Intel and AMD keep pushing the newest generations of processors, and especially now when NVIDIA is marketing their latest RTX 3000 series graphics cards, strong and portable laptops have never been cheaper.
When looking for a new notebook it is crucial to know your needs. If you need a laptop for work, which you will often carry with you, or which you will often use outside, you need to take notice of several important things.
Firstly, look for a lightweight laptop. Smaller, 13.3″ screen laptops usually weigh around three pounds, which is around 1.3 kg. When you plan to put a laptop in your bag and take it everywhere with you, you don’t need a heavy or large laptop.
If you plan to use it often outside, take notice of the screen. You will need a bright and colorful display that will handle sunlight. Also, if you plan to take your laptop with you often, pay an attention to battery life.
But, if you are looking for a laptop for playing video games, the most important parts are how powerful components are and the speed of the screen.
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What CPU to Choose?
Most good laptops in this price range have 8th or 9th generations Intel i7 or Ryzen 7 processors. Some of them even might have 10th generation i5 processors. We would not recommend going below that, as the i7 processor is the most recommended in this price range.
How Much RAM is a Minimum?
Well, we wouldn’t recommend going with less than 8GB of RAM. Our recommendation, if you can, is to take 16GB of dual-channel RAM. Dual-channel means that there are two slots of 8GB memory that works in sync and much faster mode.
Do you need a Dedicated Graphics Card?
Now, when NVIDIA has released RTX 3000 series, older but, still very powerful graphics cards can be found. Usually, in this price range, if laptops have a dedicated graphics card it is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with 4GB of RAM. But, Acer Nitro 5, one of the best budget gaming laptops has a GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB of RAM.
But, if you don’t plan to play the latest video games AAA titles, and will use your laptop for work, or during a commute, you don’t need a laptop with a dedicated graphics card. Instead, you can focus on getting the laptop with a better build quality, or a durable battery.
What Kind of Storage is Recommended?
Luckily for us, the standard, even in this price range is SSD storage. SSD stands for Solid State Drive. That is basically a flash, USB memory which is much faster than older HDD. We would not recommend going with less than 256GB of SSD storage. And, if you can, we would recommend 512GB of SSD and in addition to take HDD storage where you will save your multimedia files, that don’t require a fast memory.
What kind of Display will you need?
As we previously mentioned, if you need a laptop that you will often carry with you, it is presumable that you will often use it outside. In that case, you will need a bright screen that will be visible on the outside light. But, if you want a gaming laptop, then you should look for fast displays with a high refresh rate. Usually, in this price range, the refresh rate of the screen for a budget gaming laptop is 120Hz.
It is not easy to find an exceptional laptop in this price range with a 17.3″ screen. Most laptops have 15.6″, and highly portable laptops have even smaller screens.
Battery Life and Portability
Whether you want a smaller laptop that you will quickly put it in your bag and carry with you, or you want a gaming laptop that will not often leave your desk, you need to think about the battery life. Highly portable laptops with smaller screens and without dedicated graphics cards have high autonomy batteries. Asus ZenBook 13 has a battery life of stunning 13 to 14 hours. But, even powerful gaming laptop Lenovo Legion 5 has a long battery life of more than seven hours.
Here are the best laptops under 1000 dollars in 2020:
Asus ZenBook 13
- 8th-Gen Intel Core i7-8565U
- 16GB RAM
- 512GB SSD
- 13.3″ (1920 x 1080) display
- Windows 10 Professional
- Battery: up to 14 hours
- Touchpad with numeric pads
Asus ZenBook 13 is the best smaller, portable laptop. It has excellent performances, high battery life, and an excellent display. It has a premium build quality of military-grade certification. Design is beautiful and with one click the touchpad is becoming a Numpad.
Acer Nitro 5
- 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB VRAM
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB SSD storage
- Windows 10 Home
- Battery: up to 8 hours
- 15.6″ display
Acer Nitro 5 is perhaps one of the best gaming laptops under 1000 dollars. It has an exceptional configuration and stellar gaming performances. The screen is very fast with a 144Hz refresh rate, strong GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card with 6GB of VRAM, and respectable battery life. The only problem is that sometimes, during the heavy workload it can get overheated. But, it is important to mention that WASD keys never get heated.
Also Read: 7 Best Acer Nitro 5 RAM Upgrade Options for Best Performance
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Lenovo Legion 5
- AMD Ryzen 7-4800H octa-core processor
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB SSD
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB GDDR6
- 15.6″ 1920 x 1080 120Hz screen
- Windows 10 Home
- Battery: around 7 hours
Lenovo Legion 5 is perhaps the best overall laptop under 1000 dollars in 2020. It has a fast 15.6″ screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a fast AMD Ryzen 7 processor with eight cores and sixteen threads, 512GB of SSD RAM, and GeForce GTX 1650 with 4GB of RAM.
What Lenovo Legion 5 makes great is exceptional thermal management. Even during the long gaming sessions it never gets overheated and fans are not loud. Overall, it is one of the best budget laptops.
Microsoft Surface Pro 7
- 2-in-1 laptop
- 10th Gen Intel Core i5
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB SSD
- 12.3″ touchscreen (2736 x 1824) display
- Windows 10 Home
- Battery: up to 10 hours
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is one of the best 2-in-1 laptops under $1000. That means that it is a laptop and tablet in one. It is powered by a strong 10th generation processor, 8GB of RAM and it has 256GB of SSD. It is an excellent portable small laptop.
Dell XPS 13
- 10th Gen Intel i5-10210U
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB SSD
- 13.3″ Touchscreen InfinityEdge Full HD (1920 x 1080)
- Windows 10 Home
- Battery: up to 16 hours
Dell XPS 13 is one of the company’s flagship laptops. Even in this variant, under $1000 is one of the best on the list. It is a similar laptop to Asus ZenBook 13 with the difference that it has a touchscreen.
What Is The Best Laptop Under $1000?
If you pick any laptop from this list, you will not make any mistake by no means. Every laptop has great value for its price. The only difference is why you need a laptop. If you need it for work and you will often use it outside, then Asus ZenBook 13 is an excellent choice with its bright display, excellent build quality, and long battery life.
On the other hand, if you also want to occasionally play video games then the choice is between Lenovo Legion 5 and Acer Nitro 5. The latest has a better, stronger, and faster gaming configuration. It is powered with GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB of VRAM, but the downside is that sometimes it can get overheated and cooling fans may get loud.
If you don’t want to make any compromises regarding thermal management, Lenovo Legion 5 is an excellent choice. It is a bit less powerful gaming laptop, but still a very respectable gaming machine with polished design and exceptional thermal management, and silent cooling fans.
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