TL;DR: A grade A refurbished Dell Latitude 5420 with an 11th Gen i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and Windows 11 Pro is $264.99 (MSRP $1,099). Limited inventory available.

A brand-new business laptop with Windows 11 Pro, Thunderbolt 4, and an 11th Gen Intel processor usually costs north of $800. But if you don’t mind a refurbished model, this near-mint Dell Latitude 5420 brings all of that down to $264.99 (MSRP $1,099). The only “catch” is that inventory is limited, so order ASAP.

An 11th Gen Core i5-1135G7 runs at 2.4GHz and turbo-boosts to 4.2GHz, so spreadsheets, browser tabs, and video calls don’t compete for processing power. RAM is 8GB DDR4-3200, and the board supports up to 32GB if you want to upgrade later.

Storage is a 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD. Boot times and application launches are fast, though heavy media libraries or large project folders may need an external drive.

A 14-inch Full HD anti-glare display keeps text sharp and readable without the glare that makes glossy screens hard to use near a window.

Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB 3.2 ports, and HDMI 2.0 give enough connectivity for a monitor, a dock, and peripherals without running out of slots. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are both included. At 2.9 lbs, the laptop travels easily. A 90-day parts and labor warranty comes with the unit.

Pick up a business-grade laptop at a fraction of its original price while inventory lasts.

Get the Dell Latitude 5420 (Refurbished) for $264.99 (MSRP $1,099).

Dell Latitude 5420 (2021) 14″ i5-1135G7 8GB RAM 256GB SSD Win11Pro (Refurbished)See Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Best Prices Today: Chuwi UniBook

With the UniBook, Chuwi is introducing Intel’s affordable Wildcat Lake platform. At $449, the 14-inch laptop focuses on practicality rather than raw performance. Its key strengths are its lightweight form factor and wide selection of ports. The 8GB of RAM, however, raises questions about how it handles multitasking and more demanding tasks.

Chuwi UniBook: Design and build quality

The dark grey UniBook has an understated look and feels significantly more substantial than its price would suggest. The lid, keyboard bezel, and underside are made from an anodized aluminum alloy. The matte surfaces show fingerprints only some fingerprints. Our test unit is neatly assembled. We found no sharp edges, uneven gaps, or creaking joints. The lid bends slightly in the middle, but remains stable during normal use. Even the keyboard yields only a little under firm pressure.

Measuring 12.38 × 8.70 × 0.65 inches, the UniBook takes up barely more space than a sheet of A4 paper. Chuwi states its weight as 2.65 pounds. This makes it significantly more portable than the MSI Modern 15, which, at 14.13 × 9.49 × 0.79 inches and 3.86 pounds, takes up more space in your bag. The compact 65-watt USB-C power adaptor also fits in well with the portable design.

The hinge holds the screen securely in place and allows for an opening angle of 180 degrees. However, the base is too light to open with one hand.

The backlit chiclet keyboard makes good use of the width of the chassis. The keys offer a clear actuation point and sufficient travel for longer texts. Two brightness levels make typing in dark environments easier. The backlighting shines through noticeably at the edges of the keys in places. Our test unit also features a US QWERTY layout without dedicated keys for umlauts and the ß. Prospective buyers should therefore check which keyboard layout the laptop comes with before purchasing. Due to the 14-inch format, there is no numeric keypad. The arrow keys are on the small side, but the rest of the layout remains clear and uncluttered.

The touchpad measures approximately 12 × 7 centimeters. Its smooth surface responds precisely to movements. Clicks work across almost the entire surface, though they feel firmer at the top edge.

The matt 14-inch screen has a resolution of 1920×1200 pixels in the practical 16:10 aspect ratio. This provides more vertical space for documents than a standard Full HD panel. Text appears sharp, whilst IPS technology ensures consistent viewing angles. The refresh rate is 60 hertz. This is sufficient for Office and video streaming. However, photos look noticeably washed-out and color-accurate editing is out of the question. Outdoors, there is a lack of brightness reserve.

The matt finish is a welcome feature, as it reduces distracting reflections. The display does not flicker. However, with dark images, the backlight shines through slightly at the edges.

Overall, Chuwi delivers impressive build quality. However, the UniBook does not match the torsional rigidity and build quality of more expensive premium devices.

Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200 is pre-installed. Chuwi has omitted unnecessary additional programs, so the system appears tidy once set up.

On our test unit, not all Intel components were correctly configured after the Windows setup. We had to install the available chipset, graphics and NPU drivers separately. Some of these are found by the Intel Driver and Support Assistant.

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2024 is already pre-installed. The package includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. An additional Microsoft 365 subscription is not required to use it.

Chuwi UniBook: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

The 722p webcam produces soft images with little detail. It’s adequate for occasional video conferences, but not for high-quality recordings. A mechanical slider covers the camera when required. An integrated microphone is also available for voice calls. T

he stereo speakers are loud enough, but the sound is thin and lacking in bass. Headphones are recommended for films and music.

Biometric login is not possible. The UniBook has neither a fingerprint sensor nor an infrared camera for Windows Hello. To unlock the device, you must use a PIN, password, or an external security key.

Chuwi UniBook: Connectivity

In terms of ports, the UniBook outperforms many of its competitors. On the left-hand side are two USB-C ports with USB 3.2 Gen 1, DisplayPort output, and Power Delivery. There’s also an HDMI 1.4b port and a USB-A port with 5 Gbit/s.

On the right-hand side, we find two further USB-A ports (one of which supports USB 2.0 only), a micro-SD card reader, Gigabit LAN, and a 3.5-millimetre jack. Both USB-C ports can charge the laptop and power a 4K display at 60 Hertz via HDMI. A maximum of 4K at 30 Hertz is possible.

The Realtek RTL8852BE module supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. High data transfer rates are possible on compatible Wi-Fi networks, though Wi-Fi 6E is not supported. The wired Realtek interface delivers 1 Gbit/s. The fold-out network port is a nice feature, especially if you work from home.

Chuwi UniBook: Performance

The UniBook is powered by Intel’s Core 3 304 from the Wildcat Lake series. The 15-watt chip combines a fast performance core with four energy-efficient cores, as well as five threads. The maximum clock speed is 4.3 GHz, and the L3 cache is 6 MB. The processor is manufactured using the Intel 18A process. The architecture is modern, but the limited expansion options place tight constraints on performance.

In PCMark 10, the laptop scored 4,917 points. The sub-scores of 7,765 points for basic functions and 8,099 points for productivity show that web browsers, Word, and spreadsheets run smoothly.

For digital content creation, the score drops to 5,130 points. Programs launch quickly, but running several large applications pushes the 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM to its limits. Unfortunately, the RAM is soldered in place and cannot be upgraded. Anyone using lots of browser tabs, Microsoft Teams, and image-editing software simultaneously should expect short delays.

The 3DMark CPU Profile confirms the unbalanced core configuration. A single thread scores 1,027 points, while two threads reach 1,615 points. With four threads, the score is 2,691 points and the maximum score is 3,331 points.

The single P-core responds quickly, but during prolonged rendering or video conversion, additional powerful cores are needed. The UniBook is best suited for Office tasks, research, and media playback. Software development, large RAW projects, and video rendering require more patience.

The integrated Intel graphics uses just one Xe3 core running at up to 2.3 GHz. Its performance is sufficient for navigating Windows’ interface and video playback.

In 3DMark Time Spy, the UniBook scores 893 points, although 3DMark flags the result with a warning. The graphics score is 783 points, while the CPU score is 4,383 points. Despite the lack of validation, the result suggests that the graphics performance is likely sufficient only for older or less demanding games.

Demanding games run too slowly, even at 1080p. Newer 3DMark tests wouldn’t run because the graphics unit lacks hardware ray tracing and other DirectX 12 Ultimate features. According to the manufacturer, the NPU achieves 15 TOPS. This is sufficient for individual local AI functions, but does not meet the requirements of a Copilot Plus PC.

The 256 GB HOGE H750 NVMe SSD uses PCIe 3.0. CrystalDiskMark records sequential read speeds of 2,383 MB/s and write speeds of 2,101 MB/s. That’s respectable for a budget laptop. Around 237 GB is available after formatting, though Windows reduces the available space further. The M.2-2280 SSD can be swapped for a larger PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 model. A second SSD cannot be installed.

The MSI Modern 15’s Ryzen 5 7530U processor offers six cores and twelve threads. It performs noticeably faster on parallelized tasks and features more powerful Radeon graphics. Its RAM is also not upgradeable.

The UniBook, on the other hand, is more compact, lighter, and has longer battery life. If you prioritize value above all else, you’re better off with an affordable Ryzen 5 model. For commuters, the Chuwi offers a good balance between size, battery life, and connectivity options.

Chuwi UniBook: Battery life

The built-in lithium-polymer battery has a capacity of 53.38 Wh. In our battery test, with the display brightness set to 150 cd/m², the UniBook lasted around 13 hours and 40 minutes. At maximum brightness, the battery life drops to just under twelve hours. This is more than enough for a working day involving word processing, web browsing, and short video conferences.

In idle mode, we measured power consumption of around 2.5 to 4.8 watts, depending on the display brightness. Under typical load, consumption rises to around 18 watts. For short periods, it can reach just over 50 watts.

The included 65-watt power adaptor has plenty of headroom and can charge via either of the two USB-C ports. A charge level of around 60 percent can be reached after about an hour. The manufacturer’s claim of up to 20 hours, however, depends heavily on light use and low display brightness. In everyday use, 12 to 14 hours is more realistic.

Chuwi UniBook: Cooling, noise level

The UniBook actively cools the Core 3 304 with a single fan. When idle or during light office work, the fan often stops running. As a result, the notebook operates silently.

Short periods of heavy processing usually result in only a faint hum. Under full load, the noise level briefly rises to over 40 dB(A), but drops to around 30 dB(A) after the initial power surge. Compared to the MSI Modern 15, the cooling system seems more restrained, as the MSI fan is clearly audible under load.

The processor briefly draws up to 35 watts at the start of a task, allowing programs to launch quickly. After a few seconds, the firmware reduces power consumption to 15 watts to keep the laptop cool and quiet. As a result, computing performance drops during longer tasks such as rendering.

Even under load, the chassis only warms up moderately. Using the Thermal Master 3 thermal imaging camera, we measured a maximum of 101.5 degrees on the top surface. The warmest area is above the keyboard near the hinge. The keys and the palm rest remain significantly cooler. On the underside, the UniBook reaches a maximum of 90.9 degrees. This means it’s pretty comfortable to use on your lap. Just make sure the ventilation slots aren’t blocked.

Chuwi has sensibly tailored the cooling system to its target audience. The UniBook causes no disturbance, especially in a quiet working environment. The trade-off is not thermal throttling in the problematic sense, but rather a fixed performance budget. This configuration is well-suited to office software. Users with constant CPU loads will benefit more from a laptop with multiple performance cores and a larger cooler.

Chuwi UniBook: Conclusion

The Chuwi UniBook impresses in situations where an affordable device needs to be practical. The metal casing is lightweight and well-finished. The keyboard is suitable for longer typing sessions, and the battery lasts a full working day. Five USB ports, HDMI, a card reader, and Gigabit LAN mean many users won’t need an adapter. For $449, this combination is rare.

The cost-cutting measures remain evident. The display is matte and sharp, but covers only around 59 percent of the sRGB color space. Colors appear correspondingly pale. The webcam and speakers deliver basic quality. A more significant drawback is the 8 GB of soldered-on RAM. Even with demanding multitasking, there’s little room to maneuver. The Core 3 304 offers good responsiveness per core, but it doesn’t match the Ryzen 5’s performance under sustained load. Its modest Xe3 graphics are hardly suitable for gaming.

Anyone looking for a quiet, long-lasting laptop for office work will find this a well-rounded package. Buyers should assess their storage requirements and not expect any spare capacity for resource-intensive creative software. The MSI Modern 15 is larger and heavier, but offers more processing and graphics performance with the Ryzen 5 7530U. The UniBook wins when it comes to portability, but not when it comes to performance.

Chuwi UniBook: Specs

• Processor: Intel Core 3 304, Wildcat Lake, 1 P-core plus 4 LP-E cores, 5 threads, up to 4.3 GHz, 6 MB L3 cache, 15 watts
• Graphics: Intel Graphics, 1 Xe3 core, up to 2.3 GHz, 9 TOPS
• NPU: Intel NPU 5, up to 15 TOPS
• RAM: 8 GB LPDDR5-6400, soldered, dual-channel
• Storage: 256 GB HOGE H750 NVMe SSD, PCIe 3.0, M.2 2280, removable; slot supports PCIe 4.0 x4
• Display: 14-inch, IPS, matt, 1,920 × 1,200 pixels, 16:10, 60 Hz
• Ports on the left: 2 × USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 with charging and DisplayPort, HDMI 1.4b, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1
• Ports on the right: USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, USB-A 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, micro SD card reader, 3.5 mm audio
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 via Realtek RTL8852BE, Bluetooth 5.2
• Camera: 720p with mechanical privacy cover
• Keyboard: Chiclet, two-level white backlighting, QWERTY layout on the test unit
• Audio: Stereo speakers, combined headphone/microphone jack
• Battery: 53.38 Wh lithium-polymer
• Power adaptor: 65 watts, USB-C Power Delivery
• Dimensions: 314.5 × 221 × 16.4 mm
• Weight: approx. 1.2 kg
• Warranty: 12 months
• Operating system: Windows 11 Pro
• Software: Office Professional Plus 2024

If you’re shopping for a new laptop and don’t want to settle for 8GB of RAM, this Asus Vivobook 16 is definitely worth a look. It’s currently $529.99 at Amazon, which is $140.01 off of the original $670 price. 

One thing I really like about this deal is that Asus didn’t cheap out on the memory. You get 16GB of RAM, which is what I’d go for in a laptop these days. Sure, you can still find plenty of lower-cost laptops with 8GB, but 16GB gives you a lot more breathing room when you’re bouncing between browser tabs and programs. 

You’re also getting a 512GB SSD, so storage isn’t an afterthought either. Put those two specs together, and this feels like a laptop you can actually live with for a few years rather than one you’ll want to upgrade in a year or so. 

The Snapdragon X processor is another nice fit for this kind of laptop. It’s designed with efficiency in mind, so the focus is less on raw performance and more on giving you a responsive machine for the daily stuff, paired with a long-lasting battery. 

The 16-inch 1920×1200  display is another reason I’d consider this over a small budget laptop. You get more screen real estate for spreadsheets and documents, as the 16:10 aspect ratio gives you a little more vertical space than a standard 1080p screen. 

This laptop isn’t trying to wow you with one premium feature. Instead, it’s giving you a well-rounded set of specs. It’s one of the best Prime Day laptop deals around if you’re on a budget — especially if you don’t want to suffer the sacrifices an 8GB laptop requires.

Get the Asus Vivobook 16 for $529.99

Price When Reviewed

$699.99

Best Prices Today: Acer Swift Air 14 (SFA14-I31)

On paper, the Acer Swift Air 14 is almost exactly what a productivity laptop buyer in 2026 ought to want. A great price, decent performance, and excellent battery life. Does it all play out as planned?

Here’s the tradeoff, in short. The laptop’s $699 sticker price is offset by an anemic 8GB of RAM — a grievous error in 2025, but more forgivable during the component shortages of 2026 and beyond (?). It all plays out as you would hope… but just don’t push it.

Acer Swift Air 14: Specs and configurations

Right now, the Acer Swift Air 14 (SFA14-I31-58V8) is available to buy at Acer and Best Buy for $699. It might be also worth noting that Acer’s chief executive recently said that he expects PC prices to rise by between five to 20 percent during the fourth quarter of 2026, which may be an incentive for you to buy soon.

• Model number: SFA14-I3
• CPU: Intel Core 5 320
• Memory: 8GB LPDDR5X (expandable to 16GB)
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Graphics
• NPU: Yes, 16 TOPS
• Display: 14-inch (1920×1200) TFT, 30-120Hz
• Storage: 512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD
• Webcam: 1080p
• Connectivity: 2X USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), USB-A, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.3
• Biometrics: Windows Hello (webcam)
• Battery capacity: 70 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.4 x 8.8 x 0.51 inches
• Weight: 2.62 pounds
• MSRP: $699.99 as tested

Acer Swift Air 14: Out of the box and construction

Since Acer sells this laptop for $699, I wanted to see if any corners had been cut. As the specs above note, one key shortcoming is the amount of memory: we all know that RAM is expensive, but we’ll see how 8GB affects its overall performance later in the review.

Otherwise, you might expect the Swift “Air” to float in your hands. It doesn’t, but at 2.62 pounds, it’s much lighter than a typical 14-inch laptop, which typically weighs about three pounds. Its aluminum construction feels solid, and I couldn’t feel any untoward flexing either in the keyboard tray or as I moved the display up and down.

Acer’s product page indicates that the Swift Air 14 ships in “purple, blue, pink, and green,” though Acer and Best Buy sell the laptop in a sage green only.

Put another way, the Acer Swift Air 14 does not feel cheap, which was one of the goals of the Intel Project Firefly program associated with the Core Series 3 (“Wildcat Lake”) processor inside the laptop itself.

The laptop’s display fully reclines, which is a little odd given that the Swift Air 14’s display isn’t touch-enabled. Acer included a pair of powerful USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 capabilities on the left side of the laptop, with just a single USB-A port and a headphone jack on the right. It feels perfectly appropriate for the size of the laptop and its price point.

Note that this laptop can’t connect to the latest Wi-Fi 7 routers, although Wi-Fi 6e still has sufficient bandwidth for home networking.

Acer Swift Air 14: Display

Even 14-inch laptops seem to have moved beyond 1080p resolution to 1200p, a positive step forward for the industry. My colorimeter measured the display brightness at 376 nits, substantially higher than the 250 to 260 nits we deem adequate for everyday office use. Though the panel used pretty standard IPS technology, Acer’s “Comfyview” matte coating does a good job of diffusing reflections to make it easier to work under bright lights.

No one seems to care too much about bezel sizing, though the underscreen bezel seems a bit bigger than most to achieve the 16:10 aspect ratio.

Budget laptops usually lack the visual fidelity of more expensive “creator-class” laptops. Still, I applied my colorimeter to the display and it fares pretty well. Here’s how my colorimeter assessed the display output:

Remember, too, that the variable refresh rate of the screen (30 to 120Hz) can provide silky smooth mousing and scrolling at the highest refresh rate, but sips power at 30Hz to extend battery life. You’ll need to go into the Windows settings menu to enable the dynamic refresh rate. Otherwise, it will remain fixed at 120Hz.

Acer Swift Air 14: Keyboard and touchpad

I like Acer’s laptop keyboards, and the Swift Air 14 is no exception. The keys are wide and spacious. The key travel is comfortable and forgiving, too. As a budget productivity laptop, this is ideal. The top row of the keyboard includes dedicated keys for AcerSense, Acer’s utility software, as well as a shortcut to Acer.com.

I did catch a bug. The keyboard doesn’t wake up immediately at the tap of a button–this happens when the laptop’s running on battery and wall power. After the first tap, however, the keyboard worked normally… until I left idle for a few seconds. Then the laptop would revert to its earlier state.

In other words, when I tapped the Start button, the laptop did nothing. I also wondered why I kept mistakenly entering PIN codes and passwords! That was why. Acer advised me to reset the PC as a workaround, which solved the problem.

The included trackpad works as well as could be expected for a budget trackpad. It’s clickable up until the about the top third, where it peters out. Gestures work like normal.

Acer Swift Air 14: Audio, webcam, mics, and biometrics

The laptop’s audio quality is good. Acer mounts four speakers inside the laptop, enhanced by DTS:X Ultra Audio. The combination delivers solid audio from lows to highs. It’s a little soft on the low-end bass, but with good volume otherwise. Moreover, turning up the volume doesn’t immediately turn the audio into mishmash, as older laptops used to do. (I did notice a little distortion on Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way, however.) Watching video on the laptop is surprisingly good, too.

Access to the laptop is protected by Windows Hello, enabled on the webcam’s depth camera. This is traditionally difficult to test because we only have the laptop for a short time. However, I was able to set it up and it recognized me several times without flaw over the course of the review.

Otherwise, the laptop’s 1080p/30Hz webcam was acceptable. You’ll notice that the laptop’s processor does include a small NPU of 16 TOPS. This is enough for the Windows Studio Effects (pan and zoom, background blur, and the odd “eye contact” effect)–these all worked well enough. Right now, I’m not convinced that this class of laptop will really benefit from local AI, save the for the built-in studio effects.

I’ve included a sample webcam shot below. (Consider one of our webcam recommendations otherwise.)

There’s also an interesting twist: Acer specifically pushes a popup at you if you open the Windows Camera application. It advertises a “Acer Phone Webcam” application that can be downloaded for your Android or iPhone. Essentially, your (far superior) phone camera’s feed stands in for your webcam.

Acer Phone Webcam isn’t that different than what you can already do with your PC, though using a phone camera as a webcam is a bit complicated to set up within Windows. Acer simplifies it, and it’s a smart use of an app to do so.

The on-device mics don’t do a great job of capturing audio, though the audio filtering is excellent — with a major caveat. I test the microphone quality by using the Windows Sound Recorder application to record my voice, with and without music, then with white noise playing in the background.

The Acer Swift Air 14 did a good job filtering out the white noise — rainfall, in this case. My voice was captured almost perfectly. My voice sounded more distorted when I was playing music in the background, though the music was totally filtered out. Great work! Well, kind of.

On my first run I noticed I had a benchmark program sitting idle in the background. However, the memory that app took up negatively affected the laptop’s audio capture ability, turning my voice into more of a garbled mess than an actual recording.

Acer Swift Air 14: Performance

The 8GB of RAM prevented one of our benchmark applications from running entirely. I think a bigger concern, however, is that an 8GB laptop pushes you to look at the hardware requirements for certain applications. Photoshop might be a poor example in this scenario, but its “required” memory is just 8GB. Adobe “recommends” 16GB instead. That means risking a substantial amount of money on an application that might not run well on your PC.

(Microsoft, oddly, doesn’t even list a minimum memory allotment for Microsoft 365, though Word, PowerPoint, and Excel all performed acceptably.)

I doubt that the keyboard issue I noticed above wasn’t due to the fact that this laptop only has 8GB of RAM, but leaving another application open while recording audio certainly affected the audio quality in a negative way. On the other hand, I was able to open ten media-rich tabs in Microsoft Edge, plus Word, and almost max out the laptop’s memory usage at 97 percent. Those tabs were perfectly navigable. Some of them even included video, too.

The Acer Swift Air is sufficient for basic tasks, including Office work and web browsing. It’s not a content creation laptop or a gaming rig, though, so you might want to taper your expectations. You may reach a bottleneck faster with 8GB of RAM.

Let’s assume that you’re trying to spend as little as possible on a laptop. In response to the Apple MacBook Neo, laptop manufacturers have presented options: the $699 Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i (now $749.99 at Lenovo), the $429 Acer Aspire Go 15 (now $515), and the $699.99 Dell XPS 13, which has increased in price to $799.99. All of these use 8GB of RAM by default, though the price and display sizes vary. The difference? The first two PCs date to 2025, when memory was more abundant and an 8GB laptop could be more heavily criticized. Sadly, minimal memory is much more acceptable in 2026.

The PCMark benchmark combines a number of tasks, from basic office work (spreadsheets, word processing) all the way up to video calls and CAD applications. I think it’s one of the most well-rounded benchmarks out there, but it doesn’t support Windows on Arm. Still, it gives a clear edge to the Acer Swift Air.

Normally, we’d follow this with the Cinebench 2024 benchmark, but it doesn’t run on laptops with 8GB of memory. I dropped it down to Cinebench R23, which does, and it produced a score of 7,274. That’s less than the Acer Aspire Go, which scored 8,530. That’s not great — by contrast, the Ryzen AI 400 chip inside the Acer Swift Go 16 produced a score of 11,967. You’re trading off some significant performance for the cost savings.

On the other hand, the laptop is closing in on the MacBook Neo. Using the cross-platform Geekbench 6 multicore benchmark, the Neo produced a score of 8,996, while the Swift Air recorded a score of 7,647, a 16 percent difference. The single-core score is also significant.

Here, the Neo recorded a score of 3,574, while the Swift Air 14 being reviewed here recorded a score of 2,397 — a whopping 39 percent difference, and usually an indicator using the laptop’s menus and navigating through its applications will lag a bit.

I also tested the laptop using the Handbrake transcoding benchmark, and it generated a score of 1,901 seconds, versus 2,053 seconds for the IdeaPad Slim 3i.

As my colleague Ashley Biancuzzo pointed out in her review of the Dell XPS 13, these aren’t gaming machines — though the Swift Air does outperform the Ryzen AI 400 series. Still, even light gaming is going to be a struggle. Don’t bother.

With regards to battery life, the specs tell the story. The Acer Swift Air 14 includes a 70 Wh battery, the largest of all the laptops we tested for this article. (The maximum allowed by the FAA’s battery restrictions is a 99Wh battery.) That gives a clear and massive edge to this laptop, even among more expensive machines.

Using our standard video rundown test, the Acer Swift Air 14 delivered about 19.5 hours of battery life, a tremendous showing. Even using the more arduous and realistic Procyon benchmark, which applies a series of standardized Microsoft Office tasks over and over, the total time was 11 hours 14 minutes. That’s a great result and a definite plus in this laptop’s favor. You might be able to push it even higher by enabling the dynamic display refresh rate — I left it at a fixed 120 Hz for testing.

Should you buy the Acer Swift Air 14?

Save for that annoying keyboard bug, I liked my time with the Acer Swift Air. That doesn’t mean I’d recommend it to everyone. For the basics — Office work, some light web browsing — it’s sufficient, and the battery life is outstanding no matter what the price tag says.

The trouble is that most laptops, perhaps excepting the ones we reviewed here, jump immediately to the $1,200 range and above. There’s going to be a class of people who immediately turn up their noses at any laptop with 8GB of memory. Others will be forced into it by necessity or to save a few bucks.

My recommendation would be to buy this laptop from a store with a solid return policy (Best Buy usually qualifies, but be sure) and check to see that you can do what you need to do with it before the return period expires.

You don’t have to drop $1,000 to get a laptop that can handle everyday computing, you know. That said, spending $500 wisely matters here.

At this price, some laptops make reasonable compromises while others cut way too many corners. For most folks, I’d recommend opting for a laptop with a 1080p display and at least 8GB of RAM (16GB is always better if you can swing it).

While you shouldn’t expect premium features at this price point, there are plenty of laptops that offer excellent day-to-day performance. Here are the best ones we’ve found so far.

Why you should trust PCWorld for laptop reviews and buying advice: It’s in our name! PCWorld prides itself on laptop experience and expertise. We’ve been covering PCs since 1983, and we now review more than 70 laptops every year. All of our picks have been personally tested and vetted by our experts, who’ve applied not only performance benchmarks but rigorous usability standards. We’re also committed to reviewing PC laptops at every price point to help you find a machine that matches your budget.

What to expect from a good laptop under $500

• RAM: 8GB is the minimum I’d target; 16GB is a strong buy if you can find it.  
• Display: Aim for a 1080p screen rather than 720p.  
• Processor: Core i3/Ryzen 3 is fine for basic use; Core i5/Ryzen 5 gives you more breathing room.  
• Storage: Prefer an SSD over slower eMMC storage.  
• Battery life: Around 10-12 hours is a good target.  
• Best for: Web browsing, Office, schoolwork, streaming, video calls, and everyday productivity.  
• Not ideal for: AAA gaming, heavy video editing, 3D work, or other demanding workloads.  
• Chromebook or Windows? Choose a Chromebook if most of your work is browser-based; choose Windows if you need desktop apps, broader software compatibility, or more offline flexibility. 

At this price, you’re not shopping for premium performance, you’re looking for the fewest painful compromises. 

Other laptops under $500 we tested

• Chuwi UniBook: The Chuwi UniBook is a well-built, portable laptop with good battery life and connectivity. That said, its 8GB of RAM and mediocre display hold it back.
• Acer Chromebook Plus 516: The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 isn’t much to look at, but it benefits from an Intel Core i3 chip with solid performance and, at times, low sale pricing.
• Acer Chromebook Plus 514: Offers good performance and lots of storage for the price ($399.99, by the way!).
• Asus Chromebook Plus CX14: Edges out models with Celeron processors and is currently on sale for $299.99 at Walmart.

How to choose the best laptop under $500

Ah, here we are at the billion dollar question. Do you spring for a basic Chromebook or go for a Windows laptop with more features? Honestly, it mostly comes down to your lifestyle and what you’re expecting from a laptop under 500 bucks. You’re not gonna get some super-powerful beast at that price, but if you just need something for the basics, there are a lot of decent options out there.

Chromebooks, for example, are super budget-friendly and the battery life is awesome. I actually use one myself for work (writing, editing, all that) and it does the job just fine. If you travel a lot, it’s worth going for something that’s nice and light — under three pounds, if possible. Still not sure what to get? No big deal, take your time figuring it out. I’ve put together a list of quick buying tips below.

• Laptop type: There are many different laptop types that fall in the sub-$500 category: clamshells, 2-in-1s, Chromebooks, and much more. The displays on convertible laptops (aka 2-in-1s), for example, can swing around 360 degrees. This allows you to use the laptop like a tablet. They can also be propped up like a tent for viewing movies or participating in video calls. Chromebooks come in various shapes and sizes, and exclusively run Google’s web-focused Chrome OS. With a Chromebook, all you need is a Gmail account and, boom, you’re in.
• CPU: When it comes to the sub-$500 Windows laptops, you can expect to find Intel Core i3 or i5 processors. An i5 processor obviously provides a little more oomph. That said, basic office and web work does just fine on a Core i3. For AMD stuff, Ryzen 3 is fine for everyday stuff like web browsing, and Ryzen 5 is a solid all-rounder—kind of like Intel’s i5. On Chromebooks, Snapdragon and Pentium chips usually beat out MediaTek ones.
• Graphics: Don’t expect great graphics at this price. You’ll mostly get integrated graphics, which is totally fine unless you’re trying to game or do 3D work.
• RAM: RAM-wise, go for 8GB if you can—it just makes everything smoother. Most Chromebooks come with 4GB, which works, but 8GB is way better if you can swing it.
• Display size: For screen size, 13 to 14 inches is the sweet spot. Big enough to work on, small enough to carry around. Bigger screens mean more weight (and usually a higher price).
• Resolution: Don’t settle for less than 1080p resolution. Anything lower just looks kinda blurry, even for basic stuff like Netflix or spreadsheets.
• Battery life: Battery life? Look for 10 to 12 hours. That’ll get you through most of the day without hunting for an outlet.
• Ports: It’s nice to have a bunch so you don’t need extra adapters. Look for USB-C and USB-A, and HDMI is cool if you want to hook up to a screen.