An efficient laptop should not always cost you a big sum. It always depends on what you want your laptop to do for you. You can still find the best laptops within a good budget. So if you are looking for the best laptops under 300, good luck, you can find some nice laptops in this price range.

Laptops under 300 dollars are capable of doing all your daily routine tasks like browsing, writing or even somewhat photo editing. But you may raise a question here. Are these budget laptops under 300 good enough to perform intensive tasks? Well, the answer to this is yes and no. Some laptops will be good for intensive tasks too but those will lack other things like good speakers or a display. Whereas, those with average performance will have nice speakers and keypads, etc.

Now, let’s go through these best laptops under $300 and get to know what will be the right fit for you. And you should also read our guide about what you will get and what you will have to sacrifice in 300 dollars budget.

Best Laptops Under 300 (2021)

1. HP Chromebook 11
2. Acer Aspire 1
3. ASUS VivoBook L203MA
4. Samsung Chromebook 3
5. Acer Chromebook 14
6. Asus X551MA
7. HP Stream Laptop
8. Lenovo IdeaPad 1
9. ASUS L402WA-EH21
10. Lenovo Flex 11

Our Top 3 Picks

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What does a $300 Laptop Packs & What it Lacks?

We discussed in the very start that a 300 dollar laptop might not be an all in one thing for you. You will have to compromise on certain things. At times design will overlap performance and vice versa. This is where you will have to decide on what you need the most and accept a trade-off. However, you can still perform intensive tasks on a 300 dollar laptop, but you’ll need to be patient with the response of it. Let’s look into what your laptop will pack and what it might lack?

Design Features

Best laptops for under 300 will be normal notebooks. This means that in a good performing laptop, you might not get features like 2-in-1 functionality, detachable, or even a touch screen. Because such features make a laptop costly and then you would have to compromise on performance if your $300 laptop has any of these features.

However, you can still get these features in small size laptops like 11 inch or 12 inch. And on the other side, you can get all these features alongside performance in the form of a Chromebook, but this again means a trade-off for skipping Windows which is one of the widely used operating systems.

Display

Most laptops under 300 will come in small size, this already indicates that the display will be average. Now for a display to be of good quality, it needs to have good resolution, colors, and brightness. So, in budget laptops, colors and brightness might not be an issue but good resolution is skipped at times by the manufacturers in order to keep the price low.

For the above-mentioned reason, you might compromise on a good resolution like QHD or UHD, however, you will get 1080p and 720p in most of them.

Build Quality

Premium laptops are mostly built out of aluminum or have other metallic finishes. On the contrary, in a budget laptop, you will have to settle for plastic. Now plastic build does not mean that the build quality of certain laptops is not good. But comparatively, aluminum finish gives an elegant look and is durable.

Such a build quality will also affect the keypad of your laptop. Keys placed in a metal chassis tend to be good for typing and fast use. Whereas, inside a plastic chassis the keys produce unwanted noise and feel sticky at times.

Performance

We have a performance at the end here because a budget laptop obviously means average or sometimes low performance. So in this case, you can not expect your laptop to be a performance beast. It will surely perform certain intensive tasks too, but those will take time and you will have to show patience.

Therefore, in a budget laptop under 300 will you mostly get Intel Celeron or Intel Pentium processors which are adequate but not the best in the lot.

Worth a read:
Best Chromebook Under 200
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Best Laptop Under 300 Reviews

1. HP Chromebook 11

From all of the budget laptops of HP Chromebook 11 holds the title of the best budget laptop under 300 as per its beautiful design and some good specifications at such a cheap price. When it comes to the display there is not something special but a good one for those who prefer to work on low resolution but can’t compromise on performance. It has 11.6 inches screen with a 1366 x 768 resolution display. Moreover, it is the portable option to power your works on travel as it weighs only 2.3 pounds weight.

While looking for the specifications of the budget laptop, expecting some ultimate features from it is something apart from reality. The same is the case here you can perform your tasks on it with average performance, as it is housed with a MediaTek MT8183 processor and 4GB RAM. Also, it stores your data such as videos, images, and other important files in its 32GB eMMC storage device. More, there are Intel HD Integrated graphics that works better on low graphics settings.

Besides, all the other features there is a much powerful battery-equipped inside it that lasts around 15 hours. Furthermore, the connectivity options here are also of the next level including USB 2.0 Type-A and Type-C ports plus the headphone and microphone jacks. Its speakers deliver an average sound to you what you expect from a budget laptop.

2. Acer Aspire 1

Another best budget laptop under 300, Acer Aspire 1 is stylish, slim, and modern looking. You may not find something smart looking than this one in the mentioned price range. Additionally, it comes housed with a 1080p display which is a nice one. But the downside to it is below-average battery life. This results from the slim design and quality display, it simply can’t bear the load and drains out quickly.

Acer Aspire 1 is thin and lightweight, it weighs around 3 pounds which is not bad at all. The display here is 14 inch with 1080p resolution, it offers nice colors and has a bright view. Not only this, but the ports offered can be considered too within a low budget. On its right, you get 2 USB 2.0 ports, an audio jack, and a DC power jack where you connect your charger. And on the left lies an SD card slot, Ethernet port, HDMI and USB 3.0. So you get good connectivity options and the ports are nicely distributed on both sides.

Now the performance, can not be considered to be a beast but still is a good one. You get an Intel Celeron N4000 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB eMMC storage which definitely means that your tasks will load faster. Moreover, it comes housed with Windows 10 Home. You can not expect it to run like enhanced laptops having Core-i3 or Core-i5 but it still is a good go-to option if you are constrained by budget. While using your laptop for low-load tasks like web browsing, the battery will last for below 6 hours which is average. Considering the size of the laptop, it should have a good battery because many people might carry it around all the time.

3. ASUS VivoBook L203MA

If you are looking for something compact and solid, this one is going to be the best budget laptop under 300 for you. It’s a kind of laptop which you take around anywhere and use with grace. The reasons for this are its lightweight, solid nature, good battery life, and above-average performance. Its design might be a little old-school having thick bezels etc, but it is a good one when talking about laptops for under 300.

Performance-wise it can do your normal work easily, it packs an Intel Celeron N4000 Processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB flash storage, and built-in Intel UHD Graphics 600. All this can make your simple work go well. Besides, the speakers are good too. Talking about the display, it’s an 11. 6 inches HD display with a resolution of (1366 x 768). It is crisp and offers a good view of angles as well. Also, the hinge here can be rotated to 180° so you can lay it flat on the table.

For connectivity, you get USB Type-C, Type-A, and an HDMI as well. Now Type-C here is a modern addition which you will be needing more overtime. The battery life on it is good as well which makes it the best choice for portability, ASUS claims it to give an all-day backup which would be nice. So, as mentioned above, it is a solid laptop which you can carry around easily without hesitating about the charge.

4. Samsung Chromebook 3

Chromebooks have made their place among laptops in recent years. The good thing about them is that they offer good overall performance within a good budget. The same is the case with Samsung Chromebook 3, it’s a nice laptop with good performance and an elegant design. One may not like the fact that it’s small in size at just 11.6 inches, but other than that everything in it is good considering the fact that it is below $300.

Starting with its performance, it sports 1.6-GHz Intel Celeron N3060, 4GB of RAM, and 16GB eMMC storage. This makes it a good little performer alongside its ChrmoeOS which comes loaded by default. Inside you also get Intel HD Graphics 400 as default graphics which will definitely put a little something while watching movies. The display as mentioned above is 11.3 inches with a resolution of 1366 x 768 but it’s one heck of a display. The colors and brightness is simply great, you won’t find such quality even in some high priced laptops or specifically Chromebooks.

Talking about the design, it’s all plastic but has premium build quality. Its build makes it durable and good looking as well. It definitely needs to be at the top among best budget laptops under 300 but the only reason it slides down is that ChromeOS is not preferred by most laptop users. Among the ports, you will find all necessary ports like USB 3.0 & 2.0, SD card reader and HDMI, etc. Its speakers are good too, they are loud yet clear. Finally, the battery life is superb. It hits 9 hours mark and can go even beyond that which is amazing work from Samsung.

5. Acer Chromebook 14

Once again, Chromebooks could be your only go-to if you want speed and budget together. Of course, for this, your trade-off would be skipping Windows OS. Many people don’t like using ChromeOS, but for simple tasks it is amazing. It can only become a problem if you are using certain software for some specific purpose and it is not supported. But for simple routine use, you won’t be facing these issues. Acer Chromebook 14 is good among budget laptops when it comes to design, speed, and battery life.

Speaking of the design, it has a shiny and durable aluminum chassis giving it an elegant look. It weighs 3.42 pounds only and is sleek at the edges. Its design is simply good, no one can deny this. It has a 14-inch 1080p display with good colors, but it’s not a vibrant display. You may find it boring if trying to watch a movie on it. Under the hood lies an Intel Celeron N3160, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB eMMC flash storage. These might not be big numbers but for a Chromebook, this is average or even above-average performance.

Speaking of its audio performance, this Chromebook has got nice speakers. The sound can clearly be heard in a big room from any corner. Usually, budget laptops don’t put in such speakers, but these are great. For connectivity, you only get an HDMI and a pair of USB 3.0 ports. There are no new-tech ports such as a DisplayPort or even a Type-C. It has a superb battery performance as well. Acer Chromebook 14 can easily last for well above 9 hours which is stunning.

6. Asus X551MA 15 Inch Notebook

If you are planning to get a laptop that rocks a large screen and yet costs you under 300, then this one is spot on. It comes with a very basic design and average specs but has a large screen. It can be useful for those who want an entry-level laptop for basic tasks like web surfing, listening to music or file editing, etc. It comes with a 15-inch display having a resolution of 1366 x 768 which is quite good for a laptop on this budget. Also, this big size enables the manufacturer to put in a Numpad too, which proves to be useful for many people.

Design-wise, it is pretty basic. You get all the necessary things but no fancy additions like thin bezels etc. It weighs around 4.7 pounds and therefore it falls among the heavy laptop categories. Yes, it is portable but you might not want to carry it along for work or college on daily basis. Under the hood, it sports Intel Celeron N2830 CPU which will easily perform your daily tasks like document editing or web surfing. But you can not expect it to run most of the games. Besides, it is housed with a 4GB DDR4 RAM which again is average, and then finally you get a 500GB SSD. So, there is no SSD in the system but you can always slide one in for better performance.

Among the ports you get USB 3.0, USB 2.0, SDXC card reader, Gigabit Ethernet and an HDMI port. So you clearly don’t get any modern-day Type-C or Thunderbolt 3 ports. But those you get in this laptop are enough for most of the connectivity you would need. The battery life gives you a backup of around 3 hours which may not be a good number. But for a laptop which costs under 300 dollars, it is up to the mark. Finally, the speakers here are considered to be good. You will enjoy your movie on its 15-inch screen and loud but clear speakers.

7. HP Stream Laptop 14 Inch

HP has been rolling out-stream laptops for quite a few years now. These are particularly designed for those who want to have a basic performance laptop for routine use but still want it to look good and leave an impression. Well, by the looks, color, and weight, it is a perfect laptop. You get a nice minimal design that has a candy color and weighs 3.11 pounds. But peaking into its performance will tell you that it’s a basic laptop for very basic use. Perhaps, children or first-time buyers would love it the most. It does offer a good battery life, but you should not expect Windows opening quick and processing happening without you even knowing.

As mentioned above, you could clearly feel when a process is executed in the CPU. This is because the software is getting enhanced every day but this laptop houses an Intel Celeron N3060 alongside 4GB RAM which is basic stuff, and not for advanced tasks. For storage you get 32GB space and it’s flash storage (eMMC) which means it is not easy replaceable, the way an HDD or SSD can be replaced. The display panel is 14 inches with a resolution of 1366 x 768, and clearly, you will get what you pay for. It’s not a very nice display but would work great for basic work.

The keypad on the laptop looks nice because of the color combination of white with blue. But not only this, it is easy to use as well. If you are someone who types fast, it will definitely suit you. Among the ports you get everything of beginner level, it rocks an HDMI, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, SD card slot, and of course an audio jack for connecting your headset. What lacks here is an Ethernet port, which will always turn you to use Wi-Fi. This laptop here manages to give you a battery life of around 7 hours which is pretty impressive for a best Windows laptop under 300. However, you might not like the audio performance and will be compelled to use a pair of good headphones.

8. Lenovo Ideapad 1

Lenovo Ideapad 1 has proved itself the best laptop under 300 as per its cool design and better specifications. It has 14 inches screen with a 1366 x 768 resolution display that projects an average level graphics for you on screen. Moreover, its weight is only 3 pounds so can be easily carried everywhere you want it to be. Also, there is a front-facing webcam that makes it possible for you to attend the business meetings and classes with some clear HD image results.

When it comes to the performance of this best budget laptop it is addressed with Intel N5030 Quad-Core processor plus there is a 4GB RAM so it tackles your normal tasks just perfectly. Furthermore, there are Intel Integrated graphics so you can play low-level games on it, and also the less graphics-intensive tasks can be performed on it perfectly. More, its battery lasts around 8 hours so it’s more than enough to power your long working sessions.

Ideapad 1 is addressed with some better connectivity options including USB 3.2, HDMI, and SD card slot. When it comes to enjoying the loud and clear music of the level you can expect from a budget laptop, this laptop fulfills this requirement perfectly with its 2 built-in speakers. Finally, the budget price, cool design, and better features all these things are bounded to one name and that is Lenovo Ideapad 1.

9. ASUS L402WA-EH21 14 Inch

This 14 inches laptop by ASUS is another cheap yet nice laptop. It offers a nice display alongside modern-day ports. With the performance it offers and the design it has, it can prove to be a good laptop for students. Besides, anyone with normal usage or specifically home usage can go for it.

Performance-wise, it falls into the average category. You can not expect too much from it, but for basic routine things, it will work well. It comes housed with AMD E2-6110 Quad-Core 1.5GHz Processor alongside 4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC Flash Storage. What makes it a little better compared to other budget laptops is Radeon R2 Graphics. It weighs around 3.6 pounds and is 0.9 inches thick, despite such a thin profile it manages to incorporate a good number of important ports. Among the ports you get, a USB Type-C, USB 3.1, HDMI and last but not the least is the Ethernet port.

The keypad here is average, one can not simply call it a good one. However, the touchpad supports all recent gestures and is pretty responsive to them. While running Windows, it easily gives a backup of over 6 hours which is a good number for the best laptop for 300. Finally, the display here which tends to be 14 inches has a resolution of 1366×768. It’s a pretty bright display having a perfect color scheme making your view clear and vivid.

Also read:
Best Budget Chromebook
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10. Lenovo Flex 11 2-in-1 Convertible

Lenovo flex series consists of some best convertible laptops which people love to use. One of these is the Flex 11 which in a real sense is the best 2 1 laptop under 300. You get a laptop that is convertible, so this means you can use it in different forms. And this also means that it has a touch-enabled screen, all these packed in a machine which costs below 300 is simply stunning. More or less, this 2-in-1 laptop will be good for normal work like document editing or browsing the web. Besides this, it won’t be able to help you a lot. This is because too much has been put into the design, but for that, a trade-off has been made on performance.

Speaking of the performance, inside this budget convertible laptop an Intel Celeron N4000 is packed which again is average but not the best. In addition, you can choose between 2 or 4GB RAM. And you also get 64GB eMMC flash storage which means it’s better than HDD. It comes with an 11.6-inch touch-enabled display having a resolution of 1366 x 768. The display is not the best of all, but for an 11-inch screen, it works pretty well. Its keypad in the chassis is an amazing one, you normally don’t get such a keypad in budget laptops. It is island style with a good response and key travel.

Flex 11 has all the ports you would need. It packs USB 3.0, HDMI, Type-C, USB 2.0, an audio jack, and finally an SD card reader which is 4-in-1 because it supports all SD, SDXC, MMC, and SDHC. You might not be a fan of its speakers because they are not spot on. The sound is not clear when heard at a loud volume. Although connecting your headphones will do you some good. Last but not the least, this laptop packs one insane battery. It gives you a backup of just above 9 hours which is quite a good number considering the fact that it is a convertible with a touch screen.

Conclusion
Budget laptops under 300 dollars will definitely not give you a beastly performance, that’s for sure. And of course, you will not be expecting it to do so. But such laptops will get done your normal things like file editing, listening to music, or even watching a movie. This is why you need to know beforehand that a budget laptop at this level is not for all but some tasks. Good luck with finding your best laptop for under 300. Keep checking for updates.