Overall Best Laptop Canada
The XPS13 comes in many different configurations, which can make the price vary considerably! Typical price is around $1350 for an XPS 13 with a slower processor and smaller hard drive, up to almost $4000.
This is the newest version of Dell XPS 13 Canada! .
It’s an upgrade in every way over the 2019 model, and even though it’s been out for a year, it’s still the most popular laptop in Canada right now.
Q: Should You Go For Performance Or Design
A: Being on a budget isnt fun, and youll have to make sacrifices along the way. That will even most of the time be between the performance of a laptop and design of a laptop that you like. Sometimes, you wont be able to get both, but aiming for a golden middle would be the most ideal. If not, a good idea would be to always go for a better design if the laptop has easy access to upgrades you can do later once you increase your budget.
Tl Dr These Are The Best Budget Gaming Laptops:
Display: 16.1 FHD IPS 144Hz | CPU: Intel Core i7-11800H | GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 | RAM: 16GB DDR4 | Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD | Weight: 5.11 pounds | Size: 14.54″ x 9.76″ x 0.91″
The HP OMEN 16 is a powerful gaming laptop with an extremely attractive $1,200 price tag. It strikes a great balance of CPU and GPU performance. And thanks to the quality components inside, you won’t be paying too much for one part of the system that is going to get consistently bottlenecked by another. It also has a few upgrades from the OMEN 15 model including longer battery life and a slightly larger screen.
The Intel Core i7-11800H inside provides high performance and the instant responsiveness youll need for some solid 1080p gaming. Then theres the impressive 144hz display and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics processor. This will ensure you can enjoy 1080p gaming at high speeds without having to dial back any graphics settings. With a convenient four zone RGB keyboard, USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, and WiFi 6 connection, all you’ll need is a mouse and maybe a headset to get up and running with your favorite games.
Read Also: How To Mirror Phone Screen To Laptop
Cheap Laptops: Spotting The Best Laptop Deals Under $200
One of the first things we often check when shopping for cheap laptops is the amount of storage on offer. As shoppers, we’ve become accustomed to comparing prices and models based on the number of gigabytes next to the model name. However, there may be more to it than that, especially when you’re browsing the cheaper shelves. You may also need to pay attention to your operating system when picking up a budget laptop deal under $200.
Some cheap laptops are more worthy of your cash than others, and many simply need to be avoided. For example, you’ll easily find a Windows machine that offers just 16 or 32GB of storage, but with update file and software sizes increasing, you may quickly find that insufficient. However, finding a Chromebook with 16 or 32GB of storage for under $200 makes for a great cheap laptop deal. That’s because these machines run on Chrome OS which doesn’t require updates and operates largely through your browser.
Similarly, a lot of laptops hold incredibly low price tags because they are labelled as ‘FreeDOS’. This means they don’t have an operating system on them already, so you will need to buy Windows 10 to get them set up.
How To Buy The Best Laptop Under $500 For You
Buying a new laptop can be a daunting task even more so when you’re trying to shop under a specific price limit, as we are here. A lower price range often means less powerful components, but it doesn’t mean you have to settle for a cheap, throwaway product.
With very decent components continuing to drop in price, affordable laptops are boasting far more powerful specs, so your money goes further. It’s not going to be a portable gaming beast or a media powerhouse, but you’ll have enough grunt under the hood for surfing, editing documents and video streaming.
Apple MacBooks are out of the question at this sort of price, but fortunately, Windows 10 has evolved to run very well indeed on less high-end hardware. We’ve also included a couple of our favorite Chromebooks in the list .
Down at this end of the market, prices fluctuate regularly, and retailers will often throw in special deals to tempt buyers, so don’t be surprised if some of these prices go up and down spend some time comparing prices to figure out who’s offering the best cheap laptop for you.
Bear in mind that you’re not going to be getting the most powerful or the most feature-rich of laptops, but we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you can bag at an affordable price point.
From vibrant displays to surprisingly robust CPUs, our list of the best laptops under $500 for 2022 has plenty of choices to offer buyers with less money to spend. Design and build continue to get better and better as well.
Don’t Miss: Msi Laptop Steelseries Keyboard
Which Operating System Should You Choose
Just like your smartphone, laptops will look and work slightly differently depending on their operating system. There are three main players: Microsoft Windows, Apple’s macOS, and .
Each system will decide how your interface looks, which app stores are available, and how customisable your screen is, along with which apps will be pre-installed and how easily it will integrate with your other devices like phones and speakers.
All our top choices below are under £550 and will be either Windows or Chrome OS. Apple doesnt really do budget laptops, and a new MacBook can cost you £800 and up, so weve left them out.
Microsoft Windows
Windows is the most popular laptop OS in the world, so youre probably familiar with this one. Its likely the same setup as most office computers and laptops youre used to. Almost all Windows laptops are customisable and upgradeable so you can add extra storage or improve the processing power to make it faster.
Chrome OS
Your laptop could also be a Chromebook that uses Googles operating system. Popular for their affordability, Chromebooks have smaller internal storage and processing power than Windows models, but utilise cloud-based storage to keep hold of files. Youll need to have an internet connection to access those files but can free up the main laptop to store more apps and will keep costs low.
Best Cheap Everyday Gaming Laptop
Display: 15.6 FHD IPS-level 144Hz | CPU: Intel Core i7-11370H | GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 | RAM: 16GB DDR4 | Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD | Weight: 4.41 pounds | Size: 14.1″ x 9.9″ x 0.8″
If your gaming laptop is also your everyday laptop, you might want something thats a little thinner, a little lighter, and a little less in your face with loud design language. The Asus TUF Dash F15 brings plenty to love for gaming but manages to do it in a chassis thats just 0.8 inches thick and weighs only 4.41 pounds.
Despite its portability, the Asus TUF Dash F15 comes running on an Intel Core i7-11370H processor to eke out plenty of performance for gaming, and thats paired with an RTX 3060 graphics processor thatll make short work of games at 1080p. So, naturally, the laptop boasts a 1080p display thatll let you cruise at 144Hz.
Don’t Miss: How To Hardwire Laptop To Modem
Productivity Storage And Media Tests
PCMark 10 and 8 are holistic performance suites developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL. The PCMark 10 test we run simulates different real-world productivity and content creation workflows. We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet jockeying, web browsing, and videoconferencing. Unfortunately, the test would not complete on this laptop, which sometimes happens with budget systems. It doesnt mean this system is incapable of these tasks, just that it has a conflict with this benchmark.
PCMark 8, meanwhile, has a storage subtest that we use to assess the speed of the system’s boot drive. Both tests yield a proprietary numeric score higher numbers are better. We can at least compare these results in the table below, and you can also catch the PCMark 10 performance of the other systems.
As mentioned, there is no PCMark 10 result for this system, but you can see the SSD stacks up to the rest. Theyre all in line with one another, offering quick boot and load file times. The Asus Laptop L410 has slower eMMC flash storage, and couldnt complete this test. That is a key distinction in laptops in this price zone under $400, you’ll see a mix of “true” SSDs and pokier eMMC . The former is better.
Best Cheap Laptop Overall: Msi Modern 14
The MSI Modern 14 comes close to breaking through the ceiling of our budget, but its on this list for a good reason. Not only is MSI a great manufacturer for computers like this, but the Modern 14 has a lot to offer for its $599 price tag.
The 14-inch IPS-level display is a big plus, bringing what MSI calls true-to-life images. That display gets you a full HD screen, which means plenty of space and clarity no matter what youre working on. The screen also has a high max brightness level, which means you never have to worry about images being too dark to see clearly.
The MSI Modern 14 weighs in at just above two and a half points. Its not the lightest laptop out there, but for this price range, you arent going to get the lightest most durable builds. The Modern 14 features an aluminum body, though, which means it should be able your standard day-to-day wear.
When it comes to everyday usage, the MSI Modern 14 is a nice standard to set for budget laptops. For under $600, this is one of the best laptops that youll find on the market. The only thing wed really like to see is a bigger SSD in this model. Thats something you can solve with an external drive, though.
You May Like: Computer Monitor Repair Cost
Best Chromebook In 2022
The best Chromebook based on our test results
Included in this guide:
ThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook
The best Chromebooks offer a clean, simplistic OS with killer performance and excellent battery life. “What’s the best Chromebook?” you ask. Well, before we dive into that answer, you should know that you aren’t the only one who’s asking. In fact, the demand for Chromebooks has soared by a whopping 122% year-over-year. Whoa!
The best Chromebooks aren’t just for students anymore. More laptop makers are making Chromebooks that are for casual users and work-focused busy bees. The best Chromebooks are also known for having low malware susceptibility. This means that Chromebooks are least likely to be infected with viruses and spyware compared to other vulnerable operating systems .
The best Chromebooks are secure and seamless to use with the Google ecosystem. You’ll also be happy to know that the best Chromebooks typically have a long battery life. Be sure to check out our Chromebooks with the longest battery life list, too.
The best Chromebooks are evolving, too, and deviating away from that traditional clamshell look. Many now have sleeker designs and touch-screen displays some sport 2-in-1 designs. There’s even a premium Chromebook market that targets Chrome OS lovers who want a top-of-the-line laptop. The best Chromebooks also offer a surprising amount of endurance, which is why we’ve devised our own Chromebook drop test.
Benchmarking The Ideapad 3 1: Proficient Performance For The Bucks
So much for the IdeaPad 3 14’s features how does it do in a direct comparison with other laptops in its class? To find out, we brought in the Asus VivoBook S14, the Dell Inspiron 15 , 2021’s HP Pavilion x360 15, the pricier Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 13, and our previous Editors’ Choice pick for best budget laptop, the MSI Modern 14. While these machines all make use of an Intel processor-and-graphics solution, they’re in the same performance ballpark and share similar CPU and GPU setups.
The first benchmark test we run is PCMark 10, a test that simulates a variety of Windows programs to give an overall performance score for office workflows. In this test, a result between 4,000 and 5,000 points is a clear indicator of excellent performance. While most of the pack falls right in the middle, the IdeaPad 3 14 pulls away from the pack and exhibits strong numbers.
We didn’t have enough data to add PCMark 10’s Full System Drive storage subtest, which measures the program load time and the throughput of the laptop’s boot drive. But the IdeaPad 3 14 was able to run the test and scored 1,321 pointsnot the greatest result we’ve seen for an SSD-equipped laptop, but in the budget laptop sphere, more than enough to run productivity circles around the present company.
Also Check: How To Fix Cracked Computer Screens
The Best Cheap Laptops You Can Buy Today
Reasons to avoid
The HP Envy x360 13 is the best laptop for under $1,000 and one of the best 2-in-1 laptops on the market. While it doesn’t come with a stylus, the Envy can seamlessly transition into tent or tablet mode. What makes this such a fantastic value is its entirely aluminum design and Herculian AMD Ryzen processors.
In our testing, we found that an Envy x360 13 with a Ryzen 5 4500U CPU can outperform laptops with 10th Gen Intel chips. This specific Envy costs just $800 and can outmuscle laptops that cost well over $1,000, including the exorbitant MacBook Pro. Moreover, the Envy x360 13 has a bright, vivid 13.3-inch display and a comfortable keyboard.
There is very little we don’t like about the Envy x360. If you can get over the lack of a Thunderbolt 3 port and IR camera, then it is the ultimate money-saving laptop.
Reasons to avoid
Starting at $749, the new HP Envy 13 is one of our favorite sub-$1,000 thanks to its sleek, portable design, bright 4K and 1080p display options, and fast performance. New to the most recent model is a webcam kill switch and fingerprint sensor for those who value security and privacy. And unlike its predecessor, the latest Envy 13 has great speakers that can fill the room with a loud and satisfying sound.
Reasons to avoid
Reasons to avoid
Reasons to avoid
Reasons to avoid
Reasons to avoid
Reasons to avoid
Still, the Acer Swift 3 will give you a lot of bang for your buck. We highly recommend it.
Cheap Laptop Deal Of The Week
If you’re shopping for cheap laptops, chances are you’re not going to be spending too long poring over spec sheets or looking forward to splashing out on the latest processors and graphics. You might be looking for a simple every day web browsing machine light enough to throw into a backpack and flexible enough for comfortable streaming. That’s where the Lenovo Duet comes in – a Chromebook that’s technically a tablet, but far more powerful than you’d expect it to be.
Read Also: Best Medium Priced Laptop
Best Ultra Cheap Gaming Laptop
Display: 16.1 FHD IPS | CPU: Intel Core i5-11400H | GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 | RAM: 8GB DDR4 | Storage: 256GB NVMe SSD | Weight: 5.44 pounds | Size: 14.57″ x 10.24″ x 0.93″
Its hard to believe all you can get for under $650 with the HP Victus 16. This system is loaded with some seriously solid gaming gear. It’s kitted out with an Nvidia RTX 3050, which is plenty for playing games at Full HD on the 1080p display. That GPU is paired with a decent Intel Core i5-11400H processor to help keep your games chug along fairly well especially when you realize how little you’re actually are paying for it all.
The HP Victus 16 is loaded with 8GBs of RAM which may be on the lighter side, but it is relatively easy to upgrade up to 32GB if needed. The system also comes running on an NVMe SSD instead of a hard drive or SATA SSD like you might expect at this budget price making for faster than expected performance. The larger 16.1-inch screen size, backlit keyboard with integrated numeric pad, and upgraded cooling system are a few added bonuses for this super-affordable laptop that gets you gaming anywhere.
The Best Budget Laptop Deals This Week*
*Deals are selected by our partner, TechBargains
All of these CPUs also host the silicon that runs the laptop’s graphics. The newest integrated graphics solutions can hold their own in browser-based games and even some online games like World of Warcraft. The higher demands of AAA titles, though, still require a discrete GPU, which you won’t find in this price range.
In years past, many of the barest-budget Windows laptops would come with just 2GB or 4GB of main system memory, but nowadays, at least in the Windows sphere, most come with 8GB. In terms of batteries, an ideal budget laptop has one with six cells or more. The battery life for a cheap laptop should come in at a minimum of seven or eight hours, and these days, many will last quite a bit longer.
When it comes to storage, some inexpensive systems still use spinning hard drives, with capacities often at 500GB, but increasingly, inexpensive Windows machines opt for small-capacity solid-state drives of 128GB or 256GB capacity. If you can get by with the capacity of a small SSD, we strongly favor opting for one, even over a roomier platter-based hard drive, for their durability.
In terms of features, budget laptops will come with at least one USB 3.0 port, and possibly a USB 2.0 port or two. You also may get an SD card slot. A Wi-Fi radio that uses the speedy 802.11ac protocol is also the norm now.
Don’t Miss: Cast Iphone To Windows Laptop