The Best Laptops Under $1,000 of 2023

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5625U
• Graphics: Integrated
• Memory: 8GB DDR4 3200MHz
• Storage: 512GB SSD
• Display: 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080p
• Battery: 8+ hours

HP’s Envy x360 is another budget-friendly, 2-in-1 laptop, but is configured with an AMD processor instead of an Intel processor like our top pick. There are many configurations available, including a 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD version and one with a faster AMD Ryzen 5 7530U processor.

But the Ryzen 5 5625U processor is no slouch when it comes to performance. Among all of our benchmarking data, the HP Envy x360 is one of the top-performing sub-$1,000 laptops (but not faster than our top pick here). This laptop’s battery life also is great, thanks in part to the power-efficient processor. The 51-watt-hour battery can hold a charge for eight-plus hours.

Typing on this laptop is comfortable, and the keyboard has large, springy keys perfect for working on papers or reports. The trackpad also is well-made and responds to taps and complex, multi-touch gestures quickly and accurately.

We do wish HP took it easy on the bloatware, as we removed upward of 15 pre-installed programs offering everything from cloud storage to free antivirus software trials.

Read our full HP Envy x360 review.

• Processor: Intel Core i7-13700H
• Graphics: Iris Xe Graphics
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR5 6400MHz
• Storage: 1TB SSD
• Display: 16-inch, 3200 × 2000, 120Hz OLED
• Battery: ~7.4 hours

If you must have an Intel 13th-gen processor and an OLED screen, but can’t spend more than $1,000, take a look at Acer’s Swift Go 16. It’s a less versatile machine than some of the best laptops, but it has matching processing power. The configuration we reviewed retails for $1,200, but you can get the still excellent $800 model with an Intel Core i5-1335U or drop down to the 14-inch version.

Its processor keeps pace with Apple’s MacBook Pro 14 M2 Pro (or beats it, depending on the test), chewing through large Excel spreadsheets with complex formulas and thousands of rows of data. Also, its integrated graphics performance is sufficient for “light” gaming if you catch yourself focusing on too much work and not enough playtime.

One thing we didn’t like about the Swift Go 16 was how warm it got under load (due to the power-hungry H-series chip inside). You’ll never have to worry about the laptop getting too hot to set on your laptop, but some might find it uncomfortable.

Read our full Acer Swift Go 16 review.

• Processor: Intel Core i7-12700H
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR5
• Storage size: 1TB SSD
• Display: 14-inch, 2880 x 1800, OLED
• Battery life: 5.5+ hours

Other laptops are more aesthetically pleasing, have a better key feel, and are thinner and lighter, but unlike the Acer Swift 3 OLED, they usually don’t come with an OLED display. So if OLED screens are your jam but you don’t want to spend a fortune on a laptop to get one, this Swift 3 is a good option.

Acer stuck an H-series Intel processor in its Swift 3 OLED (which is more commonly found in gaming laptops), whereas many of its competitors used one of Intel’s slower P-series. It’s not as fast as Apple’s M2 chips (or Acer’s Swift Go 16), but it does surpass Apple’s M1 Pro in raw single-core and multi-core processing power.

It also has one of the fastest SSD read and write times in a laptop we’ve recently tested; it’s ousted only by the LG Gram Pro 17 and Apple MacBook Pro 14 M2 Pro.

But with just under six hours of battery life, the Swift 3 OLED ranks near the bottom of all the productivity laptops we’ve tested in the last year—but it’s enough. If you don’t mind sacrificing a little bit of speed for better battery life, you can drop down to an Intel Core i5 with half the memory and storage space, or keep the display as dim as lighting conditions will allow.

Read our full Acer Swift 3 OLED review.

• Processor: Intel Core i7-1255U
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
• Memory: 16GB DDR4 3200MHz
• Storage: 512GB
• Display: 14-inch, 1920 x 1200, 60Hz, IPS touch display
• Battery life: About 7 hours

This Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 has some frustrating quirks. It’s large and heavy. The trackpad responsiveness is off, and the battery life and heat management could have been improved. But its crucial features are polished, making it a strong contender for people who want a tablet with an occasional keyboard.

The touchscreen is responsive, pressure-sensitive, and speedy. It comes with a Dell Active Pen that offers 4096 pressure levels but is also compatible with Wacom styluses.

The screen isn’t a game-changer, but it’s also no slouch. The brightness and resolution are fine for most use cases. The speakers are powerful (if oddly placed). The keyboard is silent enough for quiet environments and folks with auditory sensitivities.

Read our full Dell Inspiron 14 2-in1 review.

• Processor: Intel Core i5-1230U
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe (integrated)
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR5
• Storage: 512GB SSD
• Display: 13.4-inch, 1920 x 1200, IPS, LCD (optional touchsreen)
• Battery life: About 16 hours

The Dell XPS 13 (9315) has the same polish and refinement as MSI’s Prestige 13 Evo, a much longer battery life than the MacBook Air, and the “right” price: $850 on sale at Dell. It’s the kind of laptop you can purchase without much thought and without regretting your decision.

Despite it being the best XPS laptop Dell has made (that we’ve tested), the biggest reason it’s not higher up on this list is that its processing performance is much slower than the others. It currently ranks in the bottom five in our testing data compared to every laptop we’ve reviewed in the last year. But you won’t need an obscene amount of processing power if you need a laptop for only simple computing tasks.

If you need a tad more performance and don’t mind potentially sacrificing some battery power to get it, you can get the Dell XPS 13 with an Intel Core i7-1250U processor for $899 (on sale). It’s a faster processor when it comes to running actual applications compared to something like the M2, but the Core i7-1250U isn’t nearly as power-efficient—expect the XPS 13 configured with a Core i7 to get under 15 hours of battery life.

Read our full Dell XPS 13 review.

• Processor: Intel Core i5-1240P
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe (integrated)
• Memory: 8GB LPDDR5
• Storage: 256GB SSD
• Display: 14-inch, 2880 x 1800, 90Hz, OLED
• Battery life: 7.5+ hours

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED isn’t as powerful as the other OLED laptops in our various guides, but when you factor in the number of upgrades this laptop provides beyond the basics, the price feels like a steal, especially if you can find it on sale for $500 or less.

It’s more common to find just-okay IPS displays with 300 nits of brightness in sub-$1,000 laptops, so the fact that this Zenbook 14 has an OLED display (with a 630-nit peak) at this price is truly a rare find. It’s also stylishly designed and constructed with sturdy materials. The keyboard is wonderfully tactile and the trackpad is both large and responsive. Even the port selection is well-rounded.

Our only caveat is that if you are a heavy multitasker, routinely have 50-plus tabs open in your browser, or use your laptop in such a way that 100% of the RAM is taken up at all times, then you might discover 8GB of memory is not enough—and unfortunately, the RAM is soldered onto the Zenbook 14’s motherboard, so you won’t be (easily) able to swap out that 8GB stick or add another.

Read our full review of the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED.