As tariffs come for tech, these are the best budget laptops we've tested

Read Mashable's full review of the Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (Gen 9).

Lenovo's Yoga 7i is an affordable point of entry to the realm of AI PCs. Solid everyday performance is its biggest asset, but its 2-in-1 design may also entice thrifty shoppers torn between a laptop and a tablet.

Hailing from Lenovo's popular Yoga line, this convertible is an understated workhorse with ample processing power. It's a little boring, sure — the fact that it can flip into tablet and tent modes is probably the most exciting thing about it — but no-nonsense competence has its appeal. "I’m a tab hoarder, and the Yoga 7i 2-in-1 14 was able to handle my crazy daily research antics flawlessly with its Intel Core Ultra 5 125U processor," said Mashable contributor Sarah Chaney. Bonus: It doesn't run hot and won't die on you midday.

When you get down to nitty-gritty design details, the Yoga 7i feels a little hit or miss. Its keyboard is "well-spaced and enjoyably springy," Chaney wrote, with adjustable backlighting and a built-in Copilot key that pulls up Microsoft's AI assistant. But its trackpad was laggy in testing. Its hybrid form factor gives it versatility, but its hinges aren't super strong and its display is a bit dim. It has a good selection of ports, but we wish its USB-C ports weren't restricted to one side. Still, those cons could be put-up-withable for $900 if all you really care about is excellent performance. If it helps, we've seen it drop down to a mere $549.99 at Best Buy before.

Read Mashable's full review of the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6.

HP's Chromebook Plus 15.6 is a bottom-of-the-budget laptop geared toward Google-based productivity and casual entertainment. It makes some build quality concessions that can take some getting used to, but overall, the price is right for basic cloud-based multitasking.

This big-screener from Google's "Plus" line of upgraded Chromebooks comes in at only $499. It certainly feels that cheap in some ways: Its keyboard is stiff, its touchpad is mediocre, its speakers are tinny, and its battery life sucks. But it's sort of difficult to critique those shortcomings in a meaningful way given its price point, and it's an otherwise capable budget laptop.

The Chromebook Plus 15.6 was easily able to carry me through my daily workload, which involves a lot of browsing, document writing, and email sending. (While its Geekbench 6 multi-core score is far from impressive, you don't need a ton of built-in oomph: ChromeOS is all about the cloud.) After hours, it made a nice portable entertainment device for movie-watching and cloud gaming when my household's TV was occupied — shoutout to its huge 1080p display, which is colorful and glare-free. It is made of plastic, but it feels sturdy and durable... though I somehow nicked its lid at one point during my testing period. (It literally just sat on a desk or a table the whole time. I've got nothing.)

As a Chromebook Plus, this laptop is equipped with some useful AI tools you won't find in regular Chromebooks, including Google Photos Magic Eraser and video call effects. I don't think they're revolutionary, but they're nice surprises in such a cheap machine.

Read Mashable's full review of the Acer Nitro V 15.

Gedeon put things succinctly in her review: "If you're just looking for a gaming laptop that ditches all the bells and whistles for impressive gaming performance, the [Acer] Nitro V 15 is the one for you."

The Mashable's Choice Award-winning Nitro V 15 is all about power, power, power — and while it strains the definition of "cheap," we do think it's the best budget gaming laptop under $1,000. The model we tested is "packed with delicious internals that can handle triple-A gaming," said Gedeon, including a 13th-gen Intel Core i7 H-series processor for desktop-level brawn and decent Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics. She found it capable of running Cyberpunk 2077, "one of the most graphics-intensive games on the market, like a champ."

Acer has made some noteworthy trade-offs to offer that level of oomph at this price point, namely in the realms of display quality (it's not bright or vivid) and extra fixings (there's no RGB keyboard or 1080p webcam). Its pathetically short battery life also means it'll set up permanent shop on your desk — preferably with a microfiber cloth at the ready nearby, as it clings to fingerprints with a passion.

Read Mashable's full review of the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE.

The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (the "GE" stands for "gaming edition") is a budget-friendly beaut for gamers who are tired of trying to keep up with new titles' fancy hardware requirements — and those who are sick of short-winded gaming PCs.

Acer's original Chromebook 516 GE from late 2022 was a fantastic cloud gaming machine, and the new "Plus" version is even better: It kept everything good about the first version — a 1080p webcam, an anti-ghosting RGB keyboard, a 120Hz display, and even its $649 price tag — then tacked on a couple upgrades. There's a newer Intel Core 5 120U processor inside of it, for one, which nabbed it the highest Geekbench 6 multi-core score out of all the Chromebooks we've tested. It also comes with a suite of Gemini AI features. Most notably, though, its battery life increased to over 10 hours per charge — that's great for a Chromebook and incredible for a gaming laptop. (As things currently stand, it's the only Chromebook we've tried that's come anywhere close to Google's "up to 10 hours of battery life" promise.)

When it comes to game-streaming capabilities, the Chromebook Plus 516 GE left Mashable's Perry "fairly impressed." He experienced some input latency when playing titles via Xbox Game Pass, but hardly noticed any video buffering or stuttering. (Games looked the best when streamed via Nvidia GeForce Now's Ultimate tier, he said.) Though Perry said he'd never swap it for his gaming consoles or Steam Deck, he called the Chromebook Plus 516 GE "an incredible value" and an "excellent" pick for anyone who's into game streaming. "If you want to cheat your way into sort of having a high-end gaming laptop, this is a way to do it," he wrote.

Next time around, Acer should just make it less clunky, clean up its lid design — the half matte/half gloss thing is "awkward," per Perry — and give users the ability to turn its refresh rate down. That'll preserve its battery life when it's not being used for gaming.