Covid-19 undoubtedly has not only affected our daily life activities but left a huge impact on our professional lives as well. Furthermore, this pandemic duration has completely changed our traditional way of working.
For the safety of their employees and protecting them from this virus, many employers took an exceptional step and started digitalizing their work. They initialized a new and effective way of earning, known as Work from Home.
We are well aware that a Laptop is one of the most essential things if you want to do your work from home. And it will be a plus point if your laptop has all of your desired features but is on an affordable budget.
For this, we have done a thorough research of many hours and found the best laptop for home use for under $500. We have also listed down their negative and positive aspects.
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Following are the best laptop for work under 500
1. Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14 Laptop
Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14 Laptop comes wrapped up in a solid aluminum body which prevents it from bending. Its keyboard includes a backlight in it with three different light modes such as off, dimmed, and full-light, and feels amazingly comfortable.
Its matte and bright display makes working convenient, especially in the daylight. The display also has narrow bezels on its 4 sides which provide you less clutters and great viewing angles.
It is featured with AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor for powerful performance along with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage for storing all kinds of your work-related material and many other things.
Because of its intelligent thermals, it remains quiet and cooler even with the heavy-duty work and you can also boost your laptop performance with its Q-control feature having three different moods, by choosing the mode according to your requirements.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 14inch
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U
- Memory: 8GB
- Storage: 256GB
- Operating System: Windows 10 Home
- GPU: AMD Radeon 7
Pros
- Well equipped
- Budget-friendly
- Set up works well
- Works fast
- Backlit keyboard with multiple brightness options
Cons
- Low audio
2. SAMSUNG Galaxy Chromebook
SAMSUNG Galaxy Chromebook 4 is one of the most compact laptops having an 11.6-inch display screen size and it is also extremely lightweight. It comes with a full-sized comfortable keyboard to type on. It also has a large trackpad included in it which can be smoothly dragged.
It comes with the Intel Celeron N4000 processor and 4GB RAM which compliments each other and make sure that the laptop is working speedily without any kind of hindrance. And It also includes 64GB storage which not only can store your important documents but also helps you to makes navigate easily.
Its plus point is its advanced security system which keeps your laptop secure because of its multiple layers of built-in virus protection.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 11.6inch
- Processor: Intel Celeron Processor N4000
- Memory: 4GB
- Storage: 64GB
- Operating System: Chrome OS
- GPU: Intel
Pros
- Portable
- Responses speedily
- Well made
- Easy to use
- Affordable
- Works great
Cons
- Bad image quality
3. HP Stream 14-Inch Laptop
This HP Laptop is from the Stream series which has been available in the market for many long years now and is continuously getting upgraded with time. It comes with the Intel Celeron N4000 processor along with the integrated HD Graphics 600 GPU for faster and hassle-free performance.
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It also includes 4 GB memory and a 64 GB eMMC storage which deals which also deals with the installation of its operating system, Windows 10 S. Its body is built-up with the softest plastic material which is not only sturdy but feels solid as well.
HP has always done a great job in the connecting options and ports as most of its ports are available on its left side. On the right side, only a charging port is available there.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 14inch
- Processor: Intel Celeron N4000
- Memory: 6GB
- Storage: 64GB
- Operating System: Windows 10 S
- GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 600
Pros
- Stunning looks
- Works amazingly
- User-friendly
- Excellent quality
- Durable
- Great battery timing
Cons
- Uncomfortable keyboard
- Not the one to store a large amount of data
4. HP 14 Laptop
This HP laptop comes equipped with a 14-inch screen display along with 250 nits brightness level for a clear and bright color display view. However, it doesn’t provide an anti-glare effect for the protection of the eyes. It has the structure of a screen-to-body ratio.
The best thing about this laptop is its AMD Ryzen 5 5500U which comes with 6-cores and 21 threads. This processor is an outstanding addition to this range of laptops as it makes your multitasking smooth. And its minimum boots-up speed is 2.1 GHz with the capacity of maximum boosting up to 4Ghz.
The laptop comes with 8 GB RAM which works up to 3200 MHz and it is upgradeable to 16GB. So if at any point you felt that the built-in RAM is not enough for you then you can upgrade it anytime you want.
This laptop has 512 GB SSD storage included in it which is more than enough for daily usage and it also makes your laptop work at a fast speed.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 14inch
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U
- Memory: 8GB
- Storage: 256GB
- Operating System: Windows 10
- GPU: AMD Radeon
Pros
- Lightweight
- Runs speedily
- Bright screen colors
- Great screen resolution
- Perfect memory
- Fun to use
Cons
- No lighted keyboard
5. Acer Chromebook 314
The Acer Chromebook 314 is considered the most valuable laptop because of its size, performance, and costs. It has an excellent battery life, compact design, and a crisp screen which is more than enough for this budget. It includes a 14-inch screen display for the clearer view
This laptop is great in keeping a balance between battery life, performance, and usability features, along with a well-rounded design. Its keyboard and touchpad are both of its satisfying feature which feels comfortable to type and smooth to drag.
This Chromebook knows very well how to manage multiple-task thrown towards it at the same time and from testing we found that it can work for the many hours of heavy-duty tasks effectively.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 14inch
- Processor: Intel Celeron N4000
- Memory: 4GB
- Storage: 64GB
- Operating System: Chrome OS
- GPU: Intel UHD
Pros
- Lightweight
- Fast processes
- Beautiful screen
- Fine keyboard
- Excellent quality
Cons
- Difficult to navigate through things
6. Newest HP 14″ HD Laptop – Best Laptop for Working from Home Under 500
The 2021 latest HP gives you the exceptional experience for creating spreadsheets and documents, writing emails, and web browsing. It also entertains you with its HD display having a thin and lightweight design and you take it with you wherever you want.
It has a micro-edge bezel display with a 14-inch screen size and also its display also has a high resolution of one million pixels. The AMD 3020e processor helps you greatly in your busy days by doing multi-tasking and processing speedily.
With the 16 GB RAM and 512GB SSD+64GB eMMC, storing your files, photos, and spreadsheets are faster as well as you can navigate them easily.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 14inch
- Processor: AMD 3020e
- Memory: 16GB RAM
- Storage: 512GB SSD+64GB eMMC
- Operating System: Windows 10
- GPU: 3 Cores Radeon
Pros
- Small and compact
- Easy to set up
- Great visuals
- Outstanding image quality
- Responses instantly
- Good battery life
Cons
- Horrible speakers
7. Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K Slim Laptop- Best Laptop Under $500
The A515-46-R14K features a high resolution(1080p) display with a 15-inch size display screen and provides a crisp and clear view. The design of this laptop includes a printed Acer logo on the laptop’s back-end and at the lower bezels’ center. It comes with the AMD Radeon Vega 6 graphic card and that works great for video editing and light gaming.
This laptop includes a RAM of 4GB which enables you to multitask and play basic games and also allows you to do the memory up-gradation up to 8GB RAM which will make your life easier and faster. And not only this you can also expand its storage from 128 GB through its M2 slot.
It’s AMD Ryzen 3 3350U Quad-Core Processor is a combination of powerful performance, unique graphics, and also modern technological features, all packed in this light and thin-designed laptop.
It is recognized as one of the best laptops for work under 500 because of its ability and fast performance in standard computing tasks like editing in spreadsheets, downloading content, and surfing.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 15.6inch
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 3350U
- Memory: 4GB DDR4 RAM
- Storage: 128GB SSD
- Operating System: Windows 10 S
- GPU: AMD Radeon Vega 6
Pros
- Lightweight
- Easy to carry
- Sleek design
- Excellent build-up quality
- Stunning screen
- Perfectly configured keyboard
Cons
- Lose touchpad
- Low sound
8. Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Business and Student Laptop
The Dell 15 3000 laptops have got decent elegant looks and come with the built-in Ubuntu operating system instead of the Windows OS a typical operating system which is usually installed in the laptops of Del. It includes an i5 processor for delivering high performance even with complex tasks.
This laptop also includes a large touchpad and a perfectly sized keyboard that feels smooth to type on. Its 15-inch display size with 1366 x 768p screen resolutions includes natural and rich colors and color tones respectively. With its wide viewing angle and loudspeakers, you can enjoy watching movies and playing games with friends and family.
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The body of this laptop has got a matte finishing on its top which is a great addition to this modern-age laptop. It comes in a durable plastic wrap that feels solid to touch.
It also includes an HD webcam and an amazing microphone for your successful virtual meetings and video conferences. And with this one can also click decent pictures in the bright lighting.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 15.6inch
- Processor: Intel Celeron N4020
- Memory: 16GB RAM
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Operating System: Windows 10
- GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 600
Pros
- Easy to use
- Light and slim
- Great performance
- Decent battery life
- Comfortable keyboard and numeric pad
Cons
- Runs slow at times
9. Newest HP Premium 14-inch HD Laptop
This HP Premium Laptop includes a 14-inch display screen and the display is designed with micro-edge bezels. It is considered as one of the portable laptops as it is built up with slim and thin properties. It also has great camera quality which allows you to capture memories in decent-quality photos.
With its Intel Celeron Dual-core processor, it helps you to manage your busy tasks efficiently, and also you can do your daily routine tasks like surfing, and video streaming without any worries.
Although battery life is not a great thing in work-from-home laptops still it has a long-lasting battery life which is a plus thing in such an affordable laptop. It also includes fast charging technology which helps your laptop to be charged within no time. Because of its portability and longer battery life, it would be your great companion during our professional tours if needed.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 14inch
- Processor: Intel Celeron Dual-core
- Memory: 16GB RAM
- Storage: 64GB eMMC
- Operating System: Windows 10
- GPU: Intel UHD
Pros
- Lightweight
- Battery last longer
- Large display screen
- Easy set-up
- Good camera quality
Cons
- Processes slow with multi-tasking
10. Winnovo 14-Inch Laptop – Best Laptop for Working from Home Under $500
This Winnovo laptop comes with an HD display having a 14-inch display screen and a higher resolution of 1366 x 768-pixel resolution. It provides your display a sharp and clear vision along with the bright colors and your display also includes vertical and horizontal large view angles of up to 178 degrees.
It is built to be 30% more powerful than its last generation of Intel Atom series processors. It includes 4GB RAM and 64GB storage which can be upgradable having max. 512 GB capacity. It is a great thing if you’re looking laptop only with the mindset of working and managing routine tasks including word processing, spreadsheets, and surfing.
It is equipped with the Intel HD 500 (Apollo Lake) graphic card and enables you to play less demanding and older titles smoothly. Additionally, it also has outstanding sound quality by which you can watch videos and listen to music with a pleasant sound.
For the protection of their user’s privacy, they have installed the webcam on the top bezel which comes up with the shell. Its keyboard is amazingly comfortable and easy to type.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 14 inch
- Processor: Intel Celeron J3455 Quad Core
- Memory: 6GB RAM
- Storage: 128GB SSD
- Operating System: Windows 10 S
- GPU: Intel HD Graphics 500
Pros
- Lightweight
- Easy to set up
- Portable
- Fast boot-up
- Worth money
- Processes tasks effortlessly and quickly
Cons
- Material is not that good
Buying Guide: Best Laptop for Working from Home Under $500
Before buying an affordable laptop for work from home we would recommend you to read this buying guide carefully. It will help you choose the best laptop for home use for under $500 according to your preference.
Processor
The first thing that you have to look for is a good processor as it manages many things within the laptop. The processor is the one who processes the data and provides instructions for several tasks to do their work including zoom meetings, and YouTube streaming.
Moreover, a powerful processor enables your laptops to work faster so it will be great to buy a laptop with the most powerful processor. For the budget-friendly laptops, we found Intel and AMD perfect choices as they are suitable for both regular and business usage.
AMD Ryzen’s 4th and 5th generation processors are a great option for business and office usage. These processors come with the ability to manage all sorts of things effectively including handling all kinds of office software as well as video editing apps without any hassle.
If your love intel’s processors more than AMD Ryzen then the 10th and 11th generation intel processors can be found under a $500 budget. And in this, your options should be i3 and i5 processors but we recommend you to go with i5 10th and 11th generation processors.
They are powerful and good at managing all heavy-duty works including photo and video editing without any interruptions and also allow you to play start-up games smoothly.
Memory
Memory and processors work side-by-side along with each other and help it in managing everything to run apps uninterrupted. RAM or memory helps the processor by collecting its executing data for the short term. If there is no memory available in your laptop, then the processor has to do all things alone which may affect the speed and performance of your laptop.
Therefore, your laptop must have RAM included in it and our recommendation is to buy a laptop with at least 8GB of RAM. Also, it would be a great thing if they are providing the memory up-gradation flexibility if available in the future.
But if you think if your laptop has increased memory and you can compromise on the potential processor then it is not possible. As your laptop must have a good-performing processor for transferring data sent by RAM. Even if you upgrade your memory it will still cut off the need for a potent processor.
Storage
Storage is an essential thing that deals with the storing of all data including the storage of pictures, presentations, spreadsheets, and much more. It is the thing that depends on one’s choice as the size of your storage is directly related to the sort of work you want to do on your laptop.
So regarding this, we would recommend you to go with the laptop which has at least 126GB storage installed in them.
Another thing that is important in a laptop’s storage is the drive’s type which stores data such as HDD and SSD. Although HDD provides you storage more than SSD and at reasonable rates. But still, it is not a good choice for your laptop as it may affect the performance and speed of your laptop.
However, SSD is a bit more expensive than HDD but it helps in improving the performance and speed of your laptop. So the recommended type is SSD but if you again required extra storage then you can use HDD as your laptop’s secondary storage unit.
Webcam
While doing work from home you will have to do video conferencing and Zoom meetings many times a day. For that, your laptop must have a built-in webcam with a camera quality of at least 720p for better and clear images.
Usually, many people find such camera quality more than enough but if you want to have a brighter and crystal clear image then you can also look for laptops with high image quality.
These are some specs that are apart from the above-mentioned features which you should also look for when buying the best laptop for home use under $500 including:
The high-resolution display has 1920 X 1080 pixels and a 13 to 15-inch screen. A large number of ports including HDMI along with a minimum of two USB ports for connecting another monitor, webcam, and HDD drive.
Battery life is not that important as you will be doing work from home so you can charge it anytime you want but still your laptop must have a minimum of 3 hours of battery life. juice.
Conclusion
In the above article, we have listed down all the best laptops for working from home for under $500 we could find so far. Of all of the above-mentioned products the one which attracted us the most is the Acer Chromebook 314 because of its unique and smart features. But it doesn’t mean that you are also bound to buy only that one you can also choose your desired laptop from the remaining ones according to your requirements.
