Laptops are undeniably amazing. They combine the portability of a tablet with the usability and power of a desktop. Additionally, with advancements in tech, laptops are only getting better and more attractive.
Laptops give you the flexibility to work on the go without having to compromise a lot in terms of performance and capability. No matter where you may be, you have your trusty laptop with you to help you out with school and professional work. Furthermore, a laptop also has its own keyboard and mouse, so you don’t have to worry about carrying them around. Having a dedicated physical keyboard is an undeniable edge that laptops have over tablets because they’re way more convenient to use than touchscreen ones.
Have I mentioned the variety of gorgeous designs that laptops come in? From sleek business ultrabooks to RGB-laden monster machines. What’s more, is that laptops have unique designs for every taste and preference.
If we talk about performance, then gone are the days that laptops were only limited to minor tasks like editing documents or surfing the internet. Undoubtedly, laptops are now capable enough to go head to head with some high-performance desktop PCs too. Moreover, you can get quality laptops for every use. From schoolwork to managing spreadsheets, from video editing to hardcore gaming! Additionally, there is a large variety of laptops tailored for specific uses.
Furthermore, laptops come in a wide range of prices. They can start from around $400 for budget laptops that are great for casual daily use, all the way up to a few thousand bucks too for the high-end machines.
Obviously, all this variety might make you wonder, ‘So how much should I pay for one of these?’. I had the same question. To answer it, I’ve researched and compiled a complete guide to make sure that you know how much you need to spend on a laptop and why.
In a hurry? Here are the best gaming laptops in 2023!
![[Windows 11] Alienware m15 R5 GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GDDR6 15.6" 360Hz FHD Gaming Laptop, Octa-Core AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (Beat i9-11980HK), 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, RGB Keyboard](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Eu4seUB2L._SL160_.jpg)
Budget Pick
Best Mid-Range Option
Best High-Range Option
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Are Gaming Laptops Worth It?
Firstly, the market size of gaming laptops just seems to be growing larger and larger by the year. Significantly owing to the rise in popularity of gaming and online streaming and also due to the fact that they’re just so good. In the past few years, gaming laptops have certainly gotten way better than they were before. Additionally, they’ve also gotten down to much more accessible prices, with budget ones starting from as low as $900. What’s more, is that some manufacturers let you mix and match and customize your own gaming laptop.
2022 is certainly looking like an excellent year to purchase a gaming laptop. AMD and Intel recently released new processors. In addition, brand new graphics card lineups have arrived from Nvidia and AMD. Therefore, the pricing of gaming laptops is competitive right now. Basically, if you buy a gaming laptop right now, you should be good for the coming few years.
Now, one might think that gaming laptops are only for gamers, but that is far from the truth. They’re portable beasts that can get just about anything done. Being such powerful machines, gaming laptops can be your go-to for any heavy performance task. You can use them for gaming, video editing, 3D animation, visual effects, sound design, and coding. In other words, basically anything under the sun.
Considering all the listed factors, without a doubt, it seems like gaming laptops are definitely worth it. So here, I’ve compiled a short list of awesome gaming laptops in each price range; budget, mid-range, and high-end.
1. ASUS TUF Gaming Laptop 15.6” FX504 Series – Best Budget Option
- Display: 15.6 inches wide-view Full HD 1920×1080 Ultrafast Display
- Ram: 16 GB
- Storage: 1 TB SSD
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
- Processor: Intel Core i5-8300H
- OS: Windows 10 Home
Price: $859.99 (prices accurate since last checked on Amazon)
2. Legion 5i Gen 6 (15” Intel) Gaming Laptop – Best Mid-Range Option
- Display: 15.6″ QHD display with Dolby Vision
- Ram: Up to 32 GB
- Storage: up to 1 TB SSD
- Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 1650, 3050, 3050Ti, 3060, 3070
- Processor: Intel Core i7-11800H
- OS: Windows 10 Home/Windows 10 Pro
Starts at: $1,599.00 (prices accurate since last checked on Amazon)
3. Alienware M15 R6 Gaming Laptop – Best High-Range Option
- Display: 15.6″ QHD 240Hz 2ms + ComfortView Plus
- Ram: 16GB, 8GBx2, DDR4,
- Storage: 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD
- Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6, 3070 8GB GDDR6
- Processor: Intel Core i7-11800H
- OS: Windows10 English
Price: $1,829.00 (prices accurate since last checked on Amazon)
The Average Cost of a Laptop
Let’s leave the world of gaming and come back to good old regular laptops. Firstly, let’s look at the average prices of laptops at various price points. For example, on average, the cost of a new laptop is between $600-$750. In this range, you can find many capable Chromebooks and Ultrabooks that satisfy your needs. However, there is a world above and below this estimate too. If the laptops you find between these figures don’t catch your eye, you can go on and find great picks at other prices too.
What Are the Price Ranges?
Like other pieces of tech, laptops are priced in three categories: budget laptops, mid-range laptops, and high-end laptops. In short, the price of the laptop pretty much decides what you’re going to get. According to your requirements, you can choose a laptop at different prices.
Budget Laptops: $400-$500
You might think that buying a laptop at such low prices will not get you a nice device, but that’s far from the truth, my friend. In fact, in recent years, there has been an upswing in entry-level sound options that can perform well. They now come with all-day batteries, Full-HD displays, and solid performance figures. So you don’t have to break the bank anymore if you want a laptop that can get your work done properly.
At this price, you have the option of getting a Chromebook. These are budget-friendly laptops that run on Google’s web-based Chrome OS. Chromebooks are great for younger students and users that don’t expect heavy performance from their laptops.
Apart from coming at significantly lower prices than Windows laptops, they get better battery life and tend to be less prone to viruses and security threats too. Most importantly, another pro is that some Chromebooks can run Android apps from the Google Play Store, therefore giving them access to thousands of apps and services.
However, there is a catch. Chromebooks rely too much on the internet to function and can leave you in a pickle if you don’t have a stable internet connection. In addition, Chromebooks also tend to be less powerful than their Windows counterparts and can run fewer programs.
Here’s a list of a few of these value-priced laptops:
1. ASUS VivoBook 15
- Display: 15.6 inches full HD 4 way NanoEdge Bezel Display
- Ram: 8 GB DD4
- Storage: 128GB M.2 SSD
- Graphics: Intel UHD 620
- Processor: Intel Core i3-8145U
- OS: Windows 10
Price: $450.00 (accurate since last checked on Amazon)
2. HP 15-ef0021nr
- Display: 15.6 inches 1366×768
- Ram: 8 GB DD4
- Storage: 256GB M.2 SSD
- Graphics: AMD Radeon Vega 3
- Processor: 2.6 GHz ryzen_3_3200u
- OS: Windows 10 Home
Price: $470.00 (accurate since last checked on Amazon)
3. ASUS Chromebook Flip C434
- Display: 14 inches touchscreen FHD 1920×1080 NanoEdge Display
- Ram: 4 GB DDR3L
- Storage: 64GB eMMC
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 615
- Processor: Intel Core m3-8100Y
- OS: Chrome OS
Price: $443.00 (accurate since last checked on Amazon)
Mid-Range Laptops: $600-750$
Now, this is the area where most laptop buyers land. If you’re looking for a laptop, it’s very likely that you will find the one for you in this range. Here, you have laptops that combine the best of both worlds; performance with affordability.
The laptops within this scale get significantly more work done than just web browsing or movie streaming. You can expect to do some casual gaming, light photo/video editing, coding, and extensive MS Office use with these laptops. These laptops are great for working professionals who have to manage company spreadsheets, coders, content creators with fairly light editing requirements, graphic designers, and college students too. Moreover, they can also function as home computers for the whole family to use.
To sum up, the laptops found here are all-rounders that can basically handle most tasks with ease and can surely meet the average user’s requirements.
Without further ado, here are our choices for some mid-range laptops for you.
1. Acer Aspire 5 A515-56-50RS
- Display: 15.6 inches 1920×1080 LED-backlit IPS Display
- Ram: 8 GB DDR4
- Storage: 256GB NVMe SSD
- Graphics: Intel XE Graphics
- Processor: Intel Core i5-1135G7
- OS: Windows 10 Home
Price: $619.99 (accurate since last checked on Amazon)
2. HP Pavilion x360 14”
- Display: 14 inches FHD 1920×1080, Multitouch, Edge-to-Edge Glass Display
- Ram: 8 GB DDR4
- Storage: 256 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Graphics: Intel Iris XE
- Processor: Intel Core i5-1135G7
- OS: Windows 10 Home
Price: $679.99 (accurate since last checked on Amazon)
3. Lenovo Flex 5 14″ 2-in-1 Laptop
- Display: 14 inches FHD 1920×1080, 10-point, IPS Touch Display
- Ram: 16 GB DDR4
- Storage: 256 GB SSD
- Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 4500U
- OS: Windows 10
Price: $699.00 (accurate since last checked on Amazon)
High-End Laptops: $800-$1000
We are officially in the big leagues now. If money is no object and you want the absolute best, the laptops here are undoubtedly suitable for you. The laptops in this territory are absolute beasts that can take care of nearly any task you throw at them.
These laptops are supreme, high-quality, performance, and user-experience-oriented machines that are a joy to operate. The physical markers of this category are sturdy build-quality, premium fit and finish, and fine craftsmanship. They come with outstanding battery life and can work for a couple of days or intensive use. High-end laptops also have respectable graphics capabilities, being able to handle rendering 3D scenes and playing the latest games.
Highly capable workstations are commonplace in this category. To clarify, these laptops can certainly go through massive spreadsheets, documents, and other files without breaking a sweat. Therefore, any serious professional can use the premium laptops mentioned here in their workspace. Above all, they can, without a doubt, count on the laptops to provide them with unmatched performance along with portability. Not to mention, getting through heavy photo/video editing is like a breeze for these laptops. However, of course, all this comes at a high price too.
Here are some premium Windows laptops that will surely make you fall in love with them.
1. Dell XPS 17 9710
- Display: 17 inches UHD+ InfinityEdge Touchscreen Display (3840×2400 pixels)
- Ram: 32 GB DDR4x
- Storage: 1TB SSD
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
- Processor: Intel Core i9-11900H Processor
- OS: Windows 10 Pro
Price: $3,739.99 (accurate since last checked on Amazon)
2. Samsung Galaxy Book Flex 15.6”
- Display: 15.6 inches FHD QLED Touchscreen Display (1920×1080)
- Ram: 16 GB LPDDR4
- Storage: 512GB
- Graphics: Intel Iris Plus
- Processor: Intel Core i7 Processor 1065G7
- OS: Windows 10 Pro
Price: $1,029.44 (accurate since last checked on Amazon)
3. Zenbook UX581
- Display: 15.6 inches 4K UHD Touchscreen Display (3840×2160)
- Ram: 16 GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB PCIe SSD
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
- Processor: Intel Core i7-10750H
- OS: Windows 10 Pro
Price: $2,069.99 (accurate since last checked on Amazon)
Why Are High-End Laptops the Best?
Looking at these exorbitant prices, you’ll almost certainly wonder, “What makes these laptops better than the others?” To break it down, higher prices generally mean better build quality, better performance, better security, better software, and overall, a better experience.
The thing is, you’re going to be spending hours on this machine a day. For the time that your laptop is with you, it will likely be your workstation, something you get your entertainment from, along with storage for important files and stuff. Accordingly, it makes sense to invest in one that can improve your productivity and provide you with a good user experience daily.
Higher-end laptops are usually durable and future-proofed. This means that they have the software and hardware that can handle updates and new requirements in the coming future. To back that up, the quality of materials used in the laptop can make sure that your laptop lasts you for a good while without breaking down and becoming obsolete.
If sound and picture quality is important to you, then these laptops have you covered. Expensive laptops often include sound systems from dedicated sound companies like Bang & Olufsen. Their screens offer outstanding picture quality with FHD, UHD, 4k, and also Retina displays. This ensures that you can stream your favorite content on these laptops like it was meant to be streamed.
Battery life is another critical difference between high-end and budget laptops. Most of the time, manufacturers sacrifice battery life to allow them to sell laptops at lower prices. It’s safe to say that battery life is one of the most significant components of laptops. After all, what’s the use of a laptop if you have to plug it into a socket every few hours? You don’t have to worry about this with high-end laptops. The battery on these beasts can easily last you the whole working day with high use. Some can even roll over to the next day and keep going.
Perhaps you’re a user with very high requirements from your laptop. In short, this pretty much eliminates budget and mid-range laptops from your list. What you need is a machine that can compete with well-made desktop PCs in the laptop form factor. Again, the more expensive laptops have your back here. They can run any software with ease, giving you a seamless work experience. There are laptops now that can even edit 4K video on the go!
Why Are Laptops So Expensive Right Now?
One thing you might notice if you’re scouring the laptop markets right now is the spike in prices across ranges. Laptop prices are getting hiked by up to $50 throughout the market. You can thank the global chip shortage for these increases in prices. The reason behind the chip shortages seems to be the crypto-mining boom, increased device sales owing to the pandemic, and a worldwide upswing in cloud computing.
Things have gotten so serious that President Joe Biden declared in June that he would assign a task force to look into this matter. Current developments suggest that we’re going to have to deal with this issue throughout the year and likely into next year as well.
How to Find the Best Value for Money Laptop?
Finding a suitable value-for-money laptop might seem intimidating with all the options in the market. However, it’s actually pretty simple. Let’s see how.
You need to straighten your priorities while buying a laptop. This means that you have to go through what your requirements are from the machines. What will your use be? Undoubtedly, different uses require attention to different parameters while buying. What is important to you in a laptop and how much are you willing to pay for it?
Criteria for a VFM Laptop
- Portability
Not many things are more redundant in the tech world than a laptop that is not portable. Your laptop needs to be light and handy for you to be able to carry it around and get your work done. In addition to that, it should also have a sturdy and durable build quality that should inspire confidence within you to take it anywhere, without fearing damage. Good thing for us, most laptops nowadays have toughened up while remaining sleek and portable. Aim for a laptop around 2 kgs (4.4 lbs) and you’ll be fine.
- Battery Life
Battery life and portability go hand-in-hand. I mean, you can’t really carry around a laptop that dies in a few hours and expect to get any work done. This is where you might want to go for a higher-priced laptop because they tend to have better battery life. You should look at getting a laptop with an “all-day battery”, or around 8 hours of use. Most laptops around the $650 mark will get you this much.
- Brand
How much does the brand of a laptop matter? If you’d asked me that question about a decade ago, my answer would’ve been, “Yes, very much”. However, things have changed in recent years and they’ve changed for the better. In 2022, you can go right ahead and buy a laptop from any brand you’ve heard of before and expect to get a quality product. In the VFM budget category, you have noteworthy contenders from Mi, Lenovo, and Acer. Although, the PC giants Dell and HP have also released some great laptops in the budget price range.
- Performance
A solid combination of the CPU, GPU, and Memory makes for great performance in a laptop. Recommended specs for a laptop purchase in 2023 are 8 gigs of RAM, 512 GB of SSD storage, and 4 gigabytes of dedicated VRAM (Video RAM). Most mid-range laptops have these specifications at pretty reasonable prices. You can expect to pay around $600-$700 for a laptop that offers this level of performance.
How Long Does the Average Laptop Last?
Now you know how to make a laptop purchase that will work for you. However, how long will your snazzy new laptop last before it either:
- Fails to keep up with improvements in technology and becomes obsolete
or
- It starts requiring regular repairs and eventually breaks down
On average, a typical mid-range laptop’s lifespan is between 2-4 years. You can generally be safe to expect your laptop to work perfectly during this time. After this, however, there really is no guarantee of how long it’ll last. Regardless, if you take good care of it, you can get a laptop to last for around 10 years! However, if you want to have a laptop with the latest tech, it’s a good idea to replace your laptop every 4 years or so. All things considered, a good idea is to get a durable laptop with the latest specs that can last you 4 years with no issues.
How to Maintain a Laptop?
Here are some quick tips that’ll help you increase the lifespan of your laptop.
- Keep your laptop away from exposure to dust and liquid.
- Regularly wipe down your laptop on the outside and thoroughly clean it every 5-6 months, eliminating dust and other gunk stuck in it.
- Keep your laptop nice and cool. Refrain from using it in hot rooms and conditions that can cause it to overheat.
- Update the essential software on your laptop as they arrive. That’ll keep you up to date with bug fixes and security patches to have a smoother, risk-free experience.
- Install reputable anti-virus software to boost your laptop’s security.
- Avoid always using your laptop till 0% because this can damage its battery. A good rule of thumb is to use your laptop when it’s in between 40-80% charge.
When’s the Best Time for Buying a Laptop?
Did you know? Laptop prices can vary depending on the time of the year. It’s necessary to know this information to ensure you don’t overspend on a laptop you could get at a lower price by just waiting a bit.
In summer, Amazon Prime Day gets you crazy good deals on laptops. Autumn is an excellent time to buy a new laptop, with all the back-to-school offers and, of course, Black Friday. If you want a new MacBook, autumn makes sense for you too. As a matter of fact, after the September Apple events and new MacBook launches, older MacBooks have become significantly cheaper. You can get great discounts around the holiday season too. You should generally avoid early summer, as there’s not much going on in May and June, and you won’t get the best bang for your buck by making a purchase then.
Conclusion
To sum it up, spending anywhere between $650 and $800 seems reasonable for most buyers. Thankfully, current mid-range laptops in this scale come packed with all the essentials to make your life easier.
However, in the end, the price that you should pay for a laptop will vary according to your needs.
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