During this pandemic, everything is mostly done online from online learning to getting your prescription delivered. We are not certain when we would be able to go outside and do outdoor activities that do not require restrictions. While being stuck at home, most of us are binging shows on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime. Some of us are even gaming online learning new games that we thought we may not have time to learn. Others of us are getting ready to go back to school meaning that we are learning online.
We want a laptop that gives us the fastest access to things and is near our budget. But, during this time it also means that we can not spend our money on things we want but the things we need. There are so many laptops that are being provided to people, but sometimes those laptops may not work so we prefer having our own. Here are the best laptops under $400 dollars.
Table of Contents
- 1 Top 10 of the Best Laptops Under $400 Dollars
- 2 Conclusion
Top 10 of the Best Laptops Under $400 Dollars
1. Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop 15.6″
Acer Aspire 5 Slim was created as a powerful notebook with revolution specifications. It has the AMD Ryzen 3 3200U chipset. It comes with an exceptional mobile graphics processing unit while having access to 4 gigs of RAM. The Acer is featured with Windows 10 that can save energy. The Acer Aspire 5 is 15.6 inches with full HD screening with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. With a full charge battery, it can last up to 8 hours. It weighs less than 4 pounds which is pretty light for a laptop that holds a lot of specifications.
The Acer comes with the 10th Generation Intel Core i3-1005G1 processor. It has only 126GB of SSD to store personal and professional data that most of us may not be happy with. This laptop is just under 400 dollars that is unexpected from a laptop like this one. If you like to game, then this laptop is meant for you.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 15.6 inches
- Memory Speed: 3.5 GHz
- Brand Chip AMD
- Average Battery: 7.5 hours
2. HP Stream PC N3060
The HP Stream 14 is in the $400 price range. It has acceptable specs that come in two different sizes 11 inches and 14 inches where there is no clear difference between. It has an operating system of Windows 10 with a resolution of 1366 X 768 Pixels. If you are someone that has to check their emails, browsing the internet, video chat, and social media then this is a good laptop to have. This is a good laptop to use if you are working from home or doing online classes.
This laptop comes in Aqua Blue which is a color that is not meant for everyone, but it is one of the best to buy if your budget is under 400 dollars. Even though it has a lot of great advantages towards it, however, it has limited storage space meaning that you have to delete certain applications when wanting to add new ones. But there is an upside, where you can use the memory card to get more storage. Overall, this is a great laptop to have that has its advantage specifically being in a budget under 400 dollars.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 14 inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1355 x 768 Pixels
- Memory Speed: 1600MHz
- Average Battery Life: 10.45
3. Asus VivoBook L402
This Asus VivoBook is an upgraded version of the Asus VivoBook E403SA-US21 which sometimes people would call it before. It weighs about 3.6 pounds meaning that it is light. It is equipped with USB 3.1, Type-C connector, HDMI, and an SD card that makes connecting quick. With a display resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, you can watch movies and play games that do not require higher resolution. It can connect to the usage of Bluetooth. It has a feature of high quality of speakers. It has 4GB RAM and 64GB EMMC flash storage.
It comes with one year of usage of Microsoft Office. This version has a Windows 10 in the S mode operating system. One of the disadvantages is that it has a CPU speed of 1.5 GHz meaning that it is very slow and could take a while to load. But with a slow speed, it means that it does not consume a lot of energy meaning that it has a battery life of 9 hours.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 14 inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Pixels
- Chipset Brand: AMD
- Graphics Card Ram Size: 4 GB
4. Lenovo IdeaPad 14″ Laptop
The Lenovo Ideal 14” can complete daily tasks quickly. This is another laptop that can be used for online learning. With a battery life of 8 hours, no wonder it is great to use for online learning. With a screen resolution of 1366 x 768 with an HD web camera, it has a clear screen showing. It comes with a year subscription to access Microsoft 365. It comes with Windows 10 Home in S mode operating system where it gives security and protection to be able to perform tasks.
It is easy to switch out of S mode. When downloading apps that are not available in the Microsoft store, you can easily download apps when using standard Windows 10 Home. Even though there are advantages towards it, it has a CPU speed of 1.6GHz and a boost speed of up to 2.4GHz that you can not use for heavy usage like gaming. It could be used for basic and light tasks.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 14 inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768 Pixels
- Chipset Brand: AMD
- Average Battery Life: 8 hours
5. HP Lightweight Stream Pro
The HP Stream is a great option for people who need something sturdy, affordable, and portable. It has a screen resolution of 1366 x 768 Pixel which is a perfect device to stream movies on Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Amazon Prime, etc. With a 10 Windows Pro operating system, that gives a person security connectivity and more. It has great access to Microsoft Office that most of us need to use for schoolwork or completing tasks for our jobs.
It can handle light gaming which may seem like a bad thing but it seems better to use for school work. It only weighs around 2.5 pounds which is pretty light. It can hold up for 8 hours when having a full battery which is something that students may love about it. One of the disadvantages of this laptop is that it has a CPU speed of 2.48 GHz that makes it a little slow to load things.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 11.6 inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768 Pixels
- Memory Speed: 2.48 GHz
- Chipset Brand: Intel
6. Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11E
The Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga has convertible features that could be used for multitasking, gaming, studying, etc. It can be converted from a laptop to a tablet without having to detach the keyboard. If you are buying this laptop for gaming reasons only, then this is not a great usage because it does not support a lot of games. It turns on quickly and can be used in 30 seconds of it turning on. I
t can be connected to either a broadband modem or router with wired Ethernet or use WIFi. With a battery life of 12 hours, it is great for workers and students to use it. Even though it may not be the fastest laptop, with the 128 GB it gives it the boost it needs to access things as fast as possible. With a 1366 x 768 resolution, it can showcase movies and games. The only downside about this laptop is that it weighs heavily that it could be hard to carry around in a bag.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 11.6 inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768 Pixels
- Memory Speed: 1.5 GHz
- Chipset Brand: Intel
- Average Battery Life: 12 hours
7. Lenovo Chromebook Duet 2 in 1
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet can be converted from a laptop to a tablet. It is not even hard to figure how to convert it by just detaching certain things. During this quarantine, we have been streaming a lot of streaming platforms and we need a reliable laptop that would do that for us. This laptop is equipped for us to stream videos and movies with a full HD display. When we want to stream a show, we hope that it has long battery life.
Thankfully, this laptop can hold up to 10 hours. With a connection to WiFi and Bluetooth, it is easy to stream movies and shows. With the touchscreen, it is easy to use for either playing or working. Just like the HP Chromebook x360, it has access to Google Play where you can access games that you love on your mobile. With a Chrome OS, it means that it is lightweight that does not need a lot of specifications for it to operate. It comes with 12 free months of Google One membership that includes 100 GB of storage.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 10.1 inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1200 Pixels
- Memory Speed: 2400 MHz
- Chipset Brand: MediaTek
- Average Battery Life: 10 hours
8. HP Stream 14″
The HP Stream 14” is great to use for work, school, and playing that is power with Windows 10 that is affordable for a 400 dollar budget. This laptop is great to use when doing multitask things like streaming and watching videos. When dealing with multitasking, we need a laptop that could last up to 8 hours which this laptop could. This can remind a person of a mobile phone but has a longer battery life and an AMD processor.
With a display resolution of 1366 x 768, it allows people to watch videos in good quality. It comes with a year’s access to Office 365 which is something that we want to have since money could be tight. It even checks your PC when there is an unauthorized activity being done. One of the disadvantages is that you can only download apps from Microsoft Store and use the Microsoft Edge browser. With this in mind, it means that we do not necessarily have access to all games we may want to play on this laptop.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 14 inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768 Pixels
- Memory Speed: 1866 MHz
- Chipset Brand: AMD
9. 2020 HP Premium 14″
The 2020 HP Premium laptop is designed to be used for gaming, work, and students’ usage. It has a 4GB system memory that gives it power for a person to multitask like doing school work. It may seem that it is not fast enough but it has a boost of 128 GB SSD that can be used when gaming heavily. Even with that, it may seem that it is slow, you can connect it to a Wireless AC router for 3x the speed. It has a long battery life that can be used for daily tasks or entertainment.
It comes with the Windows 10 S operation system meaning that it is secure and protective. It has 1 HDMI, 1 headphone/microphone combo, 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, 2 USB 3.0 Type-A, and 1 USB 3.0 Type-C. It has AMD Radeon Graphics that gives clear quality images and basic photo editing. It has built-in Bluetooth, webcam, and HD audio with stereo speakers.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 14 inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768 Pixels
- Memory Speed: 1.6 GHz
- Chipset Brand: AMD
10. HP Chromebook X360
The HP Chromebook x360 is convertible and can be used as an ordinary laptop or as a tablet. That is not the only way it can be used, but it has a stand mode for note-taking, drawing, and other daily activities. During tent mode, it is easy to pinch, zoom, and touch. This laptop is great to use while being in quarantine that can be used in various ways from doing school work to playing games. With a 1366 x 912 pixel, it is an ideal laptop for browsing the internet.
It has 32 GB of storage with 4 GB RAMS. Having access to Google Play, you can have access to Android apps that you love to use on mobile or tablet. It has a Bluetooth connection. You can work without limitation with 13-hour battery life which is mostly what we all hope to use. It can be used for either gaming, school work, and occupations. You can use both Microsoft Office and Google Drive that we all need to use.
Specification:
- Standing screen display: 12 inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1366 x 912 Pixels
- Memory Speed: 2.6 GHz
- Chipset Brand: Intel
- Average Battery Life: 13 hours
Conclusion
These are just some of the best laptops under $400 dollars that seem that they are worth giving a try. It also depends on what you are looking for in a laptop-like having a laptop that would work to do online learning then most of the laptops here are good to use. Other laptops may be better but these laptops are based on online learning, working, and playing, and keeping up with a certain budget. From looking at budget and quality, the best one to use during these quarantines is between HP Chromebook X360 or the Lenovo Chromebook Duel since both are new generations and could be converted into laptops and tablets.