You asked for a Laptop costing under £500.
You told me that you needed a light use laptop for light email and web-browsing.
You just want a simple, light-use laptop so there are three choices below. Top choice has the best performing processor, meaning everyday tasks will be quick to complete. Very unusual to get a Ryzen 7 5000 series CPU for under £500, although there is only 256GB storage space. Choice 2 will be slower, but is about £170 cheaper. Choice 3 is similar to choice 1, but with around a 20% slower CPU but other benefits, such as larger storage (512GB) and a nice OLED screen.
I searched a range of different shops for something that would suit your needs. I have chosen the three options below as the best ones to suit your requirements. However, we all have our own tastes (and of course, prices can change), so I have also included search links for each shop at the bottom of this page in case you’d like to browse further.
I always choose three options. These are usually (1) the best performing option within your budget (i.e. best suited to meet your needs for the longest possible time), (2) the cheapest option that still meets your needs effectively and (3) usually a wildcard option or a compromise between the two. If you are able to, I would usually recommend the first option as it is likely to be powerful enough to meet your needs for the longest before it needs replacing. However, I specify three choices so that you can pick the one that best suits your circumstances.
I do not work for or on behalf of any of the retailers listed below.
Prices correct as of 4th Apr 2022
1. Best overall performance: Lenovo V15 G2 Ryzen 7 8GB RAM 256GB SSD Windows 10 Home 1…
£499.99
Key features:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Eight-Core Processor
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB
Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
This choice represents the best overall performance I could get from your budget. I chose it primarily based on its all round performance, particularly from the CPU which is unusually fast for a sub-£500 laptop. Only 256GB storage though.
2. Cheapest option: MSI Modern 14″ FULL HD (Intel i3-10110U, Intel UHD Graphi…
£329.99
Key features:
CPU: i3-10110U
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB
Graphics: Integrated
This choice represents the cheapest device I could find that still meets your needs. I chose it primarily based on its all round performance. Cheap but definitely good enough for light use.
3. Third option: ASUS Vivobook AMD Ryzen 5-5500U 8GB RAM 512GB SSD 15.6″ F…
£489.98
Key features:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5-5500U
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 512GB
Graphics: AMD Radeon
This choice represents the third option – wildcard. I chose it primarily based on its all round performance. Slower CPU than choice 1, but other options (more storage, nice OLED screen) are the benefits of this choice.
Why did I choose these for you?
It is important that you understand what the components of a laptop do so that you can make an informed choice. Here is my very basic explanation for each:
- CPU: The brain of your laptop. A better one makes your laptop faster.
- RAM: Your laptop’s short term memory – more of this means it can cope well with doing more things at once.
- Storage: How much space your laptop has to store files, photos, apps etc. More storage means you can store more stuff.
- Graphics: Your laptop has a graphics processor (GPU) responsible for how things appear on the screen. A better GPU will mean your device will cope better with more complicated graphics, such as in 3D games.
If you would like to browse the shops I searched for yourself, here are some links that will take you directly to the search results you require:
Some of the links on this page are affiliate links – that means if you go on to buy after clicking one of them, I may receive a small payment. This is how I am able to provide this service for free. It does not affect the price you pay, nor does it affect the recommendations I make – I will always recommend the best I can find to fit your usage, regardless of what shop it is from or any affiliation.
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