Our favorite budget gaming laptop is the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16. Of the laptops with RTX 4050 graphics that we've tested, it's the fastest. It also supplies a big and bright 16-inch, 16:10 display and adds a bit of aluminum to what is typically an all-plastic design at its price.

As of February 2025, we believe the best cheap MacBook is the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air powered by the previous-generation M2 chip. It's speedy enough for most people, lasts all day, has an excellent keyboard, and starts at $999 (though it's often on sale for well under $900). What's more, it recently got a welcome bump to 16GB of base RAM.