5 Of The Best Laptops Under $1000 In 2026

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Shopping for a new laptop on a tight budget at a time when AI data centers are causing the memory and storage prices to skyrocket is a daunting task. Due to the memory shortage, several companies have hiked the price of their laptops, making devices that were once budget-friendly expensive. Samsung has already increased the price of its Galaxy Book laptops, and Microsoft has also bumped the price of Surface devices, pushing the starting price of its most affordable model north of $1,000. That's why if you plan to upgrade your laptop in 2026, don't wait — do it as soon as possible. But thanks to the diversity in the laptop market, there are still models that are selling for less than four figures despite the ongoing memory crisis.

If you have a budget of less than $1,000, we've scoured the web to find the best laptop models that you can buy in 2026. The list includes Windows, ChromeOS, and macOS-powered laptops that are selling for less than $1,000 brand-new, and without any discounts. While all our recommendations are good enough for everyday tasks, each has its own specialization. The Chromebook is targeted at working primarily in the browser, while some options sport 2-in-1 designs for versatility, and one is capable of gaming. You can read more about how we selected the best laptops under $1,000 in the methodology section at the end of the article.

Apple's recently launched M5-powered MacBook Air starts at $1,099, which takes it outside the $1,000 budget. However, if you want a MacBook for less than $1,000, you still have an option in Apple's newly launched MacBook Neo. This is Apple's budget laptop and its cheapest MacBook model ever. As a budget MacBook that starts at just $599, the MacBook Neo isn't for everyone. It comes with Apple's A18 Pro chip (the same one found in 2024's iPhone 16 Pro models), 8 GB of memory, 256 or 512 GB of SSD storage, and a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a 2,408 by 1,506 native resolution and 500 nits brightness. The Neo offers two USB-C ports and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and there's a 1080p webcam for your video calls. 

Apple claims the Neo can last up to 16 hours of video streaming and 11 hours of web browsing from the built-in 36.5‑watt‑hour battery. As it costs less than a MacBook Air, it cuts corners in some areas. For instance, it doesn't have fast charging and includes a smaller battery, and you'll have to spend $100 extra to get Touch ID. However, overall, the Neo is a pretty solid laptop for school use and for people whose work is done exclusively in the browser. You can get the base MacBook Neo with 256 GB for $599 or the 512 GB model with Touch ID for $699.

The Acer Aspire 16 Copilot+ PC is a great Windows laptop that you can buy for less than $1,000 in 2026. As Consumer Reports' top budget pick laptop, this model starts at just $700. The Acer Aspire 16 features a 16-inch display, which is large for a laptop of its price. That 16-inch panel is a WUXGA display, which has a 1,920 by 1,200 resolution, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and 350 nits of brightness. Under the hood of the Aspire 16 is a Snapdragon X processor with an NPU that offers enough trillion of operations per second (TOPS) to meet Microsoft's Copilot+ PC requirements, which ensures you won't miss out on the Windows 11 AI goodies. Paired with Qualcomm's ARM-based processor is 16 GB of LPDDR5X memory and 512 GB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage. 

The Acer Aspire 16 AI laptop comes with a 1440p webcam and a variety of ports, including USB-C, USB-A, a microSD card slot, HDMI, and a headphone jack. This laptop received glowing reviews from Consumer Reports, which praised it for having good battery life, enough performance to handle basic everyday tasks, and even said that this device is proof that "you don't need to spend a fortune to get a capable everyday laptop". CNET has also praised the laptop for its incredible battery life that lasted over 21 hours, clear webcam, and comfortable keyboard.

Another solid Windows option is the HP OmniBook 5 14. It starts at just $900 and has received glowing reviews from PCMag, which crowned it the best Windows laptop under $1,000 for offering good battery life and decent performance. The OmniBook 5 14 is an ultra-thin, lightweight laptop that includes a 14-inch OLED screen with a 1,920 by 1,200 resolution and up to 300 nits of brightness. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus processor powers this laptop, paired with 16 GB of LPDDR5x memory and 1 TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage. This laptop comes with Wi-Fi 6E, which will come in handy when connecting to the internet wirelessly, as it supports the faster 6 GHz band. 

The laptop only comes with four ports, including two USB-C ports, a single USB-A port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. HP promises up to 34 hours of battery life, and it did exceptionally well in PCMag's test (involving playing a local 720p video), lasting for 34 hours and 48 minutes. This laptop also impressed reviewers at CNET with its incredible battery life, which was termed record-setting. The team also praised the laptop for its display, design, and ample memory and storage for the price. Charging the OmniBook 5 14 shouldn't be a problem, as HP ships the model with a 65 W USB-C adapter out of the box.

If you prefer to get a Chromebook instead of a Windows or MacBook, you can consider the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714. Launched in 2024, this laptop has been out for a while but is still worth considering even in 2026. In fact, reviewers at RTings and PCMag recommend this as the best Chromebook under $1,000. The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 features a 2-in-1 design and has a 14-inch WUXGA IPS panel with a 1,920 by 1,200 resolution and 340 nits of brightness. The display supports touch and stylus input, but unfortunately it does not ship with a stylus in the box. There are five ports available, including one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, a headphone jack, and an HDMI 2.0 port. 

For wireless internet connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi 6E. Both PCMag and RTings were impressed by the device's battery life, which lasted more than 10 hours. The base model of the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 starts at $700 and comes with 8 GB of memory, 256 GB of storage, and an Intel Core Ultra 5 115U processor. But if you're willing to spend a little bit extra for more storage, you can get the beefier variant with a 512 GB or 1 TB SSD for $780 or $870, respectively.

The Acer Nitro V 16 is a budget laptop targeted at entry-level gaming that packs impressive specs under the hood and punches above its price, according to ZDNet. At the core of this laptop is an AMD Ryzen AI 5 240 processor, paired with 16 GB of DDR5 memory and an RTX 5050 GPU from Nvidia's latest GeForce RTX 50 series. For its price of less than $1,000, this isn't the best option if you want a gaming laptop that's more powerful than a PS5. However, according to ZDNet's review, the CPU and GPU combo that this laptop comes with is more than enough to enable it to "handle modern games smoothly". But for a model meant to play modern games that keep growing in size, the 512 GB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage might not be enough.

As the name suggests, it sports a 16-inch WUXGA IPS display, which comes with a 180 Hz refresh rate and 1,920 by 1,200 resolution. For a gaming laptop, Acer says this model comes with a dual-fan, quad-intake cooling system to prevent overheating during those long gaming sessions. The company has included a variety of ports, including Ethernet, three USB 3.2 USB-A ports, one USB-C port, a single HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a microSD card slot. The Acer Nitro V 16 is available on Walmart for $998.

With a budget of less than $1,000, there is a wide variety of laptop models on the market to choose from, as companies understand not everyone needs high-end performance and features, or has the money to splurge on a premium laptop. Even for us, choosing the best five options under $1,000 can be a daunting task since we don't want to rely on any guesswork, because not every laptop that you'll bump into on the market is worth your hard-earned money. 

With this in mind, we did extensive research to identify models that have been highly rated by expert reviewers at well-regarded sites such as Consumer Reports, CNET, ZDNet, PCMag, and RTings with MSRPs under $1,000 — even if only by a few dollars. All five laptops we've included in the list are recommended by these experts, and we made sure to include models with different features to ensure every buyer has an option that meets their needs.