After some time, you may think that your laptop seems to become slower than before. Often this not related to software or hardware, sometimes it’s the user that got used to the performance that eventually is looking for a better overall machine. When you need an upgrade from an entry-level machine, these laptops under 700 could make the cut.

Best Laptop Under 700

HP Pavilion X360

With its 15.6″ full HD IPS UWVA WLED-backlit touchscreen, this laptop is very noticeable. It comes with 1920 x 1080 pixels driven by Intel HD Graphics 620. This is, by the way, a convertible thus features a 360° flip-and-fold design. With 7th gen Intel Core i5-7200U with two cores to boot, it is very much capable really. This CPU can operate at 2.5GHz and with turbo boost churning 3.1GHz. To maximize overall productivity, it has an 8 GB DDR3 Memory coupled by its 1TB, 5400RPM, Serial ATA HDD. Connectivity options come in the form of 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0, 1 HDMI, 1 RJ-45 for LAN and an Integrated 10/100/1000 GbE LAN. Wireless options are with its 802.11ac Wifi and Bluetooth 4.0. Windows 10 Home is its OS.

The 360-degree hinge is easy to manipulate while suﬃciently stiﬀ to stay in place at your chosen angle. That might be in standard laptop mode, ‘tented’ in an ‘A’ shape to stand it on a desk, folded under to hold the screen the other way up, or in the tablet conﬁguration. The screen is bright and with decent contrast, but it doesn’t do much justice to deep colors, and the glossy touchscreen ﬁnish means reﬂections and ﬁngerprints can be distracting. The keyboard is ﬁne, as long as you can get used to the silver on-silver styling.

Our favorite feature is the touchpad: so many machines like this are spoiled by bad ones, but HP’s is wonderfully responsive to both one-ﬁnger cursor movement and two-ﬁnger scrolling, so you need not rely on the touchscreen in laptop mode. Inside is a 1TB hard drive, bulkier than the ﬂash memory in smaller mobile devices, but providing far more room for all your programs and ﬁles. It’s also slower, but the 2.2GHz quad-core Intel i5 processor and 8GB of memory still make this a proper all-round Windows computer, ready for tasks like editing photos as well as the basics. The integrated Intel HD Graphics 5500 chip won’t cope with serious 3D games, but that’s the only major limitation. At a touch under ﬁve hours watching videos, battery life is acceptable. Although not light, the Envy x360 is surprisingly slim, and it does work well.

Pros:

Bang & Olufsen Speakers
Convertible/hybrid operation
Quite thin at 0.8″ and relatively light at 4.6lbs.
Its 3-cell battery can go up to 8 hours battery with a single charge
Touchscreen display
Robust build

Cons:

No SSD
No optical drive
Heavy when used as a tab

If HP X360’s features and specs didn’t appeal to you, then these recommendations might be of interest to you.

Best Laptops Under 700

Name	Price	Features	Amazon Rating
HP Pavilion X360	As low as $669.99	Intel Core i5-7200U Dual Core Processors 8GB DDR3L RAM 1TB 5400rpm HDD 15.6" Screen 1920x1080 Resolution	★★★★★ (5.0)
Dell Inspiron 15 5558	As low as $440.00	Intel i5-4210U Processor 8GB RAM 1TB HDD 15.6" Screen 1920x1080 Resolution	★★★★☆ (3.7)
ASUS F556UA-AB32	As low as $364.99	Intel i3-6100U 2.3 GHz Processor 4GB DDR4DL RAM 1TB 5400 RPM HDD 15.6" Screen 1920x1080 Resolution	★★★★☆ (3.8)
Lenovo Z50	As low as $326.23	AMD A10-7300 1.9 GHz Processor 8GB DDR3L SDRAM 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive 15.6" Screen 1366x768 Resolution	★★★☆☆ (3.2)
HP 15-F222WM	As low as $277.81	Intel Pentium Quad Core N3540 processor 2.16GHz (up to 2.66GHz via Turbo boost) 4GB DDR3L SDRAM 500GB Hard Drive (5400 rpm) 15.6" Screen 1366x768 Resolution	★★★★☆ (3.7)
Dell Inspiron 15-5559	As low as $649.00	Intel Core i7 processor 2.5GHz 16GB DDR3L SDRAM 1TB HDD (5400 rpm) 15.6" Screen 1920x1080 Resolution	★★★☆☆ (3.5)
HP Notebook 15-ay011nr	As low as $459.99	Intel Core i5-6200U Processor 2.3GHz 8GB DDR3L SDRAM 1TB HDD (5400 rpm) 15.6" Screen 1920x1080 Resolution	★★★★☆ (3.8)
Toshiba Satellite C55-C5241	As low as $675.70	Intel Core i5-5200U Processor 8GB DDR3L SDRAM 1TB HDD (5400 rpm) 15.6" Screen 1366x768 Resolution	★★★★☆ (3.6)
Lenovo G50 15.6-Inch	As low as $382.99	Intel Core i3-5200U Processor 1.9GHz 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1TB HDD (5400 rpm) 15.6" Screen 1366x768 Resolution	★★★☆☆ (3.5)
Asus F554 15.6-inch Laptop	As low as $480.00	Intel Core i5-5200U Processor 2.2GHz 4GB DDR3L SDRAM 500GB HDD (5400 rpm) 15.6" Screen 1366x768 Resolution	★★★★☆ (3.8)

Dell Inspiron 15 5558

Dell has been in the laptop-selling business for a long time now, and the Inspiron 15 is a well-established part of its range that gets upgraded from time to time as technology moves on. This laptop under 500 looks rather sleek, with a metallic ﬁnish wrapped around its black plastic chassis.

Because it’s a normal laptop, there’s a DVD writer built into the right-hand side, and a 1TB hard drive inside to accommodate all your apps, ﬁles, photos and media. Since the chassis hasn’t been compressed to the depth of a sheet of paper, there’s room for three USB 3.0 ports, a full-size HDMI socket for an external monitor, and an SD card reader. There’s no Ethernet port for old-school networking, but fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi is built-in.

The Intel Core i5 processor is only dual-core, but still delivers performance ahead of fancier, pricier machines, such as the HP Envy x360. That mechanical hard drive means Windows10 will occasionally pause to catch up as you ﬂick between apps, windows and webpages, but only for a fraction of a second. You may want to uninstall the 12-month trial of McAfee LiveSafe that comes loaded: it oﬀers a year’s free protection from malware, but only by interrupting everything you’re trying to do like a fractious toddler. You’re better oﬀ using a free alternative. Despite its modest price, Dell Inspiron 15 5558 comes with a proper graphics card, Nvidia’s new GeForce 920M. New? Yes. Top of the range? No. The latest 3Dgames won’t run smoothly in FullHD, even on low-quality settings, so you’d need to turn the resolution down to play them.

Older and less demanding titles will work ﬁne, and tasks like basic video editing aren’t beyond reach. The built-in speakers sound clear and go quite loud, too. FullHD (1920×1080) is exactly the resolution of the 15.6″ screen, and at this size it looks sharp without making everything hopelessly small. There’s easily enough room to work in two windows side by side. You can pay extra for a touchscreen, but that just means ﬁngerprints allover your work. The Inspiron 15’s regular display has a matte ﬁnish to avoid annoying reﬂections, and the touchpad below the keyboard is very responsive, so it’s not hard to control what you’re doing. The keyboard itself has no backlighting and feels basic, without much sense of the keys actually pressing, although we’ve seen worse.

While there’s plenty of detail in the display, color is distinctly lacking. According to our tests, the LCD panel can only reproduce 58 percent of the standard sRGB spectrum, so pictures that ought to pop look ﬂat and dull. That’s disappointing, and rules out this machine if you’re seriously into photography or design. The maximum brightness is also less than impressive.

On the other hand, good contrast and wide-viewing angles mean the display is by no means unpleasant to use for general tasks. At 2.3kg and a full inch thick, Dell Inspiron 15 5558 isn’t a lightweight laptop by today’s standards. Portability is also limited by the battery, which only lasted us just over three hours of video watching. That isn’t even very good by yesterday’s standards. For a normal laptop, though, it’s tolerable. All round, the Dell Inspiron 15 5558 may not win any awards for innovation, but it’s a complete Windows10 system that you can pack in your bag when necessary, for $440. Who needs 360-degree hinges anyway?

ASUS F556UA-AB32

One thing that you’ll first notice from this machine is its gorgeous 15.6-inch Full-HD display. With 1080p in it, you are rest assured of that wonderful screen that can entertain. And while you’re at it, you can easily indulge as it features a blue light filter that eases the harmful effects of long hours of looking through LED-backlit screens. This machine is powerful enough with Intel i3-6100U CPU that can run up to 2.3 GHz. And you’ll never run short in storage with its 1TB HDD that can spin up to 5400 RPM. RAM space comes in the form of 4GB DDR4DL. This memory is shared by its integrated Intel graphics processor. Connectivity options are well covered with HDMI/D-SUB/ USB Type C, 802.11a/c WiFi, and SD Card reader. Windows 10 comes pre-installed.

Pros:

Long-lasting 38 Whr polymer battery that can deliver 2.5 times the lifespan of standard Li-ion
Touch screen with multi-touch support
ASUS IceCool technology to manage heat
Intel i3
Sonic Master sound management
DVD/CD drive

Cons:

4 GB RAM limits multitasking

Lenovo Z50

This computer features AMD A10-7300 processor capable of operating up to 1.9 GHz. To cater multitasking needs pretty well, it comes with an 8GB DDR3L SDRAM. Storage is not a problem with this laptop. It comes with a 1 TB HDD that can operate up to 5400 rpm giving it the right balance for quiet operation and performance. It has a 15.6-inch screen driven by its integrated graphics resulting to maximum resolution of 1366×768 pixels. It has Wifi 802.11bgn, 3 USB ports, one HDMI and SD crad reader. Windows 10 comes preinstalled with it.

Pros:

renowned AccuType keyboard for better comfort
Dolby Stereo sound
Simple but classic design
DVD/CD drive
Respectable 4-hour battery life

Cons:

Can run hot after under heavy use
Heavy at 5.3 lbs.

HP 15-F222WM

This laptop under 300 from HP is powered by Intel Pentium Quad Core N3540 processor clocked at 2.16GHz, this computer surely has something up its sleeve. Also, this CPU can run up to 2.66GHz through Turbo boost technology built into it. It has 4GB DDR3L SDRAM which should be enough to run your daily grind. Storage space is through its 500GB Serial ATA HDD which can run up to 5400 rpm. Display comes in the form of 15.6-inch high-definition guise capable of 1366 x 768 pixels with touchscreen support. Also, it has 1 USB 2.0 port, 2 USB 3.0 ports and has wireless LAN connectivity that supports 802.11b/g/n. Windows 10 64-bit comes preinstalled with the package.

Pros:

3-cell lithium-ion battery capable of 5-hour use
DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
Touch screen
Quad-core power
1792MB dedicated graphics memory

Cons:

Keyboard felt cheap
Loads of bloatware
4 GB RAM limits its full potential

Dell Inspiron 15-5559

This laptop has a gorgeous 15.6-in display with full HD TrueLife technology and touchscreen support. With 1920 x 1080 pixels and 10-finger multi-touch support, you can be sure this has some premium touch to it. But then it’s kind of useless without proper engine to push it. And fortunately for this laptop it comes with Intel Core i7-6500U capable of running up to 2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology which can up the performance to 3.10 GHz. Also, it comes with 8GB DDR4 RAM operating at 1600 MHz to cater all the necessities you might have in mind. Storage space comes in the form of 1TB HDD capable of running up to 5400 RPM. It as well has Intel RealSense 3D camera. Then there’s its wireless 802.11ac with Miracast support plus Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0. It also has 1 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0 and one HDMI port. Operating system comes in the form of Windows 10 Home 64-bit.

Pros:

Intel 6^th gen i7
8GB RAM
Optical drive DVD-RW Media drive
Dell Audio with Waves MaxxAudio
Pro Video Intel HD Graphics 520 with shared graphics memory Ports
Backlit keyboard
Precision touchpad

Cons:

Keyboard surface felt hot under heavy load
Narrow viewing angle for what it is

HP Notebook 15-ay011nr

The driving force behind this machine is its Intel® Core i5-6200U processor. Capable of 2.3GHz with turbo boost up to 2.8GHz, this machine is more than capable for your daily tasks. To maximize overall productivity, it comes with 8GB DDR3L-SDRAM to give more space for multitasking needs. Storing your presentations or videos is not a problem with its spacious 1TB HDD that can operate up to 5400RPM. If that may seem not enough, it has a Super-Multi DVD burner. All this power is then delivered through its 15.6″ diagonal Full HD SVA antiglare WLED-backlit display. It has a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Wireless connectivity options are through its 802.11ac WLAN and Bluetooth 4.0. Windows 10 manages on top of it for that snappy and efficient operation.

Pros:

DTS Studio Sound
Vibrant 1080 display
Reliable graphics and CPU combo
Great multimedia laptop
Sleek design
Good amount of battery life: 5 hours

Cons:

Shallow keyboard
Classic HP design cues but is subjective
No SSD

Toshiba Satellite C55-C5241

This machine comes with Intel Core i5-5200U Processor coupled with Mobile Intel HD 5500 Graphics. Display comes in the form of 15.6-Inch, 1366×768 pixels LED-backlit screen. For multitasking purposes, this system comes with 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM. With its 1 TB HDD that runs at 5400 RPM through serial ATA, it can cater even heavy users. It also comes with DVD-SuperMulti for added convenience. Windows 10 Home comes preinstalled topped with textured resin in brushed black exterior for added premium feel.

Lenovo G50 15.6-Inch

With 4th generation Intel Core i3-4030U, 3MB Cache, clocked at 1.9GHz, processor at its heart this laptop surely can deliver the goods. Graphics need is catered by Intel HD Graphics 4400 with HDMI VGA support. RAM space is done by its 4GB PC3-12800, DDR3L, 1600MHz SDRAM. Storage is done through its 1TB HDD that runs at 5400 rpm Hard Drive. It sports a Multiformat DVD RW/CD-RW drive for added convenience. It can cater USB 3.0 through one of its ports and USB 2.0 through two of its ports. Display comes in the form of 15.6-inch, High-Definition, 1366 x 768 pixels with LED Backlight technology. Also, it has a 720p HD Webcam. Windows 8.1, 64-bit comes preinstalled with free upgrade to Windows 10. Check out our review here

Asus F554 15.6-inch Laptop

Next on our list of best laptop under 700 is actually under 500 sports a 5^th generation, Intel Core i5-5200U processor boasting 3MB Cache and clocked at 2.2GHz. Graphics need is done by its Intel HD Graphics 5500. It then projects it to its 15.6-inch High-Definition, 1366 x 768, LED-backlit screen. With 4GB worth of RAM that comes in DDR3L technology that runs at 1600MHz, heavy users will surely appreciate it. Windows 10 64-bit comes preinstalled with it. Storage needs is done by its 500GB HDD running at 5400 rpm.

Final Words

There will be times when you think that your old machine has done enough and that it badly needs some upgrade. And if you happen to have stretched your budget to just under 700, we hope that the list above fit your needs. Always remember that when buying a laptop always make sure that it caters to your needs and not because it is the current trend.

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