The best laptops under £1000 of 2025 – plus our expert guide to help you choose

We love it when we find a laptop that offers a true balance between price and performance, and this ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED X1505VA does just that. Aside from the solid build quality that ASUS is renowned for, the display is a mid-sized marvel. Not only is it a practical 15.6 inches for plenty of usable workspace, it's also an OLED display – that means it can display more accurate colours and deeper blacks over other kinds of displays. 

Underneath that sleek design lies an Intel i7 processor and 16GB of RAM, which means you'll have plenty of computing power for all of your applications like Microsoft Word and more. Best of all is the 1TB solid state drive for super-fast loading and saving, which is twice the storage capacity we'd normally expect at this price. Lastly, this is running the latest Windows 11 operating system, so whatever you need to use it for in 2025, you'll be more than ready.

Proving that budget laptops don't have to be slow or basic, the Dell Inspiron 15 is something of a steal. Coming in at well under the £500 mark, it does have a low to midrange Ryzen 5 processor and integrated AMD Radeon graphics – so don't expect to do 3D design or video editing on this – but, for everything else, it's ideal. Sporting a slick Carbon Black exterior and a 15.6-inch screen, inside you'll find 8GB of RAM and a 512GB solid state drive – that's enough memory and storage to handle all of your everyday tasks. However, with the basic integrated GPU chip, there's no advanced graphics performance on offer here.

However, as it runs the latest version of Windows 11 Home, this Dell is perfect for anyone looking to use Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel or PowerPoint, but it'll also perform brilliantly for watching YouTube or internet shopping and more.

There are few brands as well-established as Microsoft, and this Surface Laptop Go 3 is a dream come true for those who need small and portable above everything else. Not only is this laptop super-thin, its 12.4-inch display is the smallest in our list. So, while it may not suit those working on graphics or detailed work, for the rest of us it's a practical portable tool that you can take anywhere. 

But that smaller form doesn't mean that the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 is underpowered. It has a decent i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and runs Windows 11. So, it's the perfect partner for everyday computing away from a desk or table. We love the Ice Blue colour scheme as well.

Not everyone wants or needs the Microsoft Windows operating system, preferring Apple's MacOS offering instead. We think that this latest 2024 model of the MacBook Air is amazing value, having come down from almost £1,100 recently. So, what do you get for your money? Well, as you'd expect from Apple, the build quality is second-to-none. It's compact too, at 13.6 inches, and that screen is a gorgeous and vibrant Liquid Retina display as well, offering better contrast, colour and definition.

Memory is huge, too. With 24GB on offer alongside the M3 processor you'll never be stuck for raw computing power. As with iPhones, the best iPads and other Apple devices, by default the storage capacity is a little limited at 256GB, but a portable SSD drive is an easy fix for those who need more space. It also has one of the best battery life ratings in our list, at up to eighteen hours. Lastly, if you're already an Apple user, your existing Apple ID can be used on your new MacBook – which means you can seamlessly share files, photos and settings between, for instance, your iPhone, iPad and MacBook.

If there's one thing that any writer needs it's a reliable laptop with a large and well-designed keyboard. Our favourite thing about this Acer Aspire 3 is the low-profile keyboard with well-proportioned and generously spaced keys. There's also an integrated numpad for anyone keying in figures. It's also very affordable, originally costing closer to £600. The spec is mid-range, with an i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a respectable 512GB storage drive. The battery life is around the seven-hour mark, so will outlast the average working day.

Keyboard aside, this offers lots of practicality, with its large 15.6-inch screen and extra ports for connecting peripherals (a mouse, USB sticks etc). We particularly like the integrated webcam which is ideal for keeping in touch with friends and family. It runs Windows 11, too – so you'll be able to use the latest version of Microsoft Word and more to keep your writing flowing.

Sometimes only a larger screen will do, so this ASUS Vivobook 17 is ideal for those who struggle with smaller displays (or anyone working on detailed designs or complex spreadsheets). As with some others here, the specification is mid-range which offers a good balance of value and functionality. An i5 CPU, 512GB of storage space and 8GB of RAM is perfect for office work like Word and Excel plus browsing and everyday tasks.

There's a webcam for conference calling, plus a twelve-hour battery life – very impressive for such a large screen. It's also packing Wi-Fi as you'd expect, but this one is the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard for even faster connections. All in all, despite being heavier than most due to the larger display, it's seriously great value for a large and portable machine.

We were amazed to find such an impressive laptop under £1000, and this ASUS Zenbook 14X is a true powerhouse in all areas. Starting with the 14-inch OLED display, while it doesn't offer the size of some of the others in our list, it more than makes up for that with the sheer quality of image. It's a 3K resolution touchscreen, too – offering a serious detail and usability boost compared to most laptops.

Aside from the robust dark blue design, you'll find Windows 11, a whopping 32GB of RAM and an equally massive 1TB storage drive. So, if you’re storing or working on your family photos, this is a fantastic option.

Although, anyone editing high-definition video or designing in 3D might not find the integrated graphics to be powerful enough. It’ll do just about everything else, though, thanks to one of the fastest processors on the market – the Intel Ultra 9. The keyboard is backlit, there's a webcam and it weighs an incredibly light 1.2 kilograms. It's a brilliant choice for anyone who needs that bit more power.

We really love the subtle gamer aesthetic of this Acer Nitro V 16 laptop. Acer make some of the best laptops we've seen, and this one is packing the power where you need it most: the graphics card. Rather than a more standard, underpowered 'integrated' graphics chip, this has a standalone card – the excellent AI-boosted Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050. That means that the 16-inch 165hz display is going to really wow you with smooth and detailed gaming action.

Elsewhere you'll find 16GB of RAM and a Ryzen 5 CPU, more than enough power for the latest games. Plus, the 512GB storage drive is decent enough for all but the largest games collection. With a backlit keyboard and Windows 11, you'll be able to work as well as play. The only downside of having all that graphics power is the battery life of around five hours. So, if you're planning on being away from the mains for longer periods, take a power bank.

So, what is a Chromebook laptop? Well, whereas many laptops try to outdo each other in the power stakes, a Chromebook runs Google’s lightweight Chrome OS. It's all about getting simple computing tasks done alongside massive battery life. So, while you won’t find cutting-edge processors and a ton of RAM in a Chromebook, you will find a lightweight everyday workhorse that will outlast your working day. Lenovo's Chromebook S340 laptop is really portable too, thanks to the 14-inch screen.

Under the hood lies an Intel Celeron processor, 4GB of RAM and just 64GB of storage. But remember: this is not about performance or storage space – it's all about picking this up, taking it anywhere and getting things done. It'll let you work on spreadsheets, documents and browse the web, including watching YouTube and more.

Any laptop that can double as a tablet when you need it is a winning combination for us, but this HP ENVY x360 is a 2-in-1 laptop with an exceptional ultra-wide 16-inch display. HP is known for its excellent build quality, and here the sleek silver chassis allows the keyboard to fold all the way back, leaving you with a touchscreen tablet instead. It's ideal for work or home, as you can take this into any environment and convert it between laptop and tablet modes with ease. It may be a little weighty for some if carried around in laptop mode, but it's not as heavy as some others here.

The spec is great too, sporting a Ryzen 5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Good battery life is essential for any tablet-laptop, and here we have up to fifteen hours. That's brilliant for any Windows 11 laptop, let alone a touchscreen version with such a large screen.