Universal Soldiers: Top 5 Best Laptops Under $700

In addition to its super popular smartphones, the Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has also created a strong collection of laptops. New in 2018, called Mi Laptop Lite, is a simplified and more affordable version of the popular Mi Laptop Pro laptop.

Unlike the all-aluminium “big brother”, the base of the Mi Laptop Lite case is made of black matte plastic. The aluminium cover is the only one. The design remained the same strict and minimalistic - the manufacturer's logo is placed only on the screen frame and the bottom cover. The thickness of the case is 19.9 mm, which allows us to call the model thin. The case itself is strong enough, does not crack or bend, regardless of the magnitude of the applied force. Externally, the laptop does not look and feel cheap, like many other low-cost employees.

At the heart of the iron filling of the laptop is a powerful eighth-generation quad-core Core i5 with multi-threading support and auto-overclocking up to 3.4 GHz. This is the best option that you can find in a laptop under $700. The second reason for pride is a disk array of 1000 GB HDD for file storage and 128 GB SSD for speeding up the system. Again, an array of HDDs and SSDs is more of a prerogative for powerful or gaming laptops that start at $1,000. But even there it is not an axiom.

A clear disadvantage of the iron part of Mi Laptop Lite is the reduced amount of RAM. It is only 4 GB here, which by the standards of the present time looks like “we will go, but slowly.” Fortunately, with the help of an additional slot, this volume can be increased. The limit is 32 GB.

To blow through the productive hardware, the laptop got almost the same cooling system that was installed in the Mi Laptop Pro. Two powerful coolers are responsible for cooling here, which are equipped with a pair of massive heat pipes that prevent overheating even under prolonged load.

Well, the last comparison with Mi Laptop Pro is the display. This is a 15-inch IPS matrix with a matte finish with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a good margin of brightness of 250 cd/m2. According to the parameters, it is close to the screens that are installed in the more expensive Mi Laptop Pro and Mi Gaming Laptop. This is a definite plus that makes a good laptop even better. To complete the picture, only USB-C support is missing, but we will not demand too much from Mi Laptop Lite.

The Lenovo Ideapad 330 15 is currently one of the manufacturer's most affordable 15-inch models. This is a work bee, created to become a faithful assistant in study and office work.

But unlike office counterparts, it looks strict and modern. The body of the laptop is made of wear-resistant matte plastic, which practically does not collect fingerprints and always looks neat. The case has an interesting design feature - thanks to the wide hinges that hold the screen, the lid can be opened 180 degrees. But in unambiguous engineering miscalculations it is worth adding the power button, placed in the keyboard block. It has already been verified a hundred thousand times that this is convenient only on paper, but in reality, most people continue to accidentally fall into it while working with the keyboard.

The Ideapad 330 15 features a class-standard 15-inch TN+film display with anti-reflective coating and Full HD resolution. On the positive side, it has large viewing angles for this type of matrix, which is useful if, for example, several people watch videos on it at the same time. From the negative - not a very good transmission with dull colors and a small margin of brightness. Although if a laptop is bought primarily for work, then this is not particularly critical.

The laptop is powered by a previous generation Core i5 chip with a maximum frequency of 3.1 GHz. It has only 2 cores, but good energy efficiency, which allows you not to waste battery resources. The standard 8 GB of RAM, a fast 256 GB SSD and a simple GeForce MX110 graphics card complete the picture. Such balanced equipment allows you to forget about one of the problems of modern laptops - heating under high load. Even during an extended period of use, this model from Lenovo did not get hotter than 34 degrees. Thanks to this, the laptop makes almost no noise.

For a low-cost model, the Lenovo Ideapad 330 15 has a well thought out set of interfaces, led by a USB-C port and a pair of USB 3.1 gen1. But the autonomy indicators are unremarkable: five to six hours of web surfing with a minimum screen brightness and no more than two hours during games or other heavy programs. A definite plus is support for fast charging Lenovo Rapid Charge, thanks to which a 15-minute recharge provides up to 2 hours of battery life.

Asus laptops often strive to move away from the “office machine” cliché by offering something unusual to the buyer. The Asus VivoBook S15 is a direct confirmation of this - this is a laptop in a thin and light body, almost an ultrabook. But with the price tag of a basic work laptop.

Nothing in the appearance of the model betrays its low-cost, outwardly it subtly resembles the "Macbooks" of the previous generation with a thin frame around the screen, a black keyboard and a light silver base. The cover of the display unit is made of a rather thick sheet of aluminium with transverse polishing, and the case itself, although plastic, is easy to confuse with aluminium. In addition to good looks, the VivoBook S15 boasts a low weight (only 1.5 kg versus an average of 2.2 kg) and a moderately thin almost ultrabook case of just 18 mm. Such a crumb will not cause trouble during everyday transportation, even for fragile girls.

ASUS VivoBook S15 S510UN is equipped with a 15-inch Full HD IPS display with anti-glare coating. Feelings from the screen are purely positive - it has high detail, comfortable color reproduction, a decent level of contrast and maximum viewing angles.

Zhello only confirms the overall level of "coolness". VivoBook S15 laptop is equipped with a quad-core Core i5 processor with a maximum frequency of 3.4 GHz. Complementing the picture are 8 GB of RAM, a 1000 GB HDD and a GeForce MX130 discrete graphics card with 2 GB of video memory, which allows you to comfortably play the gaming hits of the beginning of this decade like Dead Space 3, StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3.

Otherwise, this is an excellent model, which also stands out from the competition with fast charging (60% in 49 minutes), a backlit keyboard and USB-C support. In this price segment, manufacturers tend to cut everything that can be cut, but these are the little things turn a good laptop into a great one. Well, with a more modern filling, the VivoBook S15 could become the king of the middle price segment.

Hewlett-Packard has been a leader in the manufacture of computer equipment for more than 15 years. The company's success in the laptop market is due to the company's ability to cater to the mass consumer without driving up prices. Model HP 250 G6 is an excellent confirmation of this.

The laptop received a rather mediocre screen with an SVA matrix with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and an anti-glare coating. The heart of the laptop is a dual-core Core i3 with an operating frequency of 2 GHz. Interestingly, the processor is four-threaded, but without Turbo Boost support, which means that it cannot rise above the 2 GHz bar and this greatly limits its performance.

On the other hand, the processor is very energy efficient, which has a positive effect on the battery life of the laptop. 6 to 8 hours of use at base load and average screen brightness is a decent result for this class. Also on the positive side, we must mention the already installed 256 GB SSD, which is enough for the system and everything else.

The weight of the model is 1.86 kg with dimensions of 380x253.8x23.8 mm. The surface of the body made of matte plastic, according to user reviews, is quite easily soiled, so that fingerprints have to be wiped periodically. This can hardly be called a big minus, rather a strange thing is that matte plastic does not sin like that.

In general, the HP 250 G6 leaves the impression of a reliable, but inexpensive laptop, in which the manufacturer tried to cut off excess fat as much as possible. This concerns not the coolest SVA matrix and a dual-core processor without Turbo Boost. And the more surprising is the presence of a DVD burner. Who needs it in 2019 and why they didn’t save on it remains a mystery.

The Taiwanese company Acer produces high-performance laptops in a wide price range. Acer Aspire 5 is a full-fledged representative of the middle class of devices. It has a minimalistic design that is more suitable for an office, while at the same time good performance.

The laptop screen is made using TN + film technology with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and viewing angles that are unusually good for this type of matrix. The matte finish protects the eyes from glare, but somewhat hides the saturation of the image. In general, the screen is not bad, but this is clearly not something that the Acer Aspire 5 will be praised for in reviews.

As for the filling, the laptop is equipped with a dual-core Core i7 processor with operating frequencies of 2.7 - 3.5 GHz and multi-threading support. On paper, the processor, although not the most powerful, in most synthetic tests, it keeps on par with inexpensive quad-core chips. In conjunction with it, the standard for this class 8 GB of DDR4 RAM and 1000 GB HDD and the GeForce MX130 graphics card, which opens up access to full-fledged gaming, work. Of course, it won’t work to drive completely fresh shooters on it, but it’s quite possible to play at medium graphics settings in Battlefield 4 or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

The Aspire 5 weighs 2.2kg and measures 381.6x263x21.6mm. Such a mass is explained by the fact that its body is made of thick and durable plastic. There are only metal panels for the hands and a frame around the keyboard. It can be seen that Acer has tried to keep the price as low as possible. But I am glad that they did not save on the build quality - the case is assembled to last, and the cover made of thick and durable plastic could probably stop a couple of blows from a professional boxer.

Finally, we note the presence of a USB-C port, which has not yet become a regular in the middle class and is found every other time in laptops under $700. And a good 3220 mAh battery that can power a laptop away from a power outlet for 7 hours.