If you've been thinking about grabbing a new laptop, but don't want to spend a ton of money, these two laptops are going to be the best options to choose from. To be clear, they aren't going to be the most powerful, and they aren't going to be the latest models to hit the market.

And while we'd normally recommend buying a laptop with better specifications than you currently need, sometimes that just isn't a valid option. With that said, these laptops will be able to take care of all your basic computing needs. And even better is that we have two options, so if you're looking for something that runs Windows or macOS, we've got you covered.

Two great options for the money

The Lenovo IdeaPad 1 is now priced at $300, while the MacBook Air M1 is priced at $499. We've covered both of these laptops before, so it should come as no surprise that we are recommending them again. These units provide enough power to get through everyday needs, like authoring documents, paying bills online, surfing the web, streaming videos, music, and more.

Lenovo IdeaPad 1

This laptop features a 15.6-inch screen and is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 7520U chip. It also packs 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. Again, this bundle of specs isn't going to blow you away, but it's enough to get the basics done, day in and day out.

Now, if the RAM and SSD storage amounts scare you, we can only tell you that the latter is upgradeable. If this is something you're not comfortable with, we recommend looking elsewhere. Again, if you do the basics, this laptop will be able to get it done.

Apple MacBook Air M1

Credit: Apple

The MacBook Air line is one of the most popular laptops if you're looking for something compact and powerful. Although the M1 model isn't as popular as it used to be when it first came out, overshadowed by its redesigned successor, it's still worth taking a look at it if you need something on a budget.

This model features a 13.3-inch screen and Apple's powerful M1 chip. You also get 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. It doesn't seem like much but Apple's chip does a lot of heavy lifting here, allowing you to get a lot of things done with relative ease. Again, basic needs will be covered with this laptop.

The budget options to get

As stated before, these laptops aren't going to be for everyone. If you spend a little more, you can always find something better. However, if you're looking for the cheapest that will actually perform well, these two are going to be able to get it done.

  • Apple MacBook Air M1
    $499 $649 Save $150

    The MacBook Air M1 isn't as popular as it used to be, but it's still a good laptop to pick up if you need macOS laptop on a budget.

  • Lenovo IdeaPad 1
    $300 $530 Save $230

    A cheap Windows laptop that will be able to handle all the basics. Get it now for just $300.