Home Bests Best Laptops under £300 in the UK

Best Laptops under £300 in the UK

December 5, 2023

Here’s an industry secret for free. The majority of people buy laptops that are too powerful (and expensive) for their needs. For most, something around, or under, £300 will have more than enough power and specs for what they want to use their computers for. Here we bring to you our pick of the best laptops under £300 in the UK.

Jump to The 5 BEST Laptops under £300

Note that we’ve also included a couple of wildcards, as the improvement in specs you can get for an extra £10-50 aren’t to be missed (see below).

As we’ve discussed in the intro, unless you’re performing heavy duty tasks on your laptop – such as video/photo editing, you don’t need to spend a fortune on a new laptop. For most people, laptops are only used for a handful of tasks. If your laptop usage looks something like running Microsoft Office, browsing the web, sending emails and watching the occasional film, then £300 is a good budget.

However, before we go any further you need to consider what’s important to you. Even though laptops have come a long way regarding the specs you can get for your money cheap laptops will cut corners here and there. If you want a laptop for under £300 with a good screen, you may need to compromise in another area. Laptops, after all, are just a collection of components from different manufacturers that are assembled and cased by a recognisable logo. For example, Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo (etc) all use Intel processors. You’re paying these companies to build the laptop then install drivers and an OS for you. So, with that in mind, take a moment to consider which components you’d like to see in a laptop.

What is a Chromebook?

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntLPcVAyNPE

Chromebook is a laptop running Google’s new Chrome OS. Several years ago, Google successfully identified all the things we’ve highlighted above. In a nutshell, people were wasting money on super-powerful laptops that exceeded their needs. Chromebooks are designed for the laptop-usage trend where people spend all of their on-screen time in a web browser.

Which is why Chrome OS is supported by a wealth of web apps that can do (almost) everything Windows and Mircosoft Office can do.

Because all your work on Chromebooks is designed to be saved in the cloud (Google Drive), manufacturers are encouraged to save money on big and expensive hard drives – Chromebooks typically only come with 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage. Money saved on storage can be invested elsewhere, and it often is.

You’ll see manufacturers such as Acer and HP dominating the Chromebook space with laptops that boast impressive specs for their price tag (and this is partly thanks to the storage/hard drive savings).

See also: Best Powerline Adapters 2018.

The 5 BEST Laptops under £300

1. Lenovo Ideapad 320s-14IKB

Best Laptop Under 300 - Lenovo Ideapad 320s-14IKB

RRP: £449.99

Price at Currys: £299.99

128 GB SSD
Intel Pentium
4 GB RAM

The laptop that delivers performance for under £300. The combination of the Intel Pentium Gold 4415U processor and, more importantly, the 128 GB SSD makes this one of the swiftest budget laptops you’re likely to get. Its specs would nearly rival a laptop costing twice as much. This is not a deal to be passed on. If you’re in the market for a cheap new laptop.

Click here to buy for £299.99 @ Currys.co.uk

2. ASUS X Series X540NA-GQ052T

Best Laptop Under 300 - ASUS X Series X540NA-GQ052T

RRP: £349.99

Price on Amazon: [amazon_link asins=’B078H75GJW’ template=’PriceLink’ store=’techt06-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’bc28c610-2019-11e8-b999-07b1ab8a85ad’]

1TB Storage
15.6-inch HD screen
Intel Quad-Core Pentium

This laptop ticks a lot of boxes. It’s got a big HD screen; 1TB storage; Intel Pentium Processor; 4GB RAM; And an 8-hour average battery life. The one slight disappointment is the 1TB HDD storage, which will have an effect on the laptop’s speed. The alternative for a laptop at this price-point is a 32GB SSD. So if it’s a deal breaker for you, consider one of the laptops featured below instead.

[amazon_link asins=’B078H75GJW,B078H4FLP4′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’techt06-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’f5059263-2022-11e8-a7e6-5d1eae03b97c’]

3. HP Stream 14-ax000na

Best Laptop Under 300 - HP Stream 14-ax000na

RRP: £249.99

Price on Amazon: [amazon_link asins=’B01LZE0B5Z’ template=’PriceLink’ store=’techt06-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’bc28c610-2019-11e8-b999-07b1ab8a85ad’]

HD Screen
Windows 10
4GB RAM

The laptop that brings you Windows 10, Office 365 and One Drive on a budget. There’s also a 1366 x 768 HD screen and an (up to) 10.45-hour battery life. Onboard storage is relatively small 32 GB hard drive. But this laptop is designed to be the Windows equivalent of the Chromebook, meaning you should aim to store most of your files/data in the Cloud – specifically Microsoft’s OneDrive in this case.

[amazon_link asins=’B01LZE0B5Z,B071YTKPRQ’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’techt06-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’2cf23019-201d-11e8-b781-a3af1c4b5007′]

4. iOTA Slim

Best Laptop Under 300 - iOTA Slim

RRP: £299.99

Price on Amazon: [amazon_link asins=’B0751KQ6FC’ template=’PriceLink’ store=’techt06-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’bc28c610-2019-11e8-b999-07b1ab8a85ad’]

14-inch HD Screen
Intel Quad-Core Pentium
4 GB RAM

iOTA is a relatively unknown laptop manufacturer, but it’s a brand that has been well received so far. The Slim is a budget laptop that competes with its more established rivals in every area… and beats many of them on price. From a specs point of view, the iOTA Slim is a solid offering. 4 GB RAM; 14-inch HD screen; 32GB eMMC storage; And an Intel quad-core Pentium Processor. It’s all here in this stylish and well put together laptop.

[amazon_link asins=’B0751KQ6FC,B0751H3HZ4′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’techt06-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’2cf23019-201d-11e8-b781-a3af1c4b5007′]

5. Acer 15 CB3-532

Best Laptop Under 300 - Acer 15 CB3-532

RRP: £279.99

Price: £279.99

Chrome OS
15.6-inch HD display
4 GB RAM

If you’re okay with not having a Windows 10 laptop then the Acer 15 CB3-532 is a bargain for £279.99. Its 15.6-inch (1920 x 1080) HD screen is better than any featured on this list. Also onboard is 4 GB Ram and a dual-core Intel Celeron processor. Oh, and one more thing, it’s (up to) 12-hour battery life is seriously impressive too.

Click here to buy for £279.99 @ Currys.co.uk

Also consider:

[amazon_link asins=’B07515ZMH5,B01N5MBZD9,B076DFMKB2′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’techt06-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’2cf23019-201d-11e8-b781-a3af1c4b5007′]

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