Top 8 best 15 inch laptops under $400 in 2020
Our Top Picks : 15 inch laptop under 400
- Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop (Best Overall)
- ASUS VivoBook 15 (best 15 inch gaming laptop)
- Lenovo IdeaPad S145 (best lightweight 15 inch laptop)
- HP 15-bs234wm (best 15 inch laptop for home use)
- Acer 15.6″ Chromebook (best 15 inch laptop with LED)
- HP Flyer Red 15.6 Inch (best touch screen 15 inch laptop)
- Dell Inspiron 5481 2-in-1 Laptop (best 2 in one 15 inch laptop)
- Acer CB3-532 15.6″ (best 15 inch slim laptop for business)
If you’re like me and like your screens to be as large as possible, then the standard fare of 11″ 2-in-1s and 13″ Chromebooks are not your style. A 15″ display is a much bigger screen that can get really massive when you use it as a laptop, any bigger and it gets kind of overwhelming. It strikes the perfect balance. But getting your hands on a 15″ display on a laptop can be an expensive affair. So, we’ve compiled a list of the best 15 inch laptops under 400 dollars that are currently available on the market right now. We hope you find it helpful.
Laptops have become a necessity for the modern workforce. Whether it is for studying or getting things done at the office or even gaming, your laptop stays with you to handle your day to day tasks. It is a constant companion and you want the best that you can possibly get. But earning money is hard and we want to squeeze out all the value we can from the money we’re willing to spend. So, that’s what this is about.
1) Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop (Best Overall)
We know we’re pushing it by adding the Acer Aspire 5 on this list but you can currently get this beast of a laptop for such a cheap price that it would be a crime to not include it here on this list. As one of the flagships of the Acer brand, the Aspire series has always contended with the best in the laptop category. And if you’re looking for the absolute best 15 inch laptop under 400 the Acer Aspire 5 is just beyond your reach. But if you can manage to fork over a bit under $90 extra, you can get yourself the best laptop possible at that price.
The Acer Aspire 5 has a hair-thin form factor that falls under the slim category. It is surprisingly light to pick up and carry around and can fit into almost any laptop bag that has decent capacity.
It features a 15.6 inches Full HD (1920 x 1080) Widescreen LED-backlit IPS Display, one of the best around. 4GB DDR4 Memory and 128GB PCIe NVMe SSD running on an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U Dual-Core Processor that is an absolute marvel. And combined with the AMD Radeon Vega 3 Mobile Graphics card it can run most current games at a solid 30 fps.
Detailed Specifications
- Screen Size 15.6 inches
- Max Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
- Processor 3.5 GHz Ryzen 3 2200U
- RAM 4 GB DDR4
- Hard Drive 128 GB Flash Memory Solid State
- Graphics card AMD Radeon Vega 3
- Number of USB 2.0 Ports 2
- Number of USB 3.0 Ports 1
- Average Battery Life (in hours) 7.5 hours
2) ASUS VivoBook 15 (best 15 inch gaming laptop)
When looking for the best 15-inch laptop under 400 the ASUS Vivobook 15 is almost certainly the best you can get. It is a premium laptop with top of the line features which wouldn’t be out of place in a $1000 laptop. ASUS has long been a brand associated with gaming. They specialize in making gaming merchandise and almost every electronic product from their line up has some connotations of being gaming related. The Asus Vivobook 15 is no different.
It features an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U Processor @ 2.60GHz (2 Cores, up to 3.5GHz, 4 MB cache), with comparable performance to 7th Gen i5, 8th Gen i3 series. The massive 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) on the laptop is no slouch. Offering crisp viewing angles up to 178 degrees and mesmerizing experience. It also features a four-sided wider NanoEdge bezel display that offers an 88% screen-to-body ratio.
The dedicated AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics offers all the perks of a dedicated graphics card in a smaller package. It also features 4GB DDR4 RAM that is suitable for most purposes. If you plan on doing some heavy gaming then they have the option to increase the RAM by paying a bit extra.
Note that this is a refurbished version of the laptop, the original version is much more expensive and not in the scope of $400.
Specifications
- Screen Size 15.6 inches
- Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
- Processor 2.6 GHz AMD R Series
- RAM 4 GB DDR4
- Hard Drive 128 GB SSD
- Graphics Coprocessor Vega 3 Graphics
- Number of USB 2.0 Ports 1
- Number of USB 3.0 Ports 1
- Operating System Windows 10
- Item Weight 3.8 pounds
- Laptop Dimensions L x W x H 16.9 x 10.1 x 1.1 inches
- Processor Brand AMD
- Processor Count 2
- Computer Memory Type DDR4 SDRAM
3) Lenovo IdeaPad S145 (best lightweight 15 inch laptop)
The Lenovo IdeaPad series has a longstanding reputation of being one of the most long-lived laptop series in existence. And for good reason. It has always been a fan favorite, right behind the Thinkpad series. The Lenovo IdeaPad S145 is one of the 2019 offerings of Lenovo. As a relatively recent laptop, it has the most up-to-date features available. It has the standard 1366×768 resolution on a 15.6″ tall display.
It runs on the AMD A6-9225 Processor which is a beast of a processor that can handle even heavy tasks with ease. While 1080p gaming might be out of reach. you can definitely expect to run most games at a solid 30 fps. Your bottleneck might be the AMD Radeon R4 Graphics card that comes paired with this laptop so keep that in mind. It ships with 4 GB DDR4 RAM and 500 GB storage.
And in our opinion, the best feature of the entire thing is the iconic IdeaPad keys that offer one of the most satisfying typing experience on any device.
Specifications
- Screen Size 15.6 inches
- Processor 2.6 GHz AMD A Series
- RAM 4 GB DDR4
- Graphics Coprocessor AMD Radeon R4
- Number of USB 2.0 Ports 1
- Number of USB 3.0 Ports 1
- Average Battery Life (in hours) 5 hours
- Operating System Windows 10
- Item Weight 2.6 pounds
- Item Dimensions L x W x H 14.8 x 10 x 0.9 inches
- Processor Brand AMD
- Processor Count 2
- Computer Memory Type DDR4 SDRAM
- Optical Drive Type DVD-RW
4) Dell Inspiron 5481 2-in-1 Laptop (best 2 in one 15 inch laptop)
The Dell Inspiron 5481 is a 14″ 2-in-1 laptop. One of the largest 2-in-1 laptops on the current market right now. 2-in-1 laptops have a screen that can be removed from the attachment to the keyboard and used like a tablet. So it has a touch screen display that can handle multitouch gestures. The display offers 1366 x 768 HD resolution on a LED-Backlit panel that brings crisp and sharp video quality to the package.
Under the hood, it features an Intel Core i3-8145U Processor, an 8th generation processor that is clocked to run at 3.9 GHz. It is a state of the art machine that can handle most day to day tasks that you can think of. And if you’re looking for the best 15-inch laptop under 400, it is a solid contender.
It also comes with 128 GB of SSD storage which is much better than the standard HDD storage you see in other devices. It also runs 4GB of DDR4 RAM.
Specifications
- Screen Size 14 inches
- Processor 3.9 GHz Intel Core i3
- RAM 4 GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Hard Drive 128 GB SSD
- Graphics Coprocessor Intel
- Laptop model number Dell Inspiron 5481
- Operating System Windows 10
- Item Weight 3.84 pounds
- Item Dimensions L x W x H 4 x 15 x 17 inches
- Flash Memory Size 128 GB
5) HP 15-bs234wm (best 15 inch laptop for home use)
Right off the bat, the HP 15-bs234wm is not a gaming laptop. It is not meant to be doing the heavy lifting of any sort. That includes rendering videos, audio, playing AAA games, or anything similar. It is meant to work as an office machine that is reliable with what it does. The laptop features the Intel Pentium Silver N5000 Quad-Core Processor chip this is on the low end of current chipsets. It has a 4GB DDR4 Memory and 500GB 5400RPM HDD. 4GB RAM is more than enough for everything that you should be using this laptop for and the 500 GB hard disk offers plenty of storage space for the average consumer.
The display is a 15.6″ diagonal HD SVA BrightView WLED-backlit display that offers surprisingly accurate color reproduction that stays faithful to the original. The construction is of sturdy plastic. The body color is a mix of red and black that works well and looks classy. The typing experience is decent. The keys don’t stand out in any way, they are standard keys you would find in any other HP laptop.
Specifications
- Screen Size 15.6 inches
- Processor 3.2 GHz Pentium
- RAM 4 GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Hard Drive 500 GB HDD 5400 rpm
- Graphics Coprocessor Intel UHD Graphics 605 (integrated)
- Number of USB 2.0 Ports 3
- Number of USB 3.0 Ports 1
- Item Weight 5.5 pounds
- Laptop Dimensions 15 x 10 x 0.9 inches
- Processor Brand AMD
- Processor Count 4
- Flash Memory Size 500
- Optical Drive Type DVD±RW
6) Acer 15.6″ Chromebook (best 15 inch Chromebook laptop)
The question of whether a Chromebook is a laptop is overdone and we’re not going to go too deep into it here. Just know that this laptop runs on Chrome OS, not Windows. As for the differences between the two, you’ll have to look that up.
The charm of a Chromebook is that it is meant to do a specific thing. And it does that specific thing very, very well. What is that thing? Browsing. The Chromebook is if your Google Chrome internet explorer had a physical form. It would do all the things a normal Chrome explorer would be able to do but better.
This particular Chromebook comes with a massive 15.6″ screen. It has a 1366 x 768 HD resolution LED backlight display that has decent viewing angles. It is running Intel HD Graphics 400 card that can handle most browsing tasks with ease. As for the processor it is running on an Intel Celeron Processor N3060 @ 1. 60GHz (2 Core, 2M Cache, up to 2. 48 GHz). It has 4GB LPDDR3 RAM and 16GB of storage.
Specifications
- Screen Size 15.6 inches
- Processor 1.6 GHz Intel Celeron (Count = 2)
- RAM 4 GB LPDDR3
- Graphics Card Ram Size 2 MB
- Number of USB 3.0 Ports 2
- Brand Name Acer Chromebook 15
- Operating System Chrome OS
- Item Weight 4.4 pounds
- Item Dimensions L x W x H 15.1 x 10.1 x 1 inches
- Computer Memory Type DDR3 SDRAM
7) HP Flyer Red 15.6 Inch (best touch screen 15 inch laptop)
The HP 15.6″ Flyer red is a touch screen laptop. If you’re looking for the best 15 inch laptop under 400 and need to get something with a touchscreen, this is pretty much your only bet. Since most laptops that have touch screens usually come in a smaller size, mostly 13″ or 11″, its hard to find a 15″ touch screen laptop in the current market.
The Flyer Red 15.6 inch has 15.6″ HD LED Touchscreen Display with a 1366 x 768 resolution that is standard on these devices. The display supports up to 10 fingers multi-touch support so you can use almost any app that supports touch screen gestures with ease.
It is running an Intel Pentium Gold Processor N4417U with 4GB RAM and 500 GB Storage. It has a webcam built-in the screen and a headphone jack and 3 USB ports on the sides. And since its size is so large it comes with a Numpad on the right side of the keyboard for a complete typing experience
Specifications
- Screen Size 15.6 inches
- Processor 2.3 GHz Intel Pentium 4 (count =4)
- RAM 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM
- Hard Drive 500 GB
- Graphics Coprocessor Intel HD Graphics (Integrated)
- Number of USB 2.0 Ports 1
- Number of USB 3.0 Ports 2
- Average Battery Life (in hours) 6 hours
- Brand Name HP 15-f272wm
- Operating System Windows 10
- Item Weight 5.5 pounds
- Item Dimensions L x W x H 21 x 12 x 3 inches
8) Acer CB3-532 15.6″ (best 15 inch slim laptop for business)
As one of the cheaper options on this list, if budget is an issue this is one of the best 15 inch laptops under 400. Acer has a long history in manufacturing laptops and the CB3-532 is a great addition to their line up.
It has a slim, sleek look and despite the large 15.6″ screen, it doesn’t take up a lot of room in a bag. It’s convenient to carry around despite the size and that is a major plus.
It runs on Chrome OS and can handle day to day tasks with ease. It is running an Intel Celeron Dual-Core N3060 1. 6 GHz that can be overclocked. It features 2GB DDR3L 1600 MHz RAM and 16GB eMMC storage.
On the surface, you might not be impressed with the specs, but take note that this is one of the cheapest yet reliable Chromebooks you can get on the market right now. It has a sleek build that won’t be out of place in a modern workplace and can handle a surprisingly large workload.
Specifications
- Screen Size 15.6 inches
- Processor 1.6 GHz Intel Celeron (count=2)
- RAM 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM
- Hard Drive 16 GB SSD
- Graphics Coprocessor Intel HD Graphics 400 Integrated
- Number of USB 2.0 Ports 1
- Number of USB 3.0 Ports 1
- Average Battery Life (in hours) 12 hours
- Brand Name Acer CB3-532
- Operating System Chrome OS
- Item Weight 4.2 pounds
- Item Dimensions L x W x H 14.88 x 9.99 x 0.9 inches
Conclusion
Now, you may have noticed that not all of these laptops are the latest and greatest of 2020. Some are as old as 2018 and some are even refurbished. Why is that? It’s because when you set a limit on yourself like we have here it is impossible to get the latest model with the best specs. We have to make compromises. So here we’ve made all the compromises we feel are worth it in the long term. These laptops may not be top of the line, so to speak, but they have comparable specs and a long shelf life. By the time you are ready for an upgrade, you will find that they have served faithfully.
