If you’re looking for a laptop that can handle your work, play, and everything in between, you might be wondering how to find the best one for your budget. As people rely on their laptops for most of their work and education, laptops need to handle complex tasks that require more processing power.
They should also be light and compact enough to be portable. In short, a good laptop should have a great display, a sleek form factor, and a processor tuned for performance. This is a high bar to meet for a budget laptop, and only a few have managed to do it well.
To make it easier for you, we have rounded up three of the top affordable high-performance laptops on the market right now that are also compact.
HUAWEI MateBook D 16
- Screen: 16 Inches
- Weight: 1.68 kg
- Processor: 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-13450H
- Price: 2799 AED
The MateBook D 16 is designed to give users an immersive large-screen experience with extremely thin bezels and an incredible screen-to-body ratio of 90%. This expansive screen gives creators a larger canvas to work off and multi-tasking office workers a spacious workspace.
The laptop also brings a breakthrough in performance levels with the 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i5 High-Performance Processor, suitable for handling heavy multitasking such as programming, illustrating, and video editing.
Despite its generous display, the MateBook D 16 is remarkably slim and lightweight. The laptop is sturdy with its slim and lightweight metallic construction, measuring just 17mm thick and weighing only 1.68kg. It has a sleek and elegant construction and comes in futuristic Space Grey and Mystic Silver colors. Basically, it doesn’t look like a boring office device.
The laptop also boasts the HUAWEI Metaline technology, which can establish ultra-long-distance connections of up to 270 meters. This greatly reduces false signal pick-ups and creates stabler connections, allowing users to enjoy smooth video streams and conference calls.
The laptop also comes with a numeric keypad and physical shortcut keys that enable users to work with charts, data, and documents more efficiently. And thanks to the 1.5mm key travel and soft landing keys, if your work involves a lot of typing, then this is the keyboard you want.
HP NoteBook 15s
- Screen: 15.6 inches
- Processor: 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-1335U
- Weight: 1.59 kg
- Price: 1785 AED
The HP NoteBook 15s is a budget laptop featuring a 13th Gen Intel processor. It has a 15.6-inch display with FHD resolution and an Anti-Glare coating, making it suitable for work under bright lighting conditions. With 250 nits brightness, the screen is better suited for document drafting than entertainment.
The laptop body is crafted from high-quality polycarbonate. It strikes a good balance between portability and durability. It comes with reinforced corners and edges to withstand minor bumps and drops. The sleek and modern design with a slim profile makes it both stylish and portable. Besides, it has a comfortable full-size keyboard that provides a pleasant typing experience with 1.5mm key travel. The responsive touchpad allows for precise cursor control and multi-finger gestures.
Equipped with a 13th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, the HP 15s delivers adequate performance for basic tasks like app loading, light multitasking, and running office applications. In summary, the HP NoteBook 15s is a reliable, budget-friendly laptop for students and professionals seeking a versatile device as a daily driver.
Asus VIVOBOOK 16
- Screen: 16-inch
- Processor: 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-13700H
- Weight: 1.88 kg
- Price: 2899 AED
The ASUS Vivobook 16 offers a sleek and professional design in a compact form factor. It has a 16-inch FHD display that offers sharp and vibrant visuals. Also, the 16:10 aspect ratio is excellent for viewing documents as it provides the extra vertical screen real estate ideal for office work. The laptop is powered by a 13th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, which delivers impressive performance for multitasking, productivity, and gaming.
The laptop has a sleek and sturdy design, a thin and light chassis, thin bezels, and an all-plastic build. The build quality is generally good. It’s sturdy, with only a little flex in the display and almost none in the keyboard deck or on the lid when the laptop is closed. The keyboard is comfortable and responsive, with 1.35mm key travel and nice tactile feedback.
With its large screen and sleek design packed in a fairly portable chassis, the ASUS Vivobook 16 is an excellent laptop for anybody seeking good everyday performance.
Final Thoughts
After comparing all the different aspects of these three laptops, it is easy to conclude that the MateBook D 16 gives you the most bang for the buck. It combines an expansive display, a powerful Intel 13th generation processor, and a light and portable build. The value that it gives you is unmatched by the others. The MateBook D16 certainly ticks all the above boxes, making it the most coveted and in-demand compact 16-inch performance laptop right now.
