With the increasing popularity of live streaming games, and streaming services, as well as a higher demand for video editing, finding the right streaming laptop when you’re under a tight budget can be a bit tricky.
However, this list of the best budget laptops will help you find the right laptop at a great price point. Plus these laptops are sure to cover all your needs.
Best Budget Laptops for Streaming Games, Editing, and Movies
Since there are many streaming needs, finding a decent laptop that offers great performance and is within your price range will depend on your needs.
Finding the best gaming laptops will be different than finding a laptop for video editing and movie streaming.
A great budget laptop for College students would be a Chromebook. However, for students needing a longer-lasting and strong-performing computer, a Macbook Air will work great.
Among this list of the best laptops for streaming, you will find prices that start from $260 and up.
Here’s a list of the 3 lowest priced streaming laptops.
- HP Victus for Gaming (~$599)
- Lenovo IdeaPad 3 for Video Editing (~$383)
- HP Chromebook for Movie Streaming (~$269)
Best Budget Laptops for Streaming Games
Finding an online gaming laptop with all the powerful specs for the best performance is not only difficult but can get pretty expensive. Gaming laptops do require more features than most laptops and also run at a higher cost.
Fortunately, some gaming laptops are priced anywhere from $599 and up. However, as is with most purchases, the higher your budget the better the product.
But, if you want to successfully stream your favorite games without going over budget, you’ll want to look at these laptops first.
Top 6 Best Gaming Laptops
- HP Victus (~$599)
- Acer Nitro 5 (~$675)
- Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3 (~$699)
- HP Pavillion (~$859)
- Asus Rog Zephyrus (~$1449)
- Lenovo Legion 7i (~$2449)
What You Need from a Gaming Laptop
When making your decision on which of the best cheap gaming laptops, here’s some features to be aware of.
Powerful Processor: Important to allow your computer to have plenty of power when running programs. Processing power helps your computer perform tasks faster.
Large Solid-State Drives: Needed to store and download your favorite games. External storage devices are sometimes optional, but may not always be the best choice.
More GB of RAM: Allows you to run more programs at once. Also allows for graphic-intensive games to run smoother.
High Refresh Rate: Reduces input lagging and more responsive gameplay.
Wired-Connection: An ethernet port will allow much faster streaming.
Another main feature that you will want, however, is a graphics card for better viewing. A graphics card allows your computer to process high-quality visuals for smoother viewing with graphic intense gaming.
Additional features you will likely want with your gaming laptop.
- Ethernet port for faster/stronger internet connection
- Multiple USB ports for better controller connections
- Backlit keyboard for dark rooms
- Larger screen size for better view (or an HDMI adapter to use with a TV)
Best Budget Laptops for Video Editing
Those needing a video editing laptop likely also need features that allow for some online streaming.
For example, YouTubers will need to be able to edit all their video content, but will also want to have a laptop with a powerful processor if they do live streaming.
Other needs like music production are also likely to go hand in hand with a good video editing laptop.
I have had my MacBook Air since 2020 when I was finishing college, and it does a great job with editing programs like Canva, Audacity, and iMovie. Now I mostly use it for my blog, and I still use it for Canva and it continues to perform well.
Top 3 Best Budget Video Editing Laptops
- Lenovo IdeaPad 3 (~$383)
- Apple MacBook Air 2024 (~$1099)
- Apple MacBook Pro 14 (~$1599)
Necessary Features for Content Creators
- Enough power to manage editing programs
- Great battery life for long editing sessions
- Large solid-state drives to store edited content
- Powerful CPU, GPU, and RAM
This is a great video that goes into much more depth and detail as to the benefits of each of the features that you will want in a video editing laptop.
Best Budget Laptops for Streaming Movies
Finding a laptop for streaming movies is a much easier task than finding a laptop for gaming.
You will notice more affordable prices than you would with a gaming or editing laptop. You will also need fewer features with a movie-streaming laptop, but these focus more on viewing capabilities like resolution and screen size.
Top 4 Best Movie Streaming Laptops
- HP Chromebook (~$269)
- Acer Aspire E15 (~$321)
- Alder Lake 2 in 1 (~$479)
- Acer Aspire 3 (~$599)
What You Need from a Movie Streaming Laptop
With movie-streaming laptops, you really don’t need much in the way of features other than good graphics. So, finding a cheap laptop that offers the bare minimum features is going to be much easier.
Since most streaming services are done through a wireless internet connection, you don’t need much hard drive storage or processing power. You don’t even really need ‘good performance’ from the processing power since most video-streaming computers include ample features.
One main feature that you will want, however, is a graphics card for better viewing. Similar to a gaming laptop, a graphics card allows the computer to process high-quality visuals for smoother viewing.
- A long battery life for more hours of streaming
- Larger screen size to share viewing
- Higher screen resolution
Final Thoughts on the Best Budget Laptops for Streaming
While there are many budget-friendly laptops available, not all are great for streaming. In most cases, though, when it comes to streaming movies or shows, most laptops do this well enough already.
However, with gaming and editing, the features do make a difference, and will greatly change the price of your laptop.
I personally still prefer my Macbook Air for streaming video and editing. But, I try to limit gaming to my Xbox as very few online games work with a MAC.
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Do you think the HP Victus is the most “affordable” gaming laptop on the market? Or do you have any other suggestion. Thank you!
From the searching I have done, it is the most affordable, while still maintaining strong function. Sure, there are other lower budget laptops. But, unfortunately those have fairly lower reviews. This article is based on the best priced streaming laptops that also have the best reviews. Since gaming requires such a high amount of power for streaming, you are not likely to find a good functioning computer lower than around the $500 range. However, if your other streaming needs aren’t as high as a gaming laptop (video editing, movie streaming) then you will easily be able to find a much more affordable laptop under $500.
Great information! I am always lost when it comes to choosing a new laptop. Thank you for sharing!
Hopefully this post helps make finding the right one much easier.