Best Laptops Under £300

16 Aug 2023, by Christina Attrah, 11 min. read

On a budget? Here are the best laptops to buy for under £300.

Looking to buy one of the best laptops under £300? Finding a budget student laptop can be tricky, especially with tons to choose from and all the tech jargon that comes with it.

We’ve made things easier by recommending the best laptops for students under £300, including a ton of brands, features and various price points under £300 to suit all budgets.

Best 2-in-1 Laptops

Jump to:

Best laptops for £300
14-inch laptops under £300
Best 15.6-inch laptop options for £300
Best sub-£300 Windows laptops for students
Best Apple laptops for £300 or less
Best Chromebook options

Get 15% student discount on Acer laptops

Best laptops under £300

Lenovo Chromebook Duet — £199.95

The Lenovo Chromebook Duet is the most affordable Chromebooks for students in 2022. The portable 2-in-1 laptop offers a detachable keyboard and kickstand cover, as well as long battery life lasting 11+ hours. Perfect for those long days at college or university.

The Duet contains a MediaTek Helio P60T processor, 4GB of RAM, and up to 128GB of storage. It’s the perfect laptop for those who simply need it for browsing and Microsoft work. When detached from its keyboard, you can enjoy it’s Andoird-like user interface and switch between apps very easily.

What’s in the box

1 x Lenovo Duet Chromebook
1 x USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter.

Technical specs

Operating system: Chromebook OS
RAM: 4 GB LPDDR4X
Processor: MTK P60T Processor (2.00 GHz )
Storage: 64 GB eMCP
Screen resolution: Full HD 1920 x 1080p
Screen size: 10.1-inch
Screen type: IPS LCD
Touch screen?: Yes
WiFi?: AC WiFi – 2×2
Ethernet: No
Battery life: 11 hours
Battery type: 2-cell Lithium-polymer
Disc drive: No
Memory card reader: No
HDMI: No
Audio connections: Dual speakers with Smart amp
Webcam: 2MP front camera and an 8MP rear camera
Colour: Ice blue & iron grey

Pros

11 hours battery life
Tablet mode

Cons

Small keyboard

Best 14-inch laptops under £300

HP 14S-FQ0017NA Laptop — £249.95

Need long-lasting battery life on a budget and a cool looking laptop overall? The HP 145-FQ0017NA is one of the smallest laptops that provides a great appearance and power on a budget. It’s ultra thin with a micro-edge display that gives you lots to look at with more screen in a smaller frame. Plus, it’s equipped with the latest AMD 3020e processor and super responsive touchpad to help you surf the web and research what you need in a flash.

Save as much as you need with their expansive storage including photos, videos and documents. more of what you love with abundant storage for all your photos, videos and documents.

What’s in the box

1 x HP 14S-FQ0017NA Laptop
1 x Charging cable

Technical specs

Operating system: Windows 11
RAM: 4 GB RAM
Processor: AMD 3020e
Storage: 64 GB SSD
Screen resolution: FHD 1366 x 768
Screen size: 14-inch
Screen type: LCD
Touch screen?: No
WiFi?: Yes
Ethernet: No
Battery life: 9 hours and 30 minutes
Battery type: Lithium-ion
Disc drive: None
Memory card reader: Yes
HDMI: 1
Audio connections: Built-in audio sound system and mic
Webcam: HD 720p webcam
Colour: Black and silver

Pros

Backlit screen
Decent battery life

Cons

Loud clickpad

ASUS E410MA Laptop — £199

This ASUS laptop packs a real punch, It’s equipped with Windows 10 Home, an Intel Celeron processor and up to 128GB of storage. All in all, it’s well made to achieve your study goals.

It’s lightweight and also comes with a ton of ports too. There are two USB-A slots (2.0 and 3.2), a USB-C slot (3.2), a DCIN slot for charging, a headphone jack, a HDMI port and a microSD card reader. The latter is great to have if you need to load up photos and videos for personal use or an assignment.

What’s in the box

1 x ASUS E410MA laptop
1 x adapter

Technical specs

Operating system: Windows 10 Home
RAM: 4GB
Processor: Intel Celeron
Storage: 128GB Storage
Screen resolution: 1366 x 768
Screen size: 14-inches
Screen type: LED
Touch screen?: No
WiFi?: Yes
Ethernet: No
Battery life: 13 hours
Battery type: Lithium-ion
Disc drive: No
Memory card reader: Yes
HDMI: 1
Audio connections: Integrated mic & stereo speaker
Webcam: 720p webcam
Colour: Blue

Pros

long battery life
Lightweight

Cons

NumberPad may be annoying for some

Best 15.6-inch laptops for students under £300

Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop — £289

This is a budget Windows laptop designed for students. Although made of plastic, it’s well built, thin and light to carry. It has a 1080p IPS display which is still fairly sharp for its price point and makes the 15.6-inch monitor look great. Its Intel CPU (no matter which one you pick) and integrated graphics will do a great job at handling web browsing, streaming and productivity applications all at once. But it’s not quite powerful if you’re on an animation or design course.

If you don’t plan on taking it out with you much then that’s probably a good thing. It can barely last 8 hours, so it’s best to pack your charger if you do head out with it.

What’s in the box

1 x Dell Inspiron 15 3000 15.6″ Laptop
1 x Power adapter
1 x Documentation.

Technical specs

Operating system: Windows 11 Home (S mode)
RAM: 4GB, 1 x 4 GB, DDR4, 2400 MHz
Processor: AMD Athlon™ Silver 3050U Mobile Processor
Storage: 128 GB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD
Screen resolution: 1366 x 768
Screen size: 15.6-inch
Screen type: LED-Backlit
Touch screen?:
WiFi?: 802.11ac 1×1 WiFi and Bluetooth
Ethernet: No
Battery life: 8 hours
Battery type: 3 Cell, 41 Wh, integrated
Disc drive:
Memory card reader:
HDMI: 1
Audio connections: Stereo speakers, 2 W x 2 = 4 W total
Webcam: 720p at 30 fps HD camera
Colour: Platinum silver

Pros

Large FHD screen
Comes with Windows 11
Affordable.

Cons

No USB-C ports

Best Windows laptops under £300 for students

IdeaPad 1 (14″ Intel) — £249

The IdeaPad 1 is one of the best windows laptops for students at a very affordable price. Great if you’re on a tight budget but need something to get your work done.

It comes with 4GB memory and 64GB of storage. These aren’t revolutionary and won’t be suitable for design students. However, it’s perfect for Microsoft applications, Google Drive, Docs and similar applications for note-taking. The AMD processor is on the lower end of the scale too, so bear this in mind when working with multiple software at once.

Its battery life is pretty decent and it also has webcam that’ll suffice for lectures and group work.

What’s in the box

1 x IdeaPad 1
1 x User guide.

Technical specs

Operating system: Windows 11 Home
RAM: 4 GB DDR4-2400MHz
Processor: Intel® Celeron® N4020
Storage: 64GB
Screen resolution: 1366 x 768
Screen size: 14-inch
Screen type: LED Backlit anti-glare
Touch screen?: Yes
WiFi?: 11AC (1×1) & Bluetooth® 4.2
Ethernet: No
Battery life: 8 hours
Battery type: 2 cell, 32Wh
Disc drive: No
Memory card reader: Yes
HDMI: 1
Audio connections: Built-in mic, Dolby sound system.
Webcam: 0.3MP with Dual Array Microphone
Colour: Platinum Grey

Pros

Has an HDMI port
Decent battery life
Good display

Cons

No USB-C ports

Best Apple laptops under £300 for students

Apple MacBook Pro

If you must insist on having an Apple MacBook, be prepared for many of them to pre-owned. A great example of a cheap MacBook for students has to be the Apple MacBook Pro A1502. It has an LED-backlit screen and a 720p FaceTime camera that sits above it. It’s a decent-quality camera for Zoom calls and lectures.

Its storage comes with 128GB which is a decent size for your uni projects, but its battery life of 7 hours is one to bear in mind if you’re taking it out for the day.

What’s in the box

Technical specs

Operating system: macOS
RAM: 4GB
Processor: Intel Core i5
Storage: 128GB
Screen resolution:
Screen size: 13.3-inches
Screen type: LED Backlit
Touch screen: No
WiFi: Yes
Ethernet: Gigabit ethernet
Battery life: 7 hours
Battery type: Lithium-ion
Disc drive: None
Memory card reader: SDXC card slot
HDMI: None
Audio connections: Unknown
Webcam: 720p FaceTime HD webcam
Colour: Silver

Pros

Very fast
Stays cool under heavy use

Cons

Can be expensive if bought brand new

Check out our Apple student discounts

Best Chromebook laptops under £300 for students

HP Stream 14s-fq0020na — £219.98

This HP Stream laptop is one of the best HP laptops under £300. It has everything you need for a fraction of a typical laptop price.

It has 4GB RAM and a 64GB hard drive. When you combine the AMD CPU it makes the whole system super fast and responsive. Plus, it comes with Windows OS installed already! This laptop also charges really fast. In fact, you can get it to 50% in less than 45 minutes of charging time. Great if you need it charged in a hurry.

What’s in the box

1 x HP Stream 14s-fq0020na laptop
1 x AC adapter
1 x Power cord.

Technical specs

Operating system: Windows 11 Home in S mode
RAM: 4 GB DDR4-2400 MHz
Processor: AMD 3020e
Storage: 64 GB eMMC
Screen resolution:
Screen size: 14-inch
Screen type: HD (1366 x 768)
Touch screen?: No
WiFi?: Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (1×1) Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® 4.2 combo
Ethernet: No
Battery life: 9 hours
Battery type: Lithium-ion
Disc drive: None
Memory card reader: 1 multi-format SD media card reader
HDMI: 1
Audio connections: Dual speakers
Webcam: HP True Vision 720p HD camera with integrated dual array digital microphones
Colour: Mulberry burgundy

Pros

Lots of ports
Decent battery life

Cons

Short charging cable

Check out our HP student discounts

And that concludes the best laptops under £300. We hope this has given you an idea of what you can get on a budget.

What is the best laptop to buy for under £250?

We’re huge fans of the HP 14S-FQ0014NA laptop which is priced at £189.99. It comes with an incredibly powerful AMD Athlon processor (you can pick from a huge range of AMD processors too), which gives you all the power to multitask, store big files and work on group presentations during your studies.

What is a Chromebook vs a laptop?

A Chromebook is a budget-friendly alternative to a Windows laptop or Apple MacBook. Chromebooks run using a Google operating system called Chrome OS. This means Windows and macOS programs don’t work on these devices.

What does this mean for applications? You won’t be able to run Microsoft Office or MacOS versions either. However, you can use Office 365 online and install Office web apps instead. Or you can simply use Google Docs, Sheets and more.

Is 4GB RAM enough for a laptop?

4GB of RAM is more than enough to use productivity applications like Microsoft Office and is perfect for a budget student laptop. You can even stream Netflix comfortably too.

However, if you’re a design student or want to game on your laptop, then you’ll need a laptop with at least 8GB RAM. Nonetheless, 4GB is more than enough for a laptop for its basic functions, completing assignments and running group projects.

Are Chromebooks worth it?

Do you complete all of your tasks on a web-based app like Google Docs? Then Chromebooks are definitely worth investing in. They’re intuitive and easy to use because they follow on from the Google Chrome browser application interface. In fact, Chromebooks are designed for students and business professionals! But the only downside is that you absolutely need an internet connection to make full use of one. So have a hotspot handy.

Want to save cash on laptops? Get these laptops for under £300 for even less when you sign up to Student Beans. Check out our other tech student deals too while you’re at it!