The best laptops under £1,000

The Apple MacBook Air 2020 has a little bit of something for everyone. Don't let that 2020 in its title fool you; this is still a powerful piece of equipment. The Apple M1 chipset ensures it can handle plenty of tasks, so you don't need to hold back with it. The 8GB RAM keeps load times minimal, and while 256GB storage isn't amazing, it is an SSD, so it is fast and reliable. The battery life is also worth noting, coming in at a very impressive 18 hours.

The only thing that holds the MacBook Air back is its screen size. While you can go smaller than 13 inches, most laptops sit around the 14 and 15 range, so this feels a bit outdone by its peers.

The HP ENVY x360 is a 2-in-1 laptop that can have its screen folded around like a tablet. This versatility makes it a great choice for an office laptop, and the specs back that up. A 15-hour battery life is always great to see, but it's the i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, and 512GB SSD that really make this a dependable pick for office work.

Whereas the MacBook Air struggled with being a bit too small, the HP ENVY is slightly on the bigger size. A 15.6-inch can be a blessing for some but might be too much of a burden for others, so think ahead for what screen size is best for you.

For those searching for the convenience of a touchscreen, consider the ASUS ZenBook Duo. Another set of controls is always handy to have, givingyou that little bit more freedom with how you use your laptop. The build still has more good stuff to offer, especially with its ventilation. If you want a laptop that can survive a heatwave o, this is it.

The specs are also worth discussing. While the GPU is quite lacking, the rest absolutely excel. A 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM are a brilliant combination that you won't find much better for under £1,000, and a 17-hour battery life is another great feature.

The Acer Aspire 3 is a fantastic laptop for those working from home, and that's due to its thoughtful set of extra features. While a webcam isn't an uncommon sight to find on a laptop, they're often an afterthought, but that's not the case here. The webcam quality is excellent, so any calls with teams or co-workers will come across clearly. The FHD screen also looks excellent, and the BlueLightShield protects your eyes from excessive blue light, so you won't feel as much strain during a long session.

This is another laptop with a so-so graphics card, but the rest of the specs don't quite excel enough to rescue it. The RAM and storage are fine, but a better CPU than an i3 would have been nice.

Student life often demands a dependable laptop, which is why we recommend the Acer Aspire 5 Laptop. The 512GB SSD should cover most projects, and the i5 CPU and 16GB RAM keep everything running smoothly and swiftly, so you shouldn't be bogged down by long loading times.

While most of the specs are great, the battery life falls a bit short and ends up disappointing. Sure, 7.5 hours isn't terrible, but it will run through it faster than you expect.

To keep as much of your funds as possible, consider the budget-friendly Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Chromebook. At under £300, the specs are naturally less impressive than what you would get from other laptops on this list. The most notable ones are the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, but if you use plenty of memory sticks, this shouldn't be too much of an issue.

It's worth noting that this isn't just a lightweight laptop, it's a Chromebook. That means it runs on ChromeOS instead of Windows, and while that may take some getting used to, it's actually quite simple to navigate and use.

Although the weight of the MSI Modern FHD Laptop might lead you to believe it's not ideal for travel, it more than justifies its placement here. The military-grade durability is exceptional, so you don't need to fret if it takes a bump or a drop at any point. The battery life is also very reliable, netting you around 12 hours off a single charge.

You also won't need to think too much about ports and connections with the MSI Modern. It has USB-A, USB-C, MicroSD, and HDMI ports, so it can connect with countless different devices. The MicroSD is especially hand for any photos you take while travelling.

For the best screen quality, we think the ASUS Laptop Zenbook 14 is worth your consideration. It has 400 nits of brightness, making it bright enough to stave off the dark and withstand glaring sun. The bezels are also fairly thin, so your viewing is unobstructed. It still impresses beyond the screen, with surprisingly great sound thanks to Dolby Atmos and a quick charging speed for its 18-hour battery life due to USB-C connectivity. The fans may get noisy from time to time, but that's not a dealbreaker.

As for the specs, the ASUS Laptop Zenbook 14 is about what you would expect from this price range. The CPU and GPU are decent enough, and the 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD are more than enough for most tasks.