That Gateway, one of our current budget favorites, has the same processor, but includes 16GB of RAM and a big 512GB SSD, currently for $499. But other budget laptops, like the Gateway 14 or a couple of options with AMD Ryzen 7 processors, beat it out in benchmark tests. In our performance tests, the 2022 version, with its 11th-gen Core i5 was indeed faster than the 2020 version's 10th-gen Core i5. Running basic applications and web browsers were fine for everyday use, but I found myself defaulting to Microsoft's own Edge browser over Chrome, because it's better optimized for less powerful Windows 11 systems. There's a separate 'business' version that has a 16GB RAM option, but you'll have to find that from a specialty business computer reseller. For $800, it's 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. For $700, you can get the same Core i5, but with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Yes, Microsoft says 4GB is officially supported for Windows 11, but I think the RAM upgrade is going to give you a much more satisfying experience. For both generations of this product, Microsoft sent me an upgraded model with 8GB of RAM to test.

The lowest-end Surface Laptop Go 2 (like the original) has 4GB of RAM, which I'd consider a red flag. You can probably see where this is headed. That's because, even for a low-cost laptop, you should be looking for an Intel Core i5 or equivalent processor, 8GB or 16GB or RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage.

As outlined in my recent guide to buying a budget laptop, the old $500 limit to what we'd consider 'budget,' has been pushed up closer to $700. My thinking on budget laptops has changed, pushed by inflation, supply shortages and the increase in work-from-home and remote school scenarios.

Microsoft surface laptop go upgrade