For graphically-intense gaming, see our list of the best gaming laptops, but not everyone needs the full power of a gaming PC in a laptop. Gaming laptops can be heavy and offer poor battery life, whereas ultrabooks are much more portable. Right now, you can get a 14-inch Asus VivoBook for just $379.99 at Walmart, which is an excellent price for everything you get.
Budget laptops like this often compromise on specifications to reach the lower price point, but this model is surprisingly capable for being under $400. According to Asus’ website (Walmart doesn’t list all the specs), the laptop has an AMD Ryzen 3 3700U processor, a 15W 4-core/8-thread CPU with a boost clock of up to 4GHz. It also has 8GB RAM, a 256GB NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi 5, USB 3.0, HDMI, and even a USB Type-C port. The display is a 14-inch 1080p panel, slightly smaller than the 15-inch displays in many gaming-oriented laptops.
The Ryzen 3 processor in this laptop is definitely not intended for PC gaming, but the chip’s integrated Vega graphics can handle many older games and low-spec indies, as well as some graphically-intensive games at reduced framerates. This is still mostly a productivity laptop, though, and you might run into thermal throttling problems during extended gaming sessions.
If you’re more interested in laptops designed for gaming, check out our roundup of the best gaming laptops. We also have a roundup of gaming laptop deals, updated weekly with the best sales we find across the web.