Ultimately, your budget should reflect your laptop's primary use case(s) and your preferred operating system. Here's what you can expect at different price ranges: Laptops that cost $300 to $600 are budget Windows notebooks and Chromebooks reserved for word processing, web browsing, and email sending. Models on the lower end of this price range tend to be clunkers with pokey Intel Celeron N Series CPUs and eMMC storage; spending a little extra can get you a sleeker machine with a better entry-level processor, more battery life, SSD storage, and a backlit keyboard. Laptops that cost $600 to $1,000 are mostly Windows models and high-end Chromebooks with crisper displays and mid-range CPUs that are good for schoolwork, streaming, and casual gaming. Laptops priced at $1,000 to $1,500 are peppy Windows ultrabooks, MacBooks, and gaming laptops with plenty of storage space, bright, pretty displays, enough power for light photo and video editing, and great graphics. Laptops that cost more than $1,500 are beautiful, beefy, and blazing-fast MacBooks Pros and Windows desktop replacements that can handle professional content creation and intense gaming. If you want to stretch your budget beyond these usual constraints, bookmark our guide to the best laptop deals across major retailers and tech manufacturers: We update it biweekly with fresh discounts.