A 14″ laptop is the perfect choice if you don’t want to go for a larger display (15.6 and above), but you still want your screen to be large enough to easily see what’s happening there. I personally believe that any laptop under 14-inch is small and even though I prefer the larger ones for work and gaming, I can understand and appreciate the higher portability of a 14-inch model.
And in today’s article, we’re going to talk about the best 14-inch laptops of 2018, all under $1,000 at the moment of writing this article. We did all the research so that you don’t have to waste your time going through hundreds of models, and we’re reporting back with the best ones money can buy – both for a very limited budget, as well as closer to the top margin of the budget.
We are only including laptops running Windows 10 in this list. If you’re looking for Chromebooks, we have a dedicated article for them also and you can check it out here. But today it is all about Windows laptops. The best 14″ laptops under $1,000 in 2018, to be precise!
We have more details about each model that we selected in our in-depth reviews, but you are in a hurry and just want to make the purchase faster, we’re listing them below – just pick and choose your favorite. They’re listed from the cheapest to the most expensive:
Please note: We get commissions for purchases made through links in this article.
| Product | Processor type | RAM | Storage | Purchase Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASUS VivoBook F441 | AMD A9-9420 | 8 GB | 1TB HDD | Get it on Amazon |
| ASUS VivoBook S | Intel Core i5-8520U | 8 GB | 1TB Hybrid HDD | Get it on Amazon |
| Acer Swift 3 | Intel Core i5-7200U | 8 GB | 256GB SSD | Get it on Amazon |
| HP Probook 640 G3 | Intel Core i5-7200U | 8 GB | 256GB SSD | Get it on Amazon |
| ASUS P-Series P2440UQ-XS71 | Intel Core i7 7500U | 12 GB | 512GB SSD | Get it on Amazon |
If you want to find out more about each recommended model, read on! These are the best 14 inch laptops of 2018, all under $1,000 at the moment of writing this article (have in mind that, even though highly unlikely, prices could change so double check the prices yourself).
ASUS VivoBook F441
It might be described as a “Light and Powerful” laptop, but don’t expect it to be blazing fast! On the contrary, it’s relatively slow compared to more powerful laptops out there – but you’re also paying just a fraction of what you would normally spend on a powerful laptop!
This is the cheapest model on our list and we’d only recommend it if funds are extremely tight. It does get the work done and can be used to browse the internet, stream movies and listen to music – but it definitely requires a bit of patience and tab management to help it run at optimum speeds.
In terms of specifications, it is powered by an AMD A9-9420 processor and has an integrated graphics card – the Radeon R5. It also comes with 8GB of RAM, so it doesn’t look really bad – especially for its price.
It also offers a ton of storage thanks to its 1TB HDD and comes with Windows 10 installed.
The 14″ display allows for full HD resolutions (1920 x 1080) which is a big bonus. The quality of the images on this model’s display is really good and the images are crisp, with strong colors. It is also very thin at just 1.1″ and light (3.9 lbs).
All in all, although it’s not the best in terms of performance, it is evenly rounded up and does what is to be expected for a budget-friendly laptop. I’d note, as bonuses, the large HDD and good quality of the images – making it perfect for watching movies, but not only!
Click here to get it on Amazon
ASUS VivoBook S (S410UA-AS51)
We’re sticking with ASUS for now, but this time we’re moving to a laptop that offers a bit more in terms of performance (but also costs a bit more). From now on, I consider all the recommended models great choices, with them getting better and better as the price increases. So always consider purchasing the one that gets as close to your maximum budget as possible.
Back to the VivoBook S, it is powered by a great quad-core processor, the Intel Core i5-8520U. It has 8GB DDR4 RAM and a hybrid HDD for storage: the 1TB FireCuda Hybrid Drive that delivers speeds up to 6 times faster than regular hard drives. Of course, it can’t compete with SSDs when it comes to speed, but having a boost is better than having none and you will feel it, especially when it comes to booting up the OS.
It is extremely slim and light: at 0.7″ thick and 3.2 lbs, it is highly portable. It comes with Windows 10 Home installed and the 14″ display offers Full HD resolution with up to 178° wide-viewing angles.
I also like the fact that it has a great design – it looks good, it feels good and you will have no problem using it. As a bonus, it has a backlit keyboard which is always useful. Also, it comes with a ton of ports for extensive connectivity, including an USB-C port, SD card reader and more.
All in all, for this price, the VivoBook S is extremely good, offering a lot of value for the money.
Click here to get it on Amazon
Acer Swift 3
This is one of the most popular choices on Amazon at the moment of writing, and it is so for all the right reasons. And although it is very close in specifications to the model recommended above, it has some extra goodies that some will definitely appreciate.
The main difference is that it comes with a SSD, meaning that the read/write speeds on the drive are absolutely insane (in a good way). As a downside, you’re only getting 256GB of storage – but if speed is more important to you than storage space, then it is definitely a huge bonus.
It is also a pretty powerful device, powered by the 7th Generation Intel Core i5-7200U Processor and being rounded up with 8GB of RAM. It moves fast and is reliable, coming with Windows 10 already installed and ready to go.
It also has some extra goodies for those who like to stay ahead, like the backlit keyboard and a fingerprint reader. It also has an USB-C port, as well as regular USB and it can charge up your other devices even when the laptop is off.
The 14″ display offers full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) and the image quality is perfect for this price range. Particularly good are the speakers for this model and even though they won’t match the quality of a dedicated system, they still deliver surprisingly good sound quality.
It is also thin (.71 inches) and light (3.3 lbs) and has a good battery too – one that can deliver up to 10 hours on a single charge. A really good choice for those looking for an extra boost of speed, but are ready to trade a lot of storage space for it.
Click here to get it on Amazon
HP Probook 640 G3
This is HP’s version of the previous laptop, with minimal differences between the two. They are both great products and everything I said about the laptop above goes for this one. So in the end, it’s a matter of choosing your favorite brand or the extra features that one offers compared to the other.
For example, the HP Probook 640 also offers a DVD writer in case you still need one. It doesn’t have the fingerprint reader that the Acer model above offers, but you won’t really miss it, in my opinion.
Apart from that, everything else is just about the same: the laptop is powered by an i5-7200U processor and has 8GB of RAM, as well as a 256 GB SSD for storage.
It is also slightly bulkier and thicker, not offering the same sleek design of the model above, but it’s still light and highly portable, so you don’t have to worry about it breaking your back. The image quality is just as good as what all the models on this list offers, so if you prefer a HP over the Acer and especially if you need an optical drive, this one’s for you!
Click here to get it on Amazon
ASUS P-Series P2440UQ-XS71
Now, if you are ready to go close to the top of today’s budget, we have a real treat for you. This laptop is extremely powerful and thanks to its dedicated graphics card, it can run current generation games and handle more intensive tasks at better speeds than the others on this list.
This extremely powerful 14-inch laptop is powered by a 7th Gen Intel Core i7 7500U processor (that goes up to 3.5GHz), and has an impressive 12GB of RAM. It also offers a lot of lightning fast storage thanks to its 512GB SSD.
The frosting on the cake, though, comes from the dedicated graphics card: the GeForce 940MX! Although this is not the latest graphics card on the market, it still is a great one to have and offers a huge boost compared to the other products on the list. It can also run modern games, although many of them won’t run at maximum settings.
Another great thing about this awesome laptop is the battery life: it can run, on a single charge, for a whooping 18 hours according to its manufacturers. Don’t expect it to regularly pull off these times under heavy usage, but expect much better battery life than what other products have to offer.
All these extra goodies make it a bit heavier than the other products on the list, although still not extremely bad. It does weight 4.3 lbs, although it doesn’t look bulky – on the contrary!
And since this is built and sold as a business laptop, it has a lot of other great features, especially when it comes to security: it has a TPM chip for securely storing passwords and other sensitive data, as well as a fingerprint reader.
So if you’re ready to spend the entire budget on getting your next laptop, this one is your best choice for sure!
Click here to get it on Amazon
These are our recommended 14″ laptops that sell for less than $1,000 on Amazon. We did our best to cover all the price ranges below our set amount and I am sure that, no matter what your budget is, you will find a great product that you’ll truly enjoy for the years to come.
