Head-to-head · Best Budget Laptops Under $700

Acer Aspire 5 vs HP Pavilion 15

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

The short answer

Acer Aspire 5 comes out ahead by a narrow margin (4.6 vs 4.5). The gap is mostly about home users and students who want a reliable 15.6" budget laptop — read the strengths below before deciding.

Higher ratedRanked #2 in Best Budget Laptops Under $700

Acer Aspire 5

4.6

$358as of May 21

The Aspire 5 is the value pick. 15.6" 1080p IPS + i5 + 16GB at $499 is what every budget laptop should hit. Trade-offs are predictable: plastic chassis, shorter battery. Best for home use, students, and second laptops.

Strengths

— 15.6" 1080p IPS display at $499 — best display-per-dollar in this lineup
— Intel Core i5 / Ryzen 5 options with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD
— Long Acer warranty + parts network

Watch-outs

— Plastic chassis flexes more than the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5
— Battery life trails the HP Pavilion 15 by 1-2 hours
— Backlit keyboard not on every SKU

$358 · Check Price on Amazon Full review →

Ranked #3 in Best Budget Laptops Under $700

HP Pavilion 15

4.5

$649

The Pavilion 15 is the most-RAM pick. 32GB configurations exist under $700 — uncommon at this price. Best for users who run a lot of browser tabs / virtual machines / Photoshop layers without paying for a workstation tier.

Strengths

— 32GB RAM + 1TB SSD configurations available under $700
— B&O-tuned speakers — best audio in this lineup
— HP Wide Vision HD camera + dual mics for video calls

Watch-outs

— Integrated Iris Xe graphics — fine for office work, not for gaming
— Chassis is plasticky compared to the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5's aluminum
— HP's BIOS update cadence trails Lenovo's

$649 · Check Price on Amazon Full review →

How they stack up

Acer Aspire 5

Cheapest pick. Larger display than Lenovo Slim 5 (14"). Less premium build. Less RAM than Slim 5's DDR5.

HP Pavilion 15

Most RAM in the lineup (32GB config). Better speakers than Lenovo Slim 5 or Acer Aspire 5. Plastic chassis vs Slim 5's aluminum.

Specs side-by-side

Spec	Acer Aspire 5	HP Pavilion 15
CPU	Intel Core i5 12th gen	Intel Core i7
RAM	16GB	up to 32GB
Storage	512GB SSD	up to 1TB SSD
Display	15.6" 1080p IPS	15.6" 1080p IPS
Battery	8 hours	—
Audio	—	B&O-tuned

← See the full ranking of best budget laptops under $700