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

Acer Nitro V 16 AI vs Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5

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

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 comes out ahead by a narrow margin (4.5 vs 4.7). The gap is mostly about everyday productivity, students, knowledge workers, and home users — read the strengths below before deciding.

Ranked #5 in Best Budget Laptops Under $700

Acer Nitro V 16 AI

4.5

$699

The Nitro V 16 AI is the budget gaming pick. RTX 5050 + 16" 165Hz at $699 is unheard of a year ago. Trade-offs are gaming-laptop standard: weight, battery, fan noise. Best for users who want a budget laptop that can also play modern games.

Strengths

— RTX 5050 discrete GPU — only true budget gaming pick in this lineup
— 16" 1200p 165Hz display — fastest refresh rate here
— AMD Ryzen AI 5 240 CPU with NPU

Watch-outs

— Heavier (5.5 lbs) — not the laptop you carry every day
— Battery (4-5 hours under load) — half the Acer Aspire 5's runtime
— Cooling fans audible under gaming load

$699 · Check Price on Amazon Full review →

Higher ratedRanked #1 in Best Budget Laptops Under $700

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5

4.7

$649

The IdeaPad Slim 5 is the best-overall budget laptop pick. Ryzen 7 + 16GB DDR5 + 1TB SSD at $649 is genuinely punch-above-class. Best for general productivity, light photo/video editing, and home/student use.

Strengths

— AMD Ryzen 7 7730U — top-tier mobile CPU at this price
— 16GB DDR5 RAM + 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD — generous storage for the price tier
— 14" / 16" options with 1080p IPS panels

Watch-outs

— Integrated Radeon graphics — no discrete GPU like the Acer Nitro V 16 AI
— Trackpad palm rejection is decent, not best-in-class
— Speakers are functional, not impressive

$649 · Check Price on Amazon Full review →

How they stack up

Acer Nitro V 16 AI

Only discrete-GPU pick. Heaviest. Shortest battery under load. Highest refresh rate.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5

Best CPU + RAM combo in this lineup. More storage than Acer Aspire 5 or HP Pavilion 15. Integrated graphics vs the Acer Nitro V 16 AI's discrete GPU.

Specs side-by-side

Spec	Acer Nitro V 16 AI	Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5
CPU	AMD Ryzen AI 5 240	AMD Ryzen 7 7730U
GPU	RTX 5050	Integrated Radeon
RAM	16GB	16GB DDR5
Display	16" 1200p 165Hz	14" / 16" 1080p IPS
Weight	5.5 lbs	—
Storage	—	1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD

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