Summer is a time of being out an about, of adventures and hikes, of BBQs and camping. But some of us still need to get work done during the times when we're not having fun, but the outdoors can take its toll on an expensive laptop like a MacBook or Surface. Why not pick up a budget laptop or Chromebook to pick up the slack when you are away from the comfort -- and safety -- of the office?
Also: Windows 10 PCs or Chromebook battery life disappoints? How Intel plans to fix it[1]
There's a great selection of hardware to choose from for under $500.
HP Pavilion x360
This is a lot of hardware for $460 –--you get a 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080 FHD IPS Bright View micro-edge WLED-backlit, a 2.2GHz (3.4GHz turbo) 8th gen Intel Dual-Core i3-8130U processor, 4 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM, and 16GB Intel Octane memory (giving a total of 20GB), 1TB of storage, and an HP digital pen.
Average battery life is measured as 7 hours, which isn't fantastic, but it's enough for a good day's work.
Operating system: Windows 10
Asus C523NA
Sporting a 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080 full HD display, this Chromebook offers a lot of screen real estate to get work done. However, it's also pretty portable, weighing in at a reasonable 3.8lb.
Powering this is a 2.5GHz Intel Pentium N4200 quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage.
It also comes with two USB 3.1 ports and two USB-C