5 Cheap Laptop Brands That Can Compete With Asus

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As a laptop brand named after Pegasus from Greek mythology should, Asus certainly lives up to its name as a dominant force for casual, business, and gaming use. Having owned a few Asus ROG laptops in the past, it’s definitely a go-to brand for me, but that’s not to say there are fantastic competitors in the market right now.

Brands like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and even Maingear have product lines that directly compete with Asus’ budget Vivobooks, TUF and ROG gaming laptops, high-end Zenbooks, and more. Except for Maingear, which operates in the high-end gaming field, the other brands fight against Asus year after year in the mid-range field.

While Asus often dominates in terms of specs per dollar, its competitors are starting to be neck and neck thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips that allow budget Windows laptops to perform well and improve battery life. The same goes for expensive gaming laptops like Asus ROG and TUF, which now compete with cheaper alternatives with similar specs. So here are five examples of brands competing with Asus that offer similar laptops at a lower cost, making them more affordable.

HP is a strong rival to Asus and another popular laptop brand that offers similar products at a lower price. The HP OmniBook 5 is a competent rival to Asus’ Vivobook line. The Omnibook 5 variant sporting the Qualcomm Snapdragon

In comparison, the Asus Vivobook 14 features many of the same specs, but with more storage and a lower LED display for $709.99. So in this particular case, it makes sense to save a few dollars for similar performance on a better display. That said, the Vivobook also features premium materials on the chassis and a faster touchpad for cursor navigation, which could be nice features for some buyers.

There’s also the HP OmniBook 3 line that has other affordable options, such as the 16-inch touchscreen variant that has an IPS display, AMD Ryzen 5, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage, all for $500. It’s a good choice for those who want a larger screen but are happy with less performance and storage.

Dell is taking on the Asus Zenbook 14 lineup with its 13.4″ Xps models by offering value-for-money specs. Both have an ultra-slim profile, with the Dell other built-in AI features to help users with multitasking.

Like Asus, the Zenbook 14 costs $1,115 and offers a slightly larger 14-inch 2K OLED display, an AMD Ryzen AI 9 465 2026 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. But for anyone who wants a competent, reliable laptop for $300 less, the Dell Xps offers better performance per dollar without sacrificing anything revolutionary.

Be careful not to opt for the 8GB Dell Xps 13, though. It’s cheaper at $699.99, but getting 16GB of RAM will ensure programs and multitasking run smoothly, especially down the line. RAM is getting extremely expensive, so buying the cheapest model and upgrading automatically will likely cost more in the long run, especially if the installed memory is soldered to the motherboard.

No Asus article is complete without reviewing their top-tier gaming lineup. Unlike the budget-focused picks so far, we’re comparing two flagship portable gaming rigs, the Maingear Ultima 18 RTX 5080 to the Rog Strix Scar 18 RTX 5080. Both are high-end machines offering impressive graphics capabilities thanks to the RTX 5080. In this case, however, Maingear has a competitive offering that’s hard to pass up.

Maingear is known for its boutique gaming PCs with insane specs, and its laptops offer the same great customer support and optimized performance. They are tuned and ready for users to install Steam straight away and get started, while Asus, on the other hand, is infamous for installing quite a bit of bloatware.

The Maingear Ultima 18 costs $3,699 and is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and RTX 5080 mobile GPU, an 18-inch 4K 16:10 240Hz G-Sync capable panel, a 2TB NVMe Gen4 SSD with three additional M.2 slots for expansion, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM that also has an additional DIMM slot for subsequent upgrades. Comparing this to the Asus Rog Strix Scar 18 RTX 5080 model, the specs are largely similar, only with a smaller 1TB SSD for $4,299.99 – $600 more than the Maingear Ultima 18. In fact, buyers could get the RTX 5090 Ultima 18 and still save $100.

Lenovo is another solid alternative to Asus, and this comparison proves that in spades. The Lenovo Loq 15 is not only more powerful than the slim Vivobook S14 offering, but it’s also $120 cheaper, at $1,380 versus $1,500. The Vivobook S 14 features an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V with integrated Intel Arc Graphics, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, 14-inch OLED display, and a chassis weighing 2.9 lbs. On the other hand, the Lenovo Loq 15 sports an AMD Ryzen 7 250 plus a dedicated RTX 5050 laptop GPU with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM. To top it all off, it has a 512GB SSD and a 15.6-inch WUXGA IPS panel with a 165Hz refresh rate.

While the comparison isn’t exactly apples to apples since the Vivobook is a thin and light laptop, unlike the Loq which is a gaming laptop, you still get more performance per dollar by going with Lenovo. This essentially means that the Loq can play better for less, while still being supported by the higher refresh rate of the screen.

Meanwhile, the Vivobook can’t keep up with its integrated graphics and so its screen only has a 60Hz refresh rate. This is not only a negative for gaming, but also for creatives who want to edit photos and videos. That’s not to say Asus has failed here: the OLED display will offer better color representation and contrast, with its thinner chassis aimed more at everyday and office users who want to carry around a reliable laptop. With the Lenovo Loq being more powerful under the hood for almost $120 less, it may be the better deal for buyers willing to compromise on some portability.

When it comes to a budget Chromebook that delivers what it promises, Acer gives Asus a run for its money. Chromebooks are not intended for gaming or any type of intense workloads, but for everyday use, such as web browsing, streaming, writing and editing documents, and similar tasks. They’re perfect for students who need an inexpensive laptop, and the Acer Chromebook 315 currently costs $199, about $280 less than the $479.99 price of the Asus Chromebook CX14.

Acer is a major competitor and offers an interesting alternative in the Chromebook space. It features a 15.6-inch FHD display, MediaTek Kompanio 540 SoC, 4GB LPDDR5X, 64GB eMMC storage, Wi-Fi 6E, and up to 13 hours of battery life. Keeping in mind that Chromebooks are designed to allow users to perform tasks through the Google Chrome browser, even basic hardware like this can provide a usable experience.

The much more expensive CX14 has a 14-inch 16:9 FHD display, an Intel N150 processor, 8GB of LPDDR5, Intel UHD graphics, Wi-Fi 6E, and a 180-degree hinge. It has twice the RAM of Acer’s Chromebook 315 and will run smoother, which might be worth the next $280 for some, but for most users, buying something like an Omnibook 3 for the money or getting the Chromebook 315 much cheaper would be a better deal.

There’s only one way to know which brands are actually giving Asus a run for its money, and that’s by comparing what each company currently offers and how they stack up against each other by looking at specs and pricing side by side. Only reputable brands were selected, with the aim of finding an alternative brand to Asus that saves buyers money, gives them more power for their money, or the best of both worlds.

Every brand has strong and weak models, so buying a laptop just because of the brand logo is not a good way to find the right choice. A good example here would be Dell, which isn’t usually the first brand people think of when looking for a new laptop, but its Xps 13 line is neck and neck with the Asus Zenbook. To compile this list, we tried to find Asus alternatives that offer a similar profile at a lower cost. We’ve also tried to compare specific models to identify exactly which laptops are better options than Asus’ offerings.