Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Русский
Türkçe
Svenska
Chinese
MagyarNotebookcheck's Top 10 Budget Multimedia Notebooks
July 2018 update. Here you will find the best multimedia notebooks under 1000 USD/Euros reviewed by Notebookcheck in the last few months. Our list of top models is regularly updated, maintained and commented on and should assist in purchasing decisions.
Multimedia laptops are all-rounders and very popular among customers. Whether it is web browsing, office work, or modern games, modern multimedia laptops can handle everything. For this ranking, however, we limit the theoretical budget to 1000 Euros (lowest current price at the time of writing). The minimum requirement for the performance level is a GeForce MX150, which can at least handle modern games in 1366x768 pixels. The other multimedia ranking and more interesting lists are obviously still available:
The following table shows an overview of the Top 10 budget multimedia laptops as reviewed by Notebookcheck in the past 12 months. If ratings are equal, the latest review is listed first. The table can be sorted by clicking its headers and filtered by entering text in the text field above it (e.g. "matte").
Note: The cheapest street price at the time of the last revision of this article applies to the following list. The sales prices shown in the following table and in the price comparison with the individual articles are automatically updated daily and can therefore differ!
Best Budget Laptops (Multimedia) as of July 2018
| Pos. | Rating | Date | Image | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Screen | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 86% | 11/2017 |  | Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i5 Intel Core i5-8250U NVIDIA GeForce MX150 16 GB Memory, 256 GB SSD | 2 kg | 15 mm | 15.6" | 1920x1080 | glossy | |
| 2 | 85% | 06/2018 New! |  | Lenovo IdeaPad 720-15IKB Intel Core i5-7200U AMD Radeon RX 560 (Laptop) 8 GB Memory, 256 GB SSD | 2 kg | 23 mm | 15.6" | 1920x1080 | matte | |
| 3 | 85% | 03/2018 |  | HP Envy 17-ae143ng Intel Core i5-8250U NVIDIA GeForce MX150 8 GB Memory, 128 GB SSD | 3 kg | 23.3 mm | 17.3" | 1920x1080 | glossy | |
| 4 | 84% | 11/2017 |  | Asus GL503VD-DB74 Intel Core i7-7700HQ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Notebook) 16 GB Memory, 256 GB SSD | 2.2 kg | 23 mm | 15.6" | 1920x1080 | matte | |
| 5 | 84% | 10/2017 |  | Acer Swift 3 SF315-51G-57E5 Intel Core i5-8250U NVIDIA GeForce MX150 8 GB Memory, 128 GB SSD | 1.9 kg | 18 mm | 15.6" | 1920x1080 | glossy | |
| 6 | 84% | 11/2017 |  | Acer Swift 3 SF314-52G-89SL Intel Core i7-8550U NVIDIA GeForce MX150 8 GB Memory, 512 GB NVMe | 1.6 kg | 17.95 mm | 14" | 1920x1080 | glossy | |
| 7 | 83% | 08/2017 New! |  | Acer Aspire 5 A515-51G-51RL Intel Core i5-7200U NVIDIA GeForce MX150 8 GB Memory, 128 GB SSD | 2.1 kg | 21.6 mm | 15.6" | 1920x1080 | matte | |
| 8 | 83% | 09/2017 New! |  | Lenovo IdeaPad 520s-14IKB 80X200C1GE Intel Core i5-7200U NVIDIA GeForce 940MX 8 GB Memory, M.2 GB SSD | 1.6 kg | 19.3 mm | 14" | 1920x1080 | matte | |
| 9 | 82% | 05/2018 |  | Acer Swift 3 SF315-41-R6J9 AMD Ryzen 7 2700U AMD Radeon RX Vega 10 6.9 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 2 kg | 17.95 mm | 15.6" | 1920x1080 | glossy | |
| 10 | 82% | 01/2018 |  | Acer Swift 3 SF315-41-R4W1 AMD Ryzen 5 2500U AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 8 GB Memory, 256 GB NVMe | 2 kg | 17.9 mm | 15.6" | 1920x1080 | glossy |
Working For Notebookcheck
Are you a techie who knows how to write? Then join our Team!
Currently wanted:
News Editor - Details here
Top 10 of the previous 12 months at the time of writing - current articles are listed first
Notebooks
» Top 10 Multimedia Laptops
» Top 10 Budget Multimedia Laptops
» Top 10 Gaming Laptops
» Top 10 Budget Gaming Notebooks
» Top 10 Lightweight Gaming Laptops
» Top 10 Business Laptops
» Top 10 Budget Office Laptops
» Top 10 Workstation Laptops
» Top 10 Subnotebooks
» Top 10 Ultrabooks
» Top 10 Chromebooks
» Top 10 Laptops under 300 USD/Euros
» Top 10 Laptops under 500 USD/Euros
» Top 10 Laptops under 1.000 USD/Euros
» Best Laptop Displays
» Best Laptops for University Students
» Top alternatives to the Apple MacBook Pro 13
» Top alternatives to the Apple MacBook Pro 15
» Top alternatives to the MacBook 12/Air
» Top 10 Laptops for Picture and Video Editing
Tablets & Convertibles
» Top 10 Convertibles (Laptop 2-in-1)
» Top 10 Tablets (Android, iOS)
» Top 10 Convertibles (Windows Tablet 2-in-1)
» Top 10 Tablets under 250 USD/Euros
Smartphones
» Top 10 Smartphones
» Top 10 Phablets
» Top 10 Smartphones ≤5-inch
» Top 10 Smartphones under 500 USD/Euros
» Top 10 Smartphones under 300 USD/Euros
» Top 10 Smartphones under 160 USD/Euros
Editors' Comments
There are plenty of multimedia laptops for under 1,000 Euros. This category features a good price-performance ratio, because all multimedia-class device are equipped with a discrete graphics card and provide decent gaming performance. Inexpensive entry-level models are often shipped with a powerful processor, but the common GeForce MX150 is not a perfect solution for modern 3D games. Manufacturers also try to save money in terms of storage, which can quickly become the bottleneck due to high storage requirements of multimedia contents like games, picture, or videos. You should favor an SSD/HDD combination. The Acer Aspire Nitro is a good all-rounder and still sits at the top of the ranking.
1st – Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro
The first place in this rating is occupied by a notebook with a very good rating, which is not officially available in central Europe. We are talking about the Mi Notebook Pro from the Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi. Xiaomi announced the availability of its smartphones in Spain recently, but the notebooks are not sold officially. Instead, you have to import it or buy from Chinese shops.
Insider's tip for some, a no-go for others: The Xiaomi Mi Pro splits the opinions of potential buyers.
The laptop was convincing when we reviewed the Mi Pro with the i5 CPU, starting with the high-quality aluminum case, the bright and high-contrast panel all the way up to low noise emissions and long battery runtimes up to 10 hours in practical scenarios. The combination of i5-8250U processor and MX150 graphics card is also a good compromise between performance and mobility.
Pricecompare
2nd - Lenovo IdeaPad 720
The second place is secured by the IdeaPad 720 (here in review). Lenovo still equips the 2018 model with an outdated processor from 2016, but the overall package based on the Intel Core i5-7200U was convincing and got a good score of 85%. The Lenovo Ideapad 720 is priced at under 1,000 Euros (~$1174), so it is a perfect candidate for the multimedia segment.
Thanks to the AMD Radeon RX 560, you can also use the notebooks for some gaming. The performance of the Radeon RX 560 is comparable to the GeForce GTX 1050.
Lenovo offers a decent laptop despite the old CPU, and the system performance is very good thanks to the PCIe-SSD storage.
All in all, the performance of the Lenovo IdeaPad 720 is decent and meets the expectations for a multimedia device. The hardware is surrounded by a sophisticated case with a nice design. We also like the good input devices as well as the steady system performance under load.
Pricecompare
3rd - HP Envy 17-ae143ng
The Envy 17-ae143ng’s most notable feature is its classy aluminum chassis, although we were somewhat disappointed by its lack of rigidity and would have expected more of a aluminum case. HP’s Envy is one of the last notebooks with an optical drive, but it also feature modern connectivity such as USB Type-C.
In our review, the Core i5-8250U performed above average by and large, and it was even capable of keeping up with the Core i7-8550U thanks to the HP Envy 17-ae143ng’s sufficiently dimensioned and very well-working cooling solution. Accordingly, even sustained load does not cause any trouble whatsoever.
Gaming, on the other hand, is not necessarily the Envy’s strong side due to the fairly limited GeForce MX 150 GPU that is incapable of handling the latest games. Older titles should run fine on medium or even high settings, though.
The HP Envy 17-ae143ng is a decent multimedia laptop and offers a solid overall performance. Its most notable drawbacks are the poor speakers and the lack of Thunderbolt 3.
Pricecompare
4th – Asus ROG Strix GL503VD
Gaming or multimedia? The transition is seamless, and Asus' ROG Strix GL503VD (here in review) is a fine example. The stylish 15-inch case houses a powerful i7-7700HQ CPU & a GeForce GTX 1050 GPU. You see the content on a Full HD IPS display with a matte surface, which is decent when it comes to luminance and contrast ratio.
Good performance and solid hardware with a touch of gaming design – the Asus ROG Strix GL503VD.
The GTX 1050 can handle games in the native 1080p resolution, but with some reduced details. We liked the keyboard during the review, and the battery runtime is up to 6 hours in practical scenarios.
Pricecompare
5th – Acer Swift 3 SF315
If you like Acer's Swift series, but prefer a 15-inch display, you should consider the Acer Swift 3 SF315 (here in review). A 15W ULV CPU (quad-core) once again meets a GeForce MX150, so there is plenty of performance for different multimedia scenarios. This also includes gaming, but with adjusted quality settings.
Acer's Swift series is an interesting option if you can live without an integrated DVD drive.
We liked the wide viewing angles and the good contrast ratio of the IPS screen during the review, but the luminance is not great. The emissions are low in all scenarios and the practical battery runtime of more than 8 hours is not bad, either.
Pricecompare
6th - Acer Swift 3 SF314
The desire for sufficient multimedia performance is not necessarily linked to a big chassis. Acer's Swift 3 SF314 (here in review) is a good example. The notebook uses a 14-inch screen and tips the scale at 1.6 kg, so it is noticeably lighter than many 15 or 17-inch systems.
The Swift 3 SF314 offers plenty of performance on the go thanks to long battery runtimes and low weight.
The combination of Core i7-8550U quad-core ULV CPU and GeForce MX150 graphics card can cover all multimedia needs all the way up to modern games. It is also a good travel companion with practical battery runtimes of up to 8 hours.
Pricecompare
Quality journalism is made possible by advertising. We show the least amount of ads whenever possible. We intentionally show more ads when an adblocker is used. Please, switch off ad blockers.
7th - Acer Aspire 5 A515
The Acer Aspire 5 A515 (here in review) offers long battery runtimes if you want an enduring laptop. The two storage devices make sense, just like the efficient yet powerful processor. Nvidia's GeForce MX150 handles 3D applications and can handle some light gaming workloads.
The IPS display is a good choice and it also features a matte surface, but the luminance is not the best. The keyboard is very good for frequent writers thanks to a short travel and well-adjusted pressure point. Potential buyers will have to waive a keyboard illumination though.
No throttling, lots of storage, and good CPU/GPU combination create a good all-rounder.
Pricecompare
8th - Lenovo IdeaPad 520s
Lenovo's IdeaPad 520s (here in review) is an inexpensive multimedia laptop well below the 1,000 Euros (~$1174) mark. Customers get an efficient Intel Core i5-7200U as well as 256 GB SSD storage. 3D calculations are handled by Nvidia's GeForce 940MX, which is equipped with its own GDDR5-VRAM.
We liked the quality of the chassis as well as the input devices. The battery runtime is also great.
The Lenovo ideaPad 520s offers a great price-performance ratio. The all-rounder also scores with its matte IPS screen and low system noise.
There are also some issues like the high temperature development under load, which will eventually throttle the CPU performance. The resulting heat cannot be dissipated quickly enough.
Pricecompare
9th - Acer Swift 3 SF315
Acer's Swift 3 (here in review) is the familiar Swift 3 laptop, but with AMD's most powerful APU. The Ryzen 7 2700U also features the powerful RX Vega 10 GPU. However, the Ryzen 7 in the Swift 3 is just ahead of the Ryzen 5, and the Intel competition cannot be beaten.
The Acer Swift 3 is an inexpensive alternative to Intel system. it convinces with a good price-performance ratio, because the Vega 10 GPU is superior to Intel's integrated GPUs.
The Acer Swift 3 unfortunately uses a bad screen. The device might still be interesting if you can waive Thunderbolt 3 and use it primarily in combination with an external monitor.
Pricecompare
10th - Acer Swift 3 SF315
Acer's Swift 3 SF315 (here in review) is an impressive example for AMD's ne mobile Ryzen chips. The Ryzen 5 2500U and the AMD Vega 8 GPU are placed inside a nice and slim chassis. This combination provides solid performance figures for multimedia applications. The Vega IGP is much faster than Intel's UHD Graphics in total.
The Acer Swift 3 SF315 can compete with Intel's 8th Gen. CPUs thanks to the new AMD Ryzen 5 2500U. The performance of this SoC does not have to hide behind the competition, and the Vega 8 graphics unit is much more powerful than Intel's counterpart (Intel UHD Graphics 620).
Short battery runtimes and a comparatively slow PCIe-SSD prevent a better rating for the Acer Swift 3 SF315. The display is also too dark with small color gamut. All in all, it is still sufficient for the 10th place in our Top 10 ranking for budget multimedia laptops this month.
Pricecompare
Top 10 in Comparison
Size Comparison
Measurement Results
| Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i5 | Lenovo IdeaPad 720-15IKB | HP Envy 17-ae143ng | Asus GL503VD-DB74 | Acer Swift 3 SF315-51G-57E5 | Acer Swift 3 SF314-52G-89SL | Acer Aspire 5 A515-51G-51RL | Lenovo IdeaPad 520s-14IKB 80X200C1GE | Acer Swift 3 SF315-41-R6J9 | Acer Swift 3 SF315-41-R4W1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | ||||||||||
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 47.9 (22.4, 25.5) | 42 (22, 20) | 33 (15, 18) | 36.4 (16.4, 20) | 42 (22, 20) | 41 (19, 22) | 41 (18, 23) | 38 (20, 18) | 43.2 (22.8, 20.4) | 46 (25, 21) |
| Response Time Black / White * | 33.7 (19.2, 14.5) | 26 (15, 11) | 21 (11, 10) | 26.2 (14, 12.4) | 32 (17, 15) | 25 (15, 10) | 26 (15, 11) | 26.4 (14.8, 11.6) | 39.6 (22.8, 16.8) | 36 (20, 16) |
| PWM Frequency | 21800 (99) | 21010 (99) | 21000 (80) | 24510 (60) | 21370 | 21000 (90) | ||||
| Screen | ||||||||||
| Brightness middle | 296 | 270 | 352 | 315.9 | 248 | 233 | 235 | 274 | 203.4 | 237 |
| Brightness | 288 | 250 | 330 | 304 | 237 | 217 | 236 | 256 | 188 | 229 |
| Brightness Distribution | 89 | 87 | 88 | 88 | 79 | 88 | 80 | 83 | 71 | 88 |
| Black Level * | 0.32 | 0.25 | 0.31 | 0.37 | 0.21 | 0.27 | 0.17 | 0.18 | 0.27 | 0.19 |
| Contrast | 925 | 1080 | 1135 | 854 | 1181 | 863 | 1382 | 1522 | 753 | 1247 |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 * | 4.3 | 4.79 | 4.34 | 4.9 | 4.98 | 5.85 | 4.69 | 6.7 | 5.21 | 4.85 |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 max. * | 8.7 | 8.83 | 8.69 | 9.7 | 8.41 | 11.51 | 7.9 | 14.8 | 21.85 | 8.34 |
| Greyscale DeltaE2000 * | 3 | 5.66 | 5.66 | 3.8 | 4.26 | 4.87 | 3.34 | 6.3 | 3 | 3.84 |
| Gamma | 2.1 114% | 2.64 91% | 2.29 105% | 2.24 107% | 2.37 101% | 2.47 97% | 2.63 91% | 2.04 118% | 2.184 110% | 2.42 99% |
| CCT | 7100 92% | 7179 91% | 6326 103% | 6847 95% | 7149 91% | 6908 94% | 6801 96% | 6363 102% | 5983 109% | 6790 96% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 56.83 | 37 | 57 | 55 | 38 | 34 | 36 | 39.6 | 37 | 37 |
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 86.86 | 59 | 88 | 84 | 58 | 54 | 57 | 61.5 | 58 | 58 |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 calibrated * | 4.94 | |||||||||
| Noise | ||||||||||
| off / environment * | 31 | 30.3 | 304 | 28.3 | 30.5 | 30.5 | 30.1 | 29.9 | 28.1 | 31.8 |
| Idle Minimum * | 31 | 30.3 | 31.9 | 30.6 | 30.5 | 30.5 | 30.1 | 29.9 | 28.1 | 31.8 |
| Idle Average * | 31 | 30.3 | 31.9 | 30.8 | 30.5 | 30.5 | 30.2 | 29.9 | 28.1 | 32.1 |
| Idle Maximum * | 32.6 | 30.3 | 31.9 | 32.8 | 30.9 | 30.9 | 30.5 | 30.7 | 29.3 | 32.1 |
| Load Average * | 41.6 | 39.2 | 39.4 | 37.6 | 35.7 | 35.6 | 41.1 | 35.1 | 32.6 | 33 |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 41.6 | 41.6 | 47 | 35.1 | 40.4 | 35.1 | 33.3 | |||
| Load Maximum * | 44.7 | 39.2 | 39.7 | 53.5 | 35.6 | 35.6 | 41.2 | 36.2 | 35.7 | 34.8 |
| Heat | ||||||||||
| Maximum Upper Side * | 43.8 | 41.2 | 36 | 60.4 | 43.4 | 44.9 | 41.3 | 49.3 | 40.2 | 41 |
| Maximum Bottom * | 44.9 | 36.4 | 37.6 | 55.2 | 38.1 | 42.9 | 48.7 | 53.9 | 44.2 | 41.1 |
| Idle Upper Side * | 25.9 | 22 | 26.2 | 32.4 | 24.8 | 27.7 | 28.7 | 26.7 | 27.6 | 29.9 |
| Idle Bottom * | 26.3 | 23.6 | 27.8 | 36 | 25.2 | 27.5 | 30.8 | 25.9 | 29.8 | 30.9 |
| Battery Runtime | ||||||||||
| Reader / Idle | 963 | 647 | 1253 | 864 | 795 | 730 | ||||
| WiFi v1.3 | 597 | 425 | 487 | 348 | 511 | 465 | 517 | 568 | 317 | 310 |
| Witcher 3 ultra | 83 | |||||||||
| Load | 122 | 50 | 73 | 142 | 136 | 75 | 81 | |||
| Power Consumption | ||||||||||
| Idle Minimum * | 3.7 | 9.9 | 4.8 | 8.2 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 2.9 | 3.37 | 5.9 | 7.3 |
| Idle Average * | 7.5 | 9.5 | 8.3 | 11.1 | 6.5 | 6.6 | 5.9 | 5.2 | 8.6 | 9.7 |
| Idle Maximum * | 8 | 10.7 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 9.1 | 9.2 | 6.4 | 7.1 | 8.7 | 13 |
| Load Average * | 49 | 62 | 61 | 81 | 53.4 | 61 | 54 | 46.2 | 32.8 | 40.4 |
| Load Maximum * | 55.2 | 86.7 | 86 | 123.3 | 55.6 | 50 | 66 | 57 | 40.9 | 42.2 |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 50.6 | 84 | 95.11 | 40 | 51 | 38.5 | 38.2 |
* ... smaller is better
Benchmarks
| PCMark 7 - Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Aspire 5 A515-51G-51RL | |
