Intel Core i5 laptops are one of the best processor choices out there. Sadly, just making up your mind to get the best i5 laptop is not enough. There are dozens of different options and each option has a unique set of specifications, metrics, and benchmarks. Also, each Intel Core i5 laptop comes with its own price tag; keep in mind that more expensive laptops are not necessarily better than cheaper alternatives. However, if you know exactly what you’re looking for, you will be able to find the right laptop for your needs.

5 best i5 laptops In this post, I’ll cover what you will need to know to make the best choice and what are the best i5 laptops right now. You’ll get to know the pros and cons of every selected model, so you can make an informed decision.

How to Find the Best i5 Laptop

Processor performance

When it comes to i5 processors, you can choose from two series: the i5 U and the i5 HQ series.

The i5 U – short for “ultra-low power” – is Intel’s low-power CPU. Most of the time, these processors are dual-core that are advertised to reduce power consumption (and TDP) significantly. In other words, this series of CPUs is intended to maximize the battery life of your laptop.

In contrast, the i5 HQ – short for “High-Performance Graphics, Quad Core” – is a quad-core processor that was designed for maximum performance. It doesn’t really care about battery life but delivers speed and performance.

Perfect amount of RAM for best i5 laptop

The absolute minimum amount of RAM should be 4 GB. That is a viable option only if you’re on a very limited budget. The line between 4 GB and 8 GB laptops is $450. But there are a few laptops between $350 – $400 with 6 GB. That might be a sweet spot for you.

The preferred amount of RAM of an i5 laptop is 8 GB. With 8 GB of RAM – the laptop will run smoothly and will not feel sluggish when switching between tasks.

For heaviest of multitaskers, 16GB of RAM should be more than enough. However, keep in mind that the normal user rarely needs more than 8GB. If you really need 16GB, you should consider buying a more capable laptop in Intel i7 series.

Lastly, if you’re on a fence on how much RAM you should insist – prefer to get a larger laptop with upgradable memory. That way you’ll be able to get the memory upgrade if you’ll ever need it. You may not need an upgrade, but it’s comforting to know you can do it if necessary.

Fast Storage

As you might already be aware, an SSD drive will speed up any laptop; sometimes by a lot.

When should you get an SSD?

If your budget is under $500, forget about SSD drives in Windows laptops because these start from $550. There are exceptions but none come with an i5 processor or anything close to it. If you can’t spend a dime more than $1000, you’ll need to choose between a small & fast 250GB SSD or a large & slow 1000GB HDD.

If you can go above $1000, you should insist on an SSD. Then, you can even get an SSD of 500GB.

What is optional of an i5 laptop?

Dedicated Graphics Card

Most avid gamers know that integrated graphics cards are very limited in their capacity. At the same time, nearly all i5 laptops come with an integrated graphics chip. You don’t need to be Einstein to realize that most i5 laptops are not suited for hardcore gaming and live streaming.

But there are some i5 laptops (especially in H-series) that can be used for more than just casual gaming. These laptops come with a dedicated graphics card from Nvidia. For the best i5 laptop, we recommend getting either the GTX 950M or 960M. These are significantly faster than integrated graphics. However, avoid the 940M as it doesn’t provide any real advantages over the default Intel setup.

Also remember that top of the line graphics cards are not found in i5 laptops. These are reserved for the more capable Core i7 laptops.

Best i5 Laptops

The i5 laptops we recommend are listed by their price in ascending order. You will notice that there are very few i5 laptops that cost over $1000. This is because you can get a far better laptop with an i7 CPU at that price range.

HP 15-ay011nr

1
Good starting point
Price
$460
i5-6200U | HD 520 | 8GB RAM | 1000 GB HDD | 15.6″ 1920×1080 | 5h 45min

This laptop has one of the better i5 processors on the market: the Intel Core i5 6200U, 2.3 GHz dual-core. In fact, this i5 laptop costs as little as a good i3 one; a real bargain!

It does not come with an SSD drive as far as storage is concerned. However, it has a pretty large 1TB hard disk drive. This is more than enough for most users and shouldn’t concern you too much.

This laptop has one of the better i5 processors on the market: the Intel Core i5 6200U, 2.3 GHz dual-core. In fact, this i5 laptop costs as little as a good i3 one; a real bargain!

It has remarkable specifications, including 8GB or high-speed RAM and a full HD 15.6-inch display (1920 x 1080) – SVA anti-glare is included as well. This HP i5 laptop also comes with a USB 3.0 port and runs on Windows 10.

The battery life is 5 hours and 45 minutes, which is pretty good for this price point. In fact, this laptop has one of the better batteries.

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G-53VG)

2
Popular i5 laptop
Price
$550
i5-6200U | 940MX 2GB | 8GB RAM | 250 GB SSD | 15.6″ 1920×1080 | 9h

The Acer Aspire E15 was a very well-received model that got a lot of positive reviews from its users in short time. It has the same processor as the HP HP 15-ay011nr (i5 6200U).

It comes with 250GB on its SSD drive. This is not a lot of storage, but should suffice for normal users. Remember that nowadays, you are not storing large HD movies on your laptop. Instead, you stream them from services like YouTube, NetFLix, Hulu, and HBO. This means that the lack of a massive storage is not a problem.

The Aspire E15 comes with NVIDIA GeForce 940MX dedicated video card that has 2 GB of DDR5 VRAM. This video card is perfect for casual gaming. However, if you want to play the latest games, you will need to consider purchasing a more capable card.

The battery on this model can last up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi if you dim down the screen to 20%. This is a pretty long battery runtime for a laptop at this price point.

ASUS ZenBook UX303UA

3
Best small i5 laptop
Price
$800
i5-6200U | HD 520 | 8GB RAM | 250 GB SSD | 13.3″ Touch IPS 1920×1080 | 4h

The ASUS ZenBook UX303UA is a capable laptop, but the 13.3-inch size may feel a little small to some users. However, it compensates in other areas.

The laptop has a touchscreen with an IPS panel. In other words, you get amazing viewing angles and great colors from the display. The keyboard is very slick and backlit.

Unfortunately, the battery life of ~4 hours is a bit disappointing. However, it can be enough if you don’t need to work with your laptop not plugged in all the time.

If you need a small, high-portable laptops that you can carry with you everywhere, the ASUS ZenBook UX303 UA is a very good option, especially if you don’t need a long battery life.

Dell Inspiron i7559-763BLK

4
Best 15 inch Core i5 laptop
Price
$800
i5-6300HQ | 960M 4GB | 8GB RAM | 250 GB SSD | 15.6″ IPS 1920×1080 | N/A

The Dell Inspiron i7559-763BLK is a very good option if you need a gaming laptop and are on a budget.

It runs on the i5-6300HQ CPU that manages to outperform even some of the lower-end i7 processors like the i7-5500U and i7-6500U. The processor is quad core, so you can use it for resource intensive video rendering or other CPU intensive tasks. If you can’t afford an i7-6700HQ, this is the laptop for you!

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics card is fast enough to play the latest games at high details. However, the most demanding games will need some resolution and settings changes to run smoothly.

The IPS panel on this laptop is brilliant. Although it’s one of the cheaper panels, it has very good angles and colors. However, its brightness is just about 200 cd/m. In other words, you don’t want to use it outside on a sunny day.

If you need a cheap laptop that can run the latest games, you may want to consider the versatile Dell Inspiron i7559-763BLK.

Microsoft Surface Pro 4

5
Great 2-in-1 i5 laptop
Price
$1,100
i5-6300U | HD 520 | 8GB RAM | 250 GB SSD | 12.3″ Touch IPS 2736×1824 | 7h

The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is the smallest laptop on our list but is a much better value-conscious deal than the Surface Pro 4 with the i7 CPU. The i7 variant is marginally faster but is a lot more expensive than the i5 model.

The Surface Pro 4 has a brilliant screen. You get touchscreen capabilities and an amazing IPS panel for wide viewing angles at a high resolution of 2736×1824. The average brightness is 400 nits, the contrast is 1200:1 and it the display has 95% sRGB coverage. You can do professional visual work on this display, that’s how good it is!

On top of that, it has a solid battery life of around 7 hours.

You may want to ensure your seller has a good return policy because there have been many hardware issues with the Surface Pro 4 – compared to the Surface Pro 3.

Apple MacBook Air MMGG2LL/A

6
Best i5 laptop
Price
$1,100
Core i5 | HD Graphics 6000 | 8GB RAM | 250 GB SSD | 13.3″ IPS 1440×900 | 10h 30min

The MacBook Air has a very good screen with great metrics; however, it has a low resolution. There are no Air models with Apple’s renowned Retina display, unfortunately.

The battery life on this laptop is amazing: 10 hours of browsing the Internet. It can last you an entire day in most cases. The sleek design is very light and great looking.

For the best bang for your money, you want to pick the 250GB SSD and the 8 GB RAM version of the MacBook Air. Your laptop will be essentially future-proof.

As with most MacBooks, this laptop is not suitable for gaming purposes. So don’t expect the latest games to work decently on this laptop.

Even if you’re not an Apple fan, the MacBook Air is a great choice. And if you are an Apple fan, getting this netbook is a no-brainer.

Now you know what to look for in an i5 laptop and know what the best models are on the market today. If you have any questions or you’d like a personal recommendation – please don’t shy away from leaving a comment down below!

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