With a starting price of $999, the iPhone X is the most expensive mainstream smartphone yet. For that kind of money, you can get a high-end laptop with enough performance and battery life to help you get ahead at work or school.
Even though the iPhone X is powerful and has a great design, it still can't take the place of a notebook when you need to write a report, edit a photo or develop your own apps. And forget about playing AAA games such as Destiny 2 on a phone. Here are 10 great laptops you can get for the less than the cost of an iPhone X.
Dell's 13-inch laptop weighs a mere 2.7 pounds, lasts nearly 14 hours on a charge and has, like the iPhone X, has a gorgeous, nearly bezel-free display. However, its 13.3-inch screen is much more suited for looking at spreadsheets or watching videos than the iPhone's tiny 5.8-inch panel. Our favorite consumer laptop starts at $799, $200 cheaper than the entry-level iPhone X. However, the entry-level configuration has just a Core i3 CPU and 4GB of RAM. We recommend getting at least a Core i5-7200U CPU and 8GB of RAM, which normally costs $999, but is now $900 with coupon code SAVE10XPS. We recommend upgrading to a 256GB SSD, which will cost $999 -- the same price as the iPhone X -- after you apply the coupon.
Don't even think about hooking an iPhone X up to an HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. To get the truly immersive VR experience that these headsets provide, you need a PC that has at least an Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card. Lenovo's 15-inch Legion Y520 gaming laptop has not only a GTX 1060 chip, but also a quad-core Core i7 CPU, a 1080p screen and both a 1TB hard drive and a 128GB SSD. For a limited time, using coupon code HOMEEXTRA5 takes $50 off the $999 price.
Sure, you can play mobile games on an iPhone X, but when you want to fire up the most immersive titles, you need a PC laptop. You can get the 15-inch Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming laptop starting at $799. For that price, you get a quad-core CPU, 1080p screen and Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics. The new, redesigned model starts at $999 and comes with a 256GB SSD instead of a hard drive.
One of the best laptop values you can get anywhere, the Asus UX330UA packs a speedy Core i5 CPU, sharp 1080p display and spacious 256GB SSD into a premium, 2.7-pound chassis. Best of all, this sub-$700 laptop lasts more than 10 hours on a charge.
For $400 less than the price of an iPhone X, you can get the Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G-57D4). This 15-inch laptop sports a colorful full HD display, a 256GB SSD, a Core i5 processor and discrete Nvidia 940MX graphics. Even better, the E 15 lasts nearly 11 hours on a charge.
While most Apple laptops are over $1,000, you can still get a brand new MacBook Air for $999 (sometimes less when it's on sale). The entry-level MacBook Air comes with a Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. The 2.96-pound laptop is made from unibody aluminum, but has room for USB 3.0 ports and an SD card reader, two features you won't find on a MacBook or MacBook Pro. The Air's screen is a modest 1440 x 900 resolution, but its SSD is blazing fast and the whole system should last more than 10 hours on a charge.
Starting at just $849, the 13-inch Yoga 720 is a premium bendback 2-in-1 that features a brilliant full HD screen and a speedy PCIe SSD. The laptop also weighs a mere 2.8 pounds, which makes it extremely easy to carry with you, wherever you go. If you're willing to stretch your budget to $999, you can grab the Yoga 720 (15-inch) which lasts nearly 9 hours on a charge.
We haven't drop tested the iPhone X yet, but I doubt that it would survive a 3.9-foot fall onto concrete, unless it's wearing a protective case. However, we dropped the Asus VivoBook W202NA from that height multiple times and it came away with only a few minor scratches. Priced at $299, the W202NA is so affordable that you could buy three units for far less than the cost of a single iPhone X. The education-centric, Windows 10 S laptop features an 11.6-inch display, plenty of ports and all-day battery life. It also weighs a mere 2.6 pounds.
Microsoft is the leader in detachable 2-in-1s and it's easy to see why. The Surface Pro has an attractive magnesium chassis with a best-in-class kickstand, along with vibrant, high-res screen and strong performance. The base model Surface Pro costs $799, but you'll definitely want to attach a $129 Type Cover so you can use it as a laptop.
You can buy five Samsung Chromebook 3 laptops for less than the price of a single iPhone X. While its screen is not as colorful or sharp as the iPhone's, the Chromebook 3 provides an excellent web browsing experience and easy access to Google's rich ecosystem of online tools (Google docs, Gmail, etc). Best of all, this very-affordable, 11.6-inch laptop lasts nearly 10 hours on a charge.
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