Best multitasking laptops under $700

Start with the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x. It's the only one here that genuinely handles heavy multitasking out of the box — 16 GB of memory and a 512 GB SSD, with a long-lasting Snapdragon chip and a bright, efficient build. The catch: its memory is soldered, so plan on buying it with enough RAM from day one; the SSD is the part you can swap later.

If you want to open it up and add parts yourself, the Acer Aspire Go is the friendliest of the bunch — a Ryzen 5 with 8 GB and a 512 GB SSD, and a chassis that's easy to work in. Budget a RAM stick and a bigger drive soon after.

For the biggest screen on a tight budget, the HP 17.3" gives you a roomy display for spreadsheets and windows side by side, but expect to add memory early.

None of these advertise user-accessible RAM slots, so confirm the service manual before you buy if swapping parts is a must.