7 Best Laptops with SSD in 2023

Choose an SSD laptop and get the real meaning of the word “fast”.

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The main reason for choosing a laptop with SSD storage is that we want them to be fast.

SSDs, and especially the newer generations of NVMe SSD, significantly cut down the loading speeds and boots, but Solid State Drives alone won’t make your laptop fly through tasks and games.

That’s why we’ve listed 7 best laptops with SSD — and other specs — to help you make the right choice.

Curious about the best and fastest of productivity and gaming laptops with SSD storage? Then read on.

Minimum & Recommended System Requirements

There’s not much point in comparing SSD (Solid-State Drive) and HDD (Hard Disk Drive) storage. SSD is much faster and it has become the new standard in laptop production.

Some laptops combine SSD and HDD for bigger storage capacity, but the fast loading and accessing files or games in blink of an eye is all SSD.

The loading alone, however, won’t matter much if you don’t have other specs to run and optimize the ongoing processes. So, to get the best out of your new SSD laptop, shoot for the specs below.

Minimum Recommended
CPU11th Gen Intel Core i312th Intel Core i7
RAM8GB16GB
Storage128GB512GB to 1TB
Display13.3-inch FHD IPS (1920 x 1080)15.6-inch FHD IPS (1920 x 1080)
GPUIntel Integrated UHDIntel Iris Xe for regular laptops,
RTX 3050 for gaming laptops
BatteryUp to 4 hoursUp to 8 hours

Top 7 Laptops with SSD

Alright, ready to see how it all comes together with SSD? Then let’s check out the best laptops with SSD storage below.

1. Cheapest Option from Acer: Acer Aspire 5

Acer Aspire 5

  • CPU: 3GHz Intel Core i3-1115G4
  • RAM: 8GB DDR4
  • Storage: 128GB SDD
  • Display: 15.6-inch FHD IPS (1920 x 1080)
  • GPU: Integrated Intel UHD G4
  • Battery: Up to 11 hours

If you want a relatively fast laptop with SSD, but don’t have money to spare, Acer Aspire 5 offers enough power for businesspeople and students, a nice display, and a slim design.

Powered by 11th Gen. Intel Core i3 and an integrated GPU, along with 8GB RAM, Aspire can easily handle working on documents, multiple tabs, in Google Drive, and Excel datasheets. I could still open the heavier software — CAD tools, Blender, or video editors — but they were painfully slow.

For this price, I thought Acer’s display is quite nice. 15.6” IPS panel is large, crisp, and vivid — and much better than the TN panels you can still find in more expensive laptops.

The machine feels pretty light. It’s amazing how far laptops have come in terms of portability — 3.64 lbs for a 15” laptop feels like nothing, and it’s super easy to carry around.

Add to that a strong battery life of 10-11 hours, and you’ve got a laptop that smokes more expensive laptops — like Lenovo IdeaPad 3 — in how much it lasts.

Aspire comes with a newer generation of SSD which is super fast, but the base model only has 128GB. It’s not the best solution for storing movies, courses, and large media files, so I’d upgrade it to at least 256GB.

But overall, for this price, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better laptop with SSD. While it has its drawbacks, it’s one of the strongest options on the market.

  • What We Like
  • Affordable price
  • Solid performance
  • Vivid display
  • Great portability
  • Upgradable SSD
  • Lightweight and slim design
  • What We Don’t Like
  • Low-range GPU
  • Low storage capacity

2. Budget Laptop for Home & Business: HP 15

HP 15

  • CPU: 2.6GHz AMD Ryzen 3 5300U
  • RAM: 8GB DDR4
  • Storage: 256GB SSD
  • Display: 15.6-inch ‎HD (1366 x 768)
  • GPU: Integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega 6
  • Battery: Up to 9 hours

HP 15 is a great business laptop with SSD storage, that will do well with administrative work, number crunching, datasheets, doc preparation, PDFs, and even light photo editing.

For a very reasonable price, HP packs a mid-range Ryzen 3 with Radeon graphics. This combo gave me a smooth, lag-free workflow with most office tasks. For heavier tasks, I’d upgrade the RAM, though.

When it comes to business laptops, design is very important. Besides Lenovo, HP is the strongest contender in this department. Silver finish, thin bezels, and a polished logo on the lid both look classy and won’t be distracting in meetings.

And the machine feels quite light and easy to carry around in a bag or backpack.

The 15.6” HD display looks great when viewing documents — although I would have preferred a little brighter panel. This won’t matter much indoors, but working outdoors might be a challenge.

As for storage, HP 15 comes with 256GB which is enough for most office work. However, if you also save loads of photos and videos, this can easily fill up.

There are also a 720p webcam and a large speaker below the hinge. I found them average, but good enough for video calls.

If you’re using this SSD laptop mainly for business purposes, HP 15 will do great — and last quite some time.

  • What We Like
  • Professional design
  • Lightweight
  • Long battery life
  • Strong CPU
  • Compact keyboard with numpad
  • Great value for money
  • What We Don’t Like
  • Middling brightness
  • Mediocre webcam

3. Mid-Range Productivity Laptop: Lenovo IdeaPad 3i

Lenovo IdeaPad 3i

  • CPU: 1.3GHz Intel Core i5-1235U
  • RAM: 8GB DDR4
  • Storage: 512GB SDD
  • Display: 15.6-inch FHD IPS (1920 x 1080)
  • GPU: Integrated Intel Iris Xe
  • Battery: Up to 9 hours

I write on IdeaPad 3, so I looked forward to checking out 3i. Overall, it’s a pretty capable productivity laptop with SSD, and I really liked the display and design.

The 3i comes with a 12th Gen. i5 and Intel Iris Xe, which work awesome with any sort of document tasks — PDFs, G Suite, or MS Office. To compare, IdeaPad 3 occasionally gets confused with PPTs, but this hasn’t happened with 3i.

8GB RAM will get you through most of the multitasking and multiple tabs, since IdeaPad activates tabs when you open them, so there’s no hoarding the RAM. If you work with massive datasheets, I’d consider upgrading to 16GB.

My IdeaPad is 14”, and switching to 15.6” on 3i has its benefits, especially for G Docs. The panel is brighter, which is always a good thing, but I still wouldn’t take it to work outdoors.

The IdeaPad 3i is only a little heavier, which is ridiculous. 3.5 lbs still feels like nothing, and you get a bigger screen.

Like most Lenovo laptops, this one has a great keyboard. It’s silent, tactile, and comes with a numpad.

Some reviews say the battery life lasts 10-11 hours, but that wasn’t the case in my experience. Budget Lenovo laptops draw around 7-9 hours of general tasks, at best, which is still good enough.

Overall, Lenovo IdeaPad 3i is a practical choice for productivity among SSD laptops. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great solution at this price range.

  • What We Like
  • Affordable
  • Great performance
  • Beautiful IPS panel
  • Great portability
  • Sturdy and sleek
  • Comfy keyboard with numpad
  • What We Don’t Like
  • Can get hot
  • Middling battery life

4. Best Mid-Range Convertible: HP Envy x360

HP Envy x360

  • CPU: 2.0GHz AMD Ryzen 7 5825U
  • RAM: 8GB DDR4
  • Storage: 512GB SSD
  • Display: 15-inch FHD (1920 x 1080)
  • GPU: Integrated Radeon RX Vega 8
  • Battery: Up to 11 hours

If you’re like me and love scribbling on your laptop, check out HP Envy x360. It’s a mid-range laptop with SSD, touchscreen, and strong CPU that won’t cost you an arm and leg.

The star of the show is obviously the 15” panel that flips back 360°. First off, as an amateur photographer, I love the blacks and contrast on this thing. I also appreciate how the whole desktop workspace flips to accommodate the position of the display. It’s a gorgeous, color-accurate and responsive display.

Envy works pretty fast with docs and media, which is awesome for businesspeople and students. A Ryzen 7 and Radeon GPU are a good match, although with photo and video edits things can slow down.

This is a classy productivity laptop, through and through. The sturdy and polished design clearly give off office or classroom vibes.

I was surprised by the weight of Envy x360. Sure, 4 lbs aren’t exactly MacBook Air, but for a 15” laptop, it’s quite reasonable and easy to get used to. I’d imagine everyone going to college and commuting will have no problem carrying it.

The main problem, just like with HP Spectre, is that a 15” laptop in tablet mode can feel a little uncomfortable if you’re holding it.

Plus, HP,  for whatever reasons, insists on bloatware, which can get annoying.

But overall, you get an amazing convertible laptop with SSD, strong specs, a ridiculously good keyboard and a gorgeous touchscreen.

  • What We Like
  • Beautiful touchscreen panel
  • Strong CPU
  • Refined, lightweight design
  • Amazing keyboard
  • Long battery life
  • Loads of ports
  • What We Don’t Like
  • Integrated GPU
  • Bloatware

5. Latest Business Laptop: Acer Swift Go 14

Acer Swift Go 14

  • CPU: 1.7GHz Intel Core i7-1355U
  • RAM: 16GB DDR5
  • Storage: 512GB SDD
  • Display: 14-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200)
  • GPU: Integrated Intel Iris Xe
  • Battery: Up to 9 Hours

Acer Swift is one of the more popular business laptops. Their newest model, Acer Swift Go, is a touchscreen powerhouse and a super-portable SSD laptop.

Acer didn’t fool around with this one — the 13th Gen. i7 blasts through workloads with documents, datasheets, and presentations. You can also do light-to-medium CAD work and photo editing, though this is capped by the integrated Intel Iris GPU.

A color-accurate, crisp 14” touchscreen panel is perfect for signing documents, taking notes, and editing workflows on the go.

While most laptop brands are just switching to 1080p cam, Swift Go already takes it a step further with a higher-quality 1440p webcam. I actually quite liked the image, especially in low-light conditions.

The design mostly reminds me of MacBook Air M1. The chassis feels sturdy, streamlined and pretty lightweight at 2.76 lbs.

The main drawback is that you can’t upgrade the RAM, since it’s soldered. Though 16GB of the latest DDR5 RAM will serve you many years.

In addition to that, the keyboard is tactile and comfy, but I can’t say I’m a fan of extra spaces between keys — it took some time to get used to them. This one still goes over to MacBooks.

Overall, it’s curious that Acer chose to pair the latest gen. CPU with an integrated GPU. But in doing so, they’ve created a long-lasting, high-value SSD laptop, perfect for businesspeople.

  • What We Like
  • Latest-gen. CPU
  • Color-accurate touchscreen panel
  • Sturdy and sleek design
  • Lightweight and portable
  • High-quality webcam and speakers
  • Very reasonable price
  • What We Don’t Like
  • Non-upgradable RAM
  • Odd keyboard layout

6. Gaming All-Star from MSI: MSI Pulse GL66

MSI Pulse GL66

  • CPU: 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-12700H
  • RAM: 16GB DDR5
  • Storage: 512GB SSD
  • Display: 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080)
  • GPU: 8GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
  • Battery: Up to 6 hours

All my gaming peeps that want an SSD gaming laptop and great value for money, MSI Pulse might just be your jam. With super-solid specs, NVMe, high refresh rate and leveled price, Pulse does really well.

We all know MSI likes to pump things up a bit (Titan, anyone?), but Pulse was created to be a high-value budget gaming laptop

The spec sheet seems to do just that: a 12th Gen. i7, RTX 3070, and 512GB NVMe SSD are way ahead of the competitors like Acer Nitro 5 and Lenovo Legion. 

Performance-wise, MSI pulled really high fps with AAA titles (w/o ray tracing, though) and did great on content creation tests. With ray tracing, the fps go down to about 60-70, which is still good.

During heavy gaming, I did notice fans kicking in hard, but overall, I’d say they do a good job with cooling.

As for the display, I thought it was pretty fast. It’s always great to game on a 15.6” panel with a high refresh rate, though I will say that older models are horrible with color accuracy. The newer ones, however, are much better.

The battery life wasn’t abysmal like the MSI Katana, but still, it’s worth noting that getting more than 2-3 hours of gaming is going to be a challenge.

Overall, if you want a sleek, gamer laptop with SSD, for a very reasonable price, MSI Pulse seems to outrank many similar machines under $1500.

  • What We Like
  • Great value for money
  • Awesome CPU/GPU combo
  • High refresh rate panel
  • Efficient cooling
  • Good ports selection
  • Sleek design
  • What We Don’t Like
  • Loud fans
  • Middling battery life

7. Gaming Monster: ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15

  • CPU: 2.5GHz Intel Core i9-12900H
  • RAM: 16GB DDR5
  • Storage: 1TB SDD
  • Display: 15.6-inch QHD IPS (2560 x 1440)
  • GPU: 8GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070TI
  • Battery: Up to 5 hours

Switching from MSI Pulse to ROG Strix Scar is like jumping from a Ferrari into a Lamborghini (not that I would know). Of course this gaming laptop comes with SSD, but more importantly, it’s got a beastly display, powerful specs, and good portability.

Strix Scar is among the very few gaming laptops with both ultra-fast AND color-accurate display. The 240Hz 15.6” panel feels and looks amazing. Playing Valorant and Doom Eternal just hits differently with a smooth flow and fast action.

The 12th Gen. i9 and 3070 Ti perform consistently well with high fps. Strix’s been getting some of the highest scores for a few years now, bested only by Zephyrus and MSI Titan. The new RTX 40-series is faster, but in many cases it’s still overkill.

In terms of design, Strix Scar is an aluminum-plastic RGB fiesta, and I happen to like RGB strips, backlights, and plastic see-through parts, though they aren’t for everyone.

Overall portability is pretty good. I’ve got 5-7 hours of battery life easily, and more with general tasks. Plus, the whole thing weighs 5 lbs, which is reasonable for a large gaming laptop.

It feels weird that Strix doesn’t have a webcam, and this can be a turn-off for some people. Fans did get loud from time to time, though the cooling was quite good.

If you don’t mind the lack of a webcam, ROG Strix Scar is among the most well-regarded SSD gaming laptops that you surely won’t regret buying for under $2000.

  • What We Like
  • High-end performance
  • Fast and color-accurate display
  • Ample RAM and storage
  • Gamer design
  • Good overall portability
  • Great keyboard and touchpad
  • What We Don’t Like
  • No webcam
  • Loud fans

Buying Guide for Best Laptops with SSD

SSDs are the best — these drives make our laptops snappier, lighter, and much more efficient machines. However, there are some other specs to look at depending on your overall needs, so let’s check all of them together: 

1. First Things First: NVMe or SATA SSD?

SSDs use one of the two storage protocols to communicate with the laptop: NVMe or SATA. Both of these protocols in SSDs are much faster than HDDs.

NVMe is a newer one and at least three times faster than SATA. So, whenever possible and if it fits into your budget, go for the NVMe version.

2. Get a Capable CPU

CPU is the main component on any laptop. An SSD will retrieve a file or game quickly, but where you go from there depends entirely on CPU and GPU.

If you’re looking for a regular laptop with SSD, maybe for office or studies, get at least an 11th Gen. Intel Core i3. If your budget allows it, a newer i5 or i7 would be even better.

However, if you’re a gamer and want to play the AAA titles, then an i7 is a must. 12th Gen. is preferable, and if you want the best results, then go for 12th or even a 13th Gen. i7 or i9.

2. Don’t Forget RAM

SDD storage will load files, but the actual processing and everyday minutia relies mainly on RAM memory.

For regular laptops and moderate tasks, 8GB RAM is quite enough. However, if you’re also doing heavier tasks — like heavy Excel work, photo/video editing, and CAD work — 16GB is the minimum.

As for gaming, while most games don’t require more than 8GB RAM, you want to go for at least 16GB to future-proof your laptop. 

3. GPU is Next

Graphics card isn’t really connected to SSD, but it is super important for many tasks and processes.

In case of regular work — unless you’re working in 3D modeling or photo and video editing software — an integrated GPU, like Intel Iris or even Intel UHD, will suffice.

But if you’re into gaming and visual tasks, you’d want to get a strong dedicated GPU. The best gaming laptops already have the newest NVIDIA RTX 40-series, though 30-series is quite enough in most cases.

4. Consider the Display 

Of course, the display is important in any laptop. For most regular work, you want to go for an IPS panel. When it comes to the screen size, this is individual — choose what suits you best. However, bear in mind that a larger display often means lower battery life and higher weight.

For gaming, you want a display with high refresh rate since this will show in fast-paced games. In eSports, 240Hz and 300Hz displays do make a difference, but otherwise anything from 120Hz and up is quite enough.

Finally, if your work depends on color accuracy (photo and video editing, CAD, 3D modeling), make sure to check the sRGB and Adobe RGB profiles, as well as DCI-P3 numbers. Higher percentage of these also means better screen calibration and higher color accuracy.

5. Think About Battery Life and Portability 

People who are often out and about should consider the battery life and weight of a laptop. If you’re a gamer in college, for example, the best laptops for gaming and school will be both powerful and light.

Most regular laptops weigh from 2.7 to 4 lbs, depending on the size, and these are easy to carry around. Battery life, depending on a laptop, goes from 4-5 hours and up to 16-17 hours. You want to get one that suits your needs best.

Gaming laptops have higher specs and bulkier chassis, which makes them heavier. Most gaming laptops go from 5 to 7 pounds, and in extreme cases over 10 lbs. They also have a shorter battery life, typically ranging from 4 to 7 hours.

FAQs about Laptops with SSD

Are SSD laptops faster?

Yes, they are. When compared to Hard Disk Drives, SSDs are faster, snappier, and more reliable. As a result, the laptop can process information quickly and handle data more efficiently.

Why are SSD notebooks relatively expensive?

Besides other specs, Solid State Drives are more expensive than the old-school HDDs. This is because the SSDs are made with caution and designed to provide the best speed and durability. In case you didn’t know, an SSD is less likely to corrupt your data.

Are hybrid storage laptops good enough?

Hybrid storage laptops are good in the sense that you can store all the important data in the SSD and the not-so-important data in HDD. This way, you can access games and apps very quickly while saving a lot of money in the long run.

How much should I spend on a laptop with SSD?

SSD has become the new standard today and, other than hybrid laptops, most laptops nowadays come with SSD storage. The pricing will mostly depend on the other specs like CPU, GPU, display, and form factor.

Is SSD good for gaming?

Yes. When compared to Hard Disk Drives, SSDs make the better choice for gaming needs. A full-speed SSD translates to good transfer speeds among other things. And, if you have a laptop with a nice screen and dedicated graphics card, you’re good to go.

Verdict

I hope you managed to pick the best SSD laptop for you. As mentioned before, you should consider a set of factors before making the final choice

While it’s true that any SSD storage is better than an HDD drive, you have to think about your requirements and the budget.

To break it down a little more:

  • ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 is the best gaming laptop with SSD on our list, because of high-end performance, amazing display, and great value for money;
  • HP Envy x360 is a wonderful convertible laptop with SSD storage that lets you enjoy the fast performance in a tablet mode;
  • The best budget business laptop with SSD storage is HP 15.

What did you think about the selection? If there are any other amazing laptops you’d like to add, or you have additional questions, leave a comment below.

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