Wirecutter - What exactly is 5G, anyway?

Dana Davis

The term “5G” often comes with a confusing jumble of buzzwords and hype. Self-driving cars! Vivid virtual reality! Full-length movies downloaded in seconds! But in the few years since its debut, 5G has fallen vastly short of these promises.

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That said, the technology isn’t all marketing hype. Depending on your location, cell phone, and carrier, the fifth-generation mobile network could provide you with a speedy connection. Here’s what you need to know.

There are plenty of cheap laptops, but only a few don’t totally suck. To help you weed through the duds, we’ve rounded up the best budget-friendly options.

At this price, we think Chromebooks work best for most people—specifically the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook—because they work fast and have great build quality, battery life, and hardware. But if you need to run Windows apps or games, or if you prefer to work offline, we have picks for you, too.

The fast, compact, and lightweight Acer Aspire 5 is the best Windows laptop under $500. For a larger display, we also like the Asus VivoBook 15, which comes with a 1080p screen, a backlit keyboard, and a solid trackpad. Check out the rest of our picks in our full and updated guide.