A while ago, we did a list of the best laptops you could find in Malaysia priced at RM3,000 and below. However, we knew that quite a few of you out there would want a bit more out of your device even if it means paying a little more. As such, we’ve come up with a list of laptops that you can find for RM5,000 and below for all the different use cases out there, be it for content creation, gaming or just regular day-to-day work.
Best MacBook
MacBook Air M1
We’re starting off with perhaps the simplest category to have a recommendation in, mostly because in this category there’s only a single laptop that meets the budget we’ve set for ourselves. Basically, if you’re looking for a MacOS laptop below RM5,000, the only one you can get is the 2020 MacBook Air M1.
While it’s certainly not Apple’s shiny new redesigned MacBook Air from earlier this year, for most users the M1 MacBook Air is still quite a solid machine. It has the Apple M1 chip with 8 CPU cores, 7 GPU cores, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, all for RM4,399. Don’t expect to get any upgrade though, as bumping up either the RAM to 16GB or the storage to 512GB will cost you an additional RM800 each.
That being said though, for most people who would want a MacBook Air, chances are this base model from 2020 will do you just fine be it for attending classes in college, word processing for work, watching Netflix in bed or even just to fit in with the cool kids at your local Starbucks. It has a great 18-hour battery life too to keep on the a 13.3-inch Retina Display pushing a 2560 x 1600p resolution with 400nits of brightness (that’s also notch-free by the way).
Other features of note include stereo speakers, a 720p FaceTime HD webcam, two USB-C 4 ports, Touch ID and a 3.5mm audio jack. You’ll be able to get it from the Apple website as well as retailers on Shopee and Lazada.
Best laptop for content creation
It used to be that if you wanted a laptop for content creation you either got yourself a powerful gaming laptop, or if you’re on the Mac side a MacBook Pro. These days though, quite a number of companies have begun emulating Cupertino with their own sleek and portable laptops that still pack quite a punch for heavier workloads. However, unlike Apple—whose MacBook Pro 14 and 16 start at RM8,799—in the Windows side, there’s actually quite a few decent options priced at under RM5,000.
Acer Swift X
We’re gonna start off with what was my personal favourite laptop of last year, the Acer Swift X. The specific model I’d recommend has actually recently gone up in price thanks to inflation, with a new recommended retail price of RM5,299, but you’ll regularly be able to find retailers on Shopee for instance pricing it below our budget requirements; this listing here for instance has the Swift X at just RM4,859.
Despite packing a typical looking exterior, underneath the hood the Swift X is quite a laptop. You’re looking at an AMD Ryzen 5825U with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti for graphics too. All of this comes together for a well oiled machine that packs solid performance for both content creation and gaming too. And while the U-series AMD chip does lack a little in performance compared to its H-series brethren, what it has on its side is battery life thanks to its lower power consumption; in our own review of it, we got 5 hours of heavy use out of it, and you’ll likely be able to squeeze more out of it under lighter workloads.
That’s not to say the Swift X is perfect though. Being a laptop from last year means that it packs an older generation processor rather than AMD’s latest Ryzen 6000 mobile lineup, though the Ryzen 7 5825U is actually a 2022 refresh of the Ryzen 7 5800U. It also doesn’t have the greatest display, having just a 14-inch, FHD IPS display with a mediocre 300nits of brightness, something that might be of concern to you if you need a good monitor for photo editing and the like. There’s two USB-A ports, a USB-C port, a 3.5mm jack and a HDMI port too.
Acer was supposed to have remedied this with 2022’s Swift X packing 12th Gen Intel Core processors and a brighter 1400p display, but at time of writing Acer has yet to bring this refreshed Swift X to our shores.
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro
All of that brings me to our next candidate for a content creation laptop, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro. The specific model we’re looking at again typically retails above our budget at RM5,309, but is often found under our budget with one listing here priced at just RM4,909.
It packs a much bigger and brighter 16-inch, WQXGA IPS display pushing 350nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate too. Under the hood, there’s an AMD Ryzen 5 6600HS with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD along with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. Despite being a newer generation chip, the Ryzen 5 6600HS is actually similar in performance to the Swift X’s Ryzen 7 5825U, a quirk of it being a Ryzen 5-class with 6 cores compared to the Ryzen 7’s 8 cores. The Ryzen 7 5825U is also a smidge better in battery life due to it having a lower power consumption.
Elsewhere, the IdeaPad 5 Pro has an FHD webcam, a 75Wh battery good for up to 9 hours of use, a HDMI port, a USB-C port, a USB-A port, a card reader slot and a 3.5mm audio jack along with stereo speakers. All in all, a very solid option still for content creators seeking a portable yet powerful option.
Best gaming laptop
If you want more power and more performance for all your gaming needs, then we’ve got you covered too with a couple of options here. Forget having to sacrifice graphical quality for a 3050-class graphics card, as both of our options here come with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards for even more frames in games. However, we will need to make some trade offs elsewhere, which we’ll get to in a minute.
Acer Nitro 5
We’re starting off with the perennial favourite among budget gamers on the go, the Acer Nitro 5. However, we’re actually going to recommend the last generation Nitro 5 here, which has an Intel Core i7-11800H with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060. Now you might think that a newer processor is better, but remember, we’re on a budget here and so need to cut corners somewhere. And seeing as this is a laptop for games first and foremost, a better GPU is the priority.
See, this specific Nitro 5 used to have a retail price of RM5,599, but can now be found for below RM5,000 on Shopee. In contrast, the current generation Nitro 5 would blow our budget by quite a bit. The comparable Nitro 5 with an Intel Core i7-12700H and an RTX 3060 for example would cost you RM5,999, while on the AMD side, a Nitro 5 with Ryzen 7 6800H and an RTX 3060 would be RM6,399.
Anyway, as for our Nitro 5 of choice, you’ll also be getting a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 3ms response time. You’ll also find a 57.5Wh battery, a 720p webcam, a spare HDD slot in case you’d like to add storage and an RGB keyboard. For I/O meanwhile there’s a USB-C port, three USB-A ports, a HDMI port, an Ethernet port and a 3.5mm audio jack too.
MSI GF66 Katana
Here’s another blast from the past option for you that’s well below our budget constraints. Available for as low as RM4,199 on Shopee at time of writing, the last generation MSI GF66 Katana also packs an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, but we’re cutting even more corners here as not only are we going last gen, but we’re also dropping down to a Core i5-11400H, with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. That’s roughly a 15% drop in CPU performance compared to the Core i7-11800H, but hey, it is comfortably below our cost cap and still has an RTX 3060.
You’ll also find a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate, as well as a 720p webcam above it. There’s a 51Whr battery too, while for I/O you get a USB-C port, three USB-A ports, an Ethernet port, a HDMI port and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Best laptop for media consumption
And now for the complete other end of the spectrum: laptops for media consumption. This means devices with big, beautiful screens and displays that pop to make watching content wherever you are as enjoyable as watching it on the big screen in the cinema.
Acer Swift Edge
We’re gonna start with a slight technicality here as the Acer Swift Edge was only recently announced in Malaysia with a starting price tag of RM5,299. However, it’s since been available on Shopee for as low as RM5,099 at time of writing… which yes, is still over our budget of RM5,000, but just hear me out for a second okay.
There’s a good reason to consider the Acer Swift Edge if you want a reasonably decent laptop with a great display. See, the Swift Edge comes with a 16-inch, 4K OLED display in a 16:10 aspect ratio, with a peak brightness of 500nits. It’s also extremely light for a laptop of its size, weighing in at 1.17kg—less than the 13-inch MacBook Air M2.
Under the hood, there’s an AMD Ryzen 6600U with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, powered up by a 54Wh battery with up to 10 hours of use. There’s also a FHD webcam, a HDMI port, two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Asus Zenbook 14 OLED
If we’re gonna talk OLED though, it’s hard to look past Asus’ range of laptops. They’ve got OLED panels on almost all of their devices, from entry-level ones to their high end laptops too. But the one we’re looking at in particular is the Zenbook 14 OLED, their mainstream flagship laptop.
The Zenbook 14 OLED is almost like your everyday thin-and-light, packing a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1240P, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, but the real star of its show is of course the 14-inch, 16:10 OLED display pushing a 2880 x 1800p resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate too. It tops out at 600nits of brightness when viewing HDR and when we got a chance to try it out for ourselves, the display simply wowed us with how deep the blacks and how vivid the colours are on this laptop.
You’ll also find a 75Wh battery which I stretch out to six hours of heavy usage, so you’ll probably be able to get even more content consumption with it if you don’t have a plethora of stuff running in the background like I do. You’ll also find a 720p webcam, a USB-A port, two USB-C 4 ports, a HDMI port, a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card reader too. The Zenbook 14 OLED goes for RM4,799, though the Core i7 model is also available at RM5,699.
Best Windows tablet
Now this is a bit out of left field, but there really are people out there who want and use a Windows-powered tablet, and I get it—they’re more portable and handy to carry around, using it with a stylus is easier while still offering the same Windows operating system we all know and love. However, they do tend to carry higher prices than regular laptops, but that’s not to say you can’t find options below RM5,000.
Microsoft Surface Pro 8
So this is actually yet another ‘last generation recommendation’, but that’s mostly because the Surface Pro 9 hasn’t been made available in Malaysia just yet, so we’re still stuck with the Surface Pro 8 as its most recent tablet here. When it was first launched here, it started at RM4,950 for the base model, but that has since dropped to as low as RM4,649 on Shopee.
It’s hard to not include the Surface Pro lineup when talking about Windows tablets, mostly because this is the device that started it all. With the Surface Pro 8 in particular, we’re talking an Intel Core i5-1135G7 under the hood paired with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. As for the display, you’re getting a 13-inch PixelSense display with a 2880 x 1920p resolution in a 3:2 aspect ratio. It’s touchscreen of course, and pushes a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate too.
Elsewhere, there’s a 51.5Wh battery with up to 16 hours of use, two USB-C 4 ports, a Surface Type Cover port, a Surface Connect port and a 3.5mm audio jack. There’s also stereo speakers, a 10MP camera on the back and a 5MP front camera too. However, it should be noted that the Surface Pen and Surface Type Cover are sold separately, so you’ll want to factor that into the final budget.
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5
Another Surface Pro-like tablet to consider is the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5. There’s a few models, but the one we’re looking at is the one with a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1235U, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Its display meanwhile is a 12.4-inch IPS display with a 2560 x 1600p resolution pushing 450nits. Priced at around RM4,499 on Shopee, it also comes with a Lenovo Digital Pen and the keyboard.
You’ll also find a 50Wh battery good for up to 9 hours of use, along with stereo speakers, a 5MP rear camera, a 5MP front camera, a 3.5mm audio jack and a pair of USB-C ports.
Best all-rounder laptop
If this was the end of last year, the Acer Swift X would’ve landed this spot hands down for sure. It offers great performance for both content creation and gaming, a solid battery life and is still very much a portable device—all at a great price too. However, it’s been a year since it arrived in Malaysia, and Acer has still yet to officially bring the refreshed Swift X to our shores.
As such, it’s hard to avoid looking at the other options on this list too, such as the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro or even the Zenbook 14 OLED. All of these would make for solid devices that’ll do you just fine in most situations. Of course, the IdeaPad 5 Pro and the Swift X stand out in particular mostly because they offer the best balance among all the criteria one would have when picking out a laptop.
That’s not to say that they’re the only good all-round laptops though. For someone in the corporate world for instance, a good all-round laptop might mean less focus on performance but lean a bit more into battery life. In that case the MacBook Air is certainly worth a shout or even the Surface Pro 8 if that’s more of your thing. If security is also a concern, then there’s a plethora of Lenovo ThinkPads that we did not mention that could be up your alley too.
Students might also want an all-rounder laptop as they need solid battery life for taking notes, good performance for running any programs their studies require or even for some light gaming in their spare time. You’ll want to double check on what exactly your main use case for their device will be though. If you’re going to be run a lot of heavy tasks such as computer simulation work or video editing, you might want to consider ones with beefier silicon under the hood, such as the IdeaPad 5 Pro or the Nitro 5. If they mostly only need it for taking notes and won’t be in their room most of the time, one with better battery life such as the MacBook Air might be the one for them instead.
Overall, with so many laptops in the market, these are just some of the best options for these different use cases that you can find right now for under RM5,000. If you spot any other option that we might have missed though, do let us know in the comments below!
[ UPDATE 9/11/22 ]: Just a few days after this list was published, Acer debuted a couple new laptops onto our shores and one of them certainly seemed super interesting. Meet the Acer Aspire 7.
While its hardware isn’t anything to shout about, what it does have going for it is pure price to performance. Priced at just RM3,899 and available on the official Acer Shopee store, it comfortably meets our budget requirements and if it sees a big enough discount could even sneak into our previous list of laptops for under RM3,000. The best part is that it has just that little bit of everything to make it a very well rounded laptop if your budget is say below RM4,000 rather than RM5,000.
For starters, the Acer Aspire 7 has a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1240P with 8GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM and a 512GB SSD. While 8GB of RAM isn’t much, you can find a second 8GB stick of DDR4 3200MHz RAM on places like Shopee for close to RM100. You can then simply pop open the laptop and add on the second stick for double the RAM.
On top of that, there’s also a large 15.6-inch, FHD display that has a 144Hz refresh rate too. Getting the laptop to push that many frames is an NVIDIA GeFore GTX 1650. While it’s an entry-level mobile graphics card from over three years ago now, it’s still going to be good enough for some light gaming or even newer titles if you don’t mind turning down some settings.
There’s also a 50Wh battery that Acer claims will last you 8 hours of use, support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 and a 720p webcam, while for I/O there’s a HDMI port, three USB-A ports, a USB-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack. Overall, this seems like a cut down version of the Swift X, with capable enough hardware for anyone with a sub-RM4,000 budget.
