When purchasing a laptop, many buyers are poorly informed about the specifications of the laptops. They generally believe that the laptop with low price, can’t produce quality work. Based on that opinion, a lot of customers think that all low-cost notebooks are bad. But it isn’t true. According to statistics, budget laptops more rarely go to the repair shops than relatively expensive devices.
Most often, the laptop is being purchased for comfortable work at a considerable distance from the office or at home, on business trips, or when traveling several hours from work to home. In these cases, it is not necessary to buy an expensive and powerful device but it is recommended to pay attention to build quality and the materials from which the housing is created. A fairly inexpensive laptop will be enough for all needs.
This year, there are many good budget notebooks from manufacturers like Asus, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba, Fujitsu…
The most popular cheap laptops are introduced below. They are qualitative, reliable and tested from a large number of users.
Lenovo B50 30
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The first cheap laptop, presented in this article. Depending on the desires of the buyer, the model can be equipped with the operating system or without it, if the user has enough experience to choose, buy and install the desired system. Quite a powerful quad-core processor is able to provide a clock frequency within the 2.16 GHz, which is very good for a relatively inexpensive model. If you need more, the built-in RAM memory of 4 gigabytes is possible to be increased up to 8 gigabytes. A quite large 15.6-inch screen provides a qualitative and comfortable work, watch movies or play some games. The discrete graphics card can significantly increase the performance of the laptop and work with demanding applications and programs. The integrated graphics processor isn’t powerful, but for everyday tasks, it is enough and saves the battery level. The hard disk of 500 GB provides the sufficient store for important files. Enough powerful battery enables to work in the active mode for about six hours. The other parameters are fairly standard for all devices of this type.
Specifications
Processor: Pentium Quad Core 2.1 GHz
Graphics card: Intel HD
Hard Disk: 500 GB HDD
RAM memory: 4GB
Display: 15.6 inches (1366 x 768 pixels)
Price: $300-350
HP Stream 11
Although the dimensions and appearance reminiscent of the infamous failed netbooks, Stream 11 differs in two important details – it is very useful and worth the money invested. Extremely inexpensive, a compact and fast laptop which you can easily put into the backpack and take a trip or give it to your child.
Stream 11 makes runs on dual-core Intel Celeron N2840 processor, whose clock speed ranging between 2.16 and 2.58 GHz provides surprisingly enjoyable work in all common applications. Of course, you can’t use it for playing games. Celeron is excellent energy-optimized, so the notebook without problems runs between six and eight hours on the battery.
Stream 11 is factory equipped with 2 GB of RAM and the memory is non-expandable. This may sound disappointing, but according to its purpose, not really. Stream 11 comes with 32 GB NAND flash, and 18 GB of disk space is available for programs, games, songs, movies, photos and documents.
Stream 11 has a very impressive design, available in many beautiful colors. The housing is entirely made of plastic, but the quality of the finish is satisfying. All sides are firm and convincing, which certainly contributes to the overall feel of compactness.
If you’ve always wanted a netbook, but you avoid it because of poor performance, you’ll be an ideal customer of Stream 11.
Specifications
Processor: Intel Celeron N2840 2.16GHz
Graphics card: 64MB Intel HD Graphics
Hard Disk: 32GB SSD
RAM memory: 2GB
Display: 11.6 inches (1366×768 pixels)
Price: $200-250
Acer C720 Chromebook
Netbooks appeared more than six years ago. They were small and inexpensive subnotebooks intended for use on the Internet.
The screen size of Acer’s Chromebook C720 is 11.6 inches, and its price is only $150. Judging by these two characteristics, our subject today is looks like a netbook. Inside the device is a solid state drive instead of the usual hard drive. Availability of SSD is certainly a big plus. Especially that Chrome OS does not need large amounts of space, and a “little” solid-state drives are not very expensive. The thickness of the Chromebook is nearly two centimeters – is much smaller than a usual “netbook brick”. The netbook did not have a permanent connection to the internet and on laptops with Chrome OS, it is almost necessary.
Given the price of C720, its specifications are excellent. Well, if you compare it to the specifications with older netbooks, we can only be glad that instead of Intel Atom processor (or AMD Brazos) used Intel Celeron, and instead of a hard disk – SSD-drive, even its small amount of only 16 GB is enough. We were surprised with Wi-Fi-adapter C720, which can work on 5 GHz, with the fact that the support of such frequencies can’t be found in every laptop or router.
Specifications
Processor: Intel Celeron 2955U 1.4 GHz
Graphics card: Intel HD Graphics
Hard Disk: 32GB SSD
RAM memory: 2GB
Display: 11.6 inches (1366×768 pixels)
Price: $150-250
HP 250 G4
This laptop runs on a Celeron N3050 processor and that’s why it is so inexpensive. The processor has low power consumption and average performance, but it is enough for office work. The chip is integrated into the motherboard and cannot be replaced. Intel HD Graphics will be enough to lay some games at the low details. The hard disk capacity is 500 GB. HP has saved on the memory – there is only 2GB. Even if you want to carry out an upgrade, you will need to disassemble the housing, because there are no removable panels provided. At the low price of the notebook indicates the screen – LCD matrix is weak in contrast with a small viewing angles. Some users complain about the noise of the hard drive, as well as a small battery life – approximately 3 hours of active work. Qualitatively assembled housing and materials are some of the advantages of HP 250 G4 that can be noted. Matt cover is not collecting fingerprints. Classic touchpad perfectly recognizes gestures, there are a couple of separate buttons. This model is the perfect choice for the office, if we close our eyes to the impossibility of replacing the processor.
Specifications
Processor: Intel Celeron N3050 1.6 – 2.16 GHz
Graphics card: Intel HD Graphics
Hard Disk: 500 GB
RAM memory: 2GB
Display: 15.6 “(1366×768) HD LED
Price: $250-350
Acer Aspire E5-521
In our review is a laptop, which is almost with perfect balance, including the lack of an optical drive, as well as the budget quad-core processor AMD Fusion A4-6210, which with its performance, between Celeron and Core i3. Traditionally, AMD processor power consumption is overestimated. This device has 4GB of RAM, but it is possible to upgrade it up to 16GB. The cooling system of Acer Aspire E5-521 works quietly and the body mostly is not overheated. By the way, the plastic shell simulates brushed metal. The battery will last for 7 hours, and with the Wi-Fi turned on. It also has a full keyboard with a convenient numeric keypad, but with smaller arrows. The touchpad is responsive, perfectly recognizes gestures, but judging by the reviews, there are complaints about the problems with scrolling – there is a short delay with a sharp jump scrolling material.
You can complain only about the complexity of the upgrading. To install more memory or another hard drive, it is possible only after the complete disassembly of the housing. Also, there are complaints that screen is not bright enough. However, this laptop is cheaper than the competition.
Specifications
Graphics card: AMD Radeon R3
Hard Disk: 500 GB
RAM memory: 4GB
Display: 15.6 “(1366×768) WXGA HD
Price: $200-300
Asus EeeBook E402MA
This laptop has quad-core Intel Celeron N3540 processor up to 2.66 GHz and 2GB of RAM. This configuration provides optimum performance for simple tasks: word processing and spreadsheets, multimedia, web browsing, photo and video editing, but not sufficient to perform more complex tasks that require more powerful hardware resources. 14-inch display with a resolution of 1366×768 pixels provides bright and clear images viewing from almost every angle. Integrated graphics card – Intel HD Graphics is not for playing games, but from the laptop of this price range, it is hard to expect something like that. The hard disk capacity of 500 GB provides solid storage space. Full-size ergonomic touchpad with SmartGesture support provides great precision. The laptop has all unnecessary ports for connecting peripherals. This device has a solid battery for this price range with four hours of active work. Asus EeeBook E502MA with the specified parameters costs about $200, and in our opinion, it is one of the best options for the money.
Specifications
Lenovo S21e
The fresh Lenovo S21e is a good solution for those who looking for a smart 11.6-inch netbook with minimal weight. It’s hard to say that the Lenovo S21e offers something new compared to the competition. It has the same minimalistic and plastic design as the most current netbooks. Expect something unusual in a product of this class is not possible. Lenovo S21e has the ordinary TN-matrix with solid viewing angles. The color reproduction is also nothing special. In the daylight, display fades. The small laptop with a quad 22nm Intel Celeron N2840 processor runs at a clock frequency of 2.16 GHz. The processor is supported by Intel HD Graphics. The device has 2GB of RAM, which is not enough, the minimum should be 4GB. As the drive is installed flash memory from SanDisk with a capacity of 32 GB, which is not important thing anyway for the main purpose of this device. At maximum load battery can withstand about 1.5 hours, with a minimum load – about 5 hours – the classic of this range. Summing all this, we have a good smart netbook that can compete with the competition only by the price of only 200 dollars. The lightweight design and a comfortable keyboard are definitely something that must be praised. For not too heavy tasks Lenovo S21e can be very useful and with this small price – success is guaranteed.
