Cheap Laptop Review

What are the trade-offs of sub-$800 cheap laptops?

The prices of laptops continue to fall, with some starting below $400. Although reviewers cite a number of drawbacks to bottom-of-the-line notebook computers, you can easily get a fully functional laptop for $800 or less. This report covers laptops with comfortable keyboards and 11- to 17-inch screens. Netbooks are another class of inexpensive laptops; they can cost less than $400, and some can be had for less than $300, though others can cost as much as the full-size laptops covered in this report.

Netbooks are small (most have a 10-inch screen) and easy to carry around, but they are driven by less powerful processors. You'll also have to give up amenities like a large display, full-size keyboard and optical drive. Some, such as the first generation of "Chromebooks" (netbooks that use Google's ChromeOS operating system), lose most of their functionality when not connected to the Internet. However, if you need a small laptop only for light-duty computing, a netbook might work for you. See our companion report for details.

ConsumerSearch also has a separate report on laptops that covers more powerful -- and expensive -- options. Those laptops include top-of-the-line components and provide the performance necessary for 3D gaming, graphics work and other demanding applications. For Apple fans, the ConsumerSearch report on Apple laptops and desktops includes information on the full line of MacBook notebooks and the Apple iPad 2 tablet. Additional tablet choices are covered in our report on tablet computers.

Most budget laptops give users everything needed for basic computing, home entertainment and online communication. If you need a laptop for surfing the web, watching videos or typing documents, cheap laptops will more than meet your needs. However, they won't deliver the top-end performance required for extensive number crunching or graphics rendering, and most will leave dedicated gamers crying for more. However, many cheap laptops are available with Intel's second-generation Core processors, which offer significant improvements to speed and battery life. It's worth looking for a cheap laptop with a second-generation Core processor if you can budget for one. Less-expensive cheap laptops continue to use first-generation Core technology. Ultra-cheap laptops -- those priced at $400 and below -- typically use even less powerful AMD, Intel Pentium or Celeron processors.

Most cheap laptops have 15-inch displays, which seems to be the sweet spot for this price range. However, it is possible to find laptops with large 17-inch displays for under $800, and we are seeing more ultraportable and lightweight laptops with displays of 14 inches or less. It used to be quite difficult to find an ultraportable laptop for less than $800, but there are several good options. These cheap ultraportables may not be as sleek and stylish as their higher-priced counterparts, but their lightweight designs are a plus for frequent travelers.

A number of technology sites provide solid reviews of cheap laptops, but no source comes close to PCMag.com. Editors test dozens of budget-priced notebooks, including a host of fixed retail configurations. Cisco Cheng and his team of editors write detailed and balanced reviews, and they do an excellent job of comparing popular laptops to their competitors. Laptop Magazine, CNET and ComputerShopper.com also have solid laptop reviews, but their coverage of cheap notebooks isn't as extensive as that of PCMag.com. ConsumerReports.org conducts testing on budget laptops, but it doesn't provide any analysis to accompany its ratings. In addition, the site has trouble keeping up with the latest models, and many of their recommended picks have been discontinued. User reviews help round out the coverage, especially at sites like BestBuy.com and Walmart.com.

In this price range, you can order a laptop with the processor, memory, hard drive and other options you want directly from the manufacturer, or opt for a fixed retail configuration available at stores like Best Buy, Walmart or Staples. Pre-configured laptops can't be upgraded before purchase with more RAM or a larger hard drive, for example. They can also disappear from sale without notice, replaced by configurations that are slightly -- and sometimes greatly -- tweaked to take advantage of changes in technology or the competitive landscape.

On the flip side, preconfigured laptops can be less expensive than configurations that are available directly from the manufacturer's website -- though some manufacturers are aggressively pricing the custom configurations they sell directly, eliminating some of the advantage. Some makers are offering configurations that are sold as exclusives by one retailer or another, sometimes at a substantial discount over similar laptops that are more generally available.