Cheap Laptops Reviews

Laptop prices now start as low as $300. While reviewers cite a number of catches to bottom-of-the-line notebook computers, you can get a fully functional laptop for less than $1,000. One study shows that more than half of laptops are sold for less than $1,000. If your laptop will augment a desktop computer or you need no applications more demanding than word processing, e-mail or web browsing, a cheap laptop works just as well as one that costs twice as much. If you spend more, you can get some combination of better build quality, a longer warranty, an easier-on-the-eyes display, longer battery life, gaming capability and lighter weight. See our companion report on regular laptops for the best laptop computers overall, regardless of price.

There a lot of good websites that publish reviews on cheap laptops. NotebookCheck.net has incredibly comprehensive, up-to-date laptop reviews, but the German website doesn't cover many cheap laptops that are available in the U.S. NotebookReview.com does a better job in that regard, and its reviews are nearly as good. The chief shortcoming is that there's no formal method of comparing laptops. Consumer Reports is one of the few magazines to review budget laptops as a category. However, testing lacks depth and the published information pales in comparison with NotebookCheck.net and NotebookReview.com. Among computer magazines, Computer Shopper and Laptop magazine cover the largest number of cheap laptops. Their reviews lack depth and detail, but they are still helpful. Laptops don't usually stay on the market long enough to accumulate a significant number of user reviews, and when they do, old user reviews are often misleading because manufacturers regularly update configurations.

If you're buying a cheap laptop and only getting a stock one-year limited warranty, reliability is a major buying consideration. Laptops don't stay on the market long enough to gauge reliability of individual models, but the support and reliability surveys conducted by PC Magazine, Consumer Reports and British consumer magazine Which? are excellent indicators of historical brand reliability. However, consider that parts quality and quality assurance testing are often commensurate with the price of a laptop. Lenovo laptops fare particularly well in all the subscriber surveys, but Lenovo doesn't make many laptops that fit into the budget class. Compaq laptops have relatively poor reliability according to these surveys.

Computer Shopper and CNet.com give the LifeBook V1010 very low ratings (5.5 and 5.6 out of ten). Computer Shopper's Rick Broida says price is its virtue, but you can get a better laptop for the same money. CNet likes the display and battery life, but agrees that value is surpassed in competing products. Laptop magazine has the kindest review, but its average rating and sparse description don't do much to offset the criticism in other reviews.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

The Dell Latitude D630 is the best budget business laptop, according to several reviewers. The Lenovo ThinkPad T61 is more highly regarded, but only the untested entry-level configuration is available for under $1,000. Dell's new Vostro series of business laptops generally receives unenthusiastic reviews, but several reviewers strongly recommend the Vostro 1400 and 1500 models. They are extraordinarily cheap, even in their higher-end configurations; you can buy one with a Core 2 Duo processor for less than $600.

The Asus Eee PC series captivates reviewers, but this micro laptop isn't for everyone -- at least not all adults. They have slow Celeron processors, 7-inch displays, cramped keyboards and run the Linux operating system. Still, they are inexpensive and easy to use.