Complete Guide: How to buy a cheap laptop without losing money trying

Well, beautiful and cheap, it seems like a panacea when buying a laptop but you can. If you follow the advice we give you in this guide, you will find the right one, and at the best price, at Info computer.

Sometimes we feel that you have to have a master at getting a good laptop, what if SSD, what if RAM, what if DDR3, dedicated GPU, and not to mention if it is to think of an affordable price without losing benefits.

It is clear that experience has taught us that the cheap, most of the time, end up being expensive, so it is worth taking some time to get to know what is on the market and make the best possible purchase.

Although it seems obvious, the first premise that will determine the purchase is the use that we will give to the laptop.

And it is not the same to need it to work, play, have it at home, or always carry it with you, which will mark many of the determining factors that we will find when leaning towards one or the other.

The same happens with the budget that we want to allocate; it is clear that “as little as possible,” but you have to be realistic and assume that the price will vary depending on the benefits and needs.

So we have proposed to help you on this particular journey through the desert, with a guide where we will try to advise you on what you should not sacrifice and what would be expendable if necessary.

1. First thing, the processor

One of the most important factors, if not the most, is to consider when buying a laptop. They usually look for low consumption to improve the battery’s autonomy and do not need a cooling system such as a desktop computer, but there are some with excellent performance.

Some manufacturers turn to low-power processors that, by extension, consume little, and thus make up the price. Error. Do not value the equipment that mounts the AMD E series and any Intel followed by an Atom or Celeron.

Its performance with Windows 10 ( here you can know it in detail) leaves a lot to be desired if we have at least two applications open at the same time. And in all likelihood, we will have more than two in use simultaneously.

2. SSD will be an indispensable condition

If the data is going to be stored, fine. And an SSD dramatically reduces boot time and provides lightness and fluidity in any application that we are going to use on the computer, especially if, as we said before, a multitasking panorama is presented, which will be what happens most of the time.

In other words, flee from conventional hard drives, because it will be slow from the first moment. And the SSD will have more or less capacity, it can be SATA or NVMe, but that will depend on the budget or specific needs but, we repeat, SSD.

And following the same line a bit, accept the number 8 as your new figure to consider because you will not need a computer with more than 8 Gbytes. Of course, neither with less.

Therefore, a laptop with 8 Gbytes of RAM is sufficient.

Avoid notebooks that have amounts of RAM that are not multiples of 4 because they will be using RAM soldered to the board or using different modules, ultimately resulting in lower performance.

3. Screen, touchpad, and keyboard, as essential as forgotten

We start looking at numbers and storages, and we forget the three elements that we are going to use yes or yes, regardless of the memory or the processor. They are the screen, the touchpad, and the keyboard, and be careful because it is not nonsense.

Have you stopped to think about what a keyboard with too hard essential travel can mean, or with the keys too close together? Use common sense and, as much as possible, give it a try, type a text or whatever is nonsense but at your usual typing speed, to see if it is comfortable for you and is the right size.

And the same with the touchpad, if you do not want to load with a mouse, make sure that both its touch and its operation adjust to your tastes, also in size.

For the screen, we recommend that you take the resolution into account, depending on the size. Less than 12 inches, the recommended minimum resolution is between 1024×768 and 1366×768, although they are not very suitable.

From 12 to 15 inches, we would be talking between 1366×768 and 1920×1080, and for more than 15 inches, at least 1920×1080.

4. Don’t be fooled by design.

Some manufacturers disguise a mediocre product in a risky, edgy design. Don’t let them coax you with that. Most of the time, plastic gives it a better look and justifies an absurd rise in the real price.

Details such as the hinges, the frames, the connection panel, or the cooling system are much more important than aesthetics. If we have a model in mind, it is advisable to test it on-site and consult user forums and opinions outside the “official” network of the product so that it is more in line with the user’s reality.

5. Conclusion

We have selected those that we believe can be adjusted to basic needs and with a budget below 500 euros.
HP 840 G3, Intel Core i5, with 8 Gbytes of RAM, 512 M.2 hard drive, and a 14 ”screen, with 482.79 euros.

Lenovo L470, Intel Core i5 6300U and 2.4 GHz, and 8 DDR4 RAM and a 500 HD hard drive with a 14 ”screen for 422.29 euros are not bad either. And finally, the ACER N15W8, Intel Core i5 6200U and 2.3 GHz, 8 Gbytes of RAM and 256 M.2 hard disk with 13 ”screen for 411, 40 euros.