Laptop Buying Guide

Cheap laptops Guide Home » Laptop Buying Guide

Do you want to look for a new cheap laptop, but you don't know where to start? Are questions like these running through your mind: What notebook should I buy? How much memory is enough? How do I get the most for my money? Buying a cheap laptop is not a rocket science. Just sit back and read my cheap laptop buying guide, you'll soon have all the information you need to make the right decision.

If you’re a completely beginner, I recommend that you look at laptop parts guide first.

First of all, what do I mean by cheap laptop? And laptops with price under $2000 are considered cheap laptops. So, I will talk about only laptops that fit within that price range.

I categorize laptops into the following three types :

Budget laptops (under $1000)
Mainstream laptops ($1000 - $2000)
Budget ultra-portable laptops (under $2000)

Budget Laptops

Suitable Tasks

These laptops are best suited for basic computing such as word processing, personal finance, spreadsheets, email, internet surfing, listening to music, storing MP3s, digital photos, watching DVDs, and burning CDs. These laptops are not suited for heavy gaming, however, light gaming (playing games that aren’t required extensive 3D processing, or few years old games) are fine.

Suitable Users

This type of laptop is suitable for home users, students, and everyone who is on a tight budget and doesn’t need a lot of extras.

Components	Minimum	Recommended
Processor	AMD Sempron/Intel Celeron M	Pentium-M or AMD Turion-64
Memory	256 MB	512 MB
Hard drive	20 GB	40 - 60 GB
Optical drive	CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Display	14 inch or larger
Graphic	Integrated graphic card such as Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900/950, and ATI Radeon Xpress
Operating System	Microsoft Windows XP Home	Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Recommended laptops

ACER AS3003WLCi
HP Compaq nx6110
HP v2410us

Mainstream Laptops

Suitable Tasks

These kinds of laptops can easily handle all of the tasks that budget laptops can do, but you get better hardware and better features – meaning these laptops can handle complex applications and, for some models, heavy gaming. Since mainstream laptops are not considered gaming laptops, the quality of graphic is just fine for most users. But if you’re serious about gaming, cheaper laptops might not be a good fit for you.

Suitable Users

This type of laptop is suitable for average home/student users, business users, creative professionals, and moderate gamers.

Components	Minimum	Recommended
Processor	AMD Turion-64/Pentium-M with Centrino Technology	Intel Pentium Core Duo Processor
Memory	256 MB	512 MB – 1 GB
Hard drive	30 GB	60 - 100 GB
Optical drive	CD-RW/DVD-ROM	CD-RW/DVD-ROM or DVD±RW if you can afford
Display	14 inch or larger
Graphic	Integrated graphic card	Dedicated Graphic card with at least 32MB of memory of its own
Operating System	Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Recommended laptops

ACER TM4202WLMi
HP DV1540US
ACER TravelMate TM4402WLMi
ACER Aspire 5670

Ultra-portable Laptops

Suitable Tasks

These kinds of laptops are suited for basic computing such as word processing, personal finance, spreadsheets, email, and internet surfing. But you can expect the weight of your laptop to be less than 4.5 lbs. Because of this lightweight design, you will need to sacrifice a little on performance and features.

Suitable Users

These laptops are suitable for self-employed professionals and highly-mobile users from small, medium and large businesses.

Components	Minimum	Recommended
Processor	Intel Pentium III M	Intel Pentium-M
Memory	256 MB	512 MB
Hard drive	20 GB	40 - 60 GB
Optical drive	None	CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Display	12.1 inch
Graphic	Integrated graphic card such as Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900/950, and ATI Radeon Xpress
Operating System	Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Recommended laptops

ACER TravelMate 3002
ASUS W5Ae
HP Compaq nc4200
AVERATEC AV3715-ED1

Return to the top of Cheap laptop buying guide