Cheap notebook

Notebooks are currently the latest trend in laptops. Their extremely small size and low price make them a very attractive option for those looking for an affordable laptop that they can easily take anywhere.

Notebooks have brought a whole new group of people to the laptop market who previously believed they couldn't afford a laptop. But is a notebook a better option than a traditional laptop?

Cheap notebook comparison

In this article, we analyze the features of different laptops and help you choose the one that's right for you. Below, we break down what we consider to be the best budget laptops , from most to least expensive.

Lenovo Ideapad 3 Chromebook

The Lenovo Ideapad is the king of budget laptops. Not only does it have decent build quality and a reasonable screen, but it also boasts a surprisingly powerful processor, a good graphics card, and is a convertible . But what's more, its battery lasted over six hours in our tests, which is vital if you're going to be working away from home.

If you add to that a price of less than 300 euros, you will agree with us that this is an excellent purchase for anyone looking for a laptop with which to surf the Internet, watch streaming videos and write with a word processor. In addition, it is easy to find it for almost half the price, so if you see it more expensive, wait a bit because it will surely drop in price again in a short time.

Asus Zenbook 14

If portability isn't a priority for you, the Asus laptop could be a great option . It features a Full HD screen, Intel UHD Graphics, and a latest-generation Intel Core i5 processor (4M Cache, 2.7 GHz up to 4.2 GHz) .

At 1,1kg it's one of the lightest, but considering its performance - which also includes 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD - it's hard to complain.

It even has an elegant and very very fine design. You can't go wrong with the Asus Zenbook 14, especially costing around 900 euros, quite little for ultrabooks in its category, which usually cost even more than 1200.

HP 14s

The HP 14s is HP's super-cheap answer to the Chromebook . It costs just €320 and comes with 64GB of eMMC storage, as well as the option to add a year of pre-installed Microsoft Office 365 and 1TB of OneDrive storage (which costs around €80), making it an incredible deal.

Its performance is more than reasonable, as long as you don't demand too much of it, of course. It works great for browsing the internet, editing documents and playing videos and this is what you should expect to do with it. With AMD processor, 4GB of RAM, and Windows 11S.

More about notebooks

Speed ​​is not everything

In terms of performance, most budget laptops aren't exactly fast. This is because they're designed with energy efficiency in mind, rather than speed . These units have just enough performance to handle basic computing tasks, such as web browsing, email, word processing, spreadsheets, and basic photo editing.

This is why they are often called internet devices or mobile platforms. Frankly, you won't need high speed to perform these kinds of tasks. Most notebooks on the market use Intel Atom or Celeron processors, although some are available that use VIA processors.

Where is the CD?

Given their limited capabilities and the importance of cost, budget notebooks typically include fewer features than those found in traditional laptops or even Ultrabooks. Components like CD/DVD drives are not essential and increase the price . By removing them, manufacturers can reduce weight, size, and power consumption.

However, that also makes it impossible for most users to replace their PC with a notebook without adding additional peripherals, such as external drives.

Hard drive or SSD?

Most budget laptops use SSDs or flash drives instead of traditional hard drives . This, again, helps reduce the overall size of the device, as well as its power consumption. The problem is that the memory chips used in these drives are relatively expensive, which results in limited storage space (sometimes not even enough to run Windows XP) or a significantly higher cost compared to a standard laptop. Because of this, more and more laptops are now switching to hard drives.

Screen and Size

LCD screens likely represent the biggest expense for laptop manufacturers. To reduce costs in budget notebooks, manufacturers have developed devices with smaller screens . Early notebooks had seven-inch screens, but fortunately, these have since increased to 10 inches, the most common size. While laptops with smaller screens are appearing recently , most top brands are reluctant to make larger sizes, as this would increase the price and make them less competitive with traditional laptops.

Notebooks tend to be extremely lightweight, making them ideal for users who need network connectivity while traveling to work . However, this small size also has drawbacks: notebooks are narrow, and their keyboards are smaller than those of laptops. These small keys can be uncomfortable for those who need to type a lot or have large hands.

Software

Software is another major topic when discussing laptops. Windows Vista is often too resource-intensive for this type of hardware to handle. Therefore, Microsoft released Windows XP Home for laptops, although these required certain specifications . Fortunately, this changed with the release of a lighter version of Windows 7 and the arrival of Windows 10.

Keep in mind that Microsoft has done a good job of optimization in the latest versions of Windows 10 and we can see the operating system work with ease even on less powerful hardware like those of these cheap netbooks.

In any case, you should be aware that you are buying a good and cheap laptop but with modest features that will inevitably be slower in heavier tasks and over time will become more outdated than other more powerful ones. In the end it all depends on your needs.

Price

The goal of notebooks is to be less expensive than a traditional laptop . This is true in some cases, but many notebooks have expanded their features or components, which has increased the price. Originally, these devices were intended to cost around €100, but currently they range between €200 and €300, and some of the most recent models exceed that, reaching €800. This price puts these notebooks in direct competition with traditional laptops in terms of value for money.

Conclusions about cheap notebooks

Notebooks offer some great advantages, the biggest being their portability . The problem is that, to achieve this, they've had to sacrifice many features found in standard laptops. This makes them a good option to complement a desktop computer for anyone who needs a device for traveling or working away from home. They are fantastic network devices for browsing the internet or managing your email, but before deciding to buy one, you should ask yourself two questions:

1. Does it meet my needs?
2. Am I willing to sacrifice the features of a larger, more expensive laptop for portability?

If your answer to both of these questions is yes, then a notebook could be a great alternative for you.