It is difficult to buy a laptop for a child. flagship devices and those with unique features are the focus of review sites. Vendors don't like sending us cheapo devices because they don't put a lot of effort into them. In the laptop segment, budget devices are not that good. Recent years have seen a few worthy options enter the market.
I will recommend these budget-friendly releases to reader Ben in this week's column. Ben is looking for a cheap laptop for his child. He needs the system to boot quickly and be able to play a video game.
When someone tells me they want a budget laptop, my mind immediately goes to Chromebooks. At the same price as Windows PCs, they usually offer better specifications. Unless you are an education user who can access the Play Store and download the Android app, you won't be able to use the game on chrome OS.
It's a bad day. Out of Mac territory, Bob has Windows laptops. It is possible to find a $400 laptop that runs Windows 11 if you are willing to compromise. The first thing I want Ben to do is pick a computer. You will have a hard time finding better specifications for the price.
The Aspire 5 comes with a 14-inch display, an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8 gigabytes of memory, and a 128gigabyte solid state drive. Since it uses an 11th Gen chip, the Aspire will be able to run a decent amount of games at decent frames per second.
What is the problem with it? The Aspire 5 comes with a lot of stuff. The design of theWebcam isn't modern and it's terrible. The big issues are its large size and plastic touchpad.
A lot of people like to recommend an HP Stream, but not a lot of people like to play games on an 11 inch screen. The screen is very low-res and the processor is not as powerful as it could be. I would attempt to score a deal on the IdeaPad 3. It is hard to complain since it is more laptop than what Ben and his son need.
If the Surface Laptop SE were to be sold to the public, Ben would absolutely love it. The base model of the Surface Laptop Go is $350. You won't find a laptop that is more premium at this price. The new Surface Laptop Go 2 starts at $600 and comes with twice the storage and a faster processor.
Is there anything else you would recommend? We want to know in the comments. If you need help making a decision, fill out our simple questionnaire.
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