What to even look for when buying the cheapest laptop?

[kiicki]

So my uncle needs a new laptop for just Facebook, mail and paying bills. He doesn't store any pictures videos, so HDD/SSD space is not important.
I just don't know what to look for since those cheap laptops usually isn't even good enough for basic web browsing in my experience.

I'm leaning to just get him any laptop with a SSD, since I have no idea if the cheap CPU's will do anything better.
I got like 3 options I think from the store he wants to get it from.

Acer Chromebook
- CPU Intel Celeron N2840
- RAM 2GB
- SSD 16GB
- 1366 x 768
- $276

Lenovo Ideapad 100S
- Intel Celeron N3050
- RAM 2GB
- SSD 32GB
- 1366 x 768
- $276

Lenovo Ideapad 110
- Intel Celeron N3060
- RAM 4GB
- HDD 500GB
- 1366 x 768
- $301

My concern about the two first laptops is the 2GB ram. I have no idea if that would start throttling even at the most basic stuff. The last one doesn't have SSD. I really do think that a cheap laptop would do basic stuff really good if it had a SSD. I could probably convince him to bump up the price a little bit so he could at least get a laptop with a SSD and 4GB RAM.

[AlTech]

4 minutes ago, kiicki said:

So my uncle needs a new laptop for just Facebook, mail and paying bills. He doesn't store any pictures videos, so HDD/SSD space is not important.
I just don't know what to look for since those cheap laptops usually isn't even good enough for basic web browsing in my experience.

I'm leaning to just get him any laptop with a SSD, since I have no idea if the cheap CPU's will do anything better.
I got like 3 options I think from the store he wants to get it from.

Acer Chromebook
- CPU Intel Celeron N2840
- RAM 2GB
- SSD 16GB
- 1366 x 768
- $276

Lenovo Ideapad 100S
- Intel Celeron N3050
- RAM 2GB
- SSD 32GB
- 1366 x 768
- $276

Lenovo Ideapad 110
- Intel Celeron N3060
- RAM 4GB
- HDD 500GB
- 1366 x 768
- $301

My concern about the two first laptops is the 2GB ram. I have no idea if that would start throttling even at the most basic stuff. The last one doesn't have SSD. I really do think that a cheap laptop would do basic stuff really good if it had a SSD. I could probably convince him to bump up the price a little bit so he could at least get a laptop with a SSD and 4GB RAM.

He should have a Chromebook.  But then again, I doubt that's all he does on his laptop.

[kiicki]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

He should have a Chromebook.  But then again, I doubt that's all he does on his laptop.

It will be a family PC where they pay their bills, mail, Facebook, Youtube. You know basic things. No gaming, not even minesweeper.
The Chromebook I listed just seems like 16GB SSD is way to little when OS with all updates probably takes 10GB. And those 2GB ram, I just think it's way to little. I'm already using 3GB and I'm running 3 tabs open.

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, kiicki said:

It will be a family PC where they pay their bills, mail, Facebook, Youtube. You know basic things. No gaming, not even minesweeper.
The Chromebook I listed just seems like 16GB SSD is way to little when OS with all updates probably takes 10GB. And those 2GB ram, I just think it's way to little. I'm already using 3GB and I'm running 3 tabs open.

That's why you don't buy crapbooks - get a 2nd hand ThinkPad, EliteBook or Latitidue

[kiicki]

2 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

There are some Chromebooks with 4 GB of RAM. That said, chrome OS runs lighter than Windows, so the 2GB isn't as noticeable as you'd think (although don't try running 10 tabs or more on it, it does start to lag a little).

I have no experience with Chromebooks but if it runs lighter, I guess it's good then. I just know that cheap, cheap laptops doesn't even run the most basic things. In my experience

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, kiicki said:

I have no experience with Chromebooks but if it runs lighter, I guess it's good then. I just know that cheap, cheap laptops doesn't even run the most basic things. In my experience

They're quite bad - expect it to be slow and nerve-racking. A 2nd hand business laptop is worlds better than any Chromebook on the market. A lowly Celeron with 2GB of RAM cannot compare to a mobile i5 with 8GB of RAM considering i5s usually Turbo up to 2.5-3.5GHz whereas Celerons can't even get 2GHz most of the time - not to mention the cache and iGPU differences. Really, Chromebooks are nothing more than overpriced paperweights. Recommending one to a person is a disservice.

[kiicki]

Define good? I just don't want something that starts lagging just watching Youtube. I have had experience with those actually. That's just a piece of garbage.

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, kiicki said:

Define good? I just don't want something that starts lagging just watching Youtube. I have had experience with those actually. That's just a piece of garbage.

That's what Chromebooks are - they CAN NOT play 1080p content smoothly at 60 frames/second - most of them can't at least. Some can but those cost 400-600$ at which point other laptops are better. Chromebooks are essentially tablets in a laptop chassis - weak and only for very light work. The CPUs in them are usually 5W Celerons/Pentiums which perform worse than Apple's A9 chips

[kiicki]

1 minute ago, don_svetlio said:

That's what Chromebooks are - they CAN NOT play 1080p content smoothly at 60 frames/second - most of them can't at least. Some can but those cost 400-600$ at which point other laptops are better. Chromebooks are essentially tablets in a laptop chassis - weak and only for very light work. The CPUs in them are usually 5W Celerons/Pentiums which perform worse than Apple's A9 chips

The thing is that the cheapest Chromebook with full HD costs $518 and it's out of the question. The one I mentioned is a 1366 x 768 display.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, kiicki said:

The thing is that the cheapest Chromebook with full HD costs $518 and it's out of the question. The one I mentioned is a 1366 x 768 display.

Those are hideous - it's not only harmful to your eyes because of the low-frequency PWM modulation but it's also low-res meaning text is awful in most cases. Please don't buy that - it's very bad. Look at something like a Lenovo T430 on eBay - they go for around 300-400$ and have MUCH better displays.

[don_svetlio]

@Dackzy and @Pendragon can also point out good Business solutions

[kiicki]

7 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Those are hideous - it's not only harmful to your eyes because of the low-frequency PWM modulation but it's also low-res meaning text is awful in most cases. Please don't buy that - it's very bad. Look at something like a Lenovo T430 on eBay - they go for around 300-400$ and have MUCH better displays.

The cheapest laptop I found with minimum of these specs: 4GB RAM, 1080p display, SSD, 15+ inch screen was this:

http://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?e=3642033

It's in Norwegian but I guess you can translate that page and look at those specs. The laptop got pricey at the end, so not sure if 1080p display is necessary on a 15 inch display. $400 btw.

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, kiicki said:

The cheapest laptop I found with minimum of these specs: 4GB RAM, 1080p display, SSD, 15+ inch screen was this:

http://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?e=3642033

It's in Norwegian but I guess you can translate that page and look at those specs. The laptop got pricey at the end, so not sure if 1080p display is necessary on a 15 inch display. $400 btw.

I present to you - entry-level business laptops
http://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?p=3737311

[kiicki]

1 minute ago, don_svetlio said:

I present to you - entry-level business laptops
http://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?p=3737311

you could navigate through a Norwegian site? also, that one is 1366x768. It's also almost double the price budget he had in mind.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, kiicki said:

you could navigate through a Norwegian site? also, that one is 1366x768. It's also almost double the price budget he had in mind.

It's a 14' screen so 768p is not as bad as on a 15.6' one. It's also a better screen - not as bad for your eyes. And you get a 6-cell battery that gives you up to 9 hours. Couple that with one of the best keyboards available on laptops and a very rigid body - you got a decent entry-level machine.

I was under the impression that they were similarly priced. Hmmm, in that case, @Prysin may be able to help

[don_svetlio]

2 minutes ago, kiicki said:

you could navigate through a Norwegian site? also, that one is 1366x768. It's also almost double the price budget he had in mind.

To give you an idea about performance
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-5005U-vs-Intel-Celeron-N3050/m24957vsm31154

[AlTech]

32 minutes ago, kiicki said:

It will be a family PC where they pay their bills, mail, Facebook, Youtube. You know basic things. No gaming, not even minesweeper.
The Chromebook I listed just seems like 16GB SSD is way to little when OS with all updates probably takes 10GB. And those 2GB ram, I just think it's way to little. I'm already using 3GB and I'm running 3 tabs open.

Chromium OS (What Chrome OS is based off of) just takes up minimal storage. Probably 4-8GB max.

 

Most things on Chrome OS are cloud based. Almost nothing is local.

 

If you could find a chromebook with a Pentium CPU and 4GB RAM, that might improve performance with 10+ tabs.

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

Chromium OS (What Chrome OS is based off of) just takes up minimal storage. Probably 4-8GB max.

 

Most things on Chrome OS are cloud based. Almost nothing is local.

 

If you could find a chromebook with a Pentium CPU and 4GB RAM, that might improve performance with 10+ tabs.

Pentiums are still ultra-low power Brasswell SKEWs - ULV i3 minimum.

[AlTech]

9 minutes ago, kiicki said:

The cheapest laptop I found with minimum of these specs: 4GB RAM, 1080p display, SSD, 15+ inch screen was this:

http://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?e=3642033

It's in Norwegian but I guess you can translate that page and look at those specs. The laptop got pricey at the end, so not sure if 1080p display is necessary on a 15 inch display. $400 btw.

LMAO. 1080p (or above) is super necessary on anything above 12"..............

 

A 15 inch laptop should come with a 1080p screen. Even entry level ones should.......

[AlTech]

5 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Pentiums are still ultra-low power Brasswell SKEWs - ULV i3 minimum.

I'm not trusting your sense of what is minimum required for browsing.

 

 

When finding a laptop/tablet, you don't look at just a spec sheet.

[AlTech]

48 minutes ago, kiicki said:

snip

Ask your uncle for the budget. I'm not trusting your idea/sense of budget.

 

if you can find a nice deal on a Surface 3 and a Surface type cover for Surface 3 then I'd say buy the 4GB model. It will do browsing, office, facebook and stuff like that, Screen will be significantly better and build quality will be worlds better than these cheap machines.

[don_svetlio]

11 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

I'm not trusting your sense of what is minimum required for browsing.

 

 

When finding a laptop/tablet, you don't look at just a spec sheet.

Trust me - I've used those N-series chips - they're very low-end.

[Dackzy]

See if you can get a T430, T430s, T440 or T440s.

[kiicki]

33 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Chromium OS (What Chrome OS is based off of) just takes up minimal storage. Probably 4-8GB max.

 

Most things on Chrome OS are cloud based. Almost nothing is local.

 

If you could find a chromebook with a Pentium CPU and 4GB RAM, that might improve performance with 10+ tabs.

Sad thing is that the cheapest Chromebook with Pentium CPU and 4GB RAM costs $800 and it's a 13 inch. Do you highly recommend a 1080p display for something as small as 15 inch?

[kiicki]

40 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

To give you an idea about performance
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-5005U-vs-Intel-Celeron-N3050/m24957vsm31154

the thing is that the laptop is not for me and he really don't want to spend above $350 for a laptop. The price in Norway is also higher than US for example, and international shopping is out of the question. I think he just needs to deal with a 720p display. He has always used it and he has nothing to compare it too.
I for some reason think that any laptop with a SSD should be good enough for his tasks, as long has the RAM doesn't start to throttle which is a consern when I see those 2GB RAM laptops.