The best cheap laptops under $100 are great for students, but don’t be fooled by the name; these will not be your standard gaming or workstation computers. Instead, they’ll run on a combination of cheaper memory and processors (which means you won't need to upgrade them every two years). For these budget PCs, there aren’t many extra features that make life easier. While it may cost less than some better-priced devices, it usually doesn't last as long. These will probably overheat and then break down before you can use them. If that's how you plan to spend your money, there are more important things you want to consider, like how well they will actually perform. Cheap laptops often come with poor ports or lacklustre software packages. It's difficult to find any advantages in this category. Most users have no idea how well these machines will perform compared to their own personal experiences. You probably won't notice any difference if you start using one of these computers, but if you're just looking for a way to save money on everything else, maybe you'll find something worth considering.
For most people, though, this is another area in which they can be happy with the machine they got. Yes, while all of this stuff might look very different from regular consumer products, none of it really matters if they haven't put any real effort into what you're buying. When you buy a refurbished product, it's essentially brand new, so it carries its original equipment manufacturer warranty. In that sense, getting an affordable computer at a discount price, like we did here, is about as low-key as it gets. We've done our homework and found out they probably won't have any trouble maintaining their hardware. They may do a bit of maintenance, but given the lifespan of the parts at those prices, most repair shops should be able to give you a good hand on repairs. Some of these items also offer warranties against defects, which can add up quickly. So if you're really concerned about your investment, think about how much additional time something will take before breaking and needing to replace it. Because of that, I'd suggest keeping your laptop up to date. Even if you're only going to use it as a word processor instead of making lots of games, having updated software is always handy. But if you're planning on using it for anything other than basic productivity, you'll want to double check the battery every few months to see if the device has sufficient juice to give you the performance needed for whatever you're doing on it today. This is particularly true if you intend on working on video editing or photo-editing software daily. Battery life can get pretty slim too -- unless you're using it full-time and don't see much improvement in terms of speed, frame rate or overall computing power. And even with the cheapest models, laptops can vary widely in terms of speed, processing power and general capabilities. That said, if you want to ensure that you receive the most bang for your buck or at least maintain it properly, make sure you take note of where you're shopping from for potential bottlenecks. The first thing you should want to understand when evaluating how fast your laptop can process things is whether it's Intel or AMD, since many modern laptops come preloaded with either chip. Many manufacturers offer custom CPU options. However, it's unlikely you'll get the same clock speeds, so you may want to try a couple of different chips. Our test unit came equipped with Apple silicon technology, Intel Core i7-10700H. Note that, unlike some newer models, an old MacBook Air was used on this review. All of the systems were running Windows 10 Pro, meaning that if your operating system doesn't support it, you'll have to go buy a new computer altogether -- unless you already have one sitting around just waiting to be upgraded. Still, we can say that for most tasks, it'll probably function identically to whatever version of Windows it's been upgraded to. There is one exception, which is worth pointing out. At Macworld, our editors use Microsoft Office applications to edit content. As such, using a Chromebook or another Chrome OS device could affect this scenario. Regardless of what browser(s) you're using, this does mean that in almost every situation above and beyond simply printing documents, your PC could still benefit from the added speed of faster Internet connections. With a little testing, you may be surprised at how well these machines handle a Google Docs file (and vice versa). Of course, it also depends on how much speed Internet has available for everyone's needs. If you're someone who is constantly on the move, you may want to prioritize browsing rather than downloading files. On the other hand, if you're okay leaving files for others to download when you're gone, then keep browsing until you complete tasks that call for it. Either of these situations has minimal impact on our tests for this review, although some would argue that the latter is more realistic. Don't feel guilty about checking your email regularly and taking advantage of Wi-Fi when you cannot use cellular service. This isn't necessarily tied to particular tasks, but it certainly helps you get by without a local data connection. By and large, though, most people use public Wi-Fi anyway, so there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't leave it alone. Your device will likely perform admirably regardless of what happens in your world outside of a desktop environment. If you ever notice yourself slowing down or crashing, then stop. Unless the issue is minor, there is no reason for concern right now. Not only will it prevent any issues from becoming worse, but so will improve your machine with each passing day.
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