You asked for a Laptop costing under £150.
You told me that you needed a family laptop for web-browsing, online video, office work. You also added the following additional information: I need to get online but I’m out of work and really short of cash. Bills are very high and food has got much more expensive and I just need something that I can use to get online. Sorry.
I really feel for you here – I very much understand how hard the last few years have been. The good news is that there are a few options at this price point. I realise that I need to squeeze every last drop out of the budget, so let’s do that.
At £150, there are a few compromises we have to make. You can either buy a used laptop or buy a lower-spec new one. You may or may not be aware that Windows actually requires a quite a bit of performance from a laptop just to get running, so at this price point, I would recommend a Chromebook. Chromebooks run on Google’s Chrome OS instead of Windows, which has lighter system requirements. Put simply, a £150 Chromebook will run faster than a £150 Windows laptop.
Having said that, I do want you to have some choice, so I have included a Windows laptop as my third choice. Now this is important. Don’t be put off by the prices shown below. I know that all three are over your budget as they are. However, I’ll let you in on a little secret. After you click through, below the price, you will see a little box that says “New & used from £xxx”. Click this. There will be a selection of “used” laptops for sale. Not all of these are used – a lot of them are returned stock – i.e. a customer bought it, changed their mind, sent it back. These have been opened already but otherwise essentially a brand new laptop and you will get a significant saving on the list price. Amazon Warehouse is particularly good for this and you can get a real bargain. Some people have had problems in the past with Amazon warehouse, but I have bought many, many warehouse things and any time there has been a problem, Amazon has been pretty good at resolving them and giving me a refund.
In short, you can get a good condition (or perhaps even virtually brand new) laptop that will fit in your budget and, at £150, I think this might well be the way to go.
I searched a range of different shops for something that would suit your needs. I have chosen the three options below as the best ones to suit your requirements. However, we all have our own tastes (and of course, prices can change), so I have also included search links for each shop at the bottom of this page in case you’d like to browse further.
I always choose three options. These are usually (1) the best performing option within your budget (i.e. best suited to meet your needs for the longest possible time), (2) the cheapest option that still meets your needs effectively and (3) usually a wildcard option or a compromise between the two. If you are able to, I would usually recommend the first option as it is likely to be powerful enough to meet your needs for the longest before it needs replacing. However, I specify three choices so that you can pick the one that best suits your circumstances.
I do not work for or on behalf of any of the retailers listed below.
Prices correct as of 12th May 2022
1. Best overall performance: HP Chromebook 14″ Laptop PC 14a-nd0001sa, AMD 3015Ce, 4GB…
£179.99
Key features:
CPU: 3015Ce
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB
Graphics: Integrated
This choice represents the best overall performance I could get from your budget. I chose it primarily based on its all round performance. It’s a 14-inch screen Chromebook. Amazon Warehouse currently has it for £139 with damaged packaging and a missing manual.
2. Cheapest option: Lenovo IdeaPad 1 11” Laptop (AMD Processor, 4G…
£185.99
Key features:
CPU: 3050U
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB
Graphics: Integrated
This choice represents the cheapest device I could find that still meets your needs. I chose it primarily based on its all round performance.It’s an 11-inch screen Chromebook nad actually has a slightly faster processor than option 1. Cheapest Electrical (selling through Amazon) currently has it for £119 stating its a customer return but has full 12 month warranty.
3. Third option: ASUS Vivobook L410MA Full HD 14 Inch Laptop (Intel Pentiu…
£199.99
Key features:
CPU: Pentium N5030
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB
Graphics: Intel UHD 605
This choice represents the third option – the wildcard. I chose it primarily based on its all round performance. It’s a 14-inch screen Windows laptop. Amazon Warehouse currently has it for £166 with some small scratches, damaged packaging and a missing manual. It includes 1 year of Microsoft Office.
Why did I choose these for you?
It is important that you understand what the components of a laptop do so that you can make an informed choice. Here is my very basic explanation for each:
- CPU: The brain of your laptop. A better one makes your laptop faster.
- RAM: Your laptop’s short term memory – more of this means it can cope well with doing more things at once.
- Storage: How much space your laptop has to store files, photos, apps etc. More storage means you can store more stuff.
- Graphics: Your laptop has a graphics processor (GPU) responsible for how things appear on the screen. A better GPU will mean your device will cope better with more complicated graphics, such as in 3D games.
If you would like to browse the shops I searched for yourself, here are some links that will take you directly to the search results you require:
Some of the links on this page are affiliate links – that means if you go on to buy after clicking one of them, I may receive a small payment. This is how I am able to provide this service for free. It does not affect the price you pay, nor does it affect the recommendations I make – I will always recommend the best I can find to fit your usage, regardless of what shop it is from or any affiliation.
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