HP - 14" Laptop - Intel Celeron N4120 2019 - 4GB Memory - 64GB eMMC - Snowflake White
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$5624.00
Best Buy
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TLDR: This budget laptop is a great deal for the price with one caveat -- install Linux (if you know what you're doing when it comes to that sort of thing). If you run it with the default Windows installation, you may be disappointed. Long Version: I approached this purchase on the lookout for the cheapest non-Chromebook I could find with halfway decent specs. My goal was specifically to find a wallet-friendly machine on which to run Linux as I learn programing/development and progress through a computer science degree. I already own a powerful iMac and an excellent Lenovo Yoga 9i, so I can complete all of my demanding or productive work on those -- I wanted something new to explore and play with. Dual-booting is annoying, and running an OS on a virtual machine just doesn't have the same gut feeling, so I opted to find a suitable (and affordable) laptop to use as a project machine. I found this at a great price in a Best Buy retail store (far cheaper than at other retailers, including online), and though the specs are minimal, I felt it was an acceptable compromise for the purpose and price I had in mind. They only had two models available (in the box) with no display out, so I took a risk on the aesthetics and feel of the machine, but it worked out for the best. The laptop is solid, compact, light, and the textured finish has a nice feel to it. Much to my surprise, the keyboard is a delight to use -- the keys really feel great, perfect for coding. The touchpad is fine, though a bit choppy at times, but perhaps you won't notice or care. I haven't had a chance to test the built-in webcam or microphone, but I wouldn't expect anything spectacular at this price point. The speakers are fairly unremarkable, as most in this price range are. The CPU and preinstalled RAM obviously meet the bare-minimum requirements of modern computing, but it can noticeably lag at times, especially if running the OEM Windows install. Installing Ubuntu instead has helped tremendously with this - navigating the OS, I have no lag whatsoever (not the case out-of-the-box). Either way, you're better off focusing on a single task than trying to multitask too much. This brings us to the caveat: Out of curiosity I booted up the computer for the first time to the stock Windows 11 OS to evaluate out-of-the-box performance. It was rough. The first (and only) task I executed was opening up the Edge browser to the default home screen, and it was painful. Extremely choppy, unresponsive, and the machine was obviously struggling to load such a generic page on a known fast network. If you have any serious work that you need to carry out in Windows, I would suggest spending a bit more to gain more stability and functionality from a different machine. If, on the other hand, you're a patient and forgiving person, and either just have casual use in mind or intend to install a lighter and more hardware-friendly OS, then this computer should be fine. As I said, I installed the latest Ubuntu release, and I couldn't be happier. The new OS is WAY lighter, faster, and snappier running on this machine than Windows was. When considering that this machine has just 4GB of hardware RAM and an economy-class processor, I'm both impressed and more than satisfied with my purchase. It really is a night-and-day comparison. I used to own one of the old 13" black Macbooks from around 2007, and both the look and physical feel of this machine give me vintage vibes from that special time. I love it. After a simple swap of the stock OS, the computer feels like it could have sold for two or three times the $170 I paid for it. Conclusion: If you're looking for an affordable laptop without any fancy features, this might be it, but you will probably be frustrated at some point by its entry-level specs if you plan to run it stock out of the box. It excels at lightweight and focused use -- don't get greedy and your $170 will be well spent. Bonus round: The attached photo was taken with a video paused in one Firefox tab and this review pending submission in another, with nothing else going on. You can see in the screenshot that the CPU is doing fine, but the physical RAM is approaching capacity. This is what I mean about multitasking -- tread lightly and you'll be fine.