the best laptop under 300 dollars 2020–2021
introduction
Hey everybody welcomes today we well be looking at the ultra low budget under 200 USD laptops now most people would recommend to go on the second-hand market at this price point while this is a good idea there are a few devices at this ultra low budget category that are worth taking a look at how I’ve tried to include a good variety of devices in this website all the way from a two-in-one to a traditional clamshell design laptops devices are in no particular order so stick around to use if you don’t want to miss any of them.
The third product on this list is Nuvision Encite split 11 A two-in-one budget windows 10 laptop comes mostly in an all-metal design chassis with a magnetically attached keyboard folio that has a hinge on the back for screen angle adjustment so you can think of this device like a Microsoft surface on a budget for under 200 US dollars on Amazon and that includes the magnetically attached keyboard and trackpad this two-in-one is mostly suited for media consumption, as well as some light tasks such as typing up reports in word or excel creating PowerPoint presentations and light web surfing the display including this tune one is 11.6 inch full HD 1080p IPS touch panel now this display, does not include an active pen stylus with pressure sensitivity however we do have a device coming up with that capability so if you’re interested in one of those keep watching the CPU included is an Intel Celeron N3350.
now this will probably tell you nothing all you need to know is this is a budget dual-core with two threads low power processor with approximately one-tenth the processing power and average quad-core desktop CPU don’t let this discourage you from buying this laptop however I just want you to have clear expectations as this processor will be very capable at running word excel chrome and web browsing with YouTube playing in the background quite comfortably so you shouldn’t be worried for light tasks and applications just don’t expect this device to be the snappiest and the fastest laptop on the market now this process of being a low powered part does come with an advantage as it uses so little power it can be passively cooled.
without any active cooling such as fans making it a silent A device the laptop is included with 4 gigabytes of low power ddr3 memory which is plenty for light tasks and multitasking the Split 11 includes 32 gigabytes of eMMC non-expandable flash storage which is significantly faster and more reliable than a conventional mechanical hard drive but it’s not as fast as a side SSD drive the thing to note here is that storage is a bit on the lower side and you would want to expand it with a micro SD card slot for which is available on the left side of the device up to 256 gigabyte SD cards are supported in this laptop the Split 11 includes a 30-watt hour battery with an advertised battery life of 8 hours however most users only report a battery life between 2 and 4 hours as for connectivity this device includes the 802.
11 ac wi-fi which is excellent for this price range as it includes the 5 gigahertz wi-fi band as well as the 2.4 gigahertz band and it comes with Bluetooth 4.2 support this two in one comes included with two cameras a 5-megapixel 1080p camera on the rear and a 2-megapixel 720p camera on the front one advantage of this setup is that you can switch between the front-facing and the rear camera for better illustration and video calls the tablet itself includes speakers on the left and right side of the device a power button the volume rocker on the top power jack on the right side three and a half millimeter headphone jack on the top left corner a single 3.2 USB type-c port on the left side a micro SD card slow below that the included single USB type-c port can also be used for charging
The device is handy as it allows you to use other USB type-c charges such as the one that comes with your phone or a tablet and it includes a USB type-c to HDMI dongle in the box for video output the tablet itself comes at a weight of 770 grams which is 1.7 pounds and 1.1 kilograms or 2.5 pounds with the magnetically attached folio making it a very light and portable device the magnetically attached folio is great not only it provides protection for the device but it has a nice responsive trackpad great tactile keyboard with decent key travel which is similar in size to the Microsoft surfaces keyboard.
The main feature of the folio is the inclusion of the hinge on the back allowing you to angle the screen to almost any position for a comfortable viewing experience moving on to the pros and cons the major pro for this device is that its excellent in media consumption it comes with a 1080p IPS display headphone jack Bluetooth 4.2 for connectivity to your wireless earbuds and is great for watching movies on other pros include the fact that the magnetically attached folio is included in the package for the 199 us dollar price tag it has a passively cooled CPU allowing for silent operation the inclusion of the five gigahertz wi-fi band which is not common to see in this price range and the ability to charge through the USB type-c port allowing you to use existing charges that you may already have around the house moving on to the cons the major consideration for this device is the inclusion of the internal storage as it is only 32 gigabytes in size meaning
you really need to use the micro SD card expansion for additional storage and set up windows 10 so that it installs apps and downloads updates to that SD card otherwise you may lose out on some major updates due to restricted storage on this device other cons include the fact that it only comes with one USB type-c port requiring to use dongles if you want to have a video output the speakers aren’t the greatest and the loudest the screen is hard to see in bright outdoor environments the battery life is poor most users report only an average battery life between two and four hours all in all don’t let these cons deter you it is an excellent device for the price especially if you want to use it for media consumption.
The Second, on the list, is the Bmax X13A a 13-inch laptop that takes a lot of inspiration from the MacBook Air which is a good thing as the MacBook Air is a good looking device the b-max has a slim 18 millimeter or 0.7-inch thick body with an elegant polycarbonate unibody finish it comes at a weight of 300 grams or 2.8 pounds and it follows the modern design trends with the inclusion of a large trackpad with a keyboard that has nice tactile feedback and is very enjoyable to type on now the x13a is very similar to the more popular
Ezbook x3 made by Jumper as both use the same OEM for their laptop chassis but the jumper x3 is slightly higher spec and as a result of a high price tag at around 260 us dollars which is why I did not include it in this list but it is still a very good alternative as the Bmax can be had for 220 us dollars as filming now I know this is over the 200 US dollars, but you can snap this device up on sale for 200 us dollars if you’re patient enough the x13 a sports a 13.3 inch 1080p IPS with no touch capability display making it perfect for media consumption as it is non-reflective which makes it great for watching movies at different angles with minimum glare or light reflections the CPU is as standard as before Celeron Apollo lake N3350 a simple dual-core with two threads same as before it is passively cooled
means that the bottom of the device will get a little hot but it is normal for a passively cool device it can handle multitasking with two to three office apps open without any problems and if you’re interested in a device with a lot more performance in this category then keep watching because you’ll be surprised to see the kind of performance you can get in our next device for a similar price the ram is also standard affair here at only 4 gigabytes of size just like the previous device
as before this allows some light office use and media consumption now storage is where we see an improvement over most other devices in this price category at 64 gigabytes eMMC solid-state storage this lets you run Windows 10 on this laptop without having a dedicated micro SD card permanently installed in the device
the storage is also expandable with the inclusion of m.2 2242 SATA SSD that is installed at the bottom of the device the included graphics is the standard intel integrated UHD graphics 5000 don’t expect to play any games on it but it is designed primarily for video playback and desktop operations the battery included is 35-watt hours allowing for average use of about four to five hours the connectivity is great the inclusion of 802.11 ac dual-band wi-fi and Bluetooth 4.2 allows this device to use 2.4 and 5 gigahertz wi-fi at the same time the webcam
however, is pretty basic at only 2 megapixels allowing for a resolution of 720p however the laptop does come with stereo microphones as for ports on the left side of the device it comes with three and a half millimeter headphone jack a USB 3.0 type port, and a micro SD card slot on the right side is a power jack another USB 3.0 type a port and a micro HDMI port on the bottom we have dual bottom-firing speakers and a keyboard that has nice tactile feedback and is enjoyable to type on the included trackpad is leading in this price range
as its largest in its category moving on to the pros and the cons of the device the first pro is the inclusion of the extra-wide touchpad that was just mentioned this follows the latest trends and increases the ease of use of this device the second pro for this device is that it has very balanced hardware
this laptop made the right sacrifices to balance price and performance and as for the cons its the CPU is still a basic dual-core and it isn’t the fastest and can only perform basic media functions with some light office use one recommendation I can give is to install Linux on this machine for a snappy experience as Linux is a much lighter operating system but all in all, this is a good little machine for the price the
the first product on the list is the Chuwi Hi10X a 10.1 inch two in one laptop slash tablet that is my personal choice for the 200 ultras low budget category and here’s why first off this two-in-one has the Intel Celeron N4100 processor which unlike most devices in this price category is a quad-core with four threads rather than dual-core additionally the CPU is also clocked at a higher speed and all of this results in a processor that is more than twice as fast as the previously mentioned n3350 all this extra multi-processing makes this device much more capable in multitasking and daily use secondly this device has a full aluminum unibody
making it feel a lot more like an expensive pre-made device now all of this doesn’t come for free and the biggest drawback of this device is the price at 229 us dollars the time of filming as with the previous device you can get the hi-10x on sale for only 200 us dollars which is why I’m including it in this comparison however this does not include the magnetically attached keyboard with a trackpad for this price which is a cost you need to consider or buy at a later date the good news is that the device has enough USB ports to plug in a keyboard and mouse or use Bluetooth
peripherals this device also comes with another party trick it has the option of an active pen with 4096 pressure levels called the high pan h6 it costs an additional 30 us dollars but it will allow you to take notes in a more natural traditional way with some light drawing capability the thing I like the most about this device is the flexibility allowing you to add functionality and features at a later date as this device is a two-in-one tablet form factor
it is only nine millimeters or 0.35 inches thick and weighs 600 grams or 1.3 pounds keep in mind this is without the attached keyboard which doubles its weight and thickness when attached the screen is a 10.1 inch IPS panel with a resolution of 1920x1200 giving it an aspect ratio of 19x10 the highest in this comparison and it supports 10 points of capacitive touch the device also packs an increased six gigabytes of ram running at 1066 megahertz in dual channel configuration which is excellent
as it is proportionally sized up with the additional CPU power provided in this device to allow for significantly more multitasking in this price category
the storage included is the largest in its class at 128 gigabytes of eMMC flash but with no option of upgradability
this time as for the graphics card it is the updated 9th Gen ultra-high definition that’s embedded in the CPU now this has the support for 4k video playback which is nice if you ever want to connect this device to a tv
the increase in graphics horsepower over the N3350 in this category does allow you to play Dota and League of Legends at 720p on low settings the only reason I’m including this isn’t that you’re going to get a great gaming experience
but it is more to show you the capabilities of this device the battery included is only 24-watt hours giving it about five hours of light use this is definitely not a strong point for this device the connectivity is excellent however with the inclusion of 802.11 ac also known as wi-fi five with Bluetooth 5.0 a leading edition in this class the Hi10 X as most tablets has a dual-camera setup a five megapixel 1080p in the rear and a megapixel 720p in the front a setup
we have seen on the first device in this video this device includes the following ports on the left side is a three and a half millimeter headphone jack followed by a micro HDMI port a USB 2.0 type c port that is also used to charge the device
A USB 3.0 type c port for data only transfers and a micro SD card slot on the top there is a power button and a volume rocker no ports are included on the right side of the device and the speakers are located on the left and the right side of the tablet
the non-included accessory keyboard is good with great key travel and a trackpad that uses windows precision drivers the gripe here is that the trackpad is small the upside with the attached keyboard is that it adds an additional two USB 2.0 type ports the optional pen is also great with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity
it is good for note-taking and some light drawing the pros for this device are the performance in this price category this device is the performance king nothing comes close and the inclusion of full metal unibody chassis and for the cons screen bezels these are really large now we know we need them to use the device in tablet mode otherwise you would register a lot of accidental touches but it still would have been nice to have them a little bit smaller
the speakers are another weak point for this device about equivalent to two phone speakers web cameras aren’t the greatest either but they are the same as all others in this class the thing I like most about this device is the flexibility allowing you to add functionality and features at a later date without having to pay the full price upfront so there you have it let us know your thoughts on this device list down in the comments below or if you have a device that you think that should have been included in this list.
