Tips For Buying Laptops Under 300 Dollars

Laptops under 300 dollars are not that hard to find. If you are bit apprehensive because of the high  rates on regular laptops, you will be happy to know that there are quite a few cheap laptops within your price range. However this doesn’t imply that you can buy the first cheap laptop you come across. You have to do some research to ensure you buy the right laptop that is worth the money.

Here are some tips to remember while looking for your cheap laptops.

Hard drive and memory

Most laptops are rather expensive, where the top end models cost more than $1500 in the open market. These laptops are so expensive because they contain the best hardware that technology creates today.

However there are also many laptops under 300 dollars that are easy to find, and worth buying.

 

The hard drive of these cheap laptops is generally small, less than 100 GB in size. Though this may seem to be a bit small, this is quite enough for students who want a computer to just surf the web, and don’t actually require anything that is larger than laptop computers. 100 GB is more than enough space to store the operating system of the computer, some games and even some important documents. 

You can expect to find a RAM of 1.5 to 2 GB in laptops that cost less than $300. While this is enough for basic storage of programs, it is up to you decide if it is enough for your programs.

Most laptops that cost less than $300 have a CPU like a low-end Intel or AMD Athlon. Though this is a rather slow CPU that may make your operating system take more time to load, it is quite sufficient for doing your homework, surfing the web and watching videos or movies.

Whether to buy used or refurbished laptops under 300 dollars

 

When you look around for your cheap laptop, you will definitely find them to be either used or refurbished from the original manufacturers. This is when you are faced with a dilemma of deciding between buying a used or refurbished cheap laptop.

The main difference between the two is the fact that with the used model, you will most likely not have any warranty for the laptop. Moreover, there is also the risk of the laptop not being in the best of condition. However in case of a refurbished laptop that comes from the manufacturer, you are sure that all its hardware is checked for efficiency and perfection before leaving the factory. If you are lucky, you may also get a refurbished laptop with a warranty or buy from a manufacturer who offers free shipping.

The better refurbished laptops

Of the lot, Toshiba, Acer and Asus are the most reliable and refurbished laptops. This is because according to a warranty study that was carried out, these manufacturers offered the best reliability on their laptops when compared to other manufacturers. In other words, if you buy a refurbished model from one of these manufacturers, they will most probably have no problems.

However it’s better to avoid buying used or refurbished laptops from HP (Hewlett Packard) as this company has a track record of not offering the best warranty services. In fact, recent studies have shown that HP failures is more than 30%, or in other words, more than a third of the laptops produced from HP have been returned to the manufacturer for service.

Where to buy them

Now that you know you can actually find laptops for under 300 dollars, you obviously want to know where you can find them. Well, the first thing to do is to check out the used computer stores in your locality; you never know when you may find a cheap laptop that is in perfect working condition. You can also visit scratch and dent warehouses in your town for your refurbished laptop.

Though there are various other places you can visit for your refurbished 300 dollar laptop, you will most probably have the best luck doing your shopping online.  However if you opt to shop online, make sure you find a site that offers free shipping less you end up spending more than three hundred dollars for your laptop if you include their shipping and handling fees.

So in a nutshell, if you follow all the advice provided here, investing in laptops under 300 dollars proves to be a great investment.