{"id":312,"date":"2024-12-02T19:16:42","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T19:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nocoffei.com\/?p=312"},"modified":"2024-12-02T19:16:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T19:16:47","slug":"the-guide-to-buying-a-cheap-laptop-in-current_year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nocoffei.com\/?p=312","title":{"rendered":"The Guide to buying a cheap laptop in $CURRENT_YEAR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s relatively common for me to be in a chat room of some sort and for someone to ask:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anybody know any good, cheap laptops?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Someone, every 3-4 months<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It’s a hobby of mine to find people the best laptop for the best price, depending on their needs. The new laptop industry is, by and large, a scam designed to sell planned-obsolete products that will break after a couple years in a scheme to make customers buy new ones ad nauseam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So: This is intended to be a living document that I’ll update every time I get asked this question. What is the best laptop for the best price in 2024, in the United States*, in my humble opinion<\/em>**?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*I have no clue about other markets.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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**Based on years of personal research and keeping up with the industry.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

December 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The best choice is the HP Elitebook 845 G9<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Some random eBay listing<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The EliteBook 845 G9 can currently be had for roughly $350-$400<\/strong> on eBay. A Ryzen 5 6650U unit can be had for $350 shipped at the time of writing (December 2, 2024), while the beefier Ryzen 7 6850U unit can be had for $376 shipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justification<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I tried not to bury the lede here, but it’s worth discussing why exactly<\/em> I chose this machine, in some amount of detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First: As aforementioned, the new laptop market is largely a scam. The vast majority of machines produced today are designed to fail or run out of useful life well before they should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, December 2, 2024, is Cyber Monday at Best Buy. So even on the best day for buying consumer grade electronics of the year, let’s see how these machines stack up. All of these listings were taken from the front page when I searched for “laptop”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dells current flagship, the XPS 13 Plus. Take one look at this thing and tell me it won’t break within three years or less.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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HPs current generic entry-level model, on sale for Cyber Monday. While this price looks appealing at first, the computer will break within one year. I personally serviced one of these with a screen that broke at random while in a students backpack 6 months after purchase. After I replaced the screen, the laptop permanently bricked itself.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Any machine sold with 4GB of RAM today is dead on arrival. This laptops existence is a scam which coincidentally emits massive amounts of pollution.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Once again, an appealing price is defeated by the cheap, plasticky build quality of the Dell Inspiron line– and this machine would be $750 if I weren’t writing on this specific day.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While many more listings exist, all of them are poor at best. Their common denominator is that they are all built for the consumer market<\/em>. All consumer-grade laptops are designed with planned obsolescence in mind– while some of them look pretty on the surface, none of them will last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose Business Class<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The secret that laptop manufacturers don’t want you to know is twofold:<\/p>\n\n\n\n