Uploaded April 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Any time I go into a big-box store in my area like Walmart, Target, or Best Buy, I often see budget oriented laptops from companies like Acer, HP, and Asus on display. As someone who has made a YouTube channel from buying, repairing, and upgrading older laptops on a tighter budget than buying new, it often made me wonder - are these new "budget" laptops worth it compared to a decent used machine like a ThinkPad? I see people all the time buy these sub-$300 machines with Celerons and Pentiums to have a cheap laptop or an affordable present for a loved one, so I decided to find out for myself. Stay tuned to hear my thoughts and feel free to share your own experiences in the comments! As always thanks for watching!

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:25 Hardware tour
02:56 Display/specifications
03:38 Performance
05:50 Battery life
06:03 Repairability/upgrades
07:05 Comparison to used laptops
09:16 Conclusion
10:19 Outro