98 PCWorld JANUARY 2022HERE’S HOW HOW TO BUY A BUDGET LAPTOP
older games and 2D titles. Budget laptops
don’t have graphics hardware separate
from the processor. That puts a pretty big
hit on game performance. You can play
some 3D games like Counter-Strike or
League of Legends on a budget laptop, but
more visually demanding titles are usually
out of reach.
Want the best $500 can buy? Go for
AMD’s Ryzen processor. Ryzen has integrated
Radeon graphics hardware. A laptop with
AMD’s Ryzen 5 5500U can handle some
modern games like Grand Theft Auto V at
low-detail settings.WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING
ELSE?
The specifications I’ve covered are the key
decisions you’ll face. Battery life, Wi-Fi
performance, Bluetooth, and weight may
also be factors, but those elements differ
less between laptops. You can expect a
budget laptop to have four to six hours of
battery life. It will also have passable Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth, and it will weigh around 4
or 5 pounds.
These figures are a fair shake behind a
$2,000 Apple MacBook, Dell XPS, or HP
Envy, but you may be surprised by what
budget laptops can do. A good budget
laptop can handle a huge variety of tasks
and remain useful for years. It won’t beat a
luxury laptop on performance, but it can
beat it on value.Chromebook. Never buy a Windows laptop
with eMMC storage.DISPLAY: 1080P OR BUST
Every budget laptop has an edge-lit LCD
screen. It won’t look as nice as the screens on
an iPhone or most Android phones, but
budget laptop displays look fine. There’s one
specification to be wary of, however, and
that’s the resolution.
Most laptops have a 1080p display (aka
1920x1080 resolution). However, some
budget laptops shave costs with a display
resolution of 1366x768. If they’re tricky,
they’ll advertise this as an HD resolution
without specifying the pixel count.
I recommend not buying a laptop with
1366x768 or HD resolution. The display will
look grainy and pixelated, and it won’t be
able to show as much content at once. HD
displays are often dimmer and less colorful
than Full HD displays, too.
What about display size? Most people
should spring for a 14- or 15-inch laptop. This
is a good compromise between portability
and display size. A 13-inch is a good option if
you plan on taking the laptop with you while
traveling or commuting. I don’t recommend a
display smaller than 13 inches, though.GRAPHICS: 3D GAMING IS
(MOSTLY) OUT OF REACH
Want to play PC games on your budget
laptop? You can! But you’ll have to stick to