Looking for a low-budget laptop

[Jyle]

I'm well-versed in desktop computer hardware, but know next to nothing of laptops and their hardware and whatnot, so please help me out.

My intended uses with this laptop are writing, listening to music, browsing the web, and watching 720p videos. Plans for gaming are next to non-existent, outside of really old titles like Diablo 2: LOD or Descent 2. My multi-tasking needs would be to be able to have a writing document open on LibreOffice alongside music/video playback with a picture open.

My only other needs are a relatively nice keyboard for typing and the ability to swap out whatever HDD or SSD is in the laptop with an SSD of my own. Oh, and wifi.

Battery life isn't all that relevant to me, as I plan to use it primarily, if not solely, at home.

My price limit is $300.

 

[Cdog042501]

Good luck with 300 bucks that's not even enough to get a basic laptop more or less a semi gamble one

 

[jaguarskx]

If you do not mind refurbished and only going slightly over budget, then you can buy the following Acer laptop with a 7th gen Core i3-7100u (2.4GHz) and 1080p screen for $304; plus $4 shipping.

https/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315815&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Notebooks-_-N82E16834315815&gclid=CjwKCAjw3rfOBRBJEiwAam-GsBBeYHnH6Y5tX9p3FYREr9ilUqJQ2PZTLbbcIA1v-AJ1Bci-svIWKhoCKwAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I recommend you upgrade the RAM to 8GB when you have the cash to do so which would improve the performance of the Intel HD 620 by roughly 5% to 15% depending on the game. Keep in mind that old games may not be compatible with Windows 10. For example, the Sims 2 is definitely not compatible with Windows 10, and I read people had issues attempting to play KOTOR I & II in Windows 10; some solutions work for some players while other players simply crashed and burned

Click following link for some Intel HD 620 game benchmarks; note that the benchmarks are based on a Core i5 / i7 CPU with that graphics core and has two sticks of RAM (at least 8GB). It can also handle Skyrim @ 1366x768 and medium settings pretty decently. I have a Dell laptop with a 4th gen (2.4GHz when both cores are used) and Intel HD 4400 that I use to play Star Trek Online (a mix of low and medium settings) and Skyrim (modded and tweaked graphic settings in the Skyrimpref.ini file) at 1600x900 resolution with pretty good results.

https/www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-620.172256.0.html