Best Budget Laptop 2016

Laptops have come a long way in recent years. Today you can get a laptop with a decent amount of speed and power for much less than you could previously.

In best budget laptop 2016 we will discuss what you should be looking for in a budget laptop and then review some of the best new budget laptops on the market. We picked the top laptops in different price ranges to review. $100 more or less can make quite a difference in what you can get.

Best place to look for new budget laptops:

Amazon has an, automatically updated, list of the top selling laptops, for the last 30 days. If you are looking to buy a new budget laptop, that list is always a good place to start.

• USA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fbestsellers%2Fpc%2F565108%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Dpd_ts_zgc_pc_565108_more&tag=ukhotr-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957
• UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2Fgp%2Fbestsellers%2Felectronics%2F14014431%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Dpd_ts_zgc_ce_14014431_more&tag=ukhotr-21&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=19450

What to look for in a budget laptop:

1. Operating System: Buying a laptop with an older version of Windows will generally save you about $50. I would however mostly recommend that you go for a laptop with the newest version of Windows.
2. Chip: In a budget laptop I would recommend looking for an Intel dual core chip that operates at 2.0 GHz or higher.
3. Ram: Look at getting 2Gig or more. You are going to have problems running applications in Windows 7, with less than that.
4. Video Card: This is where producers like to cut corners, because shoppers don't know much about video cards. Your video card should have at least 128 MB of memory. If you are going to be playing games or running graphic applications then get something with 256 MB or more.
5. Battery Life: Longer battery life costs more. Just be aware of what you are getting.
6. Screen Size: You are looking at between 15 and 17 inches. More costs more, it's up to you how much you are willing to spend on this feature.

Looking at this laptop's components it's clear that this is a bare bones entry level laptop. It doesn't have features like a built in webcam or HDMI support. Having said that, for medium resource using applications like web browsers, Microsoft Office and watching movies this is laptop is a good choice.

If you want to play games or do photo editing you need something with a bit more power.

The battery lasts for more than 4 hours, which is very impressive considering the price.

The overall feel of the laptop is good, it looks smooth and sleek.

I would recommend this laptop for a student or small business use.

Compared to the Compaq the Toshiba really is much more powerful across the board.

Pros:
Nice screen: The 16:9 ratio makes it suitable for watching movies. The screen is bright and displays detail well.
Fast boot and shutdown: It could be faster, but it is significantly faster than other laptops in the same price range.
Number pad: This helps with feeding data into the laptop or creating business documents.
Generous system resources: With 3 GB of DDR3 ram, a 2.2 GHz Intel Pentium T4400 dual-core processor and a 320 GB hard drive it is much more powerful than the Compaq.
Mouse-pad: The mouse-pad is the best feature on the Toshiba. It offers multi-touch functionality. To increase the font on a page you put 2 fingers on the mouse pad, then you split them. This is the first time I have seen this in a laptop.
Webcam: The built in webcam is easy to use and the laptop comes with Skype pre-installed. The quality of the 1.3 megapixel camera was better than I expected.

Cons:
Bad speakers: Laptops generally have weak speakers, this one's speakers are particularly bad. The sound is tinny and has no depth.
Not enough ports: It only has 2 USB ports, I would expect there to be 4. They are located on the right side of the machine, which is uncomfortable. They should have been in the back or left hand side.

Now this isn’t a laptop, so you might wonder what it's doing here. I don't like using track pads, so thought I would include a review of a great cordless mouse, made specifically for use with a laptop.

This mouse is compact while still being very easy to use. The USB card you plug into the laptop is the size of a stamp. So you don't need to unplug it when you pack your laptop into it's bag.

This Logitech mouse has a six-month battery life. You’ll know when the battery is low thanks to a warning light that flashes red, when the mouse is almost out of juice. You can save energy, with the ability to turn the device off when you’re not using it.

Bottomline: this is an essential item you have to get when you’re buying a new notebook.

If you enjoyed best budget laptop 2016 you should also read funky laptop bags for women.