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Message
Help Wanted. Looking for a good Budget Laptop
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:37 am
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:37 am
Hey Guys, I'm not the most tech savvy anymore. I am looking for a budget/black Friday sale Laptop that I can download some writing software like Scrivener and such. I'm off work for awhile injured and figured now would be a good time to write a book. I don't need a gaming laptop, though I wouldn't mind diving into some of my older favorites like Starcraft every once in awhile. In my younger years, Asus used to be a go too brand. Do you have any suggestions? My Chromebook is on its last life and most software I need seems to like Windows better.
Would 8GB RAM and something like Intel i5 be ok? What other specs should I look at?
Thanks for your advice.
Would 8GB RAM and something like Intel i5 be ok? What other specs should I look at?
Thanks for your advice.
8
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:52 am to sportsaddit68
I wouldn't buy a device that had less than 16gb of RAM in 2025. Beyond that, pretty much anything you buy at this point can do what you're asking your device to do. You should give more thought to the form factor (screen, size, weight, etc) than the actual hardware performance.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:54 am to Joshjrn
Thanks! I appreciate the information. Does windows need a higher processing speed these days? I know it used to be bloated.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:57 am to sportsaddit68
quote:
Thanks! I appreciate the information. Does windows need a higher processing speed these days? I know it used to be bloated.
It's more bloated than ever, but any modern hardware should be able to handle it.
With that said, I forgot what is probably the most important piece of hardware advice I can give: Do not buy anything with "HDD" listed as the storage type. Try your very bestest to avoid anything with simply "SSD" listed. You want an "NVME SSD". And considering the aforementioned Windows bloat, I would want it to be at least 1TB in size. 512gb is an acceptable last resort if you aren't going to store much or do any modern gaming, but 256gb is generally not enough these days unless you're truly looking at use it as a glorified word processor and internet machine.
This post was edited on 11/5/25 at 10:59 am
Posted on 11/5/25 at 11:09 am to sportsaddit68
Search Intel i3 1220p. 8GB.
It is the sweet spot for value and can do anything efficiently.
Just beware you can’t always upgrade memory so stay far away from 4GB unless it has a slot free.
For 12 and 13 generations, i3 is pretty close to i5 unless you’re using them as streaming servers.
It is the sweet spot for value and can do anything efficiently.
Just beware you can’t always upgrade memory so stay far away from 4GB unless it has a slot free.
For 12 and 13 generations, i3 is pretty close to i5 unless you’re using them as streaming servers.
This post was edited on 11/5/25 at 11:15 am
Posted on 11/5/25 at 1:16 pm to sportsaddit68
Best Buy has some black Friday deals already listed.. 
Posted on 11/5/25 at 2:26 pm to sportsaddit68
Don't be afraid to buy used or refurbed from either Amazon, or a high volume seller on eBay. MS Surface 16GB under $400
If you're writing your book, I'm guessing you'd want a more real keyboard than you're likely to get on most laptops today. A lot of them have very little key travel, especially as they get thinner. I learned on an old school IBM keyboard back in the day, and heavily, heavily prefer similarly clicky keyboards with a lot of key travel.
If you're writing your book, I'm guessing you'd want a more real keyboard than you're likely to get on most laptops today. A lot of them have very little key travel, especially as they get thinner. I learned on an old school IBM keyboard back in the day, and heavily, heavily prefer similarly clicky keyboards with a lot of key travel.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 3:30 pm to Stexas
quote:
Best Buy has some black Friday deals already listed.
I was looking at some of the Asus Vivobook books on sale. Cap one shopping also is offering me 9% reward back at Best buy.
Edit: was looking at this one from Best buy
LINK
This post was edited on 11/5/25 at 3:35 pm
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:35 pm to sportsaddit68
Look for Lenovo refurbs on Amazon.
Posted on 11/6/25 at 6:55 am to sportsaddit68
quote:
was looking at this one from Best buy
Might be OK, but something is off because that chip is Iris eligible but the OEM did something to screw that up, mostly likely memory config so it is significantly handicapped.
If you get mobile i5 or i7 2021 or newer it should say “Iris Xe”. If you get ultra 5 or 7 it should say “Arc”
This post was edited on 11/6/25 at 1:51 pm
Posted on 11/10/25 at 10:43 am to sportsaddit68
I have 12 of these my trainers use for training laptops. They work well if you don't need a ton of space on the laptop. $399.99
LINK
quote:
HP Essential 15.6" Anti-Glare HD Laptop, Intel Quad-core Processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB Storage(128GB UFS+128GB Flash Drive), Office 365 1-Year, Upto 11 hrs Long Battery, Win11 S, (Scarlet Red)
LINK
Posted on 11/10/25 at 11:43 am to sportsaddit68
Whatever you choose, get someone to wipe and install fresh Windows without bloat. So many people just keep what the manufacturer sends them.
Posted on 11/11/25 at 11:50 am to sportsaddit68
Posted on 11/11/25 at 4:23 pm to Mikes My Tiger
quote:
This ASUS is also fairly cheap at $300 but only has 12gm of RAM.
ASUS
Yes that looks way more attractive at $300 than it did at $400 in a previous link. Guessing asymmetrical dual channel which may not qualify as Iris but works great. It would be nice if they actually told you.
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