In Search of a Decent $500 Windows Laptop (Premium)

Every morning, I read the news using the terrible New York Times app for iPad. And every day, I wonder why I pay for this publication as I struggle with the app’s navigation roadblocks, slow article load times, and bugs. But there’s a reason I haven’t unsubscribed. Every once in a while---not every day, not quite---the NYT proves its worth. And these days, increasingly, that worth is derived almost solely from the publication’s 2016 acquisition of the Wirecutter, which I view as a more modern take on Consumer Reports.

Being more modern cuts both ways, of course: The Wirecutter, unlike Consumer Reports, earns affiliate commissions on links for products it recommends. But I feel that this site is trustworthy, based on years of evaluating its recommendations, first cautiously and more recently with a growing appreciation for its pragmatic and honest advice.

So it was with much interest that I swiped into an article titled A School Laptop Under $500 That Isn’t Junk. This should be interesting, I thought, given that there is no such thing as a sub-$500 Windows laptop that’s worth a damn.

But I shouldn’t have been surprised by the Wirecutter’s conclusions. They agree with me.

First, the baseline. As I write in the Windows 10 Field Guide---which is literally now completely up-to-date for Windows 10 version 1903---what you’re looking for in a productivity-focused Windows laptop is an Intel Core i5 (or equivalent) processor, 8 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of SSD (not eMMC) storage. That mid-level configuration is impossible under $500 for the most part, but it’s interesting how closely the Wirecutter’s recommendations match mine.

The Wirecutter recommends a 7th- or 8th-generation Intel Core i3 or i5 processor, noting that “a Core i5 is better but rare in this price range” and that “you can find Pentium and Celeron processors at this price, but they’re too slow for Windows.” Exactly right.

It also recommends “4 GB (preferably 8 GB) of memory,” noting that a 4 GB Windows laptop “allows you to have two or three applications open at a time, but after 10 or so browser tabs it’ll slow to a crawl.” And while it doesn’t specifically address slow eMMC storage, it does add that you want an SSD because “opening files is much snappier on an SSD than on a hard drive.” We’re on the same page.

Given this logic, I was curious what Windows laptops the site could possibly recommend that cost less than $500. The choices aren’t great because the performance just isn’t there in the machines that meet the price point.

“For $500 you can’t get a Windows laptop that can multitask that well or run memory-heavy programs, but you can get one that feels snappy enough for browsing the Web, running lightweight productivity software, and watching movies,” the Wirecutter explains, correctly. “A cheap Windows laptop can do what a Chromebook can, but it’s also likely saddled with bloatware, worse batter...