- What's the best budget laptop of 2020?
I have the deals.
I have the unboxing.
And if you're looking to save some serious cash on a Mac,
I have you covered today in a big way.
Welcome back to the channel.
I'm the YouTube Deal Guy, Matt Granite.
This is backed by popular demand,
following my best budget laptop, upload of 2019.
And if this is the type of content
that you'd like to see, please subscribe,
turn your notifications on.
If you guys give this video a thumbs up,
let's see if we can get it to 10,000 likes.
'Cause I'm, I'm looking to build my self confidence.
It's not that great right now,
but my laptop deals are.
So first things first,
I am going to be unboxing some of these laptop deals.
And before we get to a Mac,
I heard from a lot of subscribers
who are looking for Chromebooks, laptops, MacBooks,
two in ones and then if you are looking to learn more
about the Surface Go, I've got you covered.
This video is not sponsored by any company,
but a reminder I do use affiliate links.
So if you click one of the links located
under this video description,
you will get an awesome deal
and I might benefit slightly from your purchase.
So the first laptop that I wanna show you,
which we are going to unbox up close,
is an ASUS 14 inch premium high-performance laptop.
This checks most of the big boxes for me.
When I am buying a budget laptop,
I wanna make sure that it has at least four Gigs of RAM.
So many laptop manufacturers will be pleased
to give you a two Gigs of RAM laptop,
which is just objectionable.
And a lot of the computers being offered
at these prices have these ridiculous hard drives
of like 16 or 32 Gigs, which is offensive.
So I bought the laptop and I wanna show
this to you and all of its ports very quickly
as the top laptop under 400 bucks.
This is a high performance laptop it's got fast Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth USB.
As I took the ASUS 14 inch Premium,
high performance laptop out of the box.
And again, the deal links will differ
maybe slightly in terms of color and specs
because laptop prices change every few minutes
and I will be updating the video description box
with those details.
You're going to find
that you get a really nicely crafted sturdy laptop.
It's basic.
You're not gonna do any type of 4K graphic editing.
You're not going to edit movies on here
and you're not going to do anything
that's very intensive in terms of gaming,
but it does bring to life some features
that are not available on a Mac.
You do have an HDMI out,
which is just phenomenal and not present on any Mac.
You have a microSD card or TF Card Reader,
which you would never find on a Mac.
And you do have a second USB port.
You do have a sturdy build.
I'm going to do a smash test in a moment,
which would make this great for
back to school situations, distance learning.
And if you're just someone that does a lot
of web-based work or Microsoft Office,
you're going to do very well on this specific laptop.
So again, the hammer smash test,
I'm hitting it hard,
you can see it's barely scratching or creating an imprint.
And then well you generally don't wanna smash a screen.
I'm not gonna smash this against the floor,
but you can see that it's very durable on the case,
small imprint right here.
But when you turn it on,
it's got decent speakers, a responsive track pad,
I just proved its durability.
And it is something that you could throw
into a backpack take with you.
And it's a great laptop with a budget
in mind for under 400 bucks.
And you can sometimes find this closer to the $300 mark.
As I said, I'm gonna be updating those links.
That would be my first pick as the least expensive,
best equipped laptop
and ASUS makes some really nice computers.
So at the time I'm recording this video,
you're looking at prices of around 349.
If we go up $50,
it's gonna bring me to my second selection,
which is the Acer Chromebook Spin.
Now this is a convertible laptop and I've used this.
This is a Chromebook.
So reminder again,
the ASUS that I just showed you guys
is running Windows 10 Home,
this is running Chrome.
Now the Chrome operating system is different.
A lot of people just believe they want Chromebooks,
but they don't realize
that it's not actually a Windows-based application.
So Chromebooks are wonderful for back to school.
They're stripped down they're basic
and they rely heavily on The Cloud.
The fact that you get only a 32 Gig
Solid State Drive on here,
which is expandable compared to the 500 Gigs
on the ASUS that I just showed you, is a stark contrast.
But with that being said, it's a Chromebook.
It bridges the gap between a tablet and a laptop
to some extent.
And it's good if you need to present content
to someone else whether it's an office, coworkers,
a classroom, a teacher,
there is something really nice
about having that touchscreen.
Other benefits to having a Chromebook,
they have that instant on that built in virus protection
and they are unbelievably responsive
even with the slightly lane processors
that you will find on them.
Like this is a very basic Intel Celeron Processor,
but hey, four Gigs of RAM is great
do not accept a Chromebook that's two Gigs of RAM
as many of them are.
And sometimes you'll get the pen
and the sleeve thrown into some really nice bundles
as the best budget laptop Chromebook option selection
number two.
For one of the best budget laptops, you can buy under $450.
I'm going to select the Lenovo IdeaPad.
So with this, you are already building up inspect,
especially from the proceeding options
that I just showcased.
You get a touch screen, powered by the Intel Core i3.
So it's nice to see a real processor
present in a budget laptop like this plus eight Gigs of RAM.
You wanna do anything beyond basic computing
and web-based applications,
you need eight Gigs of RAM.
This offers double the RAM at a price right now,
while I am uploading this a $429.
And Lenovo makes some awesome computers.
I've been a huge fan of Lenovo for years.
You're gonna find that this has the SD card,
it's got a great battery life.
The number of ports you have, obviously,
including that HDMI more significant
than what you would find on a Mac.
And while we are going to talk about Mac deals
in a few moments for $430 at the price match guarantee
tied to this model and a 256 Gig Solid State Drive.
This is more than basic and that price is a bonus.
Perhaps my favorite of the bunch,
and one of my favorite deals
that you can score for just $359
at the time I'm uploading this,
in addition to some, some other models,
if you don't wanna go the renewed route.
The Microsoft Surface Go is one of the few products
to really effectively bridge the gap between a tablet
and a laptop.
It's light, it's compact.
I wanna show you the renewed one
that I purchased while I discuss the specs with you.
With four Gigs of RAM, a 64 Gig Solid State Drive.
This was one of the better purchases I've made,
and this offers that 10 point touch display,
which is key, a dual core processor,
which has an Intel Pentium,
and a very solid Intel HD graphics card,
as well as a microSD media card reader.
This is one of the lightest surfaces
at just over 1.15 pounds.
And you get nine hours of battery life compared
to the two laptops that I just showed you,
which will have somewhere between four and eight,
depending on how you use them.
And with the keyboard attachment,
this truly provides a full laptop like experience.
Now this is the renewed model,
I'm not gonna smash this with a hammer
because it is rugged to an extent,
but it's a little bit more expensive.
It has the exterior camera.
It also has a really solid front facing camera
that also has facial recognition features.
So you can actually unlock the whole system using your face.
The keyboard that I purchased separately,
which can also be bundled with one of the deals
that I'm gonna show you in a moment,
provides a full tactile keyboard typing experience.
You don't feel like you're on a cramped little keyboard,
although this is a small device.
And then what I wish they would put on the iPad,
which they don't, is a built in stand.
I don't know why no one ever did this on the iPad.
Although the iPad precedes the Surface,
I'll tell you any day,
if you take the first iPad and the first Surface
and you put them beside each other,
I would go with the Surface any day.
Mainly because it was the first product
that truly bridged the gap between a laptop
and tablet experience.
The iPad by the time you buy all the accessories
and the peripherals to turn it into a laptop,
you should just go buy a MacBook,
which we'll get to in a moment.
But what I will recommend to you guys,
if there is stock and I'll be updating the links,
if you can buy this as an Amazon renewed product,
that's exactly what I did.
You get a great discount and you have a 90 day a warranty
where if the product does not perform, look and work,
basically like brand new,
Amazon will take that product back no questions asked.
You buy any other laptops from a retailer,
you sometimes get a two week return policy
on Amazon for laptops you would get a 30 day return policy,
but if it's renewed, you get 90 days.
You also get a promise
that the batteries will exceed 80% capacity,
which essentially gives you almost new product
and that 90 day full satisfaction guarantee as a plus.
So grab that if you can,
359 is the price that I'm showing now,
although you can see stock is dwindling.
If you are looking to go brand new,
you can score this for 599.
You can score this as a bundle,
which includes the keyboard experience.
So which is also a case I don't know if I showed
that properly but this is a case
that protects your product which is just a beautiful thing.
I wanna answer the question of,
should you get a Mac or a PC based product or a Chromebook?
In a moment, but I wanna explain how
to actually score a discount on a Mac first,
before we answer that question.
The best educational discounts on Mac products
are tied to buying it directly from the educational store
if you are a student or an educator
where you'll save 20% on AppleCare,
and additional savings on any customization you do
to the Mac which is great.
Apple also has some great refurbished products,
plus they're throwing in a free pair of AirPods.
I hate the AirPods, but I own them
and you can get them for free.
There's better earphones for those prices,
but anyhow if you can't beat free that would be wonderful,
but let's do a quick comparison,
if you are gonna get the Apple MacBook Air,
the 13.3 inch screen, which is a beautiful computer,
and you want an i3 Processor,
eight Gigs of memory and the 256 Gigabyte Solid State Drive.
Does that sound familiar to you guys?
If it does,
you're probably remembering that the Lenovo IdeaPad
that I showed you guys also has
an Intel Core i3, eight Gigs of RAM
and a 256 Gigs Solid State Drive
plus with the Lenovo, you get a touch screen,
that's 15 inches.
So identical specs, but with the Mac it's 999
and well students will save a 100 so it's 899
if you're a student.
With the Lenovo though it's 429,
you're essentially paying double or more
to get the same product with the Apple logo on it.
And I wanna remind you guys that in addition
to the educational discounts
that you can score at Best Buy or Apple,
and particularly using the links located
under this video screen to score a really good deal
on a Mac.
Also keep in mind that the Amazon renewed program
has some great Apple MacBook Air deals
that sometimes have better specs
like this dual core Intel Core i5 Processor.
So getting an i5 instead of an i3
although this has a smaller Solid State Drive,
and depending on what you select,
and I promise I'll keep updating the listings,
you're gonna score some really good prices
with a 90 day guarantee tied to the product
in the event that it doesn't perform or look brand new.
So should you buy a Mac or should you buy a PC
or a Chrome based product?
A lot of people ask me this obviously with Apple,
which has become a bit of an elitist thing,
you're paying for the Apple aesthetic
and the engineering that beautiful Apple emblem
on your computer.
And I talk out of both sides of my mouth
because I did buy a MacBook as one of
these deals for my wife and for my 16 inch MacBook Pro
that runs the studio,
which you guys can't see in front of me right now.
I think you might be able to hear the fans tied to it.
I use this powerhouse to set up my studio
and it runs a lot of the software
because of video editing and things that I do need
some cross compatibility, but it is overpriced.
The only thing really that a Mac does better
than a PC is give you a sense of harmony and synergy.
When you have a computer manufacturer like Apple,
where they produce the actual physical computer,
they design the physical computer and the software.
You get a harmony between your operating system
and your computer hardware.
It's almost as though the computer is optimized better
because the same company made both components.
So you could potentially get fewer viruses,
since there's more PC users in the world
a lot of the Malware and the giant virus attacks
affect the PC world,
just 'cause there's more people generally that
are using PCs.
But with the Apple,
you do get a better level of optimization.
Is that worth double the price?
On a PC product, there's generally Microsoft,
that makes the operating system
and then a company like ASUS or Acer or Lenovo
that takes over from the hardware
and there's not always the perfect synergy,
but when you do buy something like a Microsoft Surface Go,
or a Microsoft Surface laptop,
you get exactly what I'm talking about from Apple
and often a lesser price.
So I want to at least mention that to you.
If you do not have a lot of disposable income right now,
if you really are looking for the best budget laptop,
despite the Apple discounts that I just showed you guys,
if you revisit the links located under this video screen,
for any of the other laptops,
you're going to get much better bang for your buck.
And yeah, you might have some performance issues
that aren't on the same level as a Mac,
but is that worth paying over a $1000
by the time you calculate tax for a computer?
I'm not sure.
And in fact, I want you guys to weigh in.
I wanna know two things.
Do you absolutely swear by Apple or are you willing
to accept a PC product or do you prefer a PC product?
People that know a lot about computers and hardcore techies
and people that actually really use a computer
the way it's meant to be used will generally favor
a PC product because there are user serviceable components.
You can generally adjust your RAM,
you can more easily service and adjust
and expand your hard drive space,
but Macs are not built for that.
Macs are built for people that sometimes don't know
that much about computers,
and sometimes just wanna buy a new computer every few years,
and get some great performance out of it in between.
So just its a lot of (indistinct).
I looked down at my hands and I'm like,
"Why are you still moving your hands?"
I'm gonna put them behind my back again.
Anyhow, I wanna thank you guys for watching.
If you do like this video,
if you could give it a thumbs up,
that's so helpful to me that might mean
that more people discover it.
I'm also trying to get it to 10,000 likes,
which would be amazing.
And if you do subscribe and turn your notifications on,
I can promise you that when there
are more Chromebook deals that drop in price,
or even some better Mac deals as we lead into the holidays,
you'll be the first to know
with some really awesome discounts right here.
Thanks for watching.
Bye bye.