Amazon Prime days end tonight, and I need a budget laptop. Should I rush to find one tonight? Or will the prices be the same tomorrow?
Seriously, these are arguably the worst of all possible times to buy a laptop, even “budget” ones.
There is no one answer though, because one man’s budget is another mans “luxury” and a third’s piece of junk.
Really, what are you going to be using it for? Or, more specifically, what are the three programs you expect to use the most? What OS are you comfortable with? How much storage do you need (IE what do you need beyond the basic OS)?
Specifically for Prime, most of the discounts I saw were for higher end laptops, leaning towards productivity and gaming. Budget laptops, like this model on sale at Best Buy:
Are kind of what I think when I think budget laptop just used to surf the web. Basically a smartphone with a bigger screen. By my standards it’s got far too little storage and RAM - but because it cheaps out on those as well as a dedicated GPU, it is cheap. All three of those factors (storage, RAM, GPU) are at or near all time highs due to the AI hype.
I’ve always just gone to Costco and found a low-end laptop that they’ve beefed up - they beef up all the computers. The last 2 I’ve gotten were about $400 on sale.
Costco (if there’s one in your area) can be a fine choice, especially if they (frequently) get an extended warranty through the purchase at no additional cost. But waiting to learn a bit more about the OP’s needs.
But their cheapest laptop was about 250% of the cheapie I mentioned earlier. Almost certainly worth it, but… budget definitions again.
Thanks for the BestBuy link; I see that they have a “Techtober” sale on.
My budget is around $ 400 or so, my current Lenovo laptop was originally that price 3 or 4 years ago but is on its last legs and won’t type the numerals five and six any more, or the plus and minus; its touchscreen function has stopped and the frame is coming apart. It’s held together with black metal binder clips.
I would use it for accessing my work website and Learning Management system (Brightspace), occasional spreadsheets (to fill out for final grades), zoom meetings maybe twice a month, MS Word, and otherwise just surfing. I don’t do gaming or stream movies.
Re. Costco, I bought an Acer chromebook there over a year ago, for around $400, to replace the Lenovo, and it worked great at first, but now it’s slow as molasses. I’ve had bad luck with Chromebooks in general, so thinking of a PC again.
You’re correct - a LOT of retailers have sales overlapping with Prime days, some of which are as good or even better values, so you’re in the store to get other stuff, or to encourage you to sign up for things like Geek Squad services. Given a $400 budget, you’re not going to be seeing (IMHO) enough of a discount to panic about missing the sales. Sure, they’re helpful, but most of the systems in that range were looking at $20-50 off, not hundreds.
So maybe take a bit of time and don’t force yourself to buy something you don’t like/trust to save $20. Consider Dell’s factory returns for a better option that may retain the full manufacturer’s warranty as well.
Opinion only - I wouldn’t want you to get a system with less than 8GB of RAM, even at a steal, nor less than 256G storage. Those would be my personal minimums. My systems have far more than that, but I tend to shop for budget Gaming laptops, which are a whole 'nother thing.
Found this on the Amazon Clearance section. It’s a 2025 model, with more memory and storage than budget models for the same price.
Never heard of Echohero, appears to be a Chinese seller targeting the budget laptop market.
The posted specs look fine, but it’s another factor/risk for the OP to consider. Though I don’t see it marked as a touchscreen laptop, which the OP mentioned earlier. Don’t know if that’s a want/need/hate feature.
Not to be confused with ecohero, which appears to be another white label box. But echohero goes back to at least 2023 and has survived to come out with 2026 models. Here’s their website.
Actually, the person who I really need to contact about this is my daughter, who uses Prime all the time. In fact, I would be buying it via her membership since I don’t have my own Prime account.
I apologize, my addled brain added an extra character! Thanks for the correction.
Actually, I see that I also added the extra letter. 
But at least the link I gave is correct.
I can’t find any legitimate 3rd party reviews for this brand, so it’s buyer beware all the way down.
I bought a refurbished laptop for $375 shipped a couple weeks ago, it’s great. This particular one is sold out but the seller has lots of other similar refurbs.
Computer prices have gone up due to tariffs and shortages on parts due to data centers being built.
If you want a budget laptop, you may be best buying an open box or refurbished one from a place like best buy
Jesus, isn’t that the truth. My ancient high-gamut monitor was dying last week, so I decided as long as I had to replace it I might as well finally upgrade my also quite old gpu (a 1070Ti) as well. While I was at it I looked at pricing on a new build-to-order desktop to future-proof myself for awhile. I don’t usually follow industry trends, only dipping into the details when it becomes an immediate issue. So, fucking hell did I get sticker shock. I got the monitor and (painfully) the gpu. The rest can wait.
Strong second on this gkster. I don’t think you need to rush for a sale that will likely save you a minimal amount and you really don’t want to drop below 8GB of RAM if they even sell such things these days. Meanwhile 16 should be more than enough for all of your needs.
OK, my daughter who uses Prime all the time showed me where to find the Prime deals that expire tonight. I didn’t see anything that really grabbed me; the better deals were in the range of $2000 models reduced to 1300.
So I’ll be looking at the Best Buy sale and refurbished models instead.
Thanks to all for the input!
I work a lot with both desktops and laptops…repairing them, upgrading them, using them, and even buying and selling them when the opportunity arises to make a few bucks. I am NOT an expert, but I do have gentle suggestions for people looking for a new unit.
To me, the keyboard is 80% of the value of a laptop. Good keyboard=good experience. I don’t game and I don’t have any high demand uses where I need 32GB of memory and the latest processor. I don’t need touchscreens or the ability to open the unit to 180 degrees. A simple 16GB machine with a decent CPU and an upgradable SSD is fine.
In the $400 range, think about a refurbished Lenovo X1 Carbon, maybe 9th generation ($450 or so). I think you’ll like it a lot better than a new $400 off-brand. There are other possibilities, but I’ve had great success with Lenovo X1s. Other people’s mileage may vary.
Good luck!
(BTW, I’m typing this on a Lenovo X270 from 2017. I like these so much that I have four working units at home…mine with Win10, my wife’s, one with Linux, and a spare. They are the bomb. Plus, they have some hidden goodies.)
If you can stretch just a little, the Mac Neo is like a great Chromebook, but you can run Word, etc., natively on it, too. It’s $699, but if you tell them it’s for education, you can get it for $599.
I got one for my wife and it works great, fantastic build, etc. You just have to get used to installing things a little differently and having the window close/maximize buttons on the upper left instead of upper right. She never had a Mac, but adjusted easily.
For $400, you should also consider an open box Chromebook – what bad luck have you had with them? I got an open box ASUS CX34 and it’s built well, plenty zippy, for under $500. You can run Word online with that, but not natively.
I also use the touchpad. I agree that the user interface is the part of the experience that varies the most from model to model. I like to go to a brick and mortar shop and test the keyboard and the touchpad. And see if the model has annoying sharp edges, or other features that will matter to my day-to-day experience. Do i hate the screen?
If you have a microcenter near you, that’s often a good choice. Their open box specials can be a great deal. I’ve also gone to best buy.