Just don’t. It’s a trap. No good can come of it. It’ll all end in tears. Please don’t buy that laptop.

I’m talking about the Windows laptops that are out there for $200 (or less). I call them traptops. They look and sound awesome, from the marketing! Especially on Black Friday or Prime Day, but you can find them everyday, sold and promoted by Amazon, Wal*Mart and eBay.

If you want an exhaustive write-up on how bad these laptops are, check out this article over at Ars Technica:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/06/we-bought-walmarts-140-laptop-so-you-wouldnt-have-to/

But here are the problems more concisely: manufacturers can’t build a $200 laptop to run Windows 10 properly. For $200, a Chromebook would be great, but Windows 10 demands a lot more of the hardware.

In a $200 traptop, the 32GB of storage is too small for Windows 10. Yes, the manufacturer can cram Win10 in there, but the first updates from Microsoft will gobble the remaining free space on the drive. Within a few days of you unboxing the computer, you’ll be seeing messages about “Low Disk Space on Drive: C.” For a Windows computer, I would suggest 128GB or more for the main storage drive.

The RAM is the next shortcoming. 2GB is enough in a Chromebook, but not for Windows 10. 4GB is enough for very basic needs on Windows, but I personally recommend 8GB of RAM or more to run Windows.

There are more downsides to these laptops, but the final nail in the coffin is that they are usually non-upgradeable. I’ve torn into some of these laptops to find that the storage drive is soldered to the motherboard (not removable). Or the system cannot accept more RAM. This means that even a professional technician will be unable to improve the PC for you.

I see solidly-built Windows computers available for $400-600 these days. Plan on spending in that range. If your budget only allows for $200, then please consider a Chromebook.