GoKawiilEarlier this month, Apple released the MacBook Neo , a $599 laptop that impressed reviewers (myself included) with surprisingly good quality for the price.
"Yes, the MacBook Neo is $599. But it rarely feels like it," I wrote in my review. "Apple invested in a premium aluminium chassis, a bright, good-quality screen, and a decent keyboard and mouse. Putting performance aside, those are the parts of a computer that most people care the most about."
I stand by those words, but there are, of course, people who put performance above all else, even at $599. And to those people, I have good news: You can get a Windows PC!
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Some table stakes here: We haven't been able to review a ton of budget Windows PCs. In fact, the companies that make them don't usually like to make them available for loans. But we've done a bit of internet window shopping, and using some comparisons from our own data and online, we can more closely evaluate the performance gains that some Windows laptops offer at this price point.
The competition
I browsed multiple big box stores and shops from laptop manufacturers. One quick theme came up: Many laptop deals in this price range are sold by third-party sellers, some of which don't seem so reputable .
I stuck with laptops that are being sold directly from the vendor's store. The MacBook Neo, sold at many stores, will come with a 1-year warranty and support. So these systems had to, also. That weeded out a surprising number of candidates.
To get good pricing, though, some of this had to rely on sales. For example, HP sells a 14-inch laptop on its website with a $499.99 MSRP with a last-gen Intel N150, a 1366 x 768 display topping at 250 nits, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of eMMC storage, and Windows 11 Home in S Mode. At least it has a Copilot key? Shoppers should be aware that they can do better if they shop around.
I chose three major competitors:
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