Our favorite $200 laptop gives you way more than your money’s worth

By David Cogen Published April 21, 2022

If you’re a student looking for your first laptop, or someone who doesn’t want to spend too much cash on a PC, then HP has you covered. The impressive HP 14-AN013NR is easily the best laptop under $200, and one that doesn’t sacrifice much to achieve its low price point. There is a good selection of cheap laptops available, but with a $200 price tag, nothing really compares to HP’s budget-based offering.

Most inexpensive laptops tend to have the computing power of a smartphone, but HP’s laptop comes equipped with an AMD E2 7110 quad core processor. It’s similar to the Intel i3 4005U processor, which runs on laptops that are as expensive as $1,100. The processor in the HP 13-AN013NR is significantly faster than the Intel i3, however, especially when it comes to GPU performance.

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But the HP laptop is the head of its class in more ways than one. Its AMD Radeon R2 graphics card is way better than what you’d find in most $200 laptops, and the laptop’s 1,920 x 1,080-pixel display provides a full HD experience, something most affordable laptops avoid in order to keep costs down.

That said, it’s not all roses for HP’s offering.

It only comes with 32GB of storage, and after Windows, McAfee, and other pre-installed software, you’re left with a mere 13GB of storage. That’s not even enough memory to download and re-watch the last season of Game of Thrones before its return.

Thankfully, the laptop comes loaded with two USB 2.0 ports, as well as a USB 3.0 port and an SD card slot. For an easy storage fix, you can also connect your external hard drive, SD card, or flash drive. You can even swap out the SSD drive in a matter of minutes, thanks to the laptop’s easy-to-unscrew bottom. This also allows you to switch out the laptop’s 4GB of RAM for 8GB. Just don’t go over 8GB — that’s all the computer can handle.

Overall, if you’re not planning on using your computer for high-power tasks such as gaming or video editing, then the HP 14-AN013NR could be the perfect laptop for you.

David Cogen, a regular contributor here at Digital Trends, runs TheUnlockr.com, a popular tech blog that focuses on tech news, tips and tricks, and the latest tech. You can also find him over at Twitter discussing the latest tech trends.

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