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This $190 mystery laptop deal prompts serious questions

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Someone using the Dell Inspiron 15 on their lap.
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Picking out which laptop to buy can be a severe challenge. You have to compare brands, makes, hardware, check out the keyboard, double-check the webcam’s stats and so on. Even when looking at the best laptops it can be a challenge weeding your picks down to just one choice. And if you do end up making a mistake, it is all your fault. No wonder analysis paralysis rules over us with an iron fist. What if there were a simpler way? A way to get a (used but functionally okay) laptop with decent specs, picked at random, for only $190? You can, if you head to Woot via the button below. But the time is ticking and you’ve only got a few hours remaining to pick up your random mystery laptop. So go check it out yourself, or keep reading for our analysis.

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Why you should buy a Woot Mystery Laptop

The Woot Mystery Laptop is a sort of lottery of laptops. For example, we know that you’ll get at least 256GB of SSD storage of the laptop, but 35% of customers will get 512GB or more. These odds are the one thing you’ll really have to look at yourself. But if you can stand the bear minimum laptop offered, then this is a quick pickup. You’re getting at least an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, an HD webcam, and a 13.1-inch HD display. Note that, of all of the categories, the display has the highest chance of being upgraded.

Another thing you can expect to get from all of the Woot Mystery Laptops is a dent or a scratch (and full functionality). This is a refurbished laptop sale, after all. But this is where all of the questions come from. What could the laptops be? We have some theories:

  • Lenovo — The first thing that comes to mind when you think functional laptop that has endured a dent or a scratch is that the laptop must be tough. In fact, the best Lenovo laptops are built very tough and can withstand a beating.
  • HP — HP is one of the most popular laptop brands, so it just makes sense that a few would survive a scratch or dent here and there.
  • Dell — It seems a little less likely, but our fingers are crossed. Currently offered low cost Dell laptops have high enough stats that they would be highly rare grabs, but previous gen refurbished products are highly possible.
  • We likely won’t see a recent Apple MacBook Air or MacBook Pro due to its use of the Apple M-line chips, which aren’t mentioned in the stat sheet. Likewise, we aren’t expecting anything with an AMD Ryzen processor.

What we do know is that there isn’t enough time to buy a few laptops and try them out to review for your before the flash sale is over. So, if you want to try your luck, tap the button below and purchase now. You likely won’t have another chance later. On the other hand, if you want a safer bet, check out our consistently updated listing of the best laptop deals.

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John Alexander
Former Digital Trends Contributor
John Alexander is a former ESL teacher, current writer and internet addict, and lacks the wisdom to know what the future…
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