We live in very weird times, where AI suddenly sent consumer tech back at least a decade. Here I am casting my gaze on a laptop that wouldn’t have been out of place in 2016.
This HP laptop is a Walmart exclusive, has no name and costs only $199, down from $259. It is the cheapest new Windows laptop in the US (and possibly in the whole world, I looked almost everywhere).
What you get for your hard earned money is a reasonably fast laptop CPU. The Intel N150 is roughly equivalent to some 10th generation Core i3 CPU, which is to say that it is not bad at all. It is superior to the absolute travesty that is the Athlon Silver 10 which powers (for lack of a better word) so many budget laptops.
Corners have been cut to reach the sticker price. There’s only 4GB of RAM (albeit the faster, more expensive LPDDR5 version), 128GB UFS storage (rather than an SSD), a 14-inch HD display (not full HD, so expect blockier/less sharp graphics) and a HD webcam. These are major pitfalls (especially the first two) but I dare say, acceptable at this price.
There are some noteworthy bits: 1-year subscription to Microsoft 365 (formerly know as Microsoft Office), worth $70 (Personal Classic Edition), more than “11 hours of video playback battery life” according to the marketing literature (no mention of battery size though) and 2x more ports than on the Apple MacBook Neo (power port, HDMI, USB Type-C, audio and two USB Type-A).
I also like that this laptop features Windows 11 Home rather than the inferior 11 Home S version. I never quite understood the appeal of this lockdown version of Windows. Surprisingly, the laptop is available in ‘tranquil pink’ and ‘waterfall blue’ rather than the usual silver or charcoal black. All in all, the laptop looks rather nice, at least on the stock photos. Just remember that this is a $199 laptop and you’re most likely getting a plastic - rather than a metal - chassis.
Nobody has reviewed this laptop yet and the nearest equivalent product from HP is this Chromebook which is more expensive and has less storage. 202 user reviews from Walmart gave it an overall rating of 82%. Critics panned its limited responsiveness (not a surprise here!) and poor sound (can’t expect miracles at this price point).
My take? Honestly, it could have been much worse. I had a look at previous versions that had 64GB eMMC storage and an even slower CPU and they sold for $179. In 2025. Now in 2026, with a far faster CPU, a slightly increased price and twice the storage capacity, I’d stay it is a relatively good bargain. Just don’t expect it to play AAA games at high resolutions.
