I bought a cheap laptop. Here’s why I regret...

A few years ago, I was pushed to make a decision in the middle of a work day that I hadn’t anticipated making for quite some time. I was starting my day, logging on to my personal laptop, which I was using as a work computer for the job I was at, and I couldn’t get the computer to turn on. I had a MacBook Pro and was trying all the normal tricks, like attempting to reboot it and start it in recovery mode.

Once it finally did start up, the screen was all garbled and nothing was coming in clear. It seemed like the computer was having some kind of visual issue. I took it to a computer repair shop and they told me that it needed a new graphics card. I paid to have it replaced and they replaced it. I picked up the computer a few hours later. But after a few hours of having it fixed, it crashed again. I realized then I didn’t want to sink any more money into a laptop that was six or seven years old at that point.

So, rather than spending time researching what computer I should buy next, I took the easy way out. I ran to my local Best Buy and I bought an affordable laptop, an HP 15-inch laptop that had debuted a few years prior. I spent less than $400 on it because I needed a computer ASAP. At first, I had convinced myself that the computer I got was a great call. But over time, I realized I should have done my homework rather than buy something on the cheaper side.The new laptop worked fine for a while

A new laptop should do what it advertises

HP/Pocket-lint

I got by using this cheap laptop for a good six months without issue. The battery level lasted for many hours. I wrote in coffee shops or from the car frequently, and I loved not having to be near a charger at all times. The touchscreen was a nice feature to have that I didn’t have on my MacBook (obviously.) It seemed like I had what I needed to use my laptop for a long time, both for personal and professional use.

Any time you have a new laptop, you’re going to focus on its good features. Your head wants to justify the purchase and you’ll actually go out of your way to look for any positives you can. I was happy with the light weight of the laptop and the large screen. Also, the touchpad was so much bigger than anything Apple offered, it was great to use. I didn’t have many complaints at all, other than having to use a different charger than the one I had been using for years.

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The battery started to go first

It happened faster than I’d expected

Unfortunately, the more I used it, the more I saw the battery start to fade. I expected that, of course. But I wasn’t expecting it to happen as fast as it did. I was getting about 12–14 hours at the very beginning of using it away from a charger. A few months in, it was down to about eight. A few more months later, I could barely get three hours with it away from the charger. It changed the way that I approached my work each day. I pretty much had to bring my charger with me and try and find a seat near an outlet.

I did look into a battery replacement, but it was going to cost about $150 to have someone else do it. I just basically kept working from home and my laptop slowly transition into a glorified desktop. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but it did change how I used my laptop.

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The touchpad was next to stop working

This one I didn’t see coming

A little while after the battery started to go, I started to notice that the touchpad’s sensitivity was starting to weaken. It wasn’t picking up all of my movements. I had to use multiple fingers to have it pick up the gestures. The double tapping was still working, so I wasn’t too worried about it. But eventually, that started to go too.

This became very frustrating because I actually couldn’t use my laptop as a laptop anymore. It had to get a Bluetooth mouse, which wasn’t a huge issue. But it was more money to spend than I had initially planned to. The laptop looked like it was becoming more of a pain to use than it was really worth. I hadn’t expected it to be as much of a money pit, but I was really seeing how a cheap laptop was not a smart investment.

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The computer started moving slower

The hardware limitations started to get to me

The more I used the laptop, the slower it got. I download a lot of photos for work and have a lot of temporary files on my computer and I won’t pretend that I’m the best at removing them, so I knew it was going to happen eventually. But this HP really slowed down. The Intel Core i5 CPU was fine but wasn’t up for all of the tasks that I needed it to do.

I didn’t buy a laptop with a ton of memory either (again, I bought something quickly and with not that much money, so I didn’t do enough research.) It started to fill up rather quickly. I looked into adding more storage or memory to the laptop, but that would be more money into a machine that didn’t have a long battery life and didn’t have a touchpad that worked.

I eventually had to give up on it

I didn’t make the same mistake the next time

I can still work on the laptop, but having it turn into a desktop computer that wasn’t actually running fast or able to do everything I needed it to do made me a little crazy. I eventually went back to a MacBook and ponied up for one with enough memory that I wouldn’t need to worry about filling it up too fast. I learned my lesson when it came to opting for a cheaper laptop. Especially for someone that writes and uses their computer for their job full time, it made sense to spend money wisely. While I do miss the touchscreen, I’m much happier now with my choice.