Dell 15 Laptop With a 6-Core Intel CPU and 512GB SSD Drops to $399.99
While everyone waits for an influx of lower cost laptops based on Intel's Wildcat Lake platform to land at retail (which is already happening in China), there are deals to be found on existing models. One of those deals is a $240 discount on Dell's 15 laptop with a 6-core CPU, which brings the starting price down to an affordable $399.99.
Dell 15 Laptop Hits $399.99 (Save $240)
You can snag Dell's 15 laptop for $399.99 directly from Dell (save $240), which is $200 less than a MacBook Neo. That's not to say the two machines are directly comparable, but if you're looking for a cheap laptop without venturing into Chromebook territory and want to stay with a x86 foundation (versus an Arm-based Snapdragon processor), this is an option to consider.
As configured, the Dell 15 features a 15.6-inch non-touch display with a 1920x1080 resolution. It's powered by an Intel Core 3-100U processor, an entry-level Raptor Lake chip with six total cores comprised of two performance cores clocked at 1.2GHz to 4.7GHZ, four efficient cores clocked at 900MHz 59 3.3GHz, and 10MB of L3 cache.
It's not a super powerful chip by any stretch, though it is in line with the price. Same goes for the rest of the specs. You only get a single 8GB DDR4-2666 module, which is on the barebones side for a Windows laptop, though you do at least get a 512GB solid state drive (SSD).
There are some upgrade options that won't break the bank, though. For example, you can bump up to a Core i5-1334U Raptor Lake processor (10C, up to 4.6GHz, 12MB L3 cache) for $499.99, which also swaps the memory module for an 8GB DDR5-4400 stick.
Another option is to upgrade to a Core i7-1355U (10C, up to 5GHz, 12MB L3 cache), 8GB DDR5-4400 RAM, and touchscreen display for $599.99, which brings the price in line with the base MacBook Neo.
It's hard to recommended just 8GB of memory on a Windows laptop these days, and unfortunately, doubling it to 16GB on this model pushes the price well above cheap territory—the least expensive option that features 16GB of RAM is $859.99, and you still get just a single module instead of two. If you're okay with just 8GB though, this is about as cheap as it gets for a viable Windows laptop.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Is $330 Off
If you don't want to skimp on RAM, another lower cost option is this Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i that is on sale for $499.99 at Best Buy (save $330).
This one touts a 15.6-inch display with a 1920x1080 resolution, powered by an Intel Core i5-1335U processor, 16GB of LPDDR5-4800 memory, and a 256GB SSD. Yeah, the skimpy storage is a bummer, but if comparing to the MacBook Neo, it's the same amount of storage for $100 less.
Here are some more options (including a Snapdragon X Elite model, if you're interested in Arm)...
