Anything from Costco will be fine. She doesn't need huge amounts of processing power.

Anonymous wrote:The issue with Apple laptops is that none of the ones made in the last decade are upgradable at all, and that they are basically not repairable by the end user. You are stuck with the RAM and storage that come with the device, and even a battery replacement is complicated enough that it pretty much has to be done by an Apple authorized repair center (at inflated prices). On pretty much any other laptop, a battery replacement takes no more than fifteen minutes and can be done for the cost of the battery by anyone who can operate a screwdriver.

All of this is fine if you know these things when buying one and can accept non-upgradability and expensive repairs, but many don't know this and are disappointed later.

That's not really true any more. Dell and HP business laptops are basically fixed configuration anymore. If you want some configurability you need the top of line developer models, but they are a dying breed.

The budget is however much she has saved up to pay for it.

Doesn’t she have a school laptop for school stuff? How close is she to college? I’d buy something inexpensive knowing she will need a laptop for college.

The issue with Apple laptops is that none of the ones made in the last decade are upgradable at all, and that they are basically not repairable by the end user. You are stuck with the RAM and storage that come with the device, and even a battery replacement is complicated enough that it pretty much has to be done by an Apple authorized repair center (at inflated prices). On pretty much any other laptop, a battery replacement takes no more than fifteen minutes and can be done for the cost of the battery by anyone who can operate a screwdriver.

All of this is fine if you know these things when buying one and can accept non-upgradability and expensive repairs, but many don't know this and are disappointed later.

My son recently repurposed his grandpa's 2022 computer and put Linux on it and it works great. He uses it for everything, including normal gaming (not the type that needs the absolute fastest chips).

My father could no longer manage cloud/subscription Windows. It was glitchy and confusing with no human tech support.

Because of this experience, we are more open to used old computers.

Anonymous wrote:The new Apple “MacBook Neo” is about $600.

It is NOT a business laptop, but it is plenty good enough for a HS student or most home uses. Can run MS Office on ordinary files just fine. Any web stuff or email will be just fine. Mac is less of a memory hog than Windows 11, so the smaller RAM inside is fine.

For HS students, there is one possible exception: TJ students running heavy-duty computation in MATLAB or Mathematica might want a machine with more RAM.

If the goal is gaming, then get a Windows Gaming laptop, but a decent one those will cost above $1000. Not a lot of games target the Mac.

We are getting my DD either the Neo or Macbook Air. Her private school requires a laptop and 95% of students have Macs. The school says the Neo is fine for average students but any student who expect to get more into programming or graphic design should get the Macbook for the extra power. Don't forget there is an education discount if you buy from apple.

Anonymous wrote:Our soon to be 15yo wants a laptop--what is a reasonable budget for a teen laptop with enough power to do the basics without breaking the bank? She isn't sure if she wants a "regular laptop" or if a good Chromebook would work too. She will probably use it for school stuff but also watching Netflix etc, using discord, tumblr, and those types of social media. Probably not running any games. She also said she doesn't want a touchscreen, which I imagine would reduce the cost. Is $200-300 a decent budget? The prices vary so wildly and I am just not up to the changes in technology. I don't want to cheap out and buy a piece of junk, but we are not rich and she's the oldest, so there is some precedent setting to consider. Thanks for any suggestions it advice!

Just a few short years ago, you could get what you are looking for in that 2-300 price range. Those days are gone. You need to at least double that now. You might still be able to fine things in that range but the days of the "good enough laptop" for 200ish are long gone.

You may find something online but you should try to get to a micro center to look at things in person and get an idea of your options. Knowledge of the staff there can vary but in most cases they will know more than floor staff in most places and if you engage them, they should be able to talk you through the levels of tech/features/pros/cons at various price points.

I just did a Quick Look but am not in the market so didn't look in-depth but my guess is that your budget will need to be more in the $600-800 range, which over twice what you were thinking above. Tariffs and wars are not helping you here....

My son similar age just bought a MacBook Air.

Ram 48 hard disk 1tb. M5 chip.

$1399 ..look at Costco. Prices is cheaper than Apple Store

He used his saving for $700 and dad s $0% loan the for rest. We bought him apple care.

Anonymous wrote:The new Apple “MacBook Neo” is about $600.

It is NOT a business laptop, but it is plenty good enough for a HS student or most home uses. Can run MS Office on ordinary files just fine. Any web stuff or email will be just fine. Mac is less of a memory hog than Windows 11, so the smaller RAM inside is fine.

For HS students, there is one possible exception: TJ students running heavy-duty computation in MATLAB or Mathematica might want a machine with more RAM.

If the goal is gaming, then get a Windows Gaming laptop, but a decent one those will cost above $1000. Not a lot of games target the Mac.

+1. The Neo is going to have the cachet of the Apple brand and support. At $600 it's roughly around the price of a new iPhone. Boldly assuming he has an iPhone already, or you do, you should be able to join it to whatever iCloud account for monitoring and oversight.

The new Apple “MacBook Neo” is about $600.

It is NOT a business laptop, but it is plenty good enough for a HS student or most home uses. Can run MS Office on ordinary files just fine. Any web stuff or email will be just fine. Mac is less of a memory hog than Windows 11, so the smaller RAM inside is fine.

For HS students, there is one possible exception: TJ students running heavy-duty computation in MATLAB or Mathematica might want a machine with more RAM.

If the goal is gaming, then get a Windows Gaming laptop, but a decent one those will cost above $1000. Not a lot of games target the Mac.

For just watching videos and surfing the net, bump your budget to at least $500. Check what the latest sales are at Best Buy, Microcenter, or Costco. Better if you can wait for fall sales.

Several weeks ago, a friend with similar use habits needed a new laptop.
Her research indicated there wasn’t anything decent for less than $800.
As recall, it was about $1000 out the door, including Office, and will apparently last less than three years.

$200-300 new gets you a junky Chromebook. Don't do that unless you need to buy brand-new and you expect that the child will lose or break it within a year.

In that range, you should be looking at used/refurbished business-grade laptops. Lenovo Thinkpads, Dell Latitudes, and HP Probook/Elitebooks are good choices. A 3-4 year old model will last another 3-4 years and should be good enough for non-gaming tasks. These are generally repairable and upgradable if you need more storage or RAM. Look for 16GB of RAM, 256-512GB of storage, and Intel 8th gen or newer CPUs. Budget for a battery replacement (~$75-100).

If you actually want to buy new, the good stuff starts at about $1k. There is a massive RAM and SSD shortage right now due to AI demand, so everything is more expensive than it should be (this started around September of 2025 and is expected to last for at least another two years and likely longer). You can go lower than $1k (look for back-to-school sales in August and Black Friday sales in November, as well as open-box deals), but most of what you find in that range will be under-specced, non-repairable/upgradable, or both.

Our soon to be 15yo wants a laptop--what is a reasonable budget for a teen laptop with enough power to do the basics without breaking the bank? She isn't sure if she wants a "regular laptop" or if a good Chromebook would work too. She will probably use it for school stuff but also watching Netflix etc, using discord, tumblr, and those types of social media. Probably not running any games. She also said she doesn't want a touchscreen, which I imagine would reduce the cost. Is $200-300 a decent budget? The prices vary so wildly and I am just not up to the changes in technology. I don't want to cheap out and buy a piece of junk, but we are not rich and she's the oldest, so there is some precedent setting to consider. Thanks for any suggestions it advice!