@glyph @aeva I went back and checked and that under-$300 one disappeared when I clicked on it, and the lowest I see now is $430 (current price, MSRP is meaningless). But here's a $330 IdeaPad with 8GB of RAM from Best Buy with a ton of positive reviews: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/lenovo-ideapad-slim-3i-15-6-full-hd-laptop-intel-core-i3-n305-2023-8gb-memory-128gb-ufs-arctic-grey/JJGSHX7VWQ/sku/6610891

Is it viable? Well, here's what PassMark has to say about it's CPU performance: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/5213vs2874vs6268/Intel-i3-N305-vs-Intel-i7-7700K-vs-Apple-A18-Pro

20% slower than the MacBook Neo for 45% less money. For personal experience, the i7-7700K in the middle is my current desktop CPU, which is admittedly quite overdue for an upgrade, but obviously "viable" given the demands I place on it.

@xgranade @aeva it’s hard to pin down exact spec problems because most people relaying these stories to me are not particularly technical and not interested in reliving them, but literally every story I have heard in the last 5 years involving a budget windows laptop had a punchline that was something like “and then it stopped working completely, to the point where even Notepad would crash after 3 minutes”. completely unfit for purpose to a previously unheard-of degree

@glyph @aeva I am a certified Apple hater, and so I'm perfectly fine saying that while I think some Apple hardware is catastrophically badly design (e.g.: plugging the mouse in from the bottom, or Antennagate), I don't think they tend to fall into "made so poorly that it's manifestly unfit for purpose." That's more than I can say for bottom-rung HP laptops, sadly.

@aeva @glyph it's totally still a thing, the "student laptop" category runs from significantly lower price points than the macbook neo, even if the lowest of low ends is mostly taken over by chromebooks.

@aeva I mean, technically, yes, the devices do still exist, but I don't know anyone who uses one willingly, even *very* budget-conscious folks. 15 years ago a windows shitbox was largely the same experience as an iPad or a chromebook at a competitive price point with some bonus ability to run older casual games and entirely serviceable. Nowadays it's a hideous albatross that can barely boot Windows 11 and is nowhere close to what you can get in other categories for about the same price.

This problem is magnified for institutional buyers, but for folks without a ton of tech experience it's the same. The 1-year manufacturer warranty for new-in-store models is a big deal. The implicit promise of several years of software support is really important. Apple stores run free trainings you can go to. They have a business support program where you can talk to someone about fleet management problems for free. They have 24/7 chat support on the web if you have software issues.