Today only, Best Buy has a deal on the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 that makes me wish it was back to school season or any period of the year when more people are on the hunt for a new laptop. The current discount is so large and the value of the IdeaPad 1 at $400 is so good, that it's a shame people will miss out on the deal. But you don't have to! If you're on the hunt for a budget-friendly Windows laptop, Best Buy's 50% off deal on the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 should turn your head.
The IdeaPad range of laptops from Lenovo vary quite a bit in terms of specs. There are super affordable PCs in the family of laptops as well as more powerful Ultrabooks. The Lenovo IdeaPad 1 is more on the entry-level side of things, but it can easily handle general computing and everyday productivity.
As a quick note for shopping for an IdeaPad 1, if you see an "i" at the end of the device, that's an Intel version of the PC. The discounted Lenovo IdeaPad in this piece and linked below is an AMD-powered model. The deal ends today, so you'll have to act quickly to take advantage of the low price.
Best Windows laptop for under $400
Budget laptops have gotten better over the years, but I'm often blown away by what you can get for under $400 these days, especially when you find a good deal. This version of the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 usually retails for $799.99, which places it in the midrange category. But a 50% discount squares the IdeaPad 1 against the best budget laptops. Is it a totally fair comparison? Not really since the IdeaPad is only in that price range for a day. But who cares when you're just shopping for yourself and need a laptop right now?
To give you a gauge of today's discount, the IdeaPad 1 with an AMD Athlon Gold 7220U processor usually retails for $399.99 (though it's on sale right now). The Ryzen 7 5700U on the model featured above is a much better chip with more threads, more cores, better graphics, and much better performance.
The IdeaPad 1 has a clean design that looks more premium than its discounted price would suggest. The laptop features a 15.6-inch FHD display, which is fine for general computing. If you're a student or plan to use your PC for Microsoft Office and web browsing, the IdeaPad 1 is a solid option.
Inside, the IdeaPad 1 runs on a Ryzen 7 5700U processor. It also has 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Again, those are more modest specs, but they're plenty for most users.
One thing that's strange in the laptop space right now is that budget laptops often have a better port selection than premium Ultrabooks. The IdeaPad 1 has an HDMI port, three USB ports (2x USB A, 1x USB-C), a headphone jack, an SD card slot, and a charging port.
Lenovo's IdeaPad 1 delivers good value at its normal price, but at $400 it almost feels unfair to compare the IdeaPad 1 to budget laptops — unfair to the other laptops that is.
