Daughter was going to buy a super el-cheapo Walmart laptop to run her Circut Craft machine. She runs it off her iPhone X now. It's on her Christmas wish list. I told herI would look around but I know nothing about windows machines anymore, all Macs now. It used to be that one could get more machine for the money in a desktop vs a laptop and she said a desktop would work for her. So, suggestions? Brands, a processor to avoid or prefer? ETC.
Facebook / Messenger is all she does otherwise, not even e-mail.

Budget ~double what she was going to spend or hopefully I get out for 400 bucks or less. No touch screen needed, an all in one might work.

Software System Requirements:
OS: Windows® 8 or later
CPU: Intel™ Dual-Core or equivalent AMD® processor
RAM: 4GB
Browsers: Latest version of Mozilla® Firefox®, Google Chrome™, or Microsoft Edge™
2 GB free disk space
An available USB port or Bluetooth® connection
Display: Minimum 1024px x 768px screen resolution

Important: Design Space is not compatible with Chromebooks, or Unix/Linux Computers.

THANKS

Any Dell or Lenovo in that price range should be fine. Core i5 ideally but i3 is fine. She will need USB ports but everything has them. Certain cricut projects require the cord.

I took a look and read some.

The software system specs listed, are the minimum required. No mention about anything special for the graphics cards that I've read.

For the budget, Dell Inspiron or HP EliteBook would be my recommendation.

Look for a Windows 10 Home/Pro laptop spec, i3/i5 (better) or AMD-A9 series CPU, 8Gb memory, 128Gb disk space and a 15" screen (more screen real estate to stare at). A backlit keyboard would be a bonus. Most have bluetooth. Unless it's an absolute bargain, I would bypass the Intel Core M3 CPU laptops.

I see Best Buy has some that meet this criteria for under $400.

Always ask for a discount/price compare, and perhaps they have one ore two 'manufacturer refurbished' on the back shelf inventory? These are often customer returns, sent to the distributor, checked out and returned with a warranty.


Enjoy your path of browsing and selecting.

How about this one?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-...1:g:9TcAAOSwk~Vdy0-q

I have this exact Inspiron at home (SSD instead of HDD) that I use to run all sorts of apps. Given what you noted in your initial post, it should do everything your daughter needs...and then some.

You guys are rocking it! Exactly what I need, time is getting short! When I get one I will not wait till Christmas to give it to her. I figure she might want to use it to create some gifts to give, personalized shirts and mugs etc. so sooner the better.

Thanks!

Nice system but I wouldn’t go with a zero rating ebay seller.

I originally thought something like an Intel NUC machine might be good for this. But it turns out they're not so cheap.

Just following up.

Got this one from Amazon, hope it works for her...

Lenovo Ideapad 130 Laptop Computer, 15.6" Display, AMD A9-9425 Dual-Core 3.1GHz, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, DVDRW,WiFi, Bluetooth, AMD Radeon R5, HDMI, USB 3.0, Black, Win10 Home,

$367.16 Delivered
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/pr...00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks all!

I have a Lenova desktop. Happy so far. Win 10 takes some getting used to.

Well another update... no joy.

Laptop arrived DOA, it boots but the display is completely black.
In the process of due diligence to confirm it is defective (went through the trouble shooting steps at Lenova support) I discovered it is a discontinued model as well.

Returning, free and easy to Amazon, but for refund... not for a replacement. I will be looking for a different model.