Is a new $199 HP Walmart-exclusive laptop any good? No, but a free 1-year subscription to Microsoft 365 worth $70 instantly makes world’s cheapest Windows laptop more attractive

We live in very weird times, where AI suddenly sent consumer tech back at least a decade.

Here I am casting my gaze on a laptop that wouldn’t have been out of place in 2016.

This HP laptop is a Walmart exclusive, has no name and costs only $199 , down from $259.

It is the cheapest new Windows laptop in the US (and possibly in the whole world, I looked almost everywhere).

What you get for your hard earned money is a reasonably fast laptop CPU.

The Intel N150 is roughly equivalent to some 10th generation Core i3 CPU, which is to say that it is not bad at all.

It is superior to the absolute travesty that is the Athlon Silver 10 which powers (for lack of a better word) so many budget laptops.

14-inch Windows Laptop: was $259 now $199 This Walmart-exclusive Windows 11 Home laptop comes in waterfall blue and tranquil pink.

Alongside the 12-month Microsoft 365 Personal subscription, Walmart also offers five free extras on Apple TV, Apple Fitness+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and Apple News+.

Note: Stocks are running low right now.

View Deal Corners have been cut to reach the sticker price.

There’s only 4GB of RAM (albeit the faster, more expensive LPDDR5 version), 128GB UFS storage (rather than an SSD), a 14-inch HD display (not full HD, so expect blockier/less sharp graphics) and a HD webcam.

These are major pitfalls (especially the first two) but I dare say, acceptable at this price.

There are some noteworthy bits: 1-year subscription to Microsoft 365 (formerly know as Microsoft Office), worth $70 (Personal Classic Edition), more than “11 hours of video playback battery life” according to the marketing literature (no mention of battery size though) and 2x more ports than on the Apple MacBook Neo (power port, HDMI, USB Type-C, audio and two USB Type-A).