Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
EDITORS’ NOTE
November 26, 2025: With this update, we added the Asus TUF Gaming T500 in place of the Lenovo LOQ Gaming Tower (2025, 17IRR9) as the Best Budget Gaming Desktop, and added the Asus NUC 15 Pro+ as our new Best Budget Business Desktop. Our remaining picks have been vetted for currency and availability. Since our last update, we have tested and evaluated 10 new desktops for potential inclusion in this roundup and our other desktop PC roundups. We currently have five desktops in PC Labs for evaluation, from makers including Acer, Asus, Geekom, and iBuyPower.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Pros & Cons
-
Dual HDMI supports two monitors
-
Antenna-free Wi-Fi 6E
-
Front-panel card reader
-
Good value
-
Intrusive fan noise under heavy loads
-
512GB SSD fills up fast
-
Boot POST takes longer than expected
Why We Picked It
The speed demons can complain that Acer’s Aspire TC-1775-UR11 has a merely adequate Intel Core i5 processor with integrated graphics that can’t play demanding games. Still, they’ll have difficulty finding anything else to gripe about for the price. This successor to our previous top budget desktop continues to deliver reliable everyday performance, now featuring a 14th Gen Intel chip. It has two HDMI ports to boost productivity with a dual-monitor setup, a Wi-Fi 6E radio, and a front-facing card reader.
Who It’s For
Casual computer users: This is the cheap desktop to buy for the average mainstream family in need of a new PC. The Aspire TC-1775-UR11 is the basic everyday PC that ordinary people are looking for. The TC-1775 has enough speed for general use, handy front-mounted USB ports (both Type-A and Type-C), support for multiple monitors, Wi-Fi, and a useful media card reader. Its upgradability is limited, but the base performance and feature set represent a significant value.
Bargain shoppers: This affordable desktop PC is an excellent value choice for budget-strapped shoppers. Not only is it a suitable fit for everyday use, but it’s an inexpensive way to attain a capable desktop PC. The concessions that Acer has made are acceptable, and the parts and feature set represent an appealing deal, allowing you to spend as little as possible on a traditional tower.
Specs & Configurations
Desktop Class
Mainstream
Processor
Intel Core i5-14400
Processor Speed
1.8 GHz
RAM (as Tested)
8 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
512 GB
All-in-One Screen Native Resolution
Graphics Card
Intel UHD Graphics 730
Operating System
Windows 11 Home
Learn More
Acer Aspire TC-1775-UR11 Review
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Pros & Cons
-
Wireless peripherals included
-
Excellent webcam clarity
-
Useful port variety and Wi-Fi 6E support
-
Modern aesthetic
-
Underpowered CPU in test model limits performance
-
Disappointing speakers
-
Screen could be a bit sharper
-
Stand design limits placement
Why We Picked It
Sometimes simplicity is king, and the Dell 24 All-in-One nails that concept among budget AIO PCs. This system replaces the previous Inspiron model, as Dell discontinued that brand name (among others), but the idea remains the same. With a super-affordable starting price, this AIO is a sleek, compact, and capable-enough system featuring a large screen. It includes a better-than-average pop-up webcam and wireless peripherals, eliminating the need to buy them separately. The 24-inch screen isn’t the sharpest at 1080p, and performance leans slightly on the underwhelming side; however, these are acceptable compromises for the price and intended use cases.
Who It’s For
Plug-and-play shoppers: This is an ideal budget desktop for people who don’t want to shop for a monitor and accessories. The Dell 24 AIO delivers capable everyday performance and features a large screen, eliminating the need to purchase a separate monitor. It has everything you need in one package to set up a home office or living room PC, allowing you to browse the web, shop, watch videos, and perform other tasks with light processing demands.
Parents seeking a family PC: This cheap desktop is excellent for families shopping for a new home PC for everyone to use. This is a great AIO choice if you want a plug-and-play PC for your kids to use for homework or entertainment in a living room, den, or home office. It’s also fast enough for you to use in your own downtime.
Specs & Configurations
Desktop Class
All-in-one
Processor
Intel Core 5-120U
RAM (as Tested)
16 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
512 GB
All-in-One Screen Size
23.8 inches
All-in-One Screen Native Resolution
1920 by 1080
All-in-One Screen Type
IPS touch screen
Graphics Card
Intel Graphics
Operating System
Windows 11 Home
Learn More
Dell 24 All-in-One (EC24250) Review
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Pros & Cons
-
Excellent high-end performance for work and play in a small chassis
-
More memory in base model for the same low price
-
New space-saving design
-
Storage capacity in base model is still scanty
-
Fans can be noisy under load
-
Internal memory and storage are not upgradable post-purchase
Why We Picked It
The Apple Mac mini model with the M4 Pro CPU, as we tested it, is not a budget desktop. (If you look at our review of it, don’t expect performance from Apple’s base $599 model that measures up to those numbers.) That said, the $599 entry-level Mac mini is one of the genuine bargains among budget desktops, providing a robust everyday work computer at a price that rivals many less polished Windows machines. If you’re looking for an easy on-ramp to your first desktop Mac, you’ll find no better value. Plus, the new M4 Mac mini comes with double the memory (16GB) in its base model than the previous generation did.
Who It’s For
Home-office shoppers: This cheap desktop is a perfect fit for Apple fans looking to buy a home desktop. For people who already own an iPhone or iPad, the Mac mini is a seamless and potentially affordable way to extend the Apple experience to an impressively potent desktop. Even for total Apple newcomers, a Mac mini with the base M4 chip is an unbeatable budget option for a home-office desktop.
MacBook Air owners: This is the ultimate desktop companion for shoppers who already own a less-powerful Apple laptop. Especially with the M4 Pro chip, the Mac mini can be configured as your high-performance option at home, while your MacBook Air (or even a lower-powered MacBook Pro) accompanies you on the road. The two systems will feel practically like one, thanks to Apple’s cloud features.
Specs & Configurations
Desktop Class
Small Form Factor (SFF)
Processor
Apple M4 Pro (14-core)
RAM (as Tested)
48 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
1 TB
All-in-One Screen Native Resolution
Graphics Card
Apple M4 Pro (20-core)
Operating System
Apple macOS Sequoia
Learn More
Apple Mac Mini (2024) Review
Pros & Cons
-
Excellent price
-
Competitive productivity performance
-
Lots of ports
-
Compact design
-
No front-facing USB-C ports
-
Weak graphics
-
Runs loud under heavy workloads
-
Single configuration
Why We Picked It
Doing its best to emulate the Mac mini, the Geekom A6 Mini comes at an excellent price for what it packs inside. This compact desktop produces decent general productivity speeds, making it an ideal affordable home PC. The tiny PC provides a generous number of ports for its size, and its AMD Ryzen 7 6800H chip, paired with 32GB of memory, aces a wide range of everyday tasks, albeit not for demanding applications such as media editing, 3D rendering, or high-level spreadsheet crunching. For just about everything else, though, the A6 Mini will get it done.
Who It’s For
Low-demand desktop shoppers: This cheap mini desktop is ideal for people seeking a compact PC that can handle basic day-to-day tasks. If you’re primarily interested in web browsing and entertainment, why spend more when less will suffice on this system? The Geekom A6 can even drive multiple monitors and make other useful connections, which is quite a lot of utility at this bargain price.
Independent professionals on a budget: This mini PC is a fit for contractors and entrepreneurs who don’t require enterprise-level features but need a compact PC to meet their personal and professional needs. The Geekom A6 is a capable home-office desktop, often faster than other like-priced space-saving PCs, making it a smart choice for freelancers and entrepreneurs looking to minimize business expenses.
Specs & Configurations
Desktop Class
Small Form Factor (SFF)
Processor
AMD Ryzen 7 6800H
RAM (as Tested)
32 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
1 TB
All-in-One Screen Native Resolution
Graphics Card
AMD Radeon 680M
Operating System
Windows 11 Pro
Learn More
Geekom A6 Mini Review
Pros & Cons
-
Compact case
-
Potent 1080p gaming performance
-
Quiet and power-efficient
-
Nonstandard components limit upgrades
-
Slightly pricey for the level of power
-
Needs some speedier USB ports, especially around back
Why We Picked It
It’s easy to create an expensive gaming desktop, but crafting an affordable tower is harder to achieve. The Asus TUF tower succeeds in an unexpected way. Its compact size is appealing to some shoppers off the bat, but it has one key surprise inside that enables the form factor and helps keep the price low: it runs on an Intel Core i7-13620H laptop processor. While this has some drawbacks, primarily that you can’t upgrade it the way you would a more standard desktop, it makes for an interesting space-saving package. Its processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics card deliver steady 1080p gaming performance while it runs quietly and efficiently.
Who It’s For
Budget buyers: This is a unique, cheap gaming PC for budget-conscious gamers. The mobile chip is a surprise, but it doesn’t hinder the system from achieving reliable 1080p performance when paired with a traditional desktop graphics card. A low starting price and more powerful upgrade options seal the deal.
Space-strapped gamers: This affordable desktop is ideal for anyone who needs a compact system with whisper-quiet operation. This PC achieves a plug-and-play gaming experience, so the fact that it runs quietly under load helps narrow down its niches to spaces like college dorms or as a gaming room PC connected to a TV. It’s also ideal for people who just want to maximize space and minimize noise at home.
Specs & Configurations
Desktop Class
Gaming
Processor
Intel Core i7-13620H
Processor Speed
4.9 GHz
RAM (as Tested)
16 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
1 TB
All-in-One Screen Native Resolution
Graphics Card
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti
Operating System
Windows 11 Home
Learn More
Asus TUF Gaming T500 Review
Pros & Cons
-
Compact size
-
Potent productivity performance
-
Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 7
-
Memory and storage are easy to access and upgrade
-
Three-year warranty
-
Fan gets loud under load
-
No 3.5mm audio jack
Why We Picked It
Small but capable, this mini PC could be your ideal budget fleet desktop. Asus, steward of the NUC brand, developed a hit mini desktop with the NUC 15 Pro+, particularly for professional or business use. This conservative puck conceals a wealth of performance, connectivity, and helpful features within.
We tested a model with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor, 32GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD, a combination that proved entirely up to the task of professional workloads, but puts it out of budget pricing. Most casual users won’t need as much performance punch as our configuration, but there’s a lot to like with the system itself. Easily accessible memory and storage, a three-year warranty, Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 7, and a bevy of ports make this a top mini-PC pick. Just opt for one of the base models to get a good budget buy.
Who It’s For
SMB IT buyers: This mini desktop is well-suited for anyone looking to equip a small office, call center, or retail establishment with compact yet powerful PCs that can handle basic productivity tasks. Configured up like our test unit, the NUCs can be pricey, but you can find starter models under $800 with 16GB of memory, a Core Ultra 5 CPU, and 512GB of memory. Asus’ three-year warranty helps seal the deal, giving businesses peace of mind with their hardware purchases.
Windows fans with Mac mini envy: This is an excellent mini desktop for Windows users who appreciate Apple’s compact Mac mini PC but prefer Microsoft’s operating system.
Specs & Configurations
Desktop Class
Small Form Factor (SFF)
Processor
Intel Core Ultra 9 285H
Processor Speed
2.9 GHz
RAM (as Tested)
32 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
1 TB
All-in-One Screen Native Resolution
Graphics Card
Intel Arc 140T
Operating System
Windows 11
Learn More
Asus NUC 15 Pro+ Review
Pros & Cons
-
Super-compact Mini-ITX design
-
Admirably capable AMD “Strix Halo” processor and graphics
-
Functionally and aesthetically customizable
-
Option to bring your own parts and OS
-
Comparably priced gaming PCs outpace this desktop
-
Framework’s signature modularity is less special in a desktop than in a laptop
Why We Picked It
Starting around $1,000, this is the ultimate modular desktop for tinkerers, Linux users, DIY enthusiasts, and those seeking a more compact PC. You can order a Framework Desktop at various stages of completeness, including the bare minimum (a tower and mainboard), to which you can bring your own memory, storage, and even operating system. Our review loadout was significantly better equipped than the base model, but you can order it as you like: it’s highly customizable in both function and appearance. While less relevant for budget shoppers, our model showed that the Ryzen processor with unified memory can deliver robust processing and graphics performance, despite its size, should you opt for that route.
Who It’s For
Tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts: This small-form-factor desktop is ideal for anyone who enjoys fiddling with or building PC systems. You can configure the Framework Desktop as a nearly bare-bones PC, fitting for tinkerers and bargain hunters. This benefit isn’t all that different from building a regular PC from scratch, except for its petite size and some additional customization options, such as faceplate badges.
Cutting-edge computing professionals: This modular desktop is well-suited for professionals in hot and trendy computing fields, such as AI development and software engineering. The product offers tech-savvy engineers plenty to tinker with, without sacrificing power, while also maximizing repairability and customization.
Specs & Configurations
Desktop Class
Small Form Factor (SFF)
Processor
AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395
RAM (as Tested)
128 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
2 TB
All-in-One Screen Native Resolution
Graphics Card
AMD Radeon 8060S
Operating System
Windows 11 Pro
Learn More
Framework Desktop Review
(Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
(Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
Pros & Cons
-
Relatively speedy
-
Greatly improved graphics performance
-
PCIe 2.0 and updated connectivity
-
Easy to set up and use
-
Inexpensive
-
40-pin header isn’t color coded
Why We Picked It
Is the Pi a desktop? Technically, it can be, if you put it in a proper third-party case. For years, PC tinkerers and beginning programmers have found the ultra-cheap Raspberry Pi circuit boards to be easy and fun paths to app development, robot building, and custom device control, among many other applications. All that the Pi 5 did was improve over the Pi 4 with faster processing, punchier graphics, and expanded storage support—simple, right? This product is a snappy, easy-to-set-up single-board computer with a generous price, making it the name to beat in this arena.
Who It’s For
DIY hobbyists: This is the ultimate cheap desktop solution for hardware tinkerers and DIY lovers. To be sure, the Raspberry Pi remains strictly for enthusiasts rather than civilian consumers. It’s a cost-effective way to get a computer up and running, but if you’re not interested in writing code to configure peripherals or installing the Linux-based Raspbian operating system, steer clear. Regardless, we have little doubt this generation is the tastiest Pi yet, and it remains the premier low-cost tinkerer’s desktop.
Specs & Configurations
Desktop Class
Small Form Factor (SFF), Stick Computer
Processor
Broadcom BCM2712
Processor Speed
2.4 GHz
RAM (as Tested)
8 GB
Boot Drive Type
Flash storage
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
32 GB
All-in-One Screen Native Resolution
Graphics Card
Broadcom VideoCore VII
Operating System
Linux
Learn More
Raspberry Pi 5 Review
Get Our Best Stories!
All the Latest Tech, Tested by Our Experts
Sign up for the Lab Report to receive PCMag’s latest product reviews, buying advice, and insights.
Sign up for the Lab Report to receive PCMag’s latest product reviews, buying advice, and insights.
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
The Best Cheap Desktop PCs for 2025
Compare Specs
Buying Guide: The Best Cheap Desktop PCs for 2025
Now, a handful of our chosen picks may not be what you normally picture when imagining a desktop, but you’d be surprised at the capability of some of these small boxes. These PCs are certainly capable of surfing the web, streaming videos to a monitor or large TV, operating a public display, or allowing you to work on simple documents and other everyday productivity tasks. They can even run web-based games, should you have the desire. They come in a few different shapes and sizes, most of which tend to be small. The closer-to-full-size towers, meanwhile, can do just about everything you expect from a modern home PC.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Shopping for a budget desktop isn’t too different from standard desktop-buying considerations, but there are some key things to know. If you’re looking at a very small system, mini PCs tend to come in a limited set of models to choose from, carefully designed to excel at their specific tasks. Formerly, we had many of Intel’s Next Unit of Computing (NUC) mini-PCs among our picks, but despite our appreciation, Intel ceased production in 2023. Their legacy will live on, however, as Asus now shepherds the NUC brand, and it’s open to a handful of other mini PC makers, such as MSI.
Asus, Lenovo, and MSI, as well as compact-system specialists such as ECS and Geekom, are the main names in this area. Apple has an entry, as well: The Apple Mac mini sits toward the top of budget pricing (starting at $599) but is undeniably appealing.
Read on to learn what to look for in these systems and what components you can find inside. If you’re specifically interested in tiny PCs but budget is less of a concern, also check out our favorite mini PCs overall. You’ll find plenty of crossover between the two, but not every tiny PC is inexpensive.
Budget PC Form Factors: What Size Do You Need?
What’s immediately obvious about most of these budget PCs? How they look. Modern components have made the PC performance baseline very solid, even on a $500 tower, versus what it used to be. This allows traditional small- and midsize-tower PCs to thrive in this price range. These remain some of our favorites for the money, as time-tested solutions to home computing.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
You’ll also see an assortment of (impressively) small boxes, bare boards, micro towers, and even some stick-shaped PCs to choose from. The smallest of these systems measure just a couple of inches tall and only a few more across, while several of our top picks are mini boxes just a few inches tall and wide—and it’s hard not to marvel at these systems running full Windows 11. With their small size and dialed-down power, they save you not just money but space, which can be crucial in certain usage situations. If you want to just plug one in out of sight behind a monitor or TV, you’ll hardly know it’s there.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Despite their compact sizes, our favorite small models still offer a respectable number of ports. The best of these boxes offer plenty of physical connectivity and expansion options, which make them versatile depending on the deployment. If you need to connect displays and peripherals or add storage, there’s an option here. The larger towers, of course, provide a more comprehensive complement of ports, including some up-to-the-minute options like USB-C ports.
What Components Should You Look for in a Budget PC?
It should come as no shock that you’ll find lower-power processors in these less-expensive desktops, but you may be surprised at how capable some of them are for the size and price. CPU advancements mean that the floor is higher than it used to be. Even modern budget systems have enough processing cores and high enough baseline performance for light productivity beyond web browsing, and most take just a few seconds to boot up.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Still, you’ll find a wide range of capabilities in the budget tier. At the very least, have an idea of the most strenuous tasks you’ll throw at this machine to determine if a budget desktop can fit the bill. A simple PC for your kid to browse the web and do homework has different power demands than even an entry-level gaming desktop.
As for the specific CPUs you’ll see, the least powerful among these will be Core i3 or i5 processors on the Intel side and Ryzen 3 or 5 chips from AMD. Expect to see 13th and 14th Gen Intel processors in current budget machines, while AMD currently shows up with processors in the Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 series. Depending on the category, the occasional Core i7 and Ryzen 7 processor may be available at budget pricing, too. Intel also launched its AI-ready “Arrow Lake” Core Ultra desktop chips (also known as Core Ultra 200S) a while back; these haven’t yet appeared in many budget prebuilt systems, although we have seen them in some midrange options, such as the Alienware Aurora. They should filter down over time, but it might take another generation before Core Ultra chips really start to supplant the older Core i alternatives.
Note that mini PCs, like several of our picks here, and some all-in-one PCs will employ not conventional desktop CPUs but the mobile kind meant for laptops. You can suss these out by the letters at the end of their model numbers. An “H”, “HS,” or “HX” indicates a robust, high-powered (but laptop-grade) processor, while a “U” at the end indicates a lighter-hitting chip generally designed for a thin laptop.
As for Apple, the Mac mini and iMac no longer use Intel CPUs, but Apple’s own (impressively fast) “M” series chips. These simply go up sequentially, with M1 being the first and M4 being the latest (2024-2025) flavor, depending on the model’s age. Apple also offers enhanced Pro, Max, and Ultra versions in each generation, but these won’t be a factor for budget Mac desktops.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Memory and storage are more straightforward. Memory (or RAM) will help your processor move through tasks smoothly, and 8GB is generally the minimum we see today, even in budget systems. Gaming and professional productivity machines will benefit from 16GB in particular, and while more memory is always helpful, most general-use budget PCs can get by with 8GB. Avoid any Windows model with just 4GB.
Storage, like RAM, has seen its budget-model baseline rise. A desktop with a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) is now on the small side, though you can expect this much (or less) in ChromeOS devices and the true basement-price desktops; everything else will include at least 512GB or more. Budget gaming systems are better off with at least 1TB to store today’s sizable game installations. However, for storing your files and a modest collection of videos and photos, a 512GB drive should suffice.
Almost every system today uses a snappy solid-state drive rather than a traditional spinning-platter hard drive, though you will occasionally see these as secondary drives in a system. External USB drives are always an option for storing large media libraries off the system. Additionally, if you’re comfortable with hardware upgrades, a lot of these full-size towers will have a free bay or slot for an extra hard drive or SSD, which is a cheaper way to add storage down the line if needed.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Finally, we come to graphics. Whether big or small, budget desktops almost exclusively come with integrated graphics accelerators built into the CPU, rather than a discrete Nvidia GeForce or AMD Radeon graphics card. You need a dedicated video card of some kind for proper PC gaming at resolutions of 1080p or above, or for demanding 3D applications, which are several tiers above what these PCs offer. At best, integrated graphics can run some less-demanding games at low detail settings and resolutions or visually simple games. (Note our caveats around video card upgrades in budget PCs, though, below in the next section.)
Gaming desktops are the exception here. They have their own qualifying “budget” price range, and they will come equipped with Nvidia’s and AMD’s entry-level graphics cards. Enthusiast gamers concerned with performance need to look further upmarket (check out our overall favorite gaming desktops), but you could still get away with some light gaming on a budget model. Gaming models with dedicated graphics cards start at several hundred dollars higher than the $500 range, and we do see some good-value systems under $1,000.
Internal Upgrades: Can You Upgrade a Budget PC?
If you’re remotely interested in upgrading your desktop down the line, traditional tower desktops will do the job, even at this price point. The niche small-form-factor desktops are less friendly to maintenance, but your go-to standard tower will easily welcome additions. In a traditional case, you should expect to be able to remove the side panel and add more storage (like, as mentioned, an additional drive or two) and more memory.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Towers can also allow you to add a discrete graphics card, but be mindful of several factors that may affect this future prospect. For one thing, limitations might be posed by the chassis size or the wattage of the internal power supply. Some budget tower models without video cards have power supplies with output ratings of less than 200 watts. Frustratingly, some manufacturers use proprietary power supply solutions that can’t be easily swapped for a higher-wattage unit.
You may be able to open up a case, and it may have the PCI Express x16 slot for a video card, but the power supply might not have the wattage oomph to push it, or the chassis might be cramped (or not designed to industry standard) and allow for the installation only of half-height cards or short-length cards, which would severely limit your upgrade options. It’s easy to assume you’ll be able to throw a better graphics card in a system after you buy, but you’ll often find these limitations, especially in the least expensive models.
Your most likely upgrade options for these systems will be additional storage or memory. As a general rule, though, the smaller the chassis, the fewer your upgrade options, and that can even extend to memory and storage format. Some super-cheap systems use non-upgradable, soldered-down eMMC storage, for example, instead of an M.2 or 2.5-inch SSD. In some compact, inexpensive desktops, the CPU and RAM are not socketed and removable, but are instead integrated into the mainboard.
…And Then There Was Pi
Beyond budget Windows desktops, of course, is the ultimate cheap DIY machine: the incredibly inexpensive Raspberry Pi.
The Pi, in its various iterations, is no more than a canvas for a bare circuit board. (See our review of the latest, the capable Raspberry Pi 5.) However, this series of flexible “hobby board” systems enables you to create a lightweight computer tailored to your needs and assemble it from simple beginnings. A Pi can be a “desktop,” in a sense, if you install it in a third-party case.
(Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
The Pi computers themselves are quite inexpensive, most under $50. Configuring and using the Pi will require some experimentation, a few additional dongles, and a willingness to work with a form of Linux. You’ll need to factor in the cost of some storage (such as a microSD card), a case for the PCB (which is usually a trivial expense), and cables, for starters.
Don’t think of the Raspberry Pi as a replacement for a full-on working or productivity desktop, though. It lacks the level of power or user-friendliness required for general-usage situations like that. However, for certain use cases, it’s just what you need to work as a media server, act as a light web server, and even power a robot or run a weather station. Its usefulness is limited only by your patience to learn the Linux-based lingo surrounding the various OSs, and your willingness to tweak and tinker. (See our guide to getting started with Raspberry Pi.)
Budget PCs: Accessories to Look For
One big caveat to your cheap desktop dreams, whether Windows-based, a Pi, or something else: You’ll still need a monitor. To be fair, this is no different from buying a standard screen-free tower PC, unless you opt for an all-inclusive all-in-one desktop. In this instance, though, the added cost hurts extra, given you’re trying to be thrifty.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Still, if you need to invest in a panel, don’t fret. You can find decent, serviceable 1080p (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) displays starting just under $100. That’s for a just-fine, roomy 23-incher. Ideally, you may even have a monitor from a past system and key peripherals such as a keyboard and mouse to go with it. (We have you covered if you want to shop for a keyboard or mouse, too, by the way.) Even better, many tower-style budget PCs come with a basic keyboard and mouse included in the box.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Using a TV as a monitor is also an option for a system with an HDMI-out port if you’re in a situation where you can display your PC on a TV that’s already set up. This is especially useful for ultra-compact PCs, as they can be plugged directly into an HDMI port on the TV and require no major cable runs for setup in a living room, dorm room, lobby, or any other location where a PC may be unsightly. Indeed, small PCs like these make excellent solutions for powering a home theater, streaming, and playing files from a network drive, among other uses.
Ready to Buy the Right Budget PC for You?
We trust that our advice has equipped you with what you need to know. If you’re replacing an older system that has become too slow or setting up a new workspace and need something simple, a budget desktop may be in your future. Check out our recommendations list here for some of our favorites. If you’d like a more traditional tower and can afford the extra cost, consider our top desktop picks or, alternatively, our favorite budget laptops.
