Hearing the words “budget desktop PC” may conjure some negative vibes, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In the desktop computer world, inexpensive is not synonymous with low-quality or slow, especially nowadays.
Whether you’re replacing an older, flagging PC, setting up a digital signage solution, or equipping a new or temporary office that needs only simple computing, a budget or mini PC may do the job. Today’s budget desktops offer a modest baseline for performance and decent flexibility, while lasting longer than they used to. We’re talking about desktops that cost $800 at the very most, with many coming in under $500 and a few even below $200.
Below, we’ve listed all of the best budget desktops that we’ve been able to apply our full gauntlet of testing to, followed by a detailed buying guide for the most common questions before making a purchase.
Why We Picked It
Acer’s Aspire TC-895-UA91 ($429.99) is, in many ways, just what most budget desktop shoppers are looking for. Affordable, compact, and fully featured, this basic mini tower includes the essentials, plus some extras that its like-priced competitors lack. Packing a “true” desktop-strength 10th Generation Intel Core i3 processor with legitimately capable performance, a 512GB SSD, and support for USB Type-C, SD cards, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, this basic PC has nothing major missing and a lot to like. (Some closely priced machines rely on lesser laptop-grade CPUs.) This combination of processing pep and feature set tops the competition on value, earning this Aspire our first 2021 Editors’ Choice award for budget desktops.
Why We Picked It
Budget desktops often skimp on processing power, but Dell’s Inspiron Desktop 3891 doesn’t. This family-friendly microtower delivers a reasonably powerful Intel Core i3 CPU, Wi-Fi 6, and Windows 11 for just $392 as tested. The price even includes a DVD burner and a 12-month McAfee LiveSafe subscription. The Inspiron’s integrated graphics mean it won’t play many games well, but for general use, it does just fine. Overall, the Inspiron Desktop 3891 is a convincing argument not to spend more for a basic PC and earns our budget desktop Editors’ Choice award alongside the Acer Aspire TC-895-UA91, a slightly more expensive tower with more storage.
Why We Picked It
The Mac mini doesn’t get upgraded often, but when it does, it makes an impact well out of proportion to its trim dimensions. The 2018 Mac mini was a PCMag Editors’ Choice pick for its pep, connectivity, build quality, and limited upgradability. A slight variation on the same sheet music, played with little fanfare earlier this year, pumped up the two base models’ SSD capacity. The real update of this iconic little desktop is this one, and it’s a big-band extravaganza. Apple’s own highly integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC), the M1 brings the Mac mini to new performance highs, and while a few fundamentals have changed, the peppy performance, the reasonable mix of connectivity, and a new lower $699 starting price combine to make it one of the best values in compact computers, period. It easily earns our Editors’ Choice nod.
The Bottom Line:
The ECS Liva Q3 Plus is a tiny, quiet, capable, and affordable mini PC that’s a great fit as a living-room media streamer or light-duty, hide-anywhere office computer.
Why We Picked It
The ECS Liva Q3 Plus (starts at $332; $550 as tested) is a capable and quiet mini PC, which were two things that we couldn’t say about its predecessor, the Liva Q2, whose meager performance limited it to single-program productivity work or display duty and whose loud cooling fan never ceased. In addition to better performance and acoustics inside what is still one of the mini-est of mini-PC enclosures, the Liva Q3 Plus offers improved connectivity with the addition of a third USB port and a mini-DisplayPort connection. The system is based on an embedded AMD Ryzen V1605B chip that features four processing cores and integrated Radeon Vega 8 graphics. Local storage is a bit tight, but there’s a microSD card slot if you need to expand. You’d be hard pressed to find a better budget-minded mini PC in such a tiny package for such a low price.
Why We Picked It
Though public events and tradeshows that call for display kiosks are on ice at the moment, there are still plenty of pertinent uses for Intel’s classic Next Unit of Computing (NUC) family of mini PCs. Newly released models like the NUC 11 Pro Kit NUC11TNKi5 (starting at $450 for a bare-bones model), based on the chipmaker’s “Tiger Canyon” mini PC platform and “Tiger Lake” mobile CPUs, showcase this perfectly.
Petite yet powerful, the NUC11TNKi5 gives you the power of a PC multiple times its size in the palm of your hand. And while diminutive desktops have traditionally attracted very specific customers and niche use cases, the new power budget of options like this one might start to change that narrative for good. While the NUC 11 Pro’s gaming performance is predictably ho-hum (though better than past models’, thanks to new Iris Xe integrated silicon), as a machine made for general work and browsing tasks, it fills its role (and its little chassis) to the fullest. It rates an Editors’ Choice award as one of the best traditional-size small-form-factor (SFF) PCs on shelves today.
Why We Picked It
The stylish, compact HP Slim Desktop (model S01-aF0020) is a cheap-and-cheerful desktop PC that can serve a wide variety of uses around the house. Need a homework machine for your kids? Fed up with monthly streaming-service subscriptions and want to dust off your movie DVDs? This small desktop, which retails for $379.99 at Amazon, can fill those roles and more, though its tepid AMD Athlon laptop-weight processor and lack of USB Type-C ports disqualifies it as your daily driver. For more power and a better port selection, you’ll want to check out more capable systems in the $400-to-$500 range, such as the Editors’ Choice-award-winning Acer Aspire TC-895-UA91.
The Bottom Line:
Lenovo’s entry-level Legion Tower 5i gaming desktop delivers improved performance and style at a low price.
Why We Picked It
Lenovo’s Legion Tower 5i mid-tower gaming desktop won an Editors’ Choice award last year and is an even better value in the $949 Best Buy configuration we’re testing today. Instead of the quad-core CPU and 4GB graphics card commonly found in under-$1,000 towers, it boasts a six-core “Rocket Lake” Intel Core i5 processor and 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super for comfortably smooth 1080p gaming, and even includes both a solid-state drive and a hard drive. Its 8GB of memory is a bit scanty, but that can be easily upgraded later. An aggressive four-zone-lit case tops it off, making the Legion Tower 5i impressive for the price. The machine earns another Editors’ Choice award among entry-level gaming towers.
Why We Picked It
The XPS Desktop (starts at $749; $1,802 as tested) is Dell’s premium desktop PC. It’s been redesigned since we last reviewed it, with a classier, easier-to-upgrade chassis and Intel’s 12th Generation “Alder Lake” silicon for improved performance. Though Dell’s own Inspiron Desktop offers more bang for the buck than the base model XPS, the sky is the limit for this tower’s configurations, which scale to a liquid-cooled Core i9-12900K processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 graphics. It earns our Editors’ Choice award among performance tower desktops that aren’t exclusively for gaming or business.
The Bottom Line:
This AMD-based version of the venerable Aspire TC budget desktop makes for a snappy, compact home-office PC for the money, even if the build has its upgrade limitations.
Why We Picked It
Budget desktops, with their integrated graphics, nonstandard smaller chassis, and copious, confusing configurations, tend to look like an undifferentiated mass. Finding the best value requires a bit of hunting, plus attention to nuance. We recently gave a big thumbs-up to the Intel-based Acer Aspire TC-895-UA91, and now we’ve received an AMD-based alter ego, the Aspire TC-390-UA92 ($499.99), for review. The Ryzen 5 3400G CPU in this unit, with integrated graphics on-chip, isn’t as speedy as newer no-graphics Ryzen offerings, but this model still delivers some of the best performance in the under-$500 tier. The Intel version costs $70 less for almost-as-good speed plus USB Type-C connectivity, though, so we’re sticking by that specific configuration as our top tested value. That said, if a little extra oomph is what you’re after, this AMD option remains a sound buy.
Why We Picked It
Economy PCs have their place, as plenty of consumers just want a simple, affordable home computer for basic needs. The Lenovo IdeaCentre 510A ($499 as tested) fits the bill, an unassuming budget desktop with modest components at a low price. There are no major flaws, but relative to similarly priced competition, the IdeaCentre doesn’t have anything special going for it from a build-quality point of view, and its AMD-powered performance, in certain measures, lags behind Intel-alternative chips in some comparable budget systems. (The modestly better graphics performance, though, does carry some light appeal.) The Acer Aspire TC-885-UA92, which we’re reviewing alongside it, is just $50 more with a superior CPU, more RAM, and more storage, making it our current top recommendation in this category.
Why We Picked It
The Raspberry Pi 4 is the most powerful Pi yet. It packs cutting-edge features like USB-C power input, two video outputs that can each run an external 4K monitor, and a choice of RAM complements—a first for any Raspberry Pi. With all this extra potential in a board much the same size as earlier Pi models, comes a lot of heat that could lead to shutdowns, especially if you’re using the Pi 4 to stream video or perform other such resource-intensive tasks. The improvements also bring a higher price—the $55 version we tested, with 4GB of onboard memory, costs a $20 premium over the $35 base price. Altogether, though, the improvements are significant and make the Pi 4 a compelling maker board, a hobbyist’s best friend, or even a budget desktop PC for those willing to tinker.
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.
You’ll also see an assortment of (impressively) small boxes, bare boards, microtowers, and even some stick-shaped PCs to choose among. 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 10. 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 HDTV, you’ll hardly know it’s there.
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 for you. The larger towers, of course, provide a more comprehensive complement of ports, including some up-to-the-minute options like USB Type-C.
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. But you’ll need to select carefully.
CPU advancements mean that the floor is higher than it used to be. All modern budget systems will have at least a dual-core CPU (some have quad-core chips), and most take just a few seconds to boot up. A handful of these models (usually, mini-towers) include a bonafide Intel Core i5 desktop-strength processor, in some cases even a legitimately quick six-core/six-thread chip. An important note, however: Mini PCs, and even some small mini-tower-style models, may use mobile-grade processors instead of desktop ones. Look at the name of the CPU when shopping; any Intel or AMD CPU ending in “U” in a small desktop is a laptop-equivalent processor.
For either type, though, web browsing, streaming video, displaying data, and working in simple documents is a snap. All of these models are far from pro workstations (you’ll still want a more powerful and more expensive chip if you’re planning on editing media or holding web conferences for business with multiple participants), so it’s important to tailor your expectations to the specs. With the models that indeed use low-power laptop CPUs, you may save a bit of money and reduce noise and power consumption. These are demonstrably slower than entry-level desktop CPUs, but an okay fit for a child’s computer or a basic streaming media server. Just be wary of these processors if you’re shopping for your main productivity PC, as their speed is lacking for everyday multitasking.
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. Demand a true desktop chip if much multitasking is on the agenda. These will be Intel Core i3 or i5 processors, or AMD Ryzen 3 or 5 chips, with a model number not ending in “U” but more likely a zero, an “F,” a “G,” an “X,” or a “T.” As for Apple, the newest-model Mac mini is no longer using Intel processors, but Apple’s own (impressively fast) M1 processor mentioned above.
Moving on to memory, which will help move those tasks along smoothly, really cheap stick-type or ultracompact desktops in the $100 to $200 range will come with 2GB, only enough for simple digital-signage installations or extremely low-demand, single applications such as word processors. An increasing number come with a basic 4GB, though, especially in the $200-plus range. Up at $400 and above, 8GB is common, and some units even manage to include 12GB in under-$700 configurations. For a PC you’ll rely on every day for productivity work, 8GB is really the minimum you should insist on under Windows 10.
Storage is an area you may have to set some firm expectations around, as capacities are seldom very high; these types of desktops are not meant to store huge amounts of files locally. In the cheapest, smallest desktops, you’ll get as little as 32GB or 64GB of what’s called eMMC flash storage, similar to what’s offered in most Chromebooks. (It’s roughly the equivalent of an internal flash drive or SD card.) Pay a bit more, though, and you can net 64GB or 128GB; give preference to models that call out their storage as solid-state drives (SSDs) versus eMMC; SSDs will feel snappier. Some of the full-size towers on our list include 256GB or even 512GB SSDs, at which point you’re hardly compromising any more. We strongly favor SSDs over hard drives, even in this price range.
Look for higher-capacity storage if you’re a serial downloader, but as evidenced by Chromebooks, internet-connected devices can get away with a lot less local storage thanks to the cloud. Flash storage and SSD will be norm in the really small budget desktops, as these models are too tight inside for conventional 3.5-inch (desktop-size) hard drives, but some can take 2.5-inch (laptop-size) drive upgrades. If you ever need more storage space, USB 3.0 and USB-C ports will also let you attach a speedy external hard drive or SSD.
Mini-towers and the usual towers, though, can often take a hard drive or two in an empty internal 3.5-inch drive bay if you need bulk storage on the cheap. We’ve even seen isolated mini-tower models preconfigured with a small SSD as the boot drive, plus a mass-storage hard drive. This is the best of both worlds in a budget config, but you’ll have to shop around to find one. (Usually you get just one or the other.)
Budget machines, whether big or small, almost exclusively come with the integrated graphics built into the CPU, not a discrete Nvidia GeForce or AMD Radeon graphics card. You need a video card for leading-edge gaming experiences or 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 very visually simple and 2D games, smoothly.
It goes without saying that an enthusiast gamer should look elsewhere (check out our favorite cheap gaming laptops and gaming desktops), but you could still get away with some light gaming on these. Gaming models with dedicated graphics cards start at several hundred dollars higher than the $500 range, but a few are starting to creep in around budget pricing; one of our current favorites is the CyberPower Gamer Xtreme GXi11400CPG.
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 welcome additions easily. 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.
Towers can also give you the option to add a discrete graphics card, but be mindful of several factors affecting that 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 less than 200-watt output ratings, and others 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 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. Be sure to look at those factors closely first. Your most likely upgrade options for these systems will come in the form of additional storage or memory.
Down the size scale, small and inexpensive models don’t always rule out upgrades, especially for the more customizable offerings like the Intel NUC series. If you’re someone who will tinker, or who works in a professional setting deploying PCs for business use, with the NUCs and systems like them, you can add RAM or swap in a roomier drive (usually in M.2 SSD format) to suit your needs. Audit your options at the time of purchase. As a general rule, though, the smaller the chassis, the fewer your upgrade options.
That said, keep your expectations in check. An eMMC boot drive won’t itself be upgradable (it’s made up of soldered-down chips), but in some unusual cases you might be able to add a secondary SSD or hard drive alongside the eMMC drive as extra storage. The stick-style supercompact PCs (like the Azulle Access4) are resolutely not upgradable. Also, in many compact, cheap desktops, the CPU and RAM are not socketed and removable, but part of the mainboard.
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 of a bare circuit board. (See our review of the latest, the capable Raspberry Pi 4.) But this series of flexible “hobby board” systems allows you to create whatever lightweight computer you need and are capable of assembling from simple beginnings.
The Pi computers themselves are quite inexpensive, most under $50. Configuring and using the Pi will take some experimenter’s spirit, a few added dongles, and a willingness to work with a form of Linux. You’ll need to factor in the cost of some storage (a microSD card), a case for the PCB (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 doesn’t have a level of power or user-friendliness for general-usage situations like that. However, for certain use cases, it’s just what you need: for powering a robot, running a weather station, serving as a media server, acting as a light web server. 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.)
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 than buying a standard screenless tower PC, unless you were to buy an all-inclusive all-in-one desktop. In this instance, though, the added cost hurts extra given you’re trying to be thrifty. Still, if you need to invest in a panel, don’t fret. You can find good, serviceable 1080p (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) displays starting just under $100. That’s for a nice, 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 include a basic keyboard and mouse in the box.
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 onto a TV that’s already set up. This is especially useful for ultracompact and stick PCs, as they can plug right in to an HDMI port on the TV and need no major cable runs for setup in a living room, a dorm room, a lobby, or anywhere else a PC may look unsightly. Indeed, small PCs like these make excellent solutions for powering a home theater for streaming, file playback from a network drive, and the like.
If you’re replacing an older system that has become a bit too slow or worn out, or are setting up a new workspace and need something simple, a budget desktop may be in your future. Check out our recommendations list below for some of our favorites. If you’d like a more traditional tower and can swing the extra money, check out our overall top desktop picks or, alternately, our favorite cheap laptops.
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