$99 NEW PC vs $99 USED Mac 

Which of these laptops would you pick? Is there a third option you prefer? We’re writing all the time at work, whether it’s emails, drafting up video scripts, etc. but having a tool like Grammarly will help improve your productivity and save time! It’s FREE, why not? Sign up for a FREE account and get 20% off Grammarly Premium: grammarly.com/lukemiani

I bought one of these a couple months ago when Microcenter had these even cheaper at $80. Out of the box it was pretty slow, but I went ahead and put in a spare NVME drive I had laying around, and installed Windows 10 LTSC instead of home. That made a MASSIVE difference in usability. For a basic machine, for kids, or for traveling absolutely go for it if you are able to upgrade it.

I think this little Asus should be revised again with an NVME SSD. If I saw it right, there was a slot inside for that. I bought a 240 GB NVME SSD for ~$10 and I know from personal experience, that it can mean a lot in terms of usability! Also, it is fanless, so less noisy. It is probably less heavy, the battery can probably last longer than the Macbook's battery, because that CPU only uses 6 W, vs the 30+ W of that i5 chip. So overall, I see why these low-end machines exist and in certain use cases, it can be better, than an older Macbook with the same price!

If I only had USD $100 and can only choose between those 2 I’d obviously choose the MacBook! However if I had a 3rd option it’d definitely be a used Thinkpad. Thinkpads are my most favourite PC laptops due to their sturdy build quality, and ofc u can run Windows or Linux on them (or maybe even turn it into a Hackintosh if you have the appropriate skills!), or maybe a 4th option which is a Dell Latitude.

why didn't you buy a used Thinkpad and compare it to the used MacBook. would have been an interesting video.

I do agree with you that a used mac is a much better option than the windows laptop but in places like India you just cannot find macs anywhere near that price range. I personally own one of those mini laptops that my dad bought back in 2016 and it really comes in handy when I'm not at home and cant use my pc. They're really really light and have great battery life so I can just chuck it in a backpack(or carry it around in my hands) without a charger plus the new ones charge via type-C too. They're really useful if you cant get macs in your region and just need a laptop for basic tasks when you're out.

"It's like a Blackberry" Damn. Performancewise definitely.

Congratulations Luke, you purchased a $100 electronic door stop. 😂 Seriously though, I’ve been telling my friends for years you can still get good performance and reliability from an older MacBook Pro at a very reasonable price point. I rocked my 2012 13” for many years until the M1 Air came into my life, and I still use the MBP as my home server!

Used thinkpad. Last year i got a W series for my mom for like $200. It had an nVidia freaking Quadro, 32gb RAM, a quad core i7, magnificent keyboard and basically looked brand new. It is still more powerful than most users even need.

Idk, it seems a bit unfair comparison, even the PC should be from the used market.. Sometimes you could find interesting deals with specs a lot higher than the Mac in this video

You can get decent 7-10 year old Dell Latitude in that range with similar or better specs than the MacBook. If you need a cheap Windows machine, that’s one good way to go.

It's kind of an unfair comparison, because, after all, that macbook once was a pro an premium device, while the windows laptop is brand-new, so it obviously has compromises. a much mure fair comparison would be 100$ used macbook vs 100$ used professional windows laptop of the same age.

You should have done a few more side-by-side App comparisons....including Running Boot Camp in the Mac and doing direct Windows benchmarks....even if the MacBook could only run an Older version of windows itself.

something to note is the bluetooth and wifi cards, don't get me wrong, i'd also pick the 10 year old mac, but with my experience in buying old macbook's, they will have older wifi cards, which tends to be a problem for me. maybe the internet speeds etc might be better on a newer windows laptop

I'm surprised you didn't mention the fact that the mid 2012 macbook pro is no longer recieveing OS updates which as I've learned with MacOS can be detrimental compared to windows (for example all web browsers still support windows 7, whereas trying to run the latest browsers or basically any software on Snow Leopard is a joke)

A used thinkpad should be the third option. They have upgradable displays, upgradable keyboards, upgradable trackpads, honestly if I was to buy a cheap laptop right now, I'll definitely go for a ThinkPad.

I will say having certain hardware decoders that are in the Celeron can make a huge difference for an average joe if that just watch videos or streams. Massive efficiency improvements. And typically in most chassis low heat and good battery. When I went from a t430 with a i7 3rd gen with intel hd 4000 to a celeron n4100, yes the performance was slower. But for general tasks 90% of us do. The celeron is superior.

Great video as always!! I like videos where you show comparisons and also show how good older apple computers still are. I have my own collection of older units and for some reason I always end up choosing to use them over my new products/laptops(yes this includes PBG4). Keep up the great work!

I would go with the MBP. I have one as my main Mac with an SSD and 8gb RAM (that I installed) and with OCLP Ventura it runs really well!

Well, I used a cheap laptop like this a few years back for writing scripts. It was slow but I loved it and did whatever I wanted it to do which is obviously not much. Also I used it to record a few tracks in Reaper too. Crazy!

I have a cheap 14inch Asus Chromebook I use as a Linux shell machine. It was about $120 in January. Crap display but good enough. No backlit keyboard but good enough. All plastic-- but it's just a keybaord and screen for me and since most of my work is in the shell-- it's perfect.

A lot of people are scared to death of dealing with the headaches of using or upgrading old operating systems and hardware. Of course, the 2012 MacBook Pro is superior, but if you buy it used, will you need a new battery? Will it come with a charger? What Mac OS will it be running? The ASUS "works" w/the lates Windows OS out of the box.

Any windows brand new laptop around $99 are always trash, but if anything that comes on comparison is used thinkpads. Those machines are some real deal as in my country due to shipment or import reasons, this 2012 macbook pro cost a lot, like around $300-400 and similar or better spec thinkpads come around $200-300

I'm a developer and my rig is a 13 in 2017 Two thunderbolt 3 ports. I have tried the low end Chromebooks which come with the same hardware specs mentioned in the video. Besides the build quality, the combination of the low end processor, display and memory makes doing real work a drag. I wanted to test the development aspect since Chrome comes with a Linux VM. The Chromebook struggle to handle running a small project from VSCode, resources were spent to the point that it could not display correctly. The target audience for these devices are for people who do mostly browsing and very light work. I bought my MBP new in 2017 and it is still a very capable machine, and can even be upgraded to latest OS and will receive security and OS updates for a few years to come. It handles whatever workload I put on it, I run the an external monitor, the keyboard and trackpad are a dream and this is a stock MBP 8GB/256Gb. I replace the battery this year, bought one from Amazon and did it myself. It does run on the hot side so, I got a wedge with fans and keeps it nice and cool, no matter the workload. When it comes time for me to change my laptop I will definitely the used mac route for sure.

I actually bought this laptop in order to have a Windows computer around for when I need Windows on the off occasion. I also use it to the side of my work desk since they block social networking on their network. I ended up putting a 256GB nvme drive in it and it does just the minimum. But it does it!

we have those in my old secondary school. they're literally made for word processing at most

I had a mid 2012 MBP 13 until just recently. I didn't get it to save money, I got the base model for its upgradability. The enjoyment came in upgrading it.

For under $100, I would probably choose the new computer. You get the computer practically for free since the OS is probably worth the price. Also, you more than likely get a warranty with the new computer and the used one won't have one. You also, don't know what you get with the used one until you receive it. The used one you used you said you upgraded it. Did you compare the upgraded used computer to the new one. That would not be fair if you put in a faster drive with more RAM. It would no longer be a computer for under $100.

Interesting. Obviously, the MBP offers better performance, but the OS no longer getting security updates is a problem. If modern Chrome or Firefox browsers are still available on High Sierra, it might be less of an issue. Average luddite won't be able to update the OS beyond the official Apple offerings.

I made a similar mistake when Fry’s was around. Haven’t used that Windows machine in years. Still using the 13” Mac Book Pro.

be interesting to see cheapest m1 macbook air vs used windows laptop for same price

I remember years ago you did a video on some old ThinkPads. Would be interesting to see you revisit that!

This looks like it is for schools, due to the bumpers, and there is a very similar looking Asus Chromebook. ChromeOS Flex might be useful on this thing.

5:28 fuggedaboudit!! The Miani came out there!

The most important factor is that the Mac will lose security support in a few years, making it a much bigger risk to use as a main computer than what it's worth.

Sincerely I think you overlooked the design qualities of the Asus laptop. For sure it's not metal and the bezels are large. But it has a rubberized contour and it seems to be solidly built and I don't think a lot of people would mind the bezels at this price. Install ChromeOS on it and it would be perfect for use in a school or for a child at home.

that would've been nice to see a 5 second comparison of the web cam resolution/quality. I've been down this road before and cheap laptops are NEVER a good idea. I'll take the used macbook any day of the week...so long that it doesn't have liquid damage or gotchas like a bad battery

do a 99 dollar used pc vs a 99 dollar used mac I think that it would be interesting

Looking at the Asus it appears the board could have supported a M.2 drive, but its missing the connector (solder pad was visible and so was what looked like a screw mount to its right @8:48 just above the flat cable labeled MB), but yeah all Celeron and Atom CPUs from intel are sooo anemic compared to their other chips although finding a working 99$ macbook with a core i5 cpu is not as easy, most of the ones i find are the 2010's with the core 2 duo which is not perfect - running catalina using dosdude1's patcher it only got 263pts in cinebench r20 lol (r23 wouldnt run, crashed), although at least the ram is upgradable unlike the 2013's and up (have a customer that has one and its being slow, best i can do is just do a cleanup as a newer OS is probably not going to do as well on 4gb ram, also i have a 2014 mac mini with only 4gb ram, at least an SSD makes them mostly usable)

Parent who doesn't know tech: "Cool, $99 for a new laptop! Normally $299. That'll do for Johnny to use for his games. He doesn't need an expensive laptop like I do, for important work like my excel spreadsheets."

Just last week I bought a Late 2011 MacBook Pro 13 off eBay for under $50. Only issue with it was that there was no charger or hard drive. The sales post even said it didn't have RAM. I had an extra charger in my junk drawer so, that was no issue for me. It arrived and I opened it up and it actually did have RAM installed. I happened to have an extra 240 gig hard drive with Catalina installed on it via dosdude's patcher. I popped it in and it worked perfect. I spent an extra $35-40 and got a 240 gig SSD and upgraded the RAM from 4 to 8 gigs. I'm all in for under $100 and have a Mac that I can use for a decent while longer.

I think you are wrong this time (it's rare). At least compared to this MacBook. The Mac has no warranty, no supported OS and even lower screen sharpness. Honestly those who only have $100 are better with a warranty and support. They are not going to thinker or upgrade anything. If you an enthusiast you won't buy either.

I think it's an interesting alternative to the raspberry pi, running an x86 CPU, battery and screen and others are great extra. I guess that's not the original intention, but I would get few if I saw this, but the cheapest I found it here in euroland is 350e.

The thing is that it's a low-end but brand NEW gadget and you know what to expect from it, with used stuff you never know what surprises will be waiting you...

I would love to watch the uncut footage. Just to see your honest reaction😂

Sounded like Luke was about to cuss at the Asus's screen at 10:05 but stopped himself lol

That Asus is basically a Chromebook with Windows running on it. 🤣

A very similar laptop is included in the FRC kit. The laptop is made of plastic/rubber, and is fanless. Thus it is probably intended for workshops, for things like robot/CNC control. Plastic chassis are usually wobbly and they scratch a lot, but they can withstand more blunt stress. The screen is also not glass, so it won't break though it may scratch. The body isn't tightly packed together so it may withstand more stress. This laptop won't be affected by dust/splinters, and in case it physically breaks, which can easily happen in such environments, you lose basically nothing. So as a summary, this is a budget rugged laptop, not intended for regular use.

basic inexpensive new computers are important for traveling and going to areas you don’t want to bring your good devices. if it gets lost, it’s no problem. just make sure to have whole disk encryption and not put critical data in the drive. edit: upgradeability and benchmarking leads it down a separate path outside the scope of why one would buy it in the first place. the limitations are for collateral computing. it does not attract as much attention for a thief. you can boot tails or other os on it. it’s a burner laptop. upgrading and benchmarks implies you plan on keeping it for everyday use, not necessarily for traveling to high risk areas where theft of hardware or even data is prominent. it’s a way to have communication through internet, data processing and computing on the cheap. it’s not for content creation or video editing. but in many ways it’s better than a chromebook. a big plus is you can buy it with cash and not tied to your identity. you can leave it in your car. and if your house burns down, you still have a way to access the internet and pages in an emergency. there are just-in-case scenarios where this may be useful. in contrast, if your upgraded macbook pro got stolen, you invested in upgrading it etc that it has more worth per dollar and lost it’s collateral quality. also, it has 802.11ax and bluetooth 5.0 with win 10 pro. not bad either way considering the price.

I bought similarly specced Gateway laptops for our twin 5 year old grandsons. They love them and the laptops run all of their education software and some games with ease. And, when (not if) they break them I'm not out a lot of money. A concern I would have with buying the older MacBook is longevity. Electrical components deteriorate over time and will eventually fail. The MacBook is much closer to that happening than the new Asus. And there is also the issue of how much longer the operating systems are going to be supported? Once again, probably the Asus will be supported longer. The aforementioned Gateway laptops currently run Win 10 and are eligible to be "upgraded" to Win 11, which will never happen. Thanks for another great video Luke.

They went to moon with somthing less suffocated then that. So I'm sure it would take you to mars.😂

I used to work with older people who needed help with their devices at a local library. Old people are best served by iPads, full stop. Unless they had worked with computers earlier in their life, every single thing about a desktop computer or laptop is foreign to them. You know what's not foreign and something they've been doing for 70 years? Tapping stuff. Trying to explain the difference between a file and an app, or between a browser and just *Google* itself is an uphill battle a lot of the time. There were still questions of course, but simply how to use the device wasn't one of them. "How do I do (direct, immediate, useful task)?" instead of "Where did my email go?" when you try to explain what minimizing a window means.

Here in India, since decent secondhand Macs are rarely found, the Asus pc you showed makes a ton more sense here, trust me, even though it shouldn’t..

I bought a $99 Win 11 laptop from BestBuy during the school summer sale so I can have something to write with for School, whereas I use my Desktop to do just about anything else. This really depends on your needs or wants in general.

This black friday, I have purchased a ThinkPad T440p i5 4300M, 8GB DDR3 RAM, FHD display and 99wh battery at USD 55 only. Spent USD 45 extra for SSD, another 8GB ram and charger. Total $100 got me a fully funcational laptop that runs original windows 11 flawlessly.

The non-existent support of the operating system should also be mentioned. Then the decision is still difficult, rather neither of them.

The Asus has slightly higher DPI screen, so there’s that. Plus I think I saw that the wifi card is in a mini pcie slot. You could connect a gpu and make a gaming machine out of it 🙃

I watched this in HD on my 2009 White Polycarbonate Macbook. Base cost locally was 30 UKP, upgraded it with a 240 GB SSD and 8GB of ram and it's still capable of daily use for surfing and word processing. Better than sending it to ewaste

I stopped buying a new tech (any tech) years ago. I go for Facebook marketplace, always choose the excellent condition products, I personally meet the seller and since Im knowledgeable in tech, I thoroughly examine everything and if its all good I go for it. Yeah, I get no warranty but from my experience Ive barely had cases when something went wrong with the tech I bought and I save thousands by going this way. As far as the laptops are concerned, I picked my current one last summer. Its Acer Nitro 5 with i7 - 11800H, RTX 3060, 16GB RAM, 1TB 3.5Gbps write speed m.2 SSD and 17.3 inch 144hz display with pretty high color accuracy. Seller also gave me Razer Viper Ultimate with a charging dock and Razer Blackshark V2 Ultimate Edition. Everything I mentioned including laptop were absolutely brand new with all their sealed boxes and I paid JUST $900. Thats probably like 60% of the price I would have to pay if I went to official stores. Even after 1 year Ive had absolutely no problems with these devices.

would love to see this again but for older thinkpads

I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro - 16Gb RAM, and 512GB SSD runs like a 2020 model. I still do loads of photo editing and all sorts on it ; loads of ports, SD-card and superdrive built in if I ever get any old media from anywhere. It's getting to the point it probably needs replaced now but anything I buy now would be ruinously expensive and none of the parts user serviceable whereas the old 2012 Mac everything can be worked on. I really rate old Macs highly.

As someone with a broken laptop, iPad and a phone, I would kill for a laptop that turned on.

random thoughts for the $100PC: Put it in classrooms as a spare "powerpoint only" PC at the podium. Use it to control hallway TVs used for signage (rPI probably makes more sense). Disposable "Burner" PC for travelling to sketchy countries. Can it run ChromeOS? ... I'm struggling here

You should do this with an old thinkpad

I bought a similar laptop (n5000 cpu, 8gb ram, 11,6 screen, 2in1, 128gb m.2 sata ) for less than 80 dollars, i think it’s a pretty good deal

should be a part 2 : $99 used pc vs $99 used mac

I think what you’re failing to consider is the warranty and future updates of a new computer

It feels illegal to be here early

I feel sorry for anyone who gets the Asuhole laptop for Christmas

Have you made, or could you make, a video as to what you could do in the form of ports for the MacBook Pro? For instance, I have a mid 2012 13" MacBook Pro. I would like to get some greater port usage for this computer. Is there a way to modernize its port selection. For instance, Could I use the FireWire 800 port for some extra USB ports? Could I use the Thunderbolt 2 port for a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 port? Making a video like this would be very helpful. That way I could see its use. I have a fascination with obtaining these old Macs and fixing their OS to Linux. To modernize their port selection a little bit would be extremely helpful.

I think this 99€-laptop really is meant for the education market or as a secondary travel laptop, especially with those rubberized edges to prevent damages. I'd go for an used unibody MacBook Pro any time and use it with a patcher.

The BIG difference is the Asus runs a currently supported OS that gets updates and security patches and the Mac does not. I'm facing this dilemma in less than a year when Apple will no longer support Big Sur on my 2013 MacBook Pro. I am hesitant to reward Apple by replacing the machine as it is still perfectly good hardware, as this video points out. So I'm left to decide if I 1) run a newer unsupported version of Mac OS via OpenCore Legacy Patcher or 2) load Ubuntu Mate using the Cupertino theme and use it for another 10 years. Luke did not address OS support on older Macs, what is everyone else doing?

I have the same laptop and I put 256 GB NVME ssd for $15 and copyed the os on to it and disabled the emmc memory. Runs fine and boot up time is fast.

I think you should compare $99 USED PC vs $99 used Mac. If I only had $99, I would buy used PC.

First of all I like and watch your channel a lot. My personal slogan is, “I like my PC but I love my Mac”. I bought the $100 Asus at Micro Center knowing fully what I was going to get and not going to get. At $300 no way. But for $100 it can serve. Video editing - forget about it. I tried Audacity on it and could get some multitrack voices going from the built-in mic but on heavier test with actual synths and a USB interface it began to choke. Didn’t phase me because it was more of a text and not something I expected to get out of it. All I wanted was, word processing, emails, RU-vid, Netflix, file downloading and a small light unit - and it does that stuff fine. I put almost all my data on a flash drive (free the same day at Micro Center) so not to eat up what little is left of the internally memory. I use WPS Office (free) and it open fast and works fine. The key here is knowing what you are getting into. I wanted this at the office for the basics. I had been using a 2005 G4 Powerbook and now can take that home to get some old school Garageband fun out of it. That makes the point that old Macs can still rock. I know, I have 8 in use raging for 2000-2018 build dates I like your review because I can see that an up-gradable MBP can be gotten for cheep and still do some great things. This is my take on it and for a small footprint but much higher end performance my next computer is an M1 Air. And that is not going to be for the office! Cheers

This laptop is the equivalent of a Mitsubishi Mirrage, it's a cheap beater that's new and comes with a warranty and gets the job done. While I'd personally get the MacBook or a used ThinkPad of similar vintage, some people just want something new that if it breaks they can get it fixed under warranty and not have to deal with a 10 year old used laptop. That's why I compare it to the Mirage, that car soley exists for people who want a cheap commuter that won't break and can be fixed under warranty if it does, and they couldn't give half a shit about build quality. Many enthusiasts don't understand that some people or businesses just don't care and want something cheap and easy. This does that perfectly. It's shit but it does it's job.

Kinda not fair. Atleast then put windows on the macbook with bootcamp and what about a used windows laptop

The big question that I think we all need to know. Can that $99 laptop run Doom?

If the $100 computer can run streaming apps, browse the web and be used for basic word processing, it’s worth every cent.

Plug the windows laptop into a big screen tv and use a blue tooth keyboard, trackpad combo for about 18 bucks. Use it as a media center or general net surfer. Does the Macbook do that?

I got this model off Amazon in my search of a mobile workstation. I think I am going to be returning it. It's not the best (at least for my use cases) for me. Screen resolution is main reason. I do a lot of work off of a remote desktop anyway that has the horsepower. But when you consider that this laptop is a student laptop, I'd rather have students use this than a crippled Chromebook.

My school has 14 of thoes macbooks still sitting untouched, got my hands on a couple and would gladly take them runing windoes 10 with a ssd and more ram and they look and run better than the new thinkpads that they got that are the same specked, also got their old mac server

You could have mentioned the fact this is an army cert for dropping, water drops, etc. In EU its sold as chromebook, more expensive and more of a light pc rather than a canon as the old Mac. MAc has no updates, which could be a big risk in the wrong hands when dads and moms decide to open the wrong pages. No warranties for the MAc, risk of old parts die, etc. I think the propose on both is different, despite the similar price.

I got a 13” 2015 MacBook Pro on an eBay auction for around $150 and it’s my main computer and I love it. I use it for a computer science degree and it is a bit slow at times it is more than adequate for any of my needs.

If I had eighty quid ($100) for a laptop, I'd spend fifty on a ThinkPad T420 or T430 which are of the same age and can both run Ivy Bridge. A ThinkPad side by side with that Mac, there simply isn't a choice here from the lesser price to the device itself. It never matters how much a half eaten Apple depreciates, it will always be more than its highest end equivalent while having the least software compatibility.

great video as usual. I bought the Chromebook version of that last Christmas for my girlfriends kids aged 6 & 9 to get them introduced to computing. It did its job well as it can do basic web browsing and RU-vid streaming and can play Roblox which they enjoy. iv used it for basic work tasks when I forgot my own laptop so can be useful in an emergency. its definatly not aimed for anyone for serious use but more for kids to get started.

I think that if it is light, it might be used by students. When I was in Uni, one of the main things I was looking at in a laptop was its weight, size and battery life. To type down something you don’t need all top specs. And when you are on a budget, there are not so many options available.

MMC is commonly known as an SD Card, the E in EMMC stands for embedded so basically this PC has a soldered on SD Card for its storage

emmc isn't used because of any performance benefit over hdd. It's just because it's smaller and less prone to damage, so it allows to make smaller flimsier craptops like this one

agreed with what you're saying but in other countries a 10 year old used/refurbished macbook still cost more than $300 minimum so I understand as well why that asus exist,

completely unfair test. If you had spent $100 on a used ThinkPad you would have truly had a competitive machine.

I bought a 2011 Macbook Pro 13" in greaqt condition on ebay for 79$ last year. Upgraded the RAM to 16GB. Cleaned it up inside and it works phenomenally. Utterly shocked at how quick it is browsing the internet. Its almost as quick browsing as my 2019 Core i9 or my M1 Mac. My 2015 Mac Pro 15" just arrived yesterday. Already 16GB RAM and it runs perfectly and runs Monterrey OS. How anyone spends real money on a PC is beside me.

The reason the Asus is so expensive is because its target audience is not the consumer market, but the education market. The education market needs small, low power, durable computers because of how careless children are. You can notice that this asus has the same build as any other chromebook, just that it runs windows instead. And asus can overprice this because there isn't much options for a durable, scalable, low power computer. Even if there are better options for a computer, those arent small, low power, or durable.

Celerons are the silliest of toys. I'd like to see you drag race that Celeron vs. various Raspberry pis.

Comparing these to each other is like comparing a pile of emerald to a piece of garbage

Conceptually useful. But MORE useful: with brand new M1 MBAirs SO low priced in the Refub store: When does it make sense to buy used? What machines - PC or Mac - make more sense than just saving to buy an M1 Air?

I'd install linux on the 2012 macbook since it's unsupported and isn't really getting security updates anymore (officially, at least).

I saw that and thought HomeBridge server with built in screen to show the UI

Dude if it was between a 2009 MacBook and this it would be tough! But a 2012 come on! No question! My dual core i5 is still a beast 10 years later! Granted ssd and 16gb ram but still it’s a beast

An 11" Windows laptop is perfect for when I'm mobile. Where can I find one in Canada?