How to buy an affordable laptop in 7 easy steps

Buying a laptop on a budget is hard. There are endless options, hardly any of them are ever advertised, and they flood you with technical details that aren't easy to understand.

If you've only got, say, $450-600 to spend, you're walking into the tech equivalent of a minefield.

Sometimes, though, you have no choice. So to help you ensure nothing blows up, we've put together a few quick pointers to walk you through this delicate process.