What’s the best budget laptop in Ireland in 2025? There’s often a dilemma when buying a laptop: you can have a great laptop with brilliant performance, but it won’t come cheap. The solution commonly given is that if you want both of those things, you’ll need to buy a desktop instead.
What if there were a way to get a great laptop at a great price without sacrificing portability? Some of the cheapest laptops in Ireland won’t be new, but you may wish to consider buying certified refurbished to get great quality at great prices, without cutting corners.
Now that SSD storage is mainstream and has largely replaced older HDDs for laptops, it’s given a huge leg up to anyone looking for snappy performance, even on slightly older laptops. Paired with 8GB RAM, which is admittedly not the best but certainly not the worst, your choices for cheap laptops that deliver good performance start to open up.
We’ve shortlisted some of our top picks for refurbished laptops with SSD storage and 8GB RAM below.
Why SSD & 8GB RAM is the Gold Standard for Budget Laptops in 2025
Budget laptops often mean sacrificing on performance, sometimes so much that it isn’t worth the savings. SSD & 8GB RAM, however, are a great pairing for casual laptop use that ought to serve your needs reasonably well, all while still being available at greatly discounted prices when bought refurbished.
Many of the best budget laptops in Ireland use SSDs, and to be fair, few nowadays use HDDs as it’s simply no longer practical for personal computers. SSDs deliver fast boot-up times, quick app launching, and none of that obnoxious clicking noise that HDDs tend to make.
For RAM, 8GB is quite low for intensive use. Don’t expect to be gaming on high graphics settings, and don’t expect to have fast loading times with a dozen tabs open on your internet browser. For small amounts of multitasking, however, it’s decent. 8GB RAM will allow you to run Windows and it can let you open a few apps or browser tabs simultaneously, but if you limit yourself a little then 8GB should be fairly decent without feeling sluggish.
Our Top Picks: The Best Budget Laptops with SSD & 8GB RAM
The All-Rounder: Dell Latitude 3420 14”
Our all-around pick for the best cheap laptop in Ireland is the Dell Latitude 3420 14”. It’s a no-frills affordable laptop that gives good performance for everyday use. The build quality is solid, the keyboard is comfortable to use, and it’s got some reasonable specs for something that came out in 2021.
Of course, it’s only got 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage, which is (as mentioned) a little old but still decent. One thing that sets the 3420 apart, however, is its NVIDIA GeForce MX450 (2 GB GDDR5) discrete graphics card. This gives it quite good graphics performance which can be useful for work and leisure alike.
The Student's Choice: Lenovo ThinkPad C14 Gen 1 14”
Our next pick for students on a tight budget is, and it’s important to get this out of the gate quickly, a Chromebook. The Lenovo ThinkPad C14 Gen 1 14” is about as bare-bones as it gets, and while it’s no beast of a laptop for intensive usage, it’s a great, compact little Chromebook that offers good performance at a superb price.
The C14 has quite a sturdy build quality, great keyboard for typing notes in class, and a few basic necessities like USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, HDMI port, and a microSD card reader. It’s also got, according to Lenovo, a tested 11.4 hour battery life (alternatively measured at 10.8 or 11.0 hours, depending on use). That’s quite good for a little Chromebook and it should be ideal for busy students looking for a simple budget laptop.
The Travel Companion: HP EliteBook 830 G5
If a cheap travel laptop is what you’re after, the HP EliteBook 830 G5 might be just right for you. As you might have guessed, it’s got the same 8GB RAM as the previous laptops and a reasonable 512GB SSD storage, powered by an 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor - a little dated, but good enough for casual and some light professional use.
What makes this a great pick for travellers is that it uses the HP Sure View Integrated Privacy Screen, so it offers greater privacy whilst you might be at airports or on a train, bus, or sitting in a coffee shop. It’s also lightweight at a modest 1.33 kg, making it easy to pack away into a bag at a moment’s notice. Otherwise, it’s just a reliable everyday laptop at a great price when purchased refurbished.
Where to Safely Buy Your Laptop
A used laptop is a great way to save money, but not if you end up buying a faulty product with no recourse to a warranty or refund. That’s why we recommend you only buy from certified refurbishers such as Wisetek Market. We ensure that all laptops are refurbished thoroughly, tested, and any faulty parts or components replaced so that it functions to an ‘as new’ standard whenever possible. Any faults such as cosmetic scuffs or scratches will be listed on the product description.
Buying a laptop safely, even if at a significantly discounted price, should always start with a certified refurbisher. For added peace of mind, we offer a complementary 12-month warranty and generous returns policy, as well as optional extended warranties on our products.
Getting True Value in 2025
By narrowing your search to no less than 8GB of RAM and an SSD storage drive, you can get a decent device at very low prices. Of course, more demanding applications might require more than 8GB, but it’s decent so long as you aren’t multitasking too much or running intensive applications.
A good everyday laptop is something that many of us want or need, whether for work or for leisure purposes. It shouldn’t have to cost you a fortune, however, which is why we believe you can find the best budget laptops in Ireland in 2025 at Wisetek Market.
Shop for Affordable Laptops at Wisetek Market
Who said you can’t have decent quality from a laptop at a low price? Whether you want a simple laptop for school, work, or for casual web browsing, Wisetek Market has several Affordable Laptops that can surely fit your budget.
Buy a cheap laptop in Ireland by choosing refurbished and get started right here at Wisetek Market.