$298 Walmart laptop: Dirt cheap, or just cheap?

(UPDATE: Walmart responded to this post. Read it here.)

This weekend at Walmart there was a laptop for $298. This was the lowest price I’ve seen for a new non-netbook-sized laptop.

The specs weren’t bad: Windows Vista, 3 GB RAM, wireless, 3 USB ports, 160 GB hard drive. Three gigs is probably enough to keep Vista from crawling too badly.

I’ve bought a desktop computer from Walmart before. It was an HP Pavilion, and it failed after about a month (something was shorting and resetting the computer at odd times). Walmart didn’t have a long return window for the computers they sold at that time, so I called HP since it was still well within warranty. They offered to send me a postpaid box so that I could mail it to them to have it repaired, or have it repaired at an HP certified repair shop. I opted for the second one because it would probably be quicker. The nearest one was a Radio Shack.

When I took it there, they weren’t pleased. They tried to charge me for the repair since they didn’t sell it to me; I held my ground and said that HP told me that there was no charge for this repair. Then they grumbled about how the Walmart stuff was garbage, repaired it, and it was up to me to call them after I had thought I’d waited long enough.

(EDIT: I struck through this because it was incorrect. See Walmart’s response.)

So, I got a low-priced computer, but also I got insight into why:

It was cheaply made. Cost cutting on computers usually doesn’t come without corner-cutting (or a whole slew of bloatware).
Wal-Mart suffered no direct consequence if it broke. They just sell ‘em. They don’t fix ‘em.
Wal-Mart customer service was zero on this item. It could only be returned (unopened), and only within a very short period of time. I was on my own beyond that.

My wife reminded me of this experience when I showed her the $298 laptop.

She’s probably right. Anyone had different experience with Walmart computers?

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14 Responses to “$298 Walmart laptop: Dirt cheap, or just cheap?”
By PeterM on Jul 29, 2009 | Reply

I don’t have any experience with Wal-Mart computers, but my experience tells me to avoid this king of “dirt cheap” offers. They always have some hooks and every time I purchased something like this, it turned out to be a big mistake.
By Bible Money Matters on Jul 29, 2009 | Reply

I’ve generally had great experiences at the wal-mart in my city – returning all sorts of things – open packages mind you – and never being questioned twice about the return. Granted, the items weren’t computers, so there must be a different return policy on those. But i do remember returning a DVD recorder almost a year after purchase, and getting a full refund. Maybe my wal-mart is just more lenient?
By Jim T on Jul 29, 2009 | Reply

I just wondering why they sell the laptops for the cheap price? Is it because if the old model / old stock they hold? It is better to buy laptop from Amazon at least with Amazon 30 days price guarantee and also manufacturer warranty.
By Tampa Computer Services on Jul 30, 2009 | Reply

These are the “netbook” types of laptops. They generally don’t have enough power to handle the higher end applications for audio/video editing or other power hungry consumption. They’re intended primarily for ultra portability while surfing the web. They expect you to do most of your computing online or “in the cloud”.

In other words, instead of using Word, Excel and Office, you’d opt for Google Docs and Gmail or some other similar offering.

I’d tend to agree that the parts are going to be cheaper and I’d anticipate a higher than average failure rate and therefore… I won’t be buying one anytime in the near future.
By mbhunter on Jul 30, 2009 | Reply

Tampa Computer Services: Are they netbooks? They didn’t seem that small. I could be mistaken though.
By pam on Aug 5, 2009 | Reply

my laptop is working great no promblems
By Tampa Computer Services on Aug 6, 2009 | Reply

mbhunter: I’d say that it is a net book which I believe has become a generic term for any lower end/capacity laptop. You certainly wouldn’t want to run Vista & IE 8 with all the bells and whistles enabled and try to get your work done without it locking up on you.

They don’t mention the processor’s specs, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that it’s a low powered atom processor or something equally small/slow.

Not to say that you couldn’t make it work by disabling a lot of unneeded features and tweak it so that it runs better… but off the shelf, I’d be surprised if it ran pretty well with bloatware and other features built in. Hope this helps!
By brandi on Aug 27, 2009 | Reply

I love Wal Mart, but that notebook may not be such a great deal. I think its one of the smaller ones meant for surfing the net. It wouldn’t matter whether you bought an HP Pavilion at Wal Mart or Best Buy or anywhere else, its the same computer, made by the same manufacturer – that particular computer would have had the same problem no matter where it was sold. No retailers will fix or refund computers after 30 days or so, that is a normal practice. You usually have to mail it in to the manufacturer to be fixed on the warranty.

I bought a Compaq laptop at Best Buy in April for $399. Its a normal size computer with all the same specs as the average laptop. The picture quality on the screen is also really impressive, movies and tv shoes are really great quality. I love it. I would never buy one of those smaller notebooks after looking at the specs.
By Bob on Sep 29, 2009 | Reply

My wife received a HP Pavilon desk type pc
as a gift 5 years ago. No problems with pc.
Only the Operator 82 yrs old. Iwould buy another one if needed.
By mos on Feb 3, 2010 | Reply

in fact I like walmart Onion. But not walmart computers.

In my opinion walmart computers are a Old in box new computers. Most of walmart computers use to be some Celeron processor . or the Everest computers
Computers that doesn’t get sold on time they bring it to there shelves. it look like a liquidation.

What is the speed of your shining new laptop. because you skip it in your description. is it an intel atom? if so. you can name it a heavy netbook. I’m kiddin.
By Steven on Mar 25, 2010 | Reply

I have had no problems with any thing I have bought at wallmart. ..even when they had black friday and everything was cheap.
By mary on Apr 15, 2010 | Reply

I am thinking comments that suppose something negative but are based on no personal experience seem to generate more heat that light. Just a thought ……..
By Cindy F on Dec 11, 2010 | Reply

Both my daughter and I purchased an Acer Aspire 5515 from Walmart 2 years ago when Walmart had them for sale at $348.00. Neither one of us have had any problems with our laptops and we both love them. My daughter especially since she uses her for college. It has an AMD Athlon processor and will buy nothing else in the future, not even Intel as it is not cracked to be what it advertises.
By George Kessel on Mar 7, 2011 | Reply

I bought a toshiba laptop at Walmart but I just assumed it would have all of the standard, usual programs such as Excel, which you have to have to do spreadsheets.

Guess What? Walmart has Toshiba leave out some programs, including Excel!!

Why? So they can sell cheaper.
I hate this laptop and I think Walmart is cheating customers by selling laptops which some programs are left out of on purpose.

Crummy deal, Walmart!