Photo by Alexandre Debiève on Unsplash
A new wave of budget laptops from Asus, HP and Lenovo has a problem hiding under the hood: a processor called the AMD Athlon Silver 10, which performance testing shows is simply a renamed version of the 2022-era Athlon Silver 7120U, paired in several listings with only 4GB of memory soldered directly to the motherboard. Neither detail is obvious from the spec sheet, and together they make these machines a weak buy for anyone shopping in India right now.
What's actually being sold
According to a TechRadar Pro review, the "new" Athlon Silver 10 scores around 3,543 on multi-threaded benchmarks, while a competing Intel Core 3 100U at a similar price scores roughly 12,308 -- nearly four times faster. The chip itself isn't new either: AMD has a documented history of relabeling older Zen 2 and Zen 3+ mobile silicon under fresh model names, a practice Tom's Hardware has tracked across several generations of budget Ryzen and Athlon parts.
The bigger issue for day-to-day use is the RAM. Windows 11 lists 4GB as its bare minimum, but idles at 2.5-3GB on its own, leaving almost nothing for a browser or a word processor. Because the memory is soldered, there's no upgrade path later -- what ships in the box on day one is what the laptop is stuck with for its entire life, which is exactly the kind of short-lived hardware that turns into e-waste within a couple of years.
Why this matters more in India right now
With RAM and component prices still elevated through 2026, brands have an obvious incentive to shave memory and recycle old chips under new names to hold a price point. The problem is that buyers paying for a "new" laptop reasonably expect new-generation performance, not four-year-old silicon with a locked, undersized memory pool. A student juggling browser tabs and office software, or a small business running a handful of apps, will feel that shortfall within weeks, not years.
This is the same logic behind why we don't stock Chromebooks or Celeron-based machines at Get Like New -- weak, locked-down hardware simply doesn't hold up to real multitasking, however low the upfront price looks.
A better path: known specs, no surprises
Every refurbished laptop we list is graded Good or Fair and sold with a clearly stated configuration -- 256GB or 512GB SSD paired with 8GB or 16GB of RAM, so there's no ambiguity about what you're actually getting. Browse refurbished laptops for that grading, or go with an unboxed laptop if you want brand-new hardware with a full 1-year brand warranty instead of the 6-month cover on refurbished units.
If you're buying for college or coursework, our student laptop picks are chosen for RAM headroom over marketing names. For office use, the business laptop collection favors configurations that won't choke on a video call plus a dozen browser tabs. In both cases, you're trading an unknown rebadged chip for a known previous-generation processor that was genuinely fast when it launched -- and still is, next to a renamed 2022 part.
What to check before you buy any budget laptop
- Search the exact processor model number, not just the brand name -- a quick search reveals whether it's a genuinely current chip or a renamed older one.
- Check whether RAM is soldered or slotted. A listing that doesn't mention "upgradeable" or "SO-DIMM" usually means it isn't.
- Treat 4GB as a non-starter for Windows 11 in 2026, regardless of price. 8GB is the realistic floor for everyday use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the AMD Athlon Silver 10 a new processor?
No. Independent benchmarking indicates it is a renamed version of AMD's 2022 Athlon Silver 7120U, built on the older Zen 2 architecture, not a new design.
Can I upgrade the RAM on these budget laptops later?
Usually not. Many of these models solder 4GB of memory directly to the motherboard, so the configuration you buy is the configuration you're stuck with for the life of the laptop.
Is 4GB of RAM enough for Windows 11 in 2026?
Not comfortably. Windows 11 idles at roughly 2.5-3GB on its own, leaving very little headroom for a browser or office apps, so 8GB is a more realistic minimum.
What's a safer alternative to a rebadged-chip budget laptop?
A graded refurbished laptop with a clearly stated 8GB or 16GB RAM configuration, or an unboxed laptop with a full 1-year brand warranty, gives you a known specification instead of a disguised older chip.
