The Best Cheap Desktop PCs for 2025
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The words "cheap desktop PC" may conjure negative vibes, but they shouldn't. In our 40 years of testing and benchmarking desktops at PCMag, we've encountered plenty of quality budget computers that offer solid speed and feature sets. To suss out the winners, our expert analysts and editors use defined, repeatable testing methodologies to run quantitative benchmarks on every model we review, and we assess machines based on design, features, connectivity, upgrade potential, and value. With all that in mind, the Acer Aspire TC-1775-UR11 is our current pick as the best cheap desktop PC for most buyers, thanks to its excellent mix of components for the money and feature-packed chassis. Beyond that Acer, keep reading for several more recommended budget desktops for various use cases, plus a detailed buying guide and a helpful breakdown of our picks' specs in selectable chart form.
Now, a handful of our chosen picks may not be what you normally picture when imagining a desktop, but you'd be surprised at the capability of some of these small boxes. These PCs are certainly able to surf the web, stream videos to a monitor or big TV, operate a public display, or allow you to work on simple documents and other everyday productivity tasks. They can even run web-based games, should you have the desire. They come in a few different shapes and sizes, most tending to the small. The closer-to-full-size towers, meanwhile, can do just about everything you expect from a modern home PC.
Shopping for a budget desktop isn't too different from standard desktop-buying considerations, but there are some key things to know. If you're looking at a very small system, mini PCs tend to come in a limited set of models to choose from, tightly designed to do what they do well. Formerly, we had many of Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) mini-PCs among our picks, but despite our appreciation, Intel ceased production in 2023. Their legacy will live on , however, as Asus now shepherds the NUC brand, and it's open to a handful of other mini PC makers, such as MSI.
Asus, Lenovo, and MSI, as well as compact-system specialists such as ECS, Shuttle, and Zotac are the main names in this area. Apple has an entry, as well: The Apple Mac mini sits toward the top of budget pricing (starting at $599) but is undeniably appealing.
Read on to learn what to look for in these systems and what components you can find inside. If you're interested specifically in tiny PCs but budget is less of a factor, also check out our favorite mini PCs overall. You'll find plenty of crossover between the two, but not every tiny PC is inexpensive.
Budget PC Form Factors: What Size Do You Need?
What's immediately obvious about most of these budget PCs? How they look. Modern components have made the PC performance baseline very solid, even on a $500 tower, versus what it used to be. This allows traditional small- and midsize-tower PCs to thrive in this price range. These remain some of our favorites for the money, as time-tested solutions to home computing.
You'll also see an assortment of (impressively) small boxes, bare boards, micro towers, and even some stick-shaped PCs to choose from. The smallest of these systems measure just a couple of inches tall and only a few more across, while several of our top picks are mini boxes just a few inches tall and wide—and it's hard not to marvel at these systems running full Windows 11 . With their small size and dialed-down power, they save you not just money but space, which can be crucial in certain usage situations. If you want to just plug one in out of sight behind a monitor or TV, you'll hardly know it's there.
Despite their compact sizes, our favorite small models still offer a respectable number of ports. The best of these boxes offer plenty of physical connectivity and expansion options, which make them versatile depending on the deployment. If you need to connect displays and peripherals or add storage, there's an option here. The larger towers, of course, provide a more comprehensive complement of ports, including some up-to-the-minute options like USB-C ports.
What Components Should You Look for in a Budget PC?
It should come as no shock that you'll find lower-power processors in these less-expensive desktops, but you may be surprised at how capable some of them are for the size and price. CPU advancements mean that the floor is higher than it used to be. Even modern budget systems have enough processing cores and high enough baseline performance for light productivity beyond web browsing, and most take just a few seconds to boot up.
Still, you'll find a wide range of capabilities in the budget tier. At the very least, have an idea of the most strenuous tasks you'll throw at this machine to determine if a budget desktop can fit the bill. A simple PC for your kid to browse the web and do homework has different power demands than even an entry-level gaming desktop.
As for the specific CPUs you'll see, the least powerful among these will be Core i3 or i5 processors on the Intel side and Ryzen 3 or 5 chips from AMD. Expect to see 13th and 14th Generation Intel processors in current budget machines, while AMD currently shows up with processors in the Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 series. Depending on the category, the occasional Core i7 and Ryzen 7 processor may be available at budget pricing, too. Intel also launched its AI-ready "Arrow Lake" Core Ultra desktop chips (also known as Core Ultra 200S) late last year, but these haven't hit many cheaper prebuilt systems yet. They should filter down as time goes on, but it might take another generation before Core Ultra chips really start to supplant the older Core i alternatives.
Note that mini PCs, like several of our picks here, and some all-in-one PCs will employ not conventional desktop CPUs but the mobile kind meant for laptops. You can suss these out by the letters at the end of their model numbers. An "H", "HS," or "HX" indicates a robust, high-powered (but laptop-grade) processor, while a "U" at the end indicates a lighter-hitting chip generally designed for a thin laptop.
As for Apple, the Mac mini and iMac no longer use Intel CPUs, but Apple's own (impressively fast) "M" series chips. These simply go up sequentially, with M1 being the first and M4 being the latest (2024-2025) flavor, depending on the age of the model you are looking at. Apple also has enhanced Pro, Max, and Ultra versions in each generation, but these are not likely to be a concern among cheap Mac desktops.
Memory and storage are more straightforward. Memory (or RAM) will help your processor move through tasks smoothly, and 8GB is generally the minimum we see today, even in budget systems. Gaming and professional productivity machines will benefit from 16GB in particular, and while more memory is always helpful, most general-use budget PCs can get by with 8GB. Avoid any Windows model with just 4GB.
Storage, like RAM, has seen its budget-model baseline rise. A desktop with a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) is now on the small side, though you can expect this much (or less) in ChromeOS devices and the true basement-price desktops; everything else will include at least 512GB or more. Budget gaming systems are better off with at least 1TB to store today's sizable game installations, but for storing your files and a modest collection of videos and photos, a 512GB drive should do.
Almost every system today uses a snappy solid-state drive rather than a traditional spinning-platter hard drive, though you will occasionally see these as secondary drives in a system. External USB drives are always an option for storing large media libraries off the system. Additionally, if you're comfortable with hardware upgrades, a lot of these full-size towers will have a free bay or slot for an extra hard drive or SSD, which is a cheaper way to add storage down the line if needed.
Finally, we come to graphics. Whether big or small, cheap desktops almost exclusively come with integrated graphics accelerators built into the CPU, not a discrete Nvidia GeForce or AMD Radeon graphics card . You need a dedicated video card of some kind for proper PC gaming at resolutions of 1080p or above, or for demanding 3D applications, which are several tiers above what these PCs offer. At best, integrated graphics can run some less-demanding games at low detail settings and resolutions or visually simple games. (Note our caveats around video card upgrades in budget PCs, though, below in the next section.)
Gaming desktops are the exception here. They have their own qualifying "budget" price range, and they will come equipped with Nvidia's and AMD's entry-level graphics cards. Enthusiast gamers concerned with performance need to look further upmarket (check out our overall favorite gaming desktops ), but you could still get away with some light gaming on a budget model. Gaming models with dedicated graphics cards start at several hundred dollars higher than the $500 range, and we do see some good-value systems under $1,000.
Internal Upgrades: Can You Upgrade a Budget PC?
If you're remotely interested in upgrading your desktop down the line, traditional tower desktops will do the job, even at this price point. The niche small-form-factor desktops are less friendly to maintenance, but your go-to standard tower will welcome additions easily. In a traditional case, you should expect to be able to remove the side panel and add more storage (like, as mentioned, an additional drive or two) and more memory.
Towers can also allow you to add a discrete graphics card, but be mindful of several factors affecting that future prospect. For one thing, limitations might be posed by the chassis size or the wattage of the internal power supply. Some budget tower models without video cards have power supplies with less than 200-watt output ratings. Frustratingly, some manufacturers use proprietary power supply solutions that can't be easily swapped for a higher-wattage unit.
You may be able to open up a case, and it may have the PCI Express x16 slot for a video card, but the power supply might not have the wattage oomph to push it, or the chassis might be cramped (or not designed to industry standard) and allow for the installation only of half-height cards or short-length cards, which would severely limit your upgrade options. It's easy to assume you'll be able to throw a better graphics card in a system after you buy, but you'll often find these limitations, especially in the least expensive models.
Your most likely upgrade options for these systems will be additional storage or memory. As a general rule, though, the smaller the chassis, the fewer your upgrade options, and that can even extend to memory and storage format. Some super-cheap systems use non-upgradable, soldered-down eMMC storage, for example, instead of an M.2 or 2.5-inch SSD. And in some compact, cheap desktops, the CPU and RAM are not socketed and removable but are instead part of the mainboard.
...And Then There Was Pi
Beyond budget Windows desktops, of course, is the ultimate cheap DIY machine: the incredibly inexpensive Raspberry Pi.
The Pi, in its various iterations, is no more than a canvas for a bare circuit board. (See our review of the latest, the capable Raspberry Pi 5 .) But this series of flexible "hobby board" systems allows you to create whatever lightweight computer you need and are capable of assembling from simple beginnings. A Pi can be a "desktop," in a sense, if you install it in a third-party case.
The Pi computers themselves are quite inexpensive, most under $50. Configuring and using the Pi will take some experimenter's spirit, a few added dongles, and a willingness to work with a form of Linux. You'll need to factor in the cost of some storage (a microSD card), a case for the PCB (usually a trivial expense), and cables, for starters.
Don't think of the Raspberry Pi as a replacement for a full-on working or productivity desktop, though. It doesn't have a level of power or user-friendliness for general-usage situations like that. However, for certain use cases, it's just what you need to work as a media server, act as a light web server, and even power a robot or run a weather station. Its usefulness is limited only by your patience to learn the Linux-based lingo surrounding the various OSs, and your willingness to tweak and tinker. (See our guide to getting started with Raspberry Pi .)
Budget PCs: Accessories to Look For
One big caveat to your cheap desktop dreams, whether Windows-based, a Pi, or something else: You'll still need a monitor. To be fair, this is no different than buying a standard screen-free tower PC unless you were to buy an all-inclusive all-in-one desktop . In this instance, though, the added cost hurts extra, given you're trying to be thrifty.
Still, if you need to invest in a panel, don't fret. You can find decent, serviceable 1080p (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) displays starting just under $100. That's for a just-fine, roomy 23-incher. Ideally, you may even have a monitor from a past system and key peripherals such as a keyboard and mouse to go with it. (We have you covered if you want to shop for a keyboard or mouse , too, by the way.) Even better, many tower-style budget PCs include a basic keyboard and mouse in the box.
Using a TV as a monitor is also an option for a system with an HDMI-out port if you're in a situation where you can display your PC on a TV that's already set up. This is especially useful for ultra-compact and stick PCs, as they can plug right into an HDMI port on the TV and need no major cable runs for setup in a living room, a dorm room, a lobby, or anywhere else a PC may look unsightly. Indeed, small PCs like these make excellent solutions for powering a home theater for streaming, file playback from a network drive, and the like.
Ready to Buy the Right Budget PC for You?
We trust our advice has armed you with what you need to know! If you're replacing an older system that has become a bit too slow or are setting up a new workspace and need something simple, a budget desktop may be in your future. Check out our recommendations list here for some of our favorites. If you'd like a more traditional tower and can swing the extra money, check out our overall top desktop picks or, alternately, our favorite cheap laptops .
