You don’t need to spend four figures to get a reliable home PC—many of our budget desktop favorites are under $600. Check out our top labs-tested picks among conventional towers, mini PCs, all-in-ones, gaming rigs, and more.
The phrase „cheap desktop PC“ may evoke negative vibes, but it 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 identify the winners, our expert analysts and editors employ defined, repeatable testing methodologies to conduct quantitative benchmarks on every model we review. 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 model, continue reading for several more recommended budget desktops for various use cases, along with a detailed buying guide and a helpful breakdown of our picks‘ specs in a selectable chart format.Why We Picked It
The speed demons can complain that Acer’s Aspire TC-1775-UR11 has a merely adequate Intel Core i5 processor with integrated graphics that can’t play demanding games. Still, they’ll have difficulty finding anything else to gripe about for the price. This successor to our previous top budget desktop continues to deliver reliable everyday performance, now featuring a 14th Gen Intel chip. It has two HDMI ports to boost productivity with a dual-monitor setup, a Wi-Fi 6E radio, and a front-facing card reader.Who It’s For
Casual computer users: This is the cheap desktop to buy for the average mainstream family in need of a new PC. The Aspire TC-1775-UR11 is the basic everyday PC that ordinary people are looking for. The TC-1775 has enough speed for general use, handy front-mounted USB ports (both Type-A and Type-C), support for multiple monitors, Wi-Fi, and a useful media card reader. Its upgradability is limited, but the base performance and feature set represent a significant value.
Bargain shoppers: This affordable desktop PC is an excellent value choice for budget-strapped shoppers. Not only is it a suitable fit for everyday use, but it’s an inexpensive way to attain a capable desktop PC. The concessions that Acer has made are acceptable, and the parts and feature set represent an appealing deal, allowing you to spend as little as possible on a traditional tower.Why We Picked It
Sometimes simplicity is king, and the Dell 24 All-in-One nails that concept among budget AIO PCs. This system replaces the previous Inspiron model, as Dell discontinued that brand name (among others), but the idea remains the same. With a super-affordable starting price, this AIO is a sleek, compact, and capable-enough system featuring a large screen. It includes a better-than-average pop-up webcam and wireless peripherals, eliminating the need to buy them separately. The 24-inch screen isn’t the sharpest at 1080p, and performance leans slightly on the underwhelming side; however, these are acceptable compromises for the price and intended use cases.Who It’s For
Plug-and-play shoppers: This is an ideal budget desktop for people who don’t want to shop for a monitor and accessories. The Dell 24 AIO delivers capable everyday performance and features a large screen, eliminating the need to purchase a separate monitor. It has everything you need in one package to set up a home office or living room PC, allowing you to browse the web, shop, watch videos, and perform other tasks with light processing demands.
Parents seeking a family PC: This cheap desktop is excellent for families shopping for a new home PC for everyone to use. This is a great AIO choice if you want a plug-and-play PC for your kids to use for homework or entertainment in a living room, den, or home office. It’s also fast enough for you to use in your own downtime.Why We Picked It
The Apple Mac mini model with the M4 Pro CPU, as we tested it, is not a budget desktop. (If you look at our review of it, don’t expect performance from Apple’s base $599 model that measures up to those numbers.) That said, the $599 entry-level Mac mini is one of the genuine bargains among budget desktops, providing a robust everyday work computer at a price that rivals many less polished Windows machines. If you’re looking for an easy on-ramp to your first desktop Mac, you’ll find no better value. Plus, the new M4 Mac mini comes with double the memory (16GB) in its base model than the previous generation did. Who It’s For
Home-office shoppers: This cheap desktop is a perfect fit for Apple fans looking to buy a home desktop. For people who already own an iPhone or iPad, the Mac mini is a seamless and potentially affordable way to extend the Apple experience to an impressively potent desktop. Even for total Apple newcomers, a Mac mini with the base M4 chip is an unbeatable budget option for a home-office desktop.
MacBook Air owners: This is the ultimate desktop companion for shoppers who already own a less-powerful Apple laptop. Especially with the M4 Pro chip, the Mac mini can be configured as your high-performance option at home, while your MacBook Air (or even a lower-powered MacBook Pro) accompanies you on the road. The two systems will feel practically like one, thanks to Apple’s cloud features.Why We Picked It
Doing its best to emulate the Mac mini, the Geekom A6 Mini comes at an excellent price for what it packs inside. This compact desktop produces decent general productivity speeds, making it an ideal affordable home PC. The tiny PC provides a generous number of ports for its size, and its AMD Ryzen 7 6800H chip, paired with 32GB of memory, aces a wide range of everyday tasks, albeit not for demanding applications such as media editing, 3D rendering, or high-level spreadsheet crunching. For just about everything else, though, the A6 Mini will get it done.Who It’s For
Low-demand desktop shoppers: This cheap mini desktop is ideal for people seeking a compact PC that can handle basic day-to-day tasks. If you’re primarily interested in web browsing and entertainment, why spend more when less will suffice on this system? The Geekom A6 can even drive multiple monitors and make other useful connections, which is quite a lot of utility at this bargain price.
Independent professionals on a budget: This mini PC is a fit for contractors and entrepreneurs who don’t require enterprise-level features but need a compact PC to meet their personal and professional needs. The Geekom A6 is a capable home-office desktop, often faster than other like-priced space-saving PCs, making it a smart choice for freelancers and entrepreneurs looking to minimize business expenses.Why We Picked It
It’s easy to create an expensive gaming desktop, but crafting an affordable tower is harder to achieve. The Asus TUF tower succeeds in an unexpected way. Its compact size is appealing to some shoppers off the bat, but it has one key surprise inside that enables the form factor and helps keep the price low: it runs on an Intel Core i7-13620H laptop processor. While this has some drawbacks, primarily that you can’t upgrade it the way you would a more standard desktop, it makes for an interesting space-saving package. Its processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics card deliver steady 1080p gaming performance while it runs quietly and efficiently.Who It’s For
Budget buyers: This is a unique, cheap gaming PC for budget-conscious gamers. The mobile chip is a surprise, but it doesn’t hinder the system from achieving reliable 1080p performance when paired with a traditional desktop graphics card. A low starting price and more powerful upgrade options seal the deal.
Space-strapped gamers: This affordable desktop is ideal for anyone who needs a compact system with whisper-quiet operation. This PC achieves a plug-and-play gaming experience, so the fact that it runs quietly under load helps narrow down its niches to spaces like college dorms or as a gaming room PC connected to a TV. It’s also ideal for people who just want to maximize space and minimize noise at home.Why We Picked It
Small but capable, this mini PC could be your ideal budget fleet desktop. Asus, steward of the NUC brand, developed a hit mini desktop with the NUC 15 Pro+, particularly for professional or business use. This conservative puck conceals a wealth of performance, connectivity, and helpful features within.
We tested a model with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor, 32GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD, a combination that proved entirely up to the task of professional workloads, but puts it out of budget pricing.
