Let's face it: As much you'd love a desktop or laptop with every bell and whistle imaginable, real life means that you have a budget to stick to. And in this day and age, that budget can be really tight. Enter the sub-$300 PC. It won't offer mind-blowing performance or scads of features, but for less than three Benjamins, you can find yourself a very capable system that can get you through your day-to-day computing tasks.

With a decent budget desktop PC, you'll be able to do more than just Web browsing. With at least a Celeron CPU, 2GB to 4GB of memory, and a somewhat large hard drive, you'll be able to store lots of digital photos and music, and you'll be able to edit both photos and music. You can even do some light video editing and transcoding on these PCs—just make sure you've got a little time if it's a big job, such as a 2-hour home movie. Also be sure to check out the up-and-coming category of Chromeboxes—Google Chrome OS-equipped desktops that offer an alternative to a Windows desktop.

Windows-based laptops that cost less than $300 will likely come with a mobile Pentium or Celeron processor and about 2GB to 3GB of memory. Don't expect a solid-state drive, but you should be able to find laptops with about 320GB to 500GB of hard drive space. In terms of features, these laptops should come with at least two USB 2.0 ports, and possibly USB 3.0 port. They should also offer an SD slot and 802.11g connectivity. Finding a cheap notebook with an HDMI port is a plus. The one feature you shouldn't expect is a touch-screen display.

But not everything in this price range is a Windows-based laptop. The newest category to emerge in the last couple of years is the Chromebook. These Google-Chrome-based notebooks may not offer a full Windows experience, but there are many new designs to choose from, with prices below $300, and a user experience that's perfect for social media and Web-based productivity. Hardware, however, will be minimal, with only one or two USB ports, and even less storage, but you've got the cloud. And a strong Wi-Fi connection is a must for getting your Chromebook online and accessing your files.

Whether you're on a tight budget or merely want to stretch your shopping dollar further, we have some great sub-$300 systems you should check out. For more on what to look for when choosing the right laptop or desktop, read our buying guides. Also check out our list of top laptop and top desktop picks overall.

Included in This Roundup:

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