The SGIN laptop may not be as popular as, let’s say, the Asus VivoBook or Acer Aspire, but it has been around for a couple of years now. SGIN offers budget laptops designed for the core basics: emails, light work, streaming, and productivity tasks. Coming in at much lower prices than its peers, the SGIN laptop is still in the competitive space and might be a good option if you’re looking for a laptop that will get you through the day-to-day without breaking the bank.
SGIN’s new model for 2023 offers better features and hardware than its predecessor from last year but still comes with the same underwhelming processor. On the surface, it might appear okay. It has a 15.6-inch screen, 12GB RAM, and 512GB SSD, which you don’t usually see on a laptop at this price.
However, looking closely, there are a few red flags. First of all, the brand is SGIN, a brand most people have not heard of. The biggest issue on this machine is that the CPU is the incredibly weak Intel Celeron N5095, a better version over the Celeron N4020C processor in last year’s model, but still not up to the job for modern tasks.
Nevertheless, the laptop will run fine for basic tasks but don’t expect this machine to run any resource-intensive tasks like media creation or even complex productivity tasks. Again, the laptop comes nestled amongst some truly great laptops for around the same price, including the Acer Aspire 3 and the Lenovo IdeaPad 3; meaning you have lots of alternatives to choose from.
Design and Features
The first real point to note about the SGIN laptop is that it doesn’t exactly scream budget by way of its looks. This is because this incarnation from SGIN sports a fairly decent slim and classy-looking silver shell.
Much like more expensive Windows and even MacOS-based Apple MacBook Air, SGIN’s notebook sports an understated look that gives it a modern and updated look when combined with some relatively thin bezels on the sides.
The 15.6-inch, 1080p IPS screen is a good size for streaming, but the screen is quite dull even when turned up to full brightness. This also means that the laptop isn’t the best for outdoor use in direct sunlight, as the screen won’t be visible to the user.
At a weight of 5.5 pounds, this isn’t the most lightweight and portable laptop. It’s around 0.7 inches thick – not the slimmest I’ve seen, but among the thin options at this price point. However, it should still fit into a backpack or satchel, and you won’t have issues carrying it along on your daily commute.
The SGIN laptop’s keyboard is full-size, complete with a number pad on the right side for seamless data entry. The keyboard is comfortable enough for typing away long college essays, and because of the laptop’s massive build, small hands may feel more comfortable multitasking while docked with their favorite keyboard and mouse. Below the keyboard is a large touchpad, that’s snappy and more responsive than most touchpads we’ve seen on budget laptops out there.
SGIN includes a USB-C port two USB 3.0 ports, an SD card reader, a headphone jack, and a mini-HDMI port. There’s also a webcam on the top bezel, which should suffice for video calls but it’s passable at the very best. You’ll need an external webcam for anything professional-seeming.
Performance
The SGIN laptop’s whole reason to exist is to provide ‘just fine’ performance for sensible money. You could spend this much and still end up with a Chromebook, a Windows model with 8GB of RAM, or even an Intel Core i3 processor. In our review unit, you’re getting a quad-core Intel Celeron N5095 processor, a 1080p screen, 12GB RAM, 512GB SSD storage, and integrated graphics.
As configured, the SGIN laptop would make a great laptop for someone looking for an affordable computer for basic tasks such as emails, college assignments, and simple office use. I wouldn’t recommend the SGIN machine for more taxing jobs such as video and photo editing. In addition, the Celeron N5095 processor isn’t the best for running Windows 11 that comes pre-installed, and gaming will be an overkill for the integrated graphics card.
If gaming is a priority, look at budget models such as the Asus TUF Gaming F15 of the MSI GV15, but you’ll spend a little more for the enhanced performance and hardware, including dedicated graphics cards. For productivity, you can also find models like the Acer Aspire 5 with newer Core i3 chips, for around the same price and with better performance for most productivity tasks.
For battery life, the SGIN laptop comes with a 38 WHr battery, which, according to the company lasts for up to 8 hours on a single charge. While that sounds impressive for a budget laptop, the Celeron used on this machine is a low-end version which we don’t expect to consume a lot of power as its performance is limited. Still, we expect the claimed battery life to fizzle out faster if there’s video playback involved.
Bottom Line
In this lower-end configuration with an Intel Celeron Quad-core processor, 12GB RAM, and 512GB SSD storage, the SGIN laptop is fairly decent for casual browsing and media consumption, with a few hitches like the Celeron CPU struggling to run Windows 11 optimally.
It’s not built for serious productivity needs, however, nor does it have a lot of range when it comes to creative tasks. That’s all expected for the price, and I find the SGIN laptop to be a suitable budget device for basic needs. Just be realistic about your needs – spending a little more upfront than being left wanting for speed or other perks down the line is better.
Are there better alternatives?
I haven’t seen many budget laptops that have made the jump to Intel’s 13th-gen CPUs. However, there’s the Acer Aspire Vero which uses an 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1155G7, 38GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and Iris Xe graphics, which I feel is better value than the SGIN laptop. You’ll spend around the same money, but you’re getting better performance, a brighter display, and longer battery life.
Beyond that, you might want to consider the Lenovo IdeaPad 3, a 15-inch laptop that packs an Intel Core i3-1115G4 CPU, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD storage; and sports a sleek, portable design. It delivers almost all-day battery life, making it one of the best budget laptops you can buy right now.
Should you buy the SGIN laptop?
Yes. If you’re on a tight budget and need a portable, affordable daily use laptop. If you’re looking at complex tasks, the SGIN laptop’s Intel Celeron processor will struggle to run Windows 11 apps. Luckily, there are many alternatives in the budget category to consider; the Acer Aspire and Asus VivoBook mentioned above offer better performance at very reasonable prices, too.
Our Pick
