What Can An 80-Dollar Low-End Netbook Computer Do? Plenty

I have a fascination of sorts with low-end electronics and computer systems. I guess, in my mind, the challenge is to see how much can be done with a “cheapo” system without shelling out big bucks for more expensive competitors. There's good reason for this. If one's budget is tight, or if one has had the misfortune of having one's system lost or stolen, particularly if one is on the road, getting back up to speed matters.

So when I saw Micro Center had an Evolve III Maestro system for the eye-popping price of just $79, I got excited. This particular machine is a new offering for the Hilliard, Ohio-based retailer, but far from their first low-end system. Several years ago when I lived in Dallas, I bought a WinBook-branded touch-screen laptop for about $150. And anyone who's fan of Micro Center will recall the TW100 and TW102 model systems, both running Windows, for a mere pittance.

It's probably not fair comparing this system against another portable that I've had for a couple of years now – a Microsoft Surface Go 2, a tablet with a detachable and illuminated keyboard – but as they're both portable units, there are some notable differences between the Evolve III and other more upmarket offerings.

No-frills packaging and other first impressions

The Evolve III is about as bare-bones as you can get. It comes in a rather plain cardboard box, with the computer and the power supply. And that is it. No splashy leaflet, no quick start guide, nothing. Anyone buying the Evolve III is presumed to know what they bought it for. Of course, with Windows systems having been around for well over a generation, this is not a stretch.

This system won't win any beauty contests, and its utilitarian appearance won't turn heads if you go to your favorite internet cafe. Not stylish, it's a utilitarian gray. Even a darker charcoal gray would have been a better choice. This is not a Samsung or an Apple device. You don't get one of these to be seen. There's no centered, illuminated logo on the back; just a silk-screened, painted one in one corner. But...lots of room for stickers!

The unit weighs around 2.5 pounds, which is definitely portable, but I would not characterize this system as a “thin and light” – that distinction properly belongs to any Windows tablet system or one of the (much) higher-end laptops from a variety of vendors.

Still, it's hard to call the Evolve III “cheap”. For grins, I tried flexing the body where the keyboard sits. Couldn't do it. There was a tiny bit of give when I tried the same thing for the screen, but not much. This unit feels pretty sturdy. Like any electronics, though, I recommend some kind of sleeve or carry case if you'd like for it to stay looking good for the long haul.

One mild disappointment, though, was the screen. It's not a touch-screen – I didn't expect that for under $100 – but it tends to look washed out at different viewing angles. So if you're thinking of getting this laptop for visual stuff – graphic design, photo editing, video creation, etc. - remember that.

Windows 10 still good

The system comes packaged with Windows 10, but a special variant – it's something called Windows 10 Pro Education. One description I read said that means there's no commercial bloatware on it – a very good thing, since the eMMC solid-state drive installed only has 64 GB of space, about half of which is taken up by the Windows operating system (34 GB was free after first power-up).

On a previous contract with a Chicago-based consulting house, I was equipped with a Windows 10 system even though I had a Windows 11 system at home, and Windows 11 had been out a while. But I have to say, I'd forgotten just how decent an OS Windows 10 is. You won't be losing out by going “back” to Windows 10.

Keyboard is serviceable

I have to say, I generally like the keyboard on the Evolve III. I love the power switch. It's in the upper right corner of the keyboard – where most makers would put the Delete button – but unlike some low-end systems, this power button feels good to press. It doesn't have that “chiclet” feel some keyboards have – it's a soft press, a slight hold, and the system comes up.

That said, the keyboard won't light up in the dark, so bring a penlight, and some of the keys are in different places. The Delete key, for example, is two rows down, since its position is occupied by the power button. And the backslash/pipe button is on the bottom row of keys, with the space bar.

Interestingly, there is no Print Screen button but get WinKeys or another keyboard mapper application to fix that.

Mouse pad, ports, sound, video

The mouse pad is just a tiny bit glitchy in movement and response, but a good external mouse can resolve that.

The Evolve III has 2 USB ports, including a USB 3 port, a Micro SD slot, and a full-sized HDMI port. For such a small unit, it's nicely equipped, although USB-C fans will have to get adapters to use their devices with this laptop.

As could be expected from a low-end system, the speakers weren't very strong, but a Bluetooth speaker or wired headphones can fix that. [test]

Screen resolution comes in at 1366x768, enough for 720p high-def video, but not 1080p full-HD.

There is a front webcam which works, but the images are a bit muddy. And there's no rear webcam.

Limited space on C drive, but extensible through micro SD slot

As mentioned before, the C-drive doesn't have all the space in the world. But the Evolve III has a micro SD card slot available. And with card sizes of 128 GB, even 256 GB reasonably priced, you can have lots of space for anything. Just realize that certain applications won't allow installation on an extension drive (I tried, more on that below).

Pushing the envelope

So, by trade, I'm a software developer. I wanted to see how far I could get installing and using basic tools and applications on the Evolve III. I do NOT expect most people to ever do this; the unit really is aimed at lower folks.

I was able to get Microsoft's venerated editing suite Visual Studio Community installed. As the performance of the system in general isn't the greatest, it took longer than it would on a better laptop, or on a desktop system.

Microsoft's more lightweight editor, Visual Studio Code, was nowhere near as challenging to install, taking up only about 400 MB.

Having done plenty of Android development, I installed the latest release, Giraffe, on a 128 GB micro SD card, without issues. Again, the underpowered chips made compilations slow as molasses. But if you're the patient type, or have no other alternatives, you might not mind.

LibreOffice, the free alternative to Microsoft Office, installed just fine also, on the external micro SD card. And Krita, a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop, was able to squeeze on to the C drive also.

I decided to push things a little further still by attempting to install Google's cross-platform development environment, Flutter, which uses Visual Studio as its primary editing environment. At over 800 MB, it took close to a half-hour to unzip the binaries. And it took some tweaking and experimentation to get it operational – not fast, just operational.

Biggest reasons to get this

The price! Whether you're buying someone a first computer, or want a spare as a backup, you can't go wrong with $80 as long as you keep your expectations in check.

Battery life! I had read that the battery in this thing is amazing, and at 5000 mAH, I now see why. Mouse over the battery icon in the system tray and watch the number. It's amazing, numbers that rival Apple's at 10+ hours of use. Leave that charger cord at home!

Who could use this

Writers. No need for anything more than a keyboard and word processor software.

Casual web surfers. The long battery life will let you surf all day or all night.

Travelers, for the same reason as above - for the battery life.

Those wanting a Windows machine on a limited budget.

Those wanting to learn software development...but they'll need to be patient!

Who should probably avoid this

Tech snobs. Unless you plan on using this device ironically, you can spend your money elsewhere.

Power users - unless they're extremely patient. This goes double for software developers. Android Studio is abysmally slow to setup and just as slow to run.

Speed demons - for larger apps, can take 5 to 10 seconds before anything happens.

Newbies to computers in general. It comes with zero documentation so the main question, after opening the box, will be “What do I do now?”

Final verdict

I could not imagine that such an inexpensive, low-end Windows system could deliver so much. Yes, it's nowhere near a power user's machine, but it's not supposed to be. If it's stolen or damaged, it's easy to replace (who would steal a netbook this cheap)?

This laptop is good for basic stuff like surfing the web, listening to music, creating something of a textual nature, or other simple projects. And it provides the long battery life to do it!