HP Laptop , Athlon Silver 7120U, 4GB, 128GB SSD, Silver

The HP Laptop 14-em0048ca is a budget Windows laptop with a touchscreen and a very low price, but the 4GB RAM and Athlon Silver CPU make it painfully slow for anything beyond basic tasks. It's fine for light browsing and email if your budget is fixed, but most people should save up for something with 8GB of RAM. Gaming and heavy multitasking are out of the question.

Let's be real about the specs. The Athlon Silver 7120U is a 2-core processor that ranks in the 4th percentile for CPUs in our database. That's not a typo. It's one of the slowest laptop processors we've tracked. Paired with 4GB of LPDDR5 RAM, also in the 4th percentile, you're looking at a machine that will handle one or two browser tabs fine, but start to choke when you open a handful more or try to run anything beyond basic apps. The 128GB SSD is at least an SSD, so boot times won't be painful, but storage capacity sits in the 7th percentile. Windows 11 alone will eat a good chunk of that.

The integrated AMD Radeon Graphics are fine for video playback and basic 2D stuff, but gaming is essentially off the table. Our gaming score for this laptop is 4.6 out of 100. That's not a weak spot, it's a non-starter. If you're wondering whether this HP laptop is good for gaming, the answer is a hard no. Even light indie games will struggle. This is a web browsing, document editing, and video streaming machine, and even then, you'll want to keep expectations modest.

Stacked against something like the Apple MacBook Air M4, this HP isn't even in the same conversation. The MacBook Air costs several times more, but it's also one of the best laptops on the market right now. The ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA and Lenovo Slim 7 are also far more capable machines with better screens, faster processors, and more RAM. Even the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition, which is more of a mid-range option, runs circles around the HP in every performance category.

But here's the thing: those laptops cost two to four times as much. The HP 14-em0048ca isn't trying to compete with them. It's competing with other sub-500 CAD laptops, and even there, it's a mixed bag. The Dell Latitude XPS 13 is a premium ultrabook that makes the HP look like a toy, but again, totally different price bracket. If you're comparing budget options, look for something with at least 8GB of RAM and a Ryzen 3 or Core i3 processor. That extra hundred bucks or so makes a world of difference.

At 430 CAD, the HP 14-em0048ca is cheap, and that's the main thing it has going for it. The affordability score lands in the 90th percentile, which means you're getting a touchscreen Windows laptop for less than most competitors. But value isn't just about price. When you factor in the 4GB of RAM, the tiny SSD, and the sluggish processor, you're making real compromises. For a bit more money, you can find refurbished or older generation laptops with 8GB of RAM and a better CPU that will feel dramatically faster. If your budget is absolutely fixed and you need a touchscreen, this is an option. But if you can stretch even slightly, you'll get a lot more longevity elsewhere.

The HP Laptop 14-em0048ca sits in that budget Windows laptop bracket where you're mostly hoping for something that boots, browses, and doesn't make you want to throw it out a window. At around 430 CAD, it's one of the cheapest touchscreen laptops you'll find, and HP is leaning hard on that angle. The AMD Athlon Silver 7120U, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD are about as entry-level as it gets in 2025. This is a machine for light tasks, and honestly, not much more.

If you're searching for a cheap laptop for students or a basic Windows laptop for web browsing and email, this one technically fits the bill. The 14-inch HD touchscreen is a nice bonus at this price, and the anti-glare coating helps if you're working near a window. But our database shows this thing ranks near the bottom for CPU, RAM, and storage performance. That's not a great starting point, even for a budget machine.

We've seen plenty of cheap laptops that punch above their weight. This isn't really one of them. But it does have a specific audience: someone who needs a second machine, a kid's first laptop, or a basic device for light productivity and doesn't want to spend much.

Skip this one if you plan to do any gaming, video editing, or heavy multitasking. The 4GB of RAM and Athlon Silver processor will leave you staring at loading screens and frozen tabs. If you need a laptop for work with multiple browser tabs, spreadsheets, and video calls, look for something with at least 8GB of RAM and a Ryzen 3 or Core i3 processor. Also skip it if you need decent storage, since 128GB fills up fast. A refurbished business laptop or a slightly more expensive budget model will serve you much better in the long run.

Should you buy the HP Laptop 14-em0048ca? Only if your budget is extremely tight and you need a touchscreen Windows laptop for very light tasks. It'll handle web browsing, email, and basic document work, but it won't do any of those things quickly. The 4GB of RAM is the biggest bottleneck, and the Athlon Silver processor doesn't help. Customer reviews are rough, with a 2.6 out of 5 rating, and several owners describe it as slow and glitchy.

If you can save up a bit more or find a deal on a laptop with 8GB of RAM and a better processor, do that instead. This HP is a stopgap machine, not something you'll want to rely on for years. For a kid's first laptop or a secondary device for light browsing, it's passable. For anything more, you'll be frustrated within a week.