Try to get one which has got an M2 SATA slot free, leave the spinning rust in and buy a 128GB m2 SSD for the OS :)

Does seem pretty odd to still be putting regular hard drives even into the lower end laptops.

The increased performance that an SSD will give would make them seem much speedier than they really are.

The usual choke points on cheaper specd laptops are a slow hard drive and insufficient memory that starts swapping too quick.

An SSD can make up for quite a bit of those shortcomings.

If I can get a 120GB Apacer SSD from PBtech for <$40 or a Crucial/Kinsgton/WD 240GB for <$60 then the actual cost price to the manufacturers will be tiny.

robjg63:

 

Does seem pretty odd to still be putting regular hard drives even into the lower end laptops.

 

The increased performance that an SSD will give would make them seem much speedier than they really are.

 

The usual choke points on cheaper specd laptops are a slow hard drive and insufficient memory that starts swapping too quick.

 

An SSD can make up for quite a bit of those shortcomings.

 

If I can get a 120GB Apacer SSD from PBtech for <$40 or a Crucial/Kinsgton/WD 240GB for <$60 then the actual cost price to the manufacturers will be tiny.

 

Probably because they can upsell people to a more expensive laptop with a SSD. I mean why put all the best features into the lowest models, when they would likely prefer to sell more expensive models, and the cheaper ones are just to cater to a certain price point where there are probably only small margins in it. Apple devices are all about putting the best tech into the more expensive products, so people often end up spending more than just the base price.

robjg63:

 

Does seem pretty odd to still be putting regular hard drives even into the lower end laptops.

 

Its because Joe Average hasnt a clue, and the staff in toaster shops havnt a clue.
A bigger size HD seems a better option when just looking at numbers .Staff at those shops will actually tell customers that the machine with the 1Tb HD is better .
Joe average wants the large HD, as thats the only spec many of them can recognize (most have no idea what a i5 or i3 is ).

When asked for advice what to buy, I allways say dont buy anything that doesnt have an SSD . 
What do you think then happens, they buy a PC/laptop with an old school spinning drive . Almost every time . Because its cheaper .

And a 128Gb SSD almost allways turns out to be too small, requiring a bigger HD as they fill it up with photos etc. Dont compare cost of a 128Gb SSD .
A 256Gb is often barely big enough after a year or so.
We have no idea what manufacturers pay for HD's, no clue at all. They could be buying old stock, old tech at rock bottom pricing.
Retail pricing means nothing .

Another thing to think about is how much effort WD and Seagate will want to put into improving or maintaining the quality of these small spinning drives.   This part of the market is being eaten by SSD adoption & I'd guess most of their money will be going into SSD products and the big 4 - 8 tb plus size drives.   WD and Seagate will be looking at any opportunity to reduce cost of production in the small mechanical drives maybe using even cheaper and crappier USB to SATA bridges, which even now account for around 50% of 'failures' in portable drives.   At least with Seagate it's easy to rip the drive out of its case and use it as a SATA drive.   With WD it is a 100x harder but there are Youtube videos on how people have rescued a WD portable.  

If you look at the review graphs on Amazon and Newegg people are generally far happier with SSDs and good quality flash drives, than ANY mechanical hard drive.   Then there are warranties, sometimes in the USA 1 year for hard drives 5 years for some flash drives.   Prob. tells you all you need to know!