NIAKUN NY-13 15.6" NYBOOK 2026, Core i7-7600U, 16GB, 1TB SSD, Silver

A 2017 CPU in a 2026 box, but 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD make it a decent budget workhorse. Buy it for office work, not for gaming.

The i7-7600U is the elephant in the room. It's a 7th-gen dual-core chip from nearly a decade ago, and it sits in the 3rd percentile of all CPUs we track. That's dead last territory. But here's the thing: paired with 16GB of DDR4 and a 1TB SSD, it handles everyday office work, browsing, and even some CAD surprisingly well according to owners. The integrated graphics are actually the strongest spec here at the 82nd percentile, which says more about how weak integrated GPUs are in general than it does about this one. Don't expect miracles, but for spreadsheets and video calls, it's fine.

Against something like the ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA or Lenovo ThinkPad X9-14, the NIAKUN gets absolutely destroyed on CPU performance, port selection, and reliability. Those machines cost more, but they're in a different league. The MacBook Air M4 makes this look like a calculator. But none of those come close to this price with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. The real competitor here is a used ThinkPad T480 or similar, which would give you similar specs with far better build quality and reliability for around the same money.

At $470 USD, this is a tough call. You're getting 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD, which is rare at this price point. But you're also getting a CPU that was mid-range when Obama was president. The European pricing at 893-911 EUR is frankly absurd for this hardware. If you're in the US and need a basic work machine with lots of storage, it's defensible. In Europe, run away.

The NIAKUN NY-13 is a weird one. On paper, it's a 2017-era dual-core CPU dressed up in a 2026 gaming laptop costume. But the people who actually bought it seem genuinely happy, and that's the story here. This is a budget machine that nails the basics: 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a comfortable backlit keyboard. Just don't expect it to game, no matter what the listing says.

If you're looking for a gaming laptop, this isn't it. Go get something with a dedicated GPU, even a used GTX 1650 machine will run circles around this. And if you're in Europe paying 900 EUR, skip it entirely and buy a used ThinkPad or a new budget ASUS instead. You'll get better performance and actual reliability.

If you need a cheap, lightweight machine for office work, browsing, and video calls, and you find this at the $470 US price, it's a reasonable buy. The 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD do a lot of heavy lifting to mask the ancient CPU. But if you're paying European prices, or you want to do anything more demanding than spreadsheets, look elsewhere. This is a basic work laptop, not a gaming laptop, no matter what the title says.