This shady Amazon listing for a 1.1 TB laptop actually uses the cloud for 1 TB and it's only included for a year

If you're looking to buy a cheap and cheerful laptop on Amazon, make sure you really look through that specs list first. That's because one third-party seller is advertising its HP laptop with 1.1 TB of storage, when it's actually 128 GB on-device, and 1 TB in the cloud.

As spotted by Videocardz, seller Smarisan Tech has advertised the 15.6-inch laptop, with 32 GB of memory, plus a free pair of wireless 'PlusEra' earphones and a one-year subscription to Microsoft Office, for a 'limited time deal' of $500. The latter 'free item' is where that storage comes from.

A subscription to Microsoft Office gets you 1 TB of storage via OneDrive. That means, not only is the majority of your storage with this HP laptop not on-device, but it lasts for just a single year, then you'd have to pay more or live with the 128 GB onboard.

The laptop in question comes with an Intel N100 CPU, no dedicated GPU (which is fairly common at this price point), and a Natural Silver colour.

I couldn't find much on the PlusEra wireless earphones, but a quick Google search returns AliExpress listings, so I'd hazard a guess that they aren't of the absolute highest quality. The storage, plus the free earphones, are all ways that the company can make potential buyers think they're getting a better deal than they are.

The fact that the 16 GB memory model is cheaper than the 8 GB one, and both are in 'limited time deals', also implies it's a listing worth paying attention to. Spoiler alert, it's not. Though doubling the memory for $70 is certainly notable.

The $500-600 price point isn't lacking in decent alternatives. Even just last week, Apple announced the $599 Apple MacBook Neo, which would be a much better pick. If you go Apple, though, my money would be on a refurbished M chip MacBook or a Mac Mini. We've also seen solid deals on Snapdragon-based laptops, too, coming down to a similar price.

Though the laptop is by HP, this listing isn't. On HP's website, similarly specced rigs list the actual storage specs, so it doesn't seem to be HP's fault. However, as listed over on Reddit, HP laptops are particularly vulnerable to this kind of false advertising, likely due to their habit of bundling Microsoft Office subscriptions with Chromebooks.

Naturally, cloud storage and internal storage are very different things, and one would assume advertised storage is what you physically have in your hands. That's because you can lose access to the cloud, be it through not paying your subscription or through a lack of internet.

I, for one, don't even tend to redeem free trials for Microsoft Office. I don't use any of its other apps, especially when the likes of Libre Office exist, and I don't much like the idea of getting cloud storage for free, using it, then feeling like I can't cancel my subscription for fear of losing my data. I've already made that mistake once. I pay a few dollars a month for Google's cloud storage, and I've been very tempted to set up a physical storage space to free myself from Google as well.

As always, even on official marketplaces like Amazon, sellers can use sneaky marketing tactics in listings, so make sure to check who you are buying tech from, and if those specs really check out.

Best gaming laptop 2026

1. Best overall:
Razer Blade 16 (2025)

2. Best budget:
Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen 10

3. Best 14-inch:
Razer Blade 14 (2025)

4. Best mid-range:
MSI Vector 16 HX AI

5. Best high-performance:
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10

6. Best 18-inch:
Alienware 18 Area-51

👉Check out our full gaming laptop guide👈