Prices for laptops are heading up and up, but if you hurry, you can grab an older refurb at an amazing discount. Acer is offering a 15-inch Aspire 3 with a Ryzen 7000 processor, 16GB of memory, 1TB of storage, and a touchscreen for just $316.19 on eBay. That’s almost $200 off the already-low price for a new unit.
The Aspire 3 A315-24PT-R288 (full specs here) is a budget design, using older DDR4 memory and PCIe 3.0 storage. But that said, 16GB is the lowest I’d recommend for Windows 11, and a 1TB drive is a definite upgrade at this price point. Ditto for the touchscreen, which is hard to find on anything under the $500 mark. The Ryzen 5 7520U is an older processor, but with four cores and integrated Radeon 610M graphics, it should have plenty of power for some light-to-medium gaming duties.
In terms of presentation, the Aspire 3 isn’t much, with a plastic chassis and a proprietary charging port (though it can also charge via USB-C). It packs two USB-A ports, full-sized HDMI, and a keyboard with a number pad. But if you’re looking for a laptop that can handle everything you want to throw at it on a miniscule budget, look no further. This refurbished unit comes directly from Acer, not a reseller, and it’s packing a two-year warranty via eBay’s certified refurbished program. That’s more than you usually get, though service is through Allstate (not ideal).
With affordable laptops thin on the ground, there’s no telling how long stock will hold out. I’d pick one up quick if you’re in the market. If not, check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops.