We're less than a full month into the summer season but even so, it's not too early to think about stocking up on supplies ahead of the inevitable back-to-school rush that looms. We reckon you can find things like paper, pens, and binders at your local Wally World or equivalent. But if it's a laptop you're after, check out these discounted prices on major brands on Amazon.
Shown above is one of the least expensive laptop models for general purpose computing chores. It's the
Acer Aspire 5 (A515-56-347N) and it's on sale for just
$299.99 on Amazon (save $80). That's about what netbooks used to sell for back in the day, though this is a much more capable machine than those now-dated systems.
As configured, you're looking at a 15.6-inch IPS display with a 1920x1080 resolution, powered by Intel's 11th Gen Core i3-1115G4 processor based on
Tiger Lake. That's a 2-core/4-thread mobile CPU with up to a 4.1GHz clock speed and 6MB of L3 cache.
Other features include 8GB of DDR4 memory, a 128GB NVMe solid state drive, Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, and Windows 11 Home in S mode. Obviously this is not a powerhouse PC, but it will certainly suffice for web surfing and typing out research papers.
For not a whole lot more, you can step up to this
HP 14 laptop with a beefier Ryzen processor and more storage, for
$429.99 (save $140). Specifically, it wields a
Ryzen 5 5500U based on AMD's 7-nanometer Zen 2 architecture (Lucienne). It features a 6-core/12-thread config with a 2.1GHz base clock, 4GHz max boost clock, and 8MB of L3 cache. It also has integrated Radeon graphics based on Vega (7 CUs clocked at up to 1.8GHz) for lightweight gaming.
Other specs include a 14-inch IPS display with a 1920x1080 resolution, 8GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5 connectivity, 720p webcam, 41Wh battery, and Windows 11 Home. We'd be tempted to add a second 8GB DDR4 module for 16GB total (and dual-channel), but otherwise it's a decent config for working and casual gaming.
If you have a bigger money roll but still want to keep the price under a grand, check out the
Samsung Galaxy Book2 (NP641BEF-KA1US) for
$989.21 on Amazon (save $860.79). We haven't spent any hands-on time with this laptop but we have examined other models like the
Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 and came away impressed with Samsung's foray into Windows laptops.
This configuration has a 14-inch 1080p display powered by an Intel 12th Gen Core i5-1250P processor (12C/16T, up to 4.4GHz, 12MB L3 cache) based on Alder Lake, Iris Xe graphics, and 16GB of RAM. For storage, you're looking at a 256GB SSD.
Also notable is that this is an Intel vPro system, meaning there are additional security and management bits that aren't found on consumer laptops. It's also running the Pro version of Windows 11.
There's a higher-end configuration available as well, priced at
$1,549.99 (save $900.01). It's the same laptop except it bumps up the processor to a Core i7-1270P (12C/16T, up to 4.8GHz, 18MB L3 cache), doubles the RAM to 32GB, and quadruples the storage to a 1TB SSD.
Here are more laptop deals...
The 13" MacBook Air with an M1 chip is the same
deal we highlighted earlier this week, along with other Apple devices that are on sale. It's the lowest price to date on that laptop.