Get a refurbished Acer laptop for $299.99

The refurbished Acer Aspire AS5515 is a steal at $299.99.

(Credit: CompUSA)

Remember the $350 eMachines laptop from last week? If you don't mind a shorter warranty and smaller hard drive, you can scoop up a refurbished Acer Aspire AS5515 notebook for $299.99. Shipping will run you a mere $1.99.

Usually when I see notebook for under $300, it has a Celeron processor (barf), a Linux OS (fine for some, but not ideal for all), or both.

The Aspire isn't dramatically better in either respect--it has a 1.6GHz single-core AMD Athlon 2650e and Windows Vista Basic--but it should run at a decent clip thanks to its 3GB of DDR2 RAM.

Other noteworthy specs include a 160GB hard drive, 15.4-inch screen, DVD burner, and 6.2-pound travel weight.

In other words, it's an entry-level notebook. And because it's a refurb, it has a 90-day warranty.

But did I mention the $299.99 price tag? Because, seriously, that's a ridiculously good price--especially considering that your average Netbook costs about the same and does a lot less. (Yeah, I went there.)

CompUSA frequently sells out of items like this, so if you're in the market for a new lappie, I would hesitate not one bit.

[isaacb7]

Hey Rick,

Thanks for all the great deals! What do you think of this Dell HD monitor for only $150?

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=320-7339

[isaacb7]

To clarify, its a 23'' widescreen with 1080p. I haven't seen anything similar at that price.

[rickbroida]

I think I *almost* posted that deal this morning, but I've done so many monitors lately...

[ywkhgqo]

rick, woot.com is having a wootoff currently!

[bobbybob3680]

im sorry to say this, but acer computers SUCK. you can forget customer service, theyre ********. they alwaays have motherboard problems, and are pretty much made of ****

[timothy632]

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-1545/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-inspiron-1545&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~linux_2~~

[jungleboogiemonster]

A few years ago I bought a celeron aspire for $299 and although it only lasted about 3 years before the screen hinge broke i still feel like I got a good deal. That comes out to $100/year, which isn't bad considering a $800 laptop probably wouldn't last 8 years.

[timothy632]

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-1545/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-inspiron-1545&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~linux_2~~

Much better!

[timothy632]

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-1545/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-inspiron-1545&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~linux_2~~

[Nychocolips]

Ah. This is Rick's original post! I was actually looking at that.

[iceman721]

I purchased a Acer for my daughter about a yr ago for her 15th birthday. She has used it for a yr now without too many issues (other than the occasional software gaffe of her own doing to which I hear, "Daaad I need you to FIX my computer! LOL). The hardware is just fine. I think her computer was a dual core Intel with 2gb fo Ram and I paid 400.00 for it. This is $300 with 3gb of Ram and the AMD 64 processor. I wouldn't hesitate to jump on this. It probably will run even better with a copy of Windows 7 installed on it.