expired Posted by VioletHaddock489 | Staff • Oct 4, 2023
Oct 4, 2023 10:45 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expired Posted by VioletHaddock489 | Staff • Oct 4, 2023
Oct 4, 2023 10:45 PM
Target: Acer 15.6" Aspire 3 Laptop - Intel Core i3 - Windows 11 $299.99 + Free Shipping
$300
$450
33% offTarget
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Looks like the model number is A315-58-350L so used that for a google search and came up with
https://community.acer.
https://community.acer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjKfFaP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE-mKJy1V0U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X...3g4
Apologies for two of those youtube channels not being in English (not trying to sound racist I swear ! ) but honestly still thought those videos were helpful just for showing the "guts" of the laptop from the inside ...
The impression I got was that there was a slot you could stick ram into , an m2 drive you could swap out and a drive slot bay for a 2.5 form factor ssd drive ... I know acer laptops often come with the 2.5 hard drive enclosure included to make it easy to pop one right in there...
If this is the case and the laptop can be upgraded you could always just slap say a 16 GB stick of ram and a secondary 2.5 form factor ssd drive in there to put files on and/or install other programs (I'm guessing... hoping?... 256 GB would be enough for a basic win 11 install plus whatever programs you put on there? Could be wrong wiser heads than mine would know
Mind you this is all pure speculation on my part, anyone who has had actual experience with one of these laptops please jump in your feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated
Also .. at the risk of sounding like a commercial for Macrium Reflect
If you look around on the internet there are ways to acquire the free older versions of Macrium (say version 7) that they kindly offered for free .. I relied on Norton's file insight program to say " Yes thousands of users have used this file and it's safe" but that's a consideration too though you'd need some way to verify such a file was safe before even thinking about installing it .. in any case Macrium does let you create a bootable usb drive ... the current free version of Macrium is good for 30, maybe 45 days and that's it, can't make any more backups past then.
One other thing - you lose dual channel mode if you slap a 16 GB ram stick in there but I've heard of people doing it all the time on the 'net and their laptops are still usable.. they just have to put up with it given this soldered ram nonsense laptop manufactuers are doing nowadays (rolls eyes)
If you can hold off on the purchase I'm wondering if it's worth waiting to see if say an i5 processor drops down to the $300 price range for an acer .. we have untli October 2025 before Microsoft says " forget you windows 10 users no more security updates for you "
Also .. at the risk of sounding like a commercial for Macrium Reflect
If you look around on the internet there are ways to acquire the free older versions of Macrium (say version 7) that they kindly offered for free .. I relied on Norton's file insight program to say " Yes thousands of users have used this file and it's safe" but that's a consideration too though you'd need some way to verify such a file was safe before even thinking about installing it .. in any case Macrium does let you create a bootable usb drive ... the current free version of Macrium is good for 30, maybe 45 days and that's it, can't make any more backups past then.
One other thing - you lose dual channel mode if you slap a 16 GB ram stick in there but I've heard of people doing it all the time on the 'net and their laptops are still usable.. they just have to put up with it given this soldered ram nonsense laptop manufactuers are doing nowadays (rolls eyes)
If you can hold off on the purchase I'm wondering if it's worth waiting to see if say an i5 processor drops down to the $300 price range for an acer .. we have untli October 2025 before Microsoft says " forget you windows 10 users no more security updates for you "
S-mode would be way better if it was actually a decent 'slimmed down, lower resource mode' but still let you do things like, you know, install Firefox, and not not 'fling the computer out the window in frustration' mode.
In my view, the main thing that kills the deal killer here isn't the CPU or RAM, but the display. It is a TN panel -- which means poor viewing angles (quite important on laptops) and washed out colors.
On the expensive side for $300. You could do far better 16/512 deals from $255 Gateway(Walmart /Microcenter) , $400 Acer Swift (Costco), $250 Dell (Refurbished), Lenovo Flex
https://www.target.com/p/hp-15-6-...A-88951295
For my dad casual office use and browsing/downloading, I think its a good deal considering the CPU and storage.. + 5% Off red card + $10 circle Credit + $40 credit for opening redcard. Seems like a decent deal. What do you guys think?
A lot of cheaper Acer models come in S-mode. I agree with your assessment of S-mode. I simply describe it using another S-word. I didn't mind it as much in Windows 10, when you could permanently knock it out of S-mode simply by temporarily disabling Secure Boot. That trick doesn't seem to work in Windows 11.
I have not found a way to directly disable S-mode on Windows 11, without a Microsoft account (needed to get the app from the Windows Store).
It should be more than adequate. Even a first gen I3 is generally adequate for those purposes.
I've been really disappointed by how Acer has cheaped out on newer models. Several years ago, they had some fantastic deals. For under $300 you could get a mediocre CPU, 4GB RAM (with 1 stick in one of two slots), a 128GB NVMe SSD (in a standard 2280 M.2 slot, with an empty 2.5" 7mm bay), backlit keyboard, and a fairly decent full HD IPS screen. Now, even the slightly more expensive models seem to forego the upgradeable memory, backlit keyboard, and they seem to have screens that are terrible, even by TN standards. I can't recommend these machines anymore.
(slaps head).. you're right of course thanks for pointing that out
You would however want to take note of the version of Windows .. home, pro or whatever.. on the laptop and write that down and select that same version when doing your clean install of win 11 or else you'll run into headaches from what I understand.
Being the paranoid sort I'd probably also do the acer recovery drive on a different usb drive so you can just restore it back to the original factory settings in case something goes horribly wrong during the win 11 install so you don't brick the laptop but from what I understand the risk of that is low (still better safe than sorry or I think so anyways
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You would however want to take note of the version of Windows .. home, pro or whatever.. on the laptop and write that down and select that same version when doing your clean install of win 11 or else you'll run into headaches from what I understand.
Being the paranoid sort I'd probably also do the acer recovery drive on a different usb drive so you can just restore it back to the original factory settings in case something goes horribly wrong during the win 11 install so you don't brick the laptop but from what I understand the risk of that is low (still better safe than sorry or I think so anyways
I am definitely one of those super paranoid people but there's virtually no chance a vanilla Windows installer will brick a machine. However, before wiping new machines, I usually make an image of the factory OS, using (an old bootable copy of) Macrium Reflect. They tend to be about 15GB.
This CPU is fine enough as a dual-core i-series, putting it head and shoulders above any of the Atom-based CPU systems at typically lower prices. However, plenty of four core i series CPU laptops have appeared at comparable prices to this deal and present a much better long-term investment as a productivity laptop.
My favorite sleeper CPU in this category is the i3-1125G4 with four cores but without the more advanced Xe graphics of the 1135G7 model.
Good luck!
Jon
On the expensive side for $300. You could do far better 16/512 deals from $255 Gateway(Walmart /Microcenter) , $400 Acer Swift (Costco), $250 Dell (Refurbished), Lenovo Flex
So this at $249.99 and getting the 5% Redcard discount this is a very nice deal for normal people right?
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