Need a cheap Windows laptop? The Acer Aspire 3 15 makes a few sacrifices to hit its tempting sub-$500 price

Acer Aspire 3 15 open at an angle on a white desk.

I'm a bit spoiled with all the fancy laptops I get to review on a weekly basis, but I can spot a lazy budget laptop from a mile away.

I wanted to love the Acer Aspire 3 15. The first laptop I ever bought was an Acer Aspire laptop with a barebones discrete GPU inside, and that thing carried me through Fallout 4, albeit on very low settings. I expected the Aspire 3 to come at me with a low-quality display and speakers, but I lost hope when I saw its abysmal battery life. Its performance didn’t help either. However, sacrifices must be made in the quest for a sub-$500 Windows laptop, and the Aspire 3 15 is often well under that mark.