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Get a 17-inch Acer laptop for $439.97

With more than enough horsepower for the average user, this desktop replacement definitely qualifies as a killer deal.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
2 min read
A desktop replacement laptop such as this is ideal for the home user who doesn't want a hulking tower but does want a big screen and keyboard. CompUSA

Are you in the market for a desktop replacement laptop?

At Circuit City, you can get a refurbished Acer Aspire AS7540-1284 17-inch laptop for $439.97, plus about $8 for shipping.

That's not the lowest price I've ever seen on a 17-inch laptop, but this is definitely one of the better configurations I've seen for the money.

Beneath its attractive blue lid, the Aspire packs a 2GHz AMD Athlon X2 M300 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and downright mammoth 17.3-inch LCD.

Also of note, its keyboard is wide enough to accommodate a full-size numeric keypad, which is good news for Excel users and other number crunchers.

All of the laptop's other features are pretty standard: DVD burner, media reader, Webcam, 802.11g Wi-Fi (c'mon, Acer, get with the 802.11n program already), ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

The Aspire weighs a reasonable 7.2 pounds. However,  I wouldn't take this sucker on an airplane (or try squeezing it into a backpack), but it can certainly move from room to room without much hassle. Remember, this laptop is a desktop replacement, not a Netbook.

Because it's a refurbished unit, its warranty lasts a fairly typical 90 days. As I've noted countless times before, I wouldn't the short warranty stop me from jumping on a deal as good as this. Any problem that may have existed has most likely been corrected.

Sometimes I marvel at how much computer you can buy these days for so little money. I remember when finding a 17-inch laptop for less than a grand was a big deal.

Bonus deal: At Newegg today, get a 12-month Xbox Live Gold subscription for $29.99 shipped. It costs upward of $50 elsewhere.