Deal | Super affordable gaming laptop: Acer Nitro V 15 with RTX 4050 and in "Certified Refurbished" condition is now less than $600

Desktop gaming has never truly recovered from the price increases initially forced upon gamers by the COVID-era GPU shortages. Unlike the last decade, it is no longer possible to make a $500 1080p gaming PC without cutting considerable corners. So, if you are a PC gamer and only have around $500 to $600 to spend, a budget gaming laptop makes the most sense.

Thanks to plenty of, often healthy, discounts, you can find a gaming notebook for 1080p gaming without spending close to $1,000. Case in point, the Acer Nitro V 15 can now be yours for just under $586.14 on eBay. The laptop has been “professionally restored” and comes with a two-year Allstate warranty. So, for all practical purposes, it should function like a brand-new machine.

Retailing at a discount of more than $400, the Acer Nitro V 15 features an RTX 4050 laptop GPU, a 6-core Ryzen 5 7535HS processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage, and a 57 Wh battery. Around the front, there is a 15.6-inch FHD display with a fast 144 Hz refresh rate. There is also a sufficient port selection, Wi-Fi 6, and a backlit keyboard.

While the Acer Nitro V 15 isn’t going to win any awards, the laptop should be plenty enough for 1080p gaming. We noted in our review that the 75 W RTX 4050 is powerful enough to drive AAA games with medium/high settings. eSports titles, like the upcoming Battlefield 6, will run at high refresh rates.

The Acer Nitro V 15 is also a very good performer when it comes to battery life. Our WLAN testing returned a runtime of more than 9 hours. So, you can take the notebook with you on the road without having to worry about power.

What you’ll have to worry about, however, is the display. For most gamers, the 15.6-inch 1080p display is plenty fine. It delivers sufficient brightness for indoor use, as well as serviceable contrast. However, at just 60% sRGB, it covers disappointingly little color gamut. Fortunately, there are plenty of good 1080p gaming monitors on Amazon that can be had for relatively cheap. For instance, this Sansui 24-inch 1080p gaming monitor with 110% sRGB and 180 Hz refresh rate is just $99 on Amazon.

Similarly, you can also make the Acer Nitro V an even better gaming laptop by upgrading the RAM and storage. The machine carries a free M.2 and SO-DIMM slot for these upgrades.

All in all, the Acer Nitro V 15 on sale is an incredible value when you consider the internals and the asking price.