If you’re looking for a new laptop that can run Windows 11 without a hitch at the cheapest price possible, this is it. Walmart is selling the 15-inch Asus Vivobook Go—already a budget design—for an extra $150 off its retail price. That brings it down to just $349.99. Cuh-razy.
This 15.6-inch laptop is running a quad-core Ryzen 5 7520U processor from AMD. That’s several years old now (in the Zen 2 generation) but it’s the same architecture and graphics power that goes into the Steam Deck. More crucial for running Windows 11 is the 16 GB of speedy DDR5 RAM within, which is the lowest I’d recommend for any new laptop these days. With 512 GB of SSD storage, this is a fantastic budget find.
Elsewhere, the Vivobook Go 15 has a few more things in its favor, like a full-sized keyboard (even if the 10-key area is a little cramped) and a physical privacy shutter for the webcam. You get one USB-C port, two USB-A, and a full-sized HDMI port, which should cover most tasks.
Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll need to use a proprietary barrel charger because there’s no charging indicator on that USB-C port. The battery is also a little on the anemic side at just 43 watt-hours, so you might be charging it a lot. You also won’t get a touch panel on that 1080p screen. But I think all of these are acceptable compromises at this price, especially for a new laptop instead of refurbished.
Walmart is showing a standard discount on this model, so I don’t know how long it’ll stick around. If you’re looking for something different, check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops.
Get an Asus laptop with 16GB of RAM for $350