I tried hard to criticize the $249 HP Core i3 laptop but failed miserably — it’s the one device I’d buy if I wanted the best value notebook this Black Friday

HP Laptop 15: Was $379 Now $249 at Walmart
Save $130 You won’t find a better configured laptop for the price. Walmart and HP delivered a killer configuration that has no rival at this price (happy to be proven wrong): 12th gen Core i3, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD and Full HD with business features as well. Grab it while you can. 

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HP has yet another fantastic deal, this time coming from Walmart, from the same family as the $179 HP laptop deal we found earlier. The HP Laptop 15 costs just $249 and yet delivers the sort of firepower you’d see on a laptop twice the price. 

At its heart is an Intel Core i3-1215U processor; now, this is no ordinary Core i3, it has six cores which makes it far more powerful than previous Core i3 models. For example, it is about 80% faster than the Core i3-1115G4, which is only one year older.

Like many mainstream laptops, it also has 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Unlike most though, the memory is dual channel, which means you can expect slightly better performance. Its 15.6-inch display is a full HD model, rather than the HD resolution I’m used to seeing in this price range. The color gamut and the brightness however are poor, as expected, but it is an acceptable compromise at this price.

It has a separate numeric keypad, five ports, two microphones, an HD webcam, a card reader, two speakers, Wi-Fi 6, and 41WHr battery (which HP claims will last around 450 minutes). It weighs in at 1.7kg, which is really not bad at all for a laptop with a 15.6-inch display. 

Note that it is made mostly of recycled plastic, which is a step in the right direction of building more sustainability in technology. The laptop runs on Windows 11 Home in S mode but you can swap it to the classic Windows 11 Home for free.

There are two other notable features that set it apart from other laptops costing $300 and less, too. The first is the fact it comes with 25GB Dropbox cloud storage for a year. The second is the inclusion of a fingerprint reader, making it ideal for anyone looking for an affordable business laptop with added security features.