Score a deeply discounted Lenovo PC before holiday deals turn grim

If you want an affordable PC for a gift (or yourself) this year you’d better act quickly, and today Amazon is making it easier. The online retailer is putting on a one-day sale on Lenovo laptops, monitors, and a few all-in-one PCs. Don’t delay, though, as the deals disappear before midnight Pacific time on Monday evening.

The reason we’re suggesting you act now is that it’s generally understood that supplies of PCs and other consumer tech devices will be low this holiday season thanks to chip shortages. Intel recently confirmed this, saying that computer makers are going to focus on higher-end machines in the face of these shortages.

So if you’re looking for something that’s not high-end, here’s what we like from today’s sale.

First up is the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 for $300, down from $400. This laptop features a 14-inch 1080p display, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of onboard storage. The laptop comes with Windows 10 in S Mode, but you can do a free one-way upgrade to regular Windows 10 in order to install desktop apps from outside the Microsoft Store. If you don’t mind more modest Chromebook-like hardware and a lower 1355×768 resolution, you’ll find an IdeaPad 1 model on sale for $200 as well.

If you need a new monitor, the Lenovo L28u-30 4K display is just $290, down from around $340. It features AMD FreeSync, a 4 millisecond response time, and a 60Hz refresh rate. Considering that most graphics cards that can do 4K at all struggle to keep 60 frames per second on most triple-A titles, the refresh rate isn’t a concern for now. Nevertheless, this is an entry-level 4K display but well worth it for those who want to take the plunge.

Finally, we like the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO 3i for $540, down from about $645. It features a 24-inch 1080p display, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and a 256GB NVMe boot drive. The processor is an Intel Core i3-10100T. This would work very nicely as a family room PC for those who need something everyone can access for basic uses like document creation, email, and web surfing.

There are a number of other deals today including a few more monitors and laptops, but those are our favorite deals from today’s sale. Don’t miss out—.

[Today’s deal: One-day sale on Lenovo PCs and monitors at Amazon.]