I have recently discovered that the laptop I have does NOT support TPM 2.0.  I have been running Windows 11 on it on Windows Insider Preview releases.  Recently I discovered my device was downloading around 10 gigs of data per day, through the System task (ie could have been any part of Windows doing this).  I spent some days trying to find possible causes but in the end decided to try a Windows Refresh install.  This failed because there was no support for TPM 2.0 in the latest known BIOS - not surprising given that the laptop is about 5 years old and the BIOS release was in early 2019.

When I bought my current laptop it came with Windows 10 but 11 was not far away.  I thought it met minimum requirements for 11 but I see it is not listed by Acer as 11-compatible.  I have the Aspire 5 A515-51-539B - CPU is an Intel Core i5 8250U, 8 gigs of memory and a 256 gig SSD.  This covers my needs well - I am not a gamer but occasionally use Excel spreadsheets.  This CPU is listed as TPM 2.0 capable but the BIOS does not support it.

So what I am looking for is a similar-spec laptop but with a current BIOS and current-generation Intel I5 or equivalent AMD processor.  The laptop is used primarily as a desktop but I take it with me on my travels.

Any recommendations or suggestions welcomed.  I have ruled out OLED displays as not worth the extra cost.