Acer Aspire 5 Review 2021 : A slim and budget friendly powerful laptop
The Acer Aspire 5 slim laptop delivers on every aspect of everyday computing, housing the intel i3 11th gen mobile processor. This laptop can tackle any job no matter how complex and it's budget-friendly too. Let's take a deep look to see why this laptop is a highly sought-after budget laptop. For this laptop's latest price, let's get started.
Design
Starting with the design, The Acer Aspire five looks like its premium rival the MacBook Pro. It has a light sleek and understated design that makes it pleasing to the eye without being too flashy. The aluminum lid looks great when closed and it is held firmly against the chassis by its ultra smooth surface. As you open it. The first thing you notice is the minimal black bezels surrounding the display. The laptop dimension is 14.3 by 9.7 inches with a thickness of 0.7 inches. The device weighs 3.6 pounds in total, which makes it perfect for carrying around the house and easy to take on a school trip.
Specs
Acer Aspire 5 Slim packs a significant punch with an intel i3 11th gen processor, four gigabytes RAM, 512 gigabytes NVMe SSD and Intel® UHD Graphics card. The 14 inches 1080P IPS display is a little dim but brighter than rivals such as the Asus Vivobook 15. The screen is suitable for nightwork, but very bright light may make the screen a little uncomfortable. The Acer Aspire 5 slim laptop is a comfortable device to watch movies and surf the web. But if you're interested in photo editing and media creation, you may need a more vivid color display on an external monitor.
Processor | Intel® Core i3-1115G4 processor |
Processor Speed | 4.10 GHz |
RAM | 8 GB DDR4 SDRAM |
Storage | 512 GB, PCIe Gen3 8 Gb/s up to 4 lanes, NVMe |
Display | 35.6 cm (14") display with IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology, Full HD 1920 x 1080, high-brightness Acer ComfyView™ LED-backlit TFT LCD |
GPU | Intel® UHD Graphics |
Webcam | HD webcam with 1280 x 720 resolution, 720p HD audio/video recording |
Ports | 1 X USB 3.2 port with power-off charging, 2 X USB 3.2 port, 1 X USB Type-C port & HDMI |
Battery | 3 Cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion), Capacity 48 Wh, Run Time 11.50 Hour |
Weight & Dimensions |
Height - 1.79 cm Width - 32.8 cm Depth - 22.3 cm Weight (Approximate) - 1.45 kg |
Keyboard
The Aspire fives chiclet keyboard is full size has a number pad on the right side for seamless data entry. The keyboard is comfortable enough for typing and going by the massive build small hands will find this keyboard even more comfortable for multitasking. You can use it in a dark room thanks to the subtle backlighting just like you have on Apple's MacBook laptops. With a touchpad. Acer strives to give the trackpad the same aluminum finish as the chassis. There's a fingerprint reader embedded into the touchpad. But you might have to turn off the multi-touch gestures as the touch drag mechanism can be too fussy to use. Surprisingly there's a function key that turns off the trackpad, especially when you're in serious typing sessions.
Ports
Coming to the ports. It has an excellent port selection. You're getting two USB 3.2 ports, one USB 2.0 port, and a single USB C port for your modern devices. There's also an Ethernet port for hardwearing an HDMI port for an external display, a Kensington lock connector, and a standard headphone jack. wireless connectivity comes via Wi-Fi six. The Acer Aspire five slim laptop is an excellent laptop for catching up on the latest content. It has down-facing stereo speakers that are decently basic. I prefer to listen to music while the laptop was perched on a table. As cradling it in your lap can muffle the sound. The 720P webcams sit atop the display. It serves its purpose when Skyping in with your boss for a quick check-in order to say hello to a friend, but it's unimpressive Otherwise, you'll need an external webcam for anything professional.
Performance
When it comes to performance. Our reviewed laptop features an Intel i3 11th gen processor, gigabytes RAM, 512 gigabytes, NVMe SSD, and an integrated Intel® UHD graphics card. This configuration no doubt has enough power to deliver on most day-to-day tasks. The Intel i3 11th gen processor can handle Chrome, Spotify, and Firefox all running simultaneously. Most people will find the Acer Aspire five to provide perfectly acceptable performance for all but the most demanding processor-based tasks. Unless you're buying for complex tasks. The Aspire five slim laptop is a reasonable choice in terms of performance. everyday tasks like browsing the internet, streaming media, editing photos, and videos will work like a charm. Considering that it uses an integrated video card, you won't be playing modern games here. The latest triple-A releases will not render properly and everything will likely stutter. If you need a budget gaming laptop, we recommend the Asus TUF A15, a budget gaming laptop with a 240-hertz screen and a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 3000 series graphics card.
Thermals
As for the thermals, while downloading apps and streaming in Google Chrome, the Acer Aspire five chugged along without feeling too hot to handle. When I test ran a full-screen HD video for 15 minutes. The Aspire five measured on average 71 degrees Fahrenheit, which is quite comfortable compared to the 95-degree comfort threshold. At its hottest point on the keyboard between the G and H keys. It read 86 degrees. The system certainly does its best to handle heat output. But the fans come on so often and are so loud that it was sometimes hard to hear dialogue or music without turning up the volume.
Battery
As for the battery, the Acer Aspire 5's battery is a better performer as compared to last year's model which had an underwhelming battery. Acer claims that it will last eight hours on a single charge. But in real-life use, you're getting just under seven hours which isn't bad at all.
Pros & Cons
The pros are decent performance, good build quality, and well priced. As for the cons, the only issue Our team noticed is the dim display.
Conclusion
Overall if you're looking for an affordable laptop to stay doc all the time, you're getting a good deal with the Acer Aspire five, the capable middle-of-the-line intel i3 11th gen processor, and the integrated graphics card that can handle the work you need to get done. And while trackpads take time to get used to the comfortable full-size keyboard makes typing enjoyable. However, if you're looking for more power, longer battery life, and a better screen, the HP Pavilion 15 2021 edition is a great choice. It costs slightly more than the Acer but you also get the added benefit of a sleek design and more power.