Acer Aspire 5 Review: A Budget Laptop That Doesn't Feel Cheap

Acer Aspire 5 and other mid-range laptops like it aren’t usually the common choice. Those who can splurge will probably go for the high-end options; otherwise, they will look for budget-friendly laptops.

However, it might come as a surprise for you that midrange devices are the ones that strike the best balance between price and performance and Acer Aspire 5 can attest.

Price And Availability

Users have the choice to acquire the Acer Aspire 5 in a number of price points and configurations. The Acer Aspire 5 A515-51-3509, which comes equipped with an Intel Core i3 7100U chipset paired with DDR4 RAM of 8GB, integrated graphics, and a 15.9-inch 1080p display, is priced at $399 and ₹ 28,990 in India.

For a higher-end laptop, you may consider the Acer Aspire 5 A517-51G-8433, which features an Intel Core i7 8550U chipset paired with 12GB RAM, an Nvidia GeForce MX150 GPU, an HDD and SSD, and a 17.3-inch 1080p screen. This model will set you back $999.99, or ₹ 133,009.

The version we review here is an Acer Aspire 5 A515-51-50Y5, which runs on an Intel Core i5 8250U paired with 256GB SSD and 8GB DDR4 RAM, and integrated graphics.

Design

The appearance of the Acer Aspire 5 is nothing to write home about but it doesn’t mean it’s an ugly and chunky laptop. Weighing 2.20kg and having a 2.16 x 38.16 x 26.3cm dimension, it isn’t the lightest on the market but you won’t have a problem carrying it around with you.

In fact, the laptop is quite good-looking with plastic chassis and a textured surface, and an Acer logo on the lid.

The screen is occupied by the decently sized display and chunky bezels. While you may think Acer has wasted all of this real estate on the bezels, it does give us a large keyboard. The bezels also make it possible for the webcam to be placed at the center top, which is usually the most convenient spot for it.

The hinge allows for adjustment to a certain degree but please bear in mind that this isn’t the laptop that users can flip the screen back to make it lie in a tablet-like position.

Port-wise, the Acer Aspire 5 features one USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 ports, an SD memory card port, and a USB-C.

Keyboard And Touchpad

The keyboard and the touchpad sit against a plastic surface with a brushed finish that looks quite nice.

The keyboard is of a decent size, making typing easy. However, if you expect satisfaction or responsiveness, you will be disappointed as the keys have a short travel distance.

The large size of the laptop also means we have a large touchpad that facilitates multi-finger gestures. On the flip side, you are more likely to rest your palm on it. Plus, the touchpad also feels rather cheap.

Performance

The IPS screen on the Acer Aspire 5 is a bit washed out and the contrast is weak. To make up for that, the 1920 x 1080 resolution means photos and movies appear decently. Acer said the laptop features Color Intelligence technology which can adjust saturation and gamma to make content looks the best it can.

Overall, the screen is decent for day-to-day tasks but if you are on the market for a laptop to edit videos or photos, you had better look elsewhere.

And if you want a machine that you can play games with, the Acer Aspire 5 shouldn’t be on your list. While the device runs on Intel 620 UHD graphics that can handle videos and photos, along with some indie games, but for the most part, this isn’t the laptop for gaming.

Battery Life

Acer Aspire 5 boasts a long battery life of 6 hours and 48 minutes with the PCMark 8 battery test under heavy and medium use. If you lower the brightness of the screen a bit and throw at it less strenuous tasks, you may expect more time between charges.

This translates to a full day of work with ease and a sure sign of the advantage of the power-efficient processor.

The most significant downside here is the time it takes to charge the device. Prepare to spend the best part of three hours to charge it to full.

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