I am no laptop expert, but the review says
What is it?
It’s a basic laptop with a 14-inch screen, weighing 1.5kg. This is heavier than most 14-inch laptops, some of which are as light as a kilo and tend to sit at the 1.3-1.4kg mark. Still, it’s not outlandishly heavy, and will easily slide into your backpack.
It has one of Intel’s 2019 Core i3 processors. This chip has two cores, and supports the very latest wi-fi standard, called Wi-Fi 6. While most hotspots and probably your home network don’t have the latest wi-fi, this addition means when the time comes for a wi-fi upgrade, your laptop will be ready.
There’s 4GB of Ram, which is decent, although if you open loads of web browser tabs you may notice they become slower to load as you switch between them. If you’re a heavy multitasker who likes to have lots of programs open at once, it’s worth investing in a laptop with 8GB of Ram instead.
Ports-wise, it has a generous three USB ports with a fourth USB-C connector, along with HDMI, ethernet and a 3.5mm headphone/microphone combination jack. Unusually, Acer has eschewed the SD card slot, so you’ll need a USB SD card adaptor if you want to use a portable card.
There’s also a fingerprint reader set into the touchpad, so you can easily log in to your laptop without faffing around with a complicated password. In this case, you are the password.
What’s it like to use?
This is an all-round good budget laptop. Neither the touchpad nor the keyboard pose any major issues; they can occasionally be a bit rattly, but there’s nothing to be concerned about. Perhaps one thing that some buyers won’t like is the power button, which sits on the keyboard and looks like a normal key. It’s harder to press than a standard key, but you may very occasionally send your laptop to sleep by mistake if you’re not concentrating.
This laptop is fast to boot, starting up in just five seconds. It’s a dab hand at browsing the web, with image-heavy sites loading up quickly, and switching between programs proving no problem. As mentioned above, it will run into difficulty if you overstretch it, but for most people it should be fine.
When it’s working hard, the cooling fans are fairly audible, so if you work in a very quiet room you will definitely notice them. The whole device also feels a bit flimsy and plasticky.
What are the screen and sound like?
The screen should be good enough for most people. It’s bright enough, text is clear, and there aren’t any issues with reflections from overhead lighting sources.
The speakers are par for the course for laptops. That is to say, they’re not brilliant but they’ll do the job. Speech sounds clear, but things get a bit muddled when the sound gets more complicated, such as when music is playing or when there are a lot of sound effects.
How long does the battery last?
Our lab tests the battery life of a laptop when it’s playing video stored on the hard drive, and when browsing the web. In the video test, which is easier, the Aspire 5 managed a very respectable 14 hours 30 minutes. When browsing the web, the performance tumbled to six hours 40 minutes. This is fine, especially if you’re only away from the mains for short bouts, but there are better cheap laptops for battery life.
Should I buy it?
This is a great laptop for the money. It doesn’t quite manage to be a Best Buy, but with no major shortcomings and a very attractive price, it’s well worth a look.
