Acer Aspire 5 A515-51
A powerful big-screen laptop with staying power, Acer makes compromises but in sensible places
SCORE★★★★☆ PRICE £487 (£584 inc VAT) from cclonline.com
It might not have the glamour of its Acer stablemate, the aluminium-shelled Swift 3, but the Aspire 5 is every bit as remarkable. It packs an eighth-generation Intel Core i5-8250 processor and 15.6in screen inside a chassis that’s still relatively thin and light – and all for under £600.
There are some compromises involved, but Acer has been smart in where these are and how they appear. For instance, while the construction is predominantly plastic, that’s well disguised by an aluminium keyboard surround, silver accents and a ridged pattern on the surface of the lid. Unlike some other part-aluminium laptops, there are no noticeable rough edges. And while no 15.6in laptop is ever going to be described as ultraportable, the 2.2kg Aspire 5 doesn’t actually feel that heavy. It’s a weighty presence on your lap or in your bag, but not uncomfortable.
There’s more good news in terms of ergonomics. The touchpad is large, smooth and unerringly accurate, while there’s enough space in the chassis for something close to a standard keyboard layout – plus a separate numeric pad. The profile and spacious surround make for a comfortable typing position, and while the keys themselves only have a shallow movement, they have a pleasant feel. You could get some proper work done if you needed to.
The Aspire 5 doesn’t fare quite so well on connectivity, but it has all the basics covered. It’s great to see a USB-C port on a larger mid-range laptop, and while it’s a shame that two of the three Type-A USB ports (the older style) are USB 2, you can use these to connect less bandwidth-hungry peripherals and keep the faster ports back for external storage. The 802.11ac Wi-Fi support is limited by a 1x1 configuration, which limits downloads to a theoretical 433Mbits/ sec maximum. However, a clever space-saving, flip-out RJ-45 socket gives you Gigabit Ethernet where you have a wired network.
It’s the screen and sound where Acer makes the biggest compromises. In isolation, the TN panel isn’t bad; 256cd/m2 is bright enough for use in conditions that don’t involve direct sunlight, viewing angles are relatively wide and colours vibrant. Put the Aspire next to the Asus or Medion laptops, however, and it doesn’t have the same depth of colour, with just 55.5% of the sRGB colour gamut covered. This isn’t a big deal unless you’re an enthusiast photographer, and in most mainstream applications you probably wouldn’t notice anything amiss.
Audio is a different story. There’s an awful lot of volume here, but not so much clarity or finesse. Drums clang like a miked-up biscuit tin while vocals sound rough and brash. The output’s good enough for Skype or a Netflix binge at lower volumes, but even when streaming you’ll want to plug some headphones in.
So far, the Aspire 5 sounds like it only has an outside chance of a recommendation, but the generous specification puts it back in the running. That four-core, eight-thread
“There’s enough power for Ultra HD video editing, high-resolution, multi-layer, photo-editing, and anything else you can think of”
Core i5-8250U processor puts it comfortably ahead of any laptop with the equivalent seventh-generation Core i5, partly because it has the multi-threaded performance to steam through video-processing and multitasking apps. Basically, there’s enough power here for Ultra HD video editing, high-resolution, multi-layer photo-editing and just about anything else you can think of.
What’s even more surprising is that neither the performance nor the larger form factor come at the expense of battery life. We squeezed over nine hours of looping video out of the Aspire 5 before the screen went blank. Keep the brightness levels below the maximum and there’s no reason why you’d need to find a power outlet before the end of the day.
You might not need the Aspire 5’s level of performance, or you might want something smaller and lighter, but this is a great value laptop for use in and around the home. Given the chance, we would wish for a better screen and a backlit keyboard, but for the price we’ll live with what we’ve got.