Reviews Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R3UB | 15.6" Full HD IPS Display | AMD Ryzen 3 3350U Quad-Core Mobile Processor | 4GB DDR4 | 128GB NVMe SSD | WiFi 6 | Backlit KB | FPR | Amazon Alexa | Windows 11 Home in S mode
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5.0
out of 5 stars Better with a couple of upgrades but works OK out of the boxReviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 2, 2020
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
Aspire 5 with 4gb RAM 128gb PCIe NVMe SSD drive notes (long, so you may want to skip this review):
Aluminum cover, plastic housing.
Left side ports - Ethernet cable, HDMI, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, Headphone jack.
Right side ports - Kensington computer lock port, USB 2.0.
Notably missing - no port for SD cards at all.
Not a touch screen, but nice in color and clarity. (Opinions on screens and keyboards tend to vary widely - what suits me perfectly may seem to be junk to you, so YMMV).
The speakers on the front underside - the sound is O.K. (for an inexpensive laptop) but volume is lacking.
Power supplied through a proprietary Acer plug, not through a USB-C port. Cord can only attach to the laptop on the left side (as seen by the user at the keyboard).
Windows "S" is installed; it is limited to running apps available only in the Microsoft Store.
Suggested upgrade - move up to Windows 10 Home. It's a free upgrade - with the caveat that you cannot return to "S" version.
To upgrade to Home version (instructions as of the date of this review; I assume/accept no responsibility if things go awry. You may want to Google instructions to verify):
Go to Settings.
Then select Update & Security.
In the left sidebar, click Activation.
Then click “Go to the Store.”
Press the “Get” button under the “Switch out of S Mode” section and in a very short time you'll be assigned the Windows Home version.
Suggested upgrade - if you want to encrypt your laptop you may want to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise. These upgrades are not free, check Microsoft for current pricing.
The Aspire 5 has a TPM chip so encryption will not require a boot password (not your Windows password).
If you want to set a boot password for the computer (not your Windows password) you can set that in BIOS. Don't forget it - resetting a boot password on a laptop can be a pain and a half (or impossible) to rectify. See below on how to get into BIOS.
The included 128GB PCIe NVMe SSD drive is (for me) large enough to hold Windows 10 Enterprise and the applications I use and is quick enough to run them. I'm in I.T. support (although semi-retired) and don't use the Aspire 5 for computer games. YMMV.
Suggested upgrade - add an additional SSD to the computer (screws are in the box, housing and cable required are inside the Aspire 5). You can Google videos on how to perform the upgrade. A second internal drive allows you to separate your data from your operating system and applications; if Windows ever has to be completely re-installed your data won't be affected. If you keep your data in the Cloud you can set the second drive as the sync drive and not fill up “C:” drive.
The chip, an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U, does pretty well for my purposes. Again, gamers may have a different opinion so YMMV. I've had no issues when viewing training or YouTube videos.
The battery life won't get me through a typical support day without at least some recharge time - Acer claims up to 7 1/2 hours but, of course, that depends on what you're doing. Watching videos will eat more power than writing a project proposal in Word. YMMV, but I bought a second power cord to take with me to client offices while leaving the cord at my home office plugged in. I seem to be getting 5 hours, maybe a bit better, with the screen set to maximum brightness.
The machine doesn't get overly warm in use (again, I'm not a gamer), but I use a laptop board most of the time when the laptop isn't on a hard surface, so there is nearly always some airflow under the machine.
The included 4gb of included RAM is really the absolute minimum to think about with Windows 10.
Suggested upgrade - add a single 4gb RAM chip in the empty slot (Google for videos on that) to bring the total to 8gb RAM. After installing the additional 4gb the computer will report 8gb installed with "5.94gb usable". The 'missing' RAM is being commandeered by the Radeon software for the display. If you need/want more the machine can support up to 32gb (1 16gb chip in each slot, discarding the 4gb already installed). 16gb would require 1 8gb chip in each slot, discarding the 4gb already installed. For business purposes (Office, Chrome and You Tube videos) I'm finding the 8gb (5.94 available) to be acceptable. YMMV.
How 'easy' the RAM and hard drive upgrades are depends on how comfortable you are working with computers. I found them quite simple. Be careful not to crack the plastic housing when removing the bottom cover. Using the correct plastic spudge is helpful, you can search Amazon for a selection of tools. (spudge = type of plastic or rubber pry bar). Google the ‘how-to’ videos first.
"Bloatware" included with the computer isn't completely over-the-top, but it does take a few minutes to delete all of the junk. The "Microsoft Office" included with the Aspire 5 is a 30-day trial version, not a full license.
After uninstalling the bloatware I installed Microsoft Office365 with Access, Adobe Photoshop Elements, DIA (a program for diagramming), AllwaySync (a backup program), Google Chrome, Splashtop Business and Personal (remote access software), VLC Media Player and a couple of network utility applications. I have 78gb of free space left on "C" drive.
The three small stickers showing Ryzen chip, Aspire 5 inclusions, and Radeon graphic chip that are stuck onto the hand rest part of the computer can be easily peeled off and leave no residue (I was able to rub the remaining adhesive off easily with my thumb). I don't know why the stickers are there - presumably if you've bought the machine you know what the details are without seeing sticky notes on the keyboard surface. If they're for advertising purposes in the store it might be more cost effective to print advertising to be placed by the machine rather than label every machine on the production line. I also found the "Full 1080 HD" sticker on the screen bezel easy to take off. So I did. If Acer is interested in putting relevant data on stickers, how about putting the Make, Exact Model Number, Serial Number, and Date of Manufacture on a sticker? THAT one I would leave in place. As it is you need to flip the machine upside down to see the manufacturer's information. (Sorry - this is a pet peeve of mine).
A couple of quick notes for those who are new to Windows laptops - if the keyboard fails to light up, check the F8 key - it can toggle the light on/off. If you suddenly lose your WiFi connection check the F2 key - that toggles "Airplane Mode" on/off. Note that the "function" keys are set to use the little icons (F1 is sleep, F9 is mute, etc.). To use them as traditional function keys you need to hold down the "Fn" key simultaneously. Fn+F9, for instance, will cause the Outlook application to re-sync when you've got that desktop app open. If you prefer the traditional function key usage (not having to hold down the Fn key to use the keys within applications) you can toggle that in BIOS. To get into BIOS, reboot the computer and immediately start tapping the F2 key (no Fn key required).
For me the 'sweet spot' of laptops is in the 14" range (11" for road trips). That being acknowledged I don't find the extra width or weight of the Aspire 5 to be onerous - the thin screen bezel allows the claim to the 15.6" screen while not unduly expanding the overall size of the laptop. At nearly 4 pounds it's a bit heavier than the under-three-pounds-sweetness that I prefer but it's not too bad. Especially after removing the weight of those ridiculous stickers. YMMV.
If you need more power than this machine has, Acer does offer a similar package with upgrades to the Ryzen 5 chip, 8gb of RAM, and 250gb of hard drive space as well as some other goodies:
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-A515-44-R41B-Hexa-Core-Processor-Graphics-dp-B087N4ZRXV/dp/B087N4ZRXV/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
HTH
Regards,
Jim
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Tator Tot
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Laptop!! HIGHLY Recommend!!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 1, 2020
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
This is going to be a long and detailed review! Prior to purchasing this laptop, I did a tremendous amount of research so I know how important reviews are, as they helped me make my final decision. In order to help reviewers, I will say up front that I am not a gamer. I am a proofreader/copy editor, spend a lot of time on computers for internet research, including youtube work, and at any given time I have about 7-10 windows open and my computer is THEE primary source/focus of my work. I've had this Acer since mid-August. I waited to write my review in order to see how it performed for a couple of months, as some of the reviews I initially read did the same and I found that to be really helpful.
My 12-year-old SONY Vaio "died" this summer and I found myself in a position of needing a new laptop but also needing to be really budget conscious due to COVID job constraints. I read over 131 Amazon reviews of this Acer, read two other independent consumer review sites (PC Magazine, Tech World), and asked some tech people in my world what they thought. This laptop came out in the top three for quality for the price. The price was $359 when I put it in my cart. I waited ONE MORE DAY and that was ONE DAY TOO LONG and by the next day, the laptop was no longer available by Amazon, only from independent Marketplace sellers. I contacted Amazon who could not tell me when/if the Acer would be in stock again. The NEXT day, I read that the Acer would NOT be restocked by Amazon. So I didn't wait and bought it from the Marketplace for $460. Grr.... BUT!!! I am TOALLY PLEASED and happy that I got it when I did. Please note that this Acer IS back on Amazon and you can buy it for less. What a deal.
The advice of many reviewers was perfect for my set up. I actually took notes and in the end, set up was incredibly simple and pain-free, and performance has been fantastic. I literally have NO complaints.
Based on reviews, I purchased an extra 4G memory stick. ($20) Know what? I still haven't installed it!! I keep forgetting. AND IT HASN'T MADE A DIFFERENCE. To that end, based on reviews, I decided that I would purchase additonal hard drive, but I haven't gotten around to that. Honestly, I may not purchase it at all because I have an external hard drive and I have cloud space. I'm content with knowing that I have the option if I want to purchase more hard drive space if I want. So I have NOT yet had the experience of removing the back of the laptop to install more memory or hard drive. There are plenty of youtube vids that will guide you through the process should you need to do this and I will install the additional memory. Maybe after writing this.
Almost no one wants "S" mode. There are a few protocols for switching out of "S" mode. Here's what I did: I plugged the laptop in, and it began set up. VERY QUICK SET UP. It will automatically be in "S" mode: 1. open settings 2. go to "update & security" 3. In the "switch to" win home or win pro section, select "go to store." If you see "update your edition of windows" section, do NOT click the "go to store" that appears there. 4. Once in the store, you should see a "switch out of S mode" or some kind of similar message. Select "get". You should get a confirmation message that you've been switched out. SIMPLE and QUICK procedure. I read that some people had trouble with this, but it was a snap for me.
List of what I did in total:
1. Took out of box, plugged it in. Set up began.
2. Got out of "S" mode.
3. Got rid of a lot of bloatware.
4. Downloaded Google Chrome.
5. Downloaded Avast Premium Security
6. Downloaded Office 365
7. Downloaded iTunes
Even with all of that, this computer is FAST and as mentioned, I still haven't added additional memory.
Powering up/down takes seconds. SECONDS.
Navigation is super fast.
The computer itself feels solid and I haven't experienced anything with the touchpad that feels chincy or flimsy, as some reviewers noted. . I know what some reviews mean by the bottom corners of the touch pad feeling 'loose'. What it is, is that there are no 'buttons' on the touchpad for "left or right mouse" and the lower corners are a tad "floaty", as they need to be able to depress independently. I don't use the touchpad a lot, I prefer a desktop mouse, so this doesn't matter to me.
The keyboard backlight is great and I've checked with Acer and there's no way to extend the length of time it stays on. It stays on for about 30 secs. This is not an issue for me, as it's on long enough for me to orient myself on the keyboard if it's dark, and then I'm good to go. When typing steadily, the keyboard stays on steadily. Note: one of my cats walked across the keyboard and 'turned off' the backlight. I found that by hitting "FN + F8" and holding for 10 secs, you can turn the backlight back on.
I LOVE the keyboard. The keyboard feels both solid and smooth. I'm a typist so the "feel" of a keyboard and typing is very important to me. My fingers fly over this keyboard! The letters appearing as I type appear to be flowing as words form.
The little numeric pad to the right is great. Yes, the keys are a little smaller, so larger fingers may not care for this, but it's great when doing a lot of numeric work. I also love that the "backspace" button is larger- not like some keyboards I've had when it's the same size as a letter key.
Odd that there's no light showing "Caps Lock On"- other reviewers have noted this. Nor is there a "Num Lock" light, but that doesn't really interfere with my work. It just takes a moment to figure out what's going on if I accidentally leave the Caps Lock on.
The power button isn't a hard press button like I've been used to. It's a "key", which is interesting.
The sound is a big topic on reviews. I've found the sound to be a little low on volume, but it's been ok for youtube vids. Plus, I like using headphones, which make this a non-issue. I've examined the sound settings and done what reviewers have suggested to augment the sound. One reviewer spoke of switching from "music" to "gaming" mode to increase overall volume, but I haven't even found the setting to do that. No matter, I'm ok with the way it is.
The picture/screen is fantastic. Clear and sharp!
USB ports-- there are enough for me. I will be purchasing a dvd reader/writer, as this laptop does not have that feature, which makes it lighter and slimmer. In researching dvd drives, I've found highly reviewed ones for around $20. Very reasonable.
I have NOT tested battery life yet. I generally keep the laptop in one spot and keep it plugged in. Also, the battery in my SONY Vaio died 2 yrs into owning it and I never replaced it so I'm not even used to moving my laptop around and using a battery. The one time I DID bring this laptop into another room, the battery lasted at least the four hours I had the laptop open.
All in all, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this laptop. I've loaded it up and used it CONSTANTLY for two months, haven't installed extra memory yet, and it hasn't given me ONE SECOND of regret or "hmm" or concern. It looks great, it's fast, it's light weight, and it can be built up to serve your computer needs. Do NOT worry about "S" mode, that's an easy thing to let go of. I have no doubt this laptop will last me years and will serve my needs admirably. If anything else comes up as I continue to use it, I'll be sure to update my review! Despite paying more than what Amazon is currently selling it for, it was STILL a deal. I literally have no complaints at all. I recommend registering it and keeping note of Acer's toll free number in case you need support.
Good luck and enjoy! It's a great purchase!
UPDATE: It's nearly one year since I've been using this Acer laptop and I STILL love it. It has not given me one second of issue or regret. I ended up installing my additional memory after I posted my review but I haven't purchased additional hard drive. I've loaded a LOT more software and apps and it's still fast, crisp and spot on. One of the best purchases ever!
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Jason Garro
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it! Amazing 15" thin, fast laptop for a very low price!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 10, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
The Acer Aspire 15 has been a super great laptop. It's probably one of the best tech purchases I have ever made and I'm an IT guy. I paid about $350 USD for this one and am very happy with the purchase. The last time I was searching for a Laptop I returned 5 laptops before I was satisfied so I'm pretty picky. This was for my wife but I use it at night when I'm not in my office sometimes.
Storage & Upgrades: Although it only comes with 128gb SSD & 4gb RAM it's no big deal for about $100 you can upgrade to 20gb RAM and 2tb HDD + 128gb SSD. I love that you can run dual drives. 1 SSD + 1 HDD. I added a 2TB HDD for Data Storage for $50, it came with the bracket in the box, and it didn't void the warranty, like on my LG Gram. The 128gb SSD is functioning as a Boot Drive. I also added a 16gb module for about $50 and now have 20gb RAM. The upgrades were pretty straightforward and you can use normal small screwdrivers.
Performance: It boots up super fast, maybe 10 seconds to reach the sign in screen and 2 seconds to log in. Web pages and programs load quickly. We use it for Web browsing, Word, PowerPoint & Excel. I'm not doing video editing or high performance gaming on this but it runs almost as fast as my i5 LG Gram that cost $1500 with all SSD drives. It doesn't get too warm but we do have it on a fan stand, but I don't usually plug it in because for some reason the USB keeps powering the fan after it powers down, and I can't find a BIOS setting to turn this off. I notice that it gets a little warm when sitting directly on a table. I usually can't hear the fan at all. Sometimes you can hear it kick on when you open up 15 tabs and a bunch of apps.
Screen: The screen is really nice too. It's 1080 Full HD so you don't see the pixels like on a normal 15" Standard HD screen. I think it's average brightness but we use it indoors so it's plenty bright for our needs.
Keyboard: I love the Keyboard, it's much better than the keyboard on my LG Gram, and just as good as the best keyboards I have tested in BestBuy from Lenovo. It's wonderful to type on. It's backlit as well so that's nice plus. And I love the Number Pad, even though the number pad is a little skinner than the other keys.
Fingerprint ID: It's super fast and I didn't know how much I would love it!
Speakers: The speakers are fine. They are loud enough to watch YouTube videos and the news but it won't compete with a home stereo system.
Ports: It has plenty of full size ports: 3 USB, 1 USB C, 1 Full HDMI a headphone jack and even a RJ-45 Ethernet Port! I hate dongles so it's nice that you don't need one for this laptop. I would have liked to see a MicroSD reader but my wife doesn't SD Cards it so it's no big deal for her.
Window 11: It comes with Windows 11s but is very easy to switch to standard Windows 11. I was a little concerned about this and it almost made me not go for this laptop. But it's no big deal, as soon as you try to install something "non Microsoft" like Google Chrome it says something like, "If you want to install non-Microsoft software, you have to switch to full Windows 11 mode. Are you sure? You will loose all the exclusive Microsoft Security with Windows 11s Mode." But you just click, "Yes" and it switches, it may require a reboot but I can't remember.
Battery: The battery is average. We usually leave it plugged in on the desk but the few times that we have used it without a battery we used it for a few hours and it remained at 70% battery. Windows 11 doesn't estimate the time remaining so I really don't know for sure how long it would last. I'd guess it would go from 100% to 10% in about 5-6 hours for Netflix, YouTube or web browsing or MS Office apps.
Again, I really love this laptop. I keep telling my wife how impressed I am with the performance, storage upgrade options, keyboard, screen, etc. She doesn't really care that much as long as it works fast and does what she wants so I decided I had to tell all of you Amazon people that this is a great laptop for 95% of normal people who just want something that works well and is a good price. I highly recommend the acer aspire 15 and would buy it again, no regrets!
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Non Stop Horizon
5.0 out of 5 stars Easily 5 stars for the range of laptops it's supposed to be in. * Update, still 5 stars. *
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 25, 2020
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
This is considered a budget computer, but for us computer geeks, this is the base for several "premium" models. I can't really write a review of the computer out of the box because before I ever turned it on, I installed a 2nd RAM card, then when I booted it, I signed into my account which changed it from Windows 10 S mode to Windows 10 Pro since I have several Windows 10 Pro product keys associated with my account.
With that being said, this computer outperforms what it is meant to do. Is this going to be the strongest computer you can buy? No, not at all. However, this computer has edited large videos for me in minutes, I can use my music notation software on it with no lag or freezing (Sibelius), and it does actually process games at the higher resolutions. I've tested games as demanding as Forza Horizon 4 and it, surprisingly, performs with no issues. It does run hotter, of course, but not exactly "hot". Heavier usage draws down the battery, but that can be said for literally any electronic device.
I purchased this to replace my well-aged HP G60 whatever model that was that I purchased 12 years ago and just kept updating. Up until around July 2020, it was still up to specs to work from home, something I actually bought that computer for 12 years ago. Finally, an update to most of the work at home platforms finally rendered that old beast useless. Ironically, I used the stimulus check from back then (2008) to purchase that computer. With that laptop in mind, I premium laptop to me is one that I can upgrade and repair easily. The HP G60 line did that quite well. Now here in 2020, I purchased one of these for someone else at first. During setup, I noticed the slot to add another SSD, I added the second RAM chip for that one as well since I already knew about that, but I also noticed how easy it was to work on it. We booted it up, put a Windows 10 Pro key on it as well, and from the start, I was impressed with the performance. I was so impressed that I bought myself one.
This thing is super lightweight. The keyboard does have slight smaller keys which takes all of about 20 seconds to get used to. This is because it fit a full number pad on the right of the main keyboard, something that is a must for me with a laptop. One thing I absolutely don't find at this price range is the backlit keyboard.
Spoiler alert: with the backlight turned on for the keyboard, your battery time can be reduced by as much as 50%. You really don't need it if you're used to typing on pretty much any keyboard, but it's nice when you do need it at night in the middle of a shift. The button to turn it on and off is located pretty much at the center of the top row (F keys). Just to the left of that is the button to turn off the track pad. Very nice placement on both of those.
The graphics seems to use a combination of resources that gives you 5 GB reserved just for graphics processing. Not bad at all. This must be what pushes it to be able to do a lot more than expected for this price.
It's nice going into the Microsoft Store to check the system requirements on games (Halo series, Forza Horizon, etc) and not see any red indicating the computer doesn't meet the requirements.
For working from home, this is excellent for those resources that might require a proprietary desktop that you have to load and run via USB. It also has a built in ethernet port, which is usually required for those particular work from home platforms, but it also performs flawlessly on the 5 GHz wifi networks for the rest.
As a digital nomad, I also have to upload and edit and create videos. This thing surprisingly gets through Adobe and other applications with ease and renders videos quite fast.
This was supposed to be a quick purchase for me to replace my aged out HP and then I'd get another good laptop later on, but I'm probably just going to buy a couple more of these.
*Update*
I've noticed two things that improved performance. First, I downloaded the full AMD Radeon Software (it comes with the "lite" version) and that opened up a lot of performance tweaks on both the cpu and gpu.
Also, I'm noticing the battery time listed must be an overall average. When I'm just browsing, watching a few Youtube videos in the browser, and doing stuff like writing product reviews, with the brightness turned down to the lowest setting and with the backlit keyboard off, I seem to get between 9 and 10 hours of battery life from a full charge. Not sure if that's normal for this device, but it's what I keep noticing. Make sure you also turn off bluetooth and location and all that other stuff you're likely not using because those can draw the battery down quickly. When I have the brightness up, keyboard lights on, playing games with the Xbox controller connected via bluetooth, working (headset in, running work platform software), the battery time can be as low as 5 hours from a full charge.
I don't allow any sleep or hibernate functions. Those tend to kill a hard drive. There's nothing I'm ever doing that can't just be saved so I can properly shut the computer down. Sleep and hibernate modes can also do some strange things to batteries, usually causing software glitches that can wreck even the best batteries. They can also cause data fragmentation... all in all, I just don't use those functions on any computer, and for all I know, it could contribute to the better luck I have with laptop batteries and having never had hard drive failure.
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David Fisher
5.0 out of 5 stars This is NOT a Budget Laptop!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 3, 2019
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
This is the best laptop deal you can get, full stop.
Touchescreen? Nope. That feature is stupid in a laptop, in my view. As you use the keyboard, incidental touche s of the screen change focus or move to different screens--touchscreen is a gimmick and sucks.
The screen on this laptop is worth the price by itself. Gorgeous, black is actually black, it rivals my AOC gaming desktop monitor.
The Ryzen chip inside can be overclosked if you feel like it, but it is not needed. It is plenty fast for a laptop.
This is set up to add memory and a hard drive. Do so. I spent an additional $50 to add a 1tb drive and an 8gig memory stick. In so doing, I have the same specs as a $700 consumer laptop.
Gaming? I stream from my desktop, it's perfect. It won't run any modern games at more than low settings (if that) but you don't need to run them onboard if you have a gaming machine. DO NOT BUY THIS TO PLAY GAMES ONBOARD. Stream via Steam, it's perfect.
Buy this for $300, spend an additional $50 or $100 on memory and storage, and sit back and realize that you got a premier laptop for 1/3 the money people are spending on nothing.
Build quality is bomber. Eveything is solid, no rattles, no warps. Others have ripped on the touchpad--can't tell the difference between this and any other laptop touchpad. It isn't loose, responds as usual, no problem.
The screen is GORGEOUS and much better than laptops at twice or three times the price.
I actually like the compressed number pad on the right. If you aren't doing a lot of 10-key stuff, it's what you need.
The keyboard backlight stays on while you're typing, shuts off when you aren't. Perfectly configured.
This boots in about 15 seconds.
It has some heft, but is still very light. Hard to describe, but you can carry this all day in your backpack and not even know it is there. The power brick is about the size of a Toblerone tube. I plan on buying an extra to travel with.
This will work as a consumer laptop as is, like I said, but add some memory and a hard drive and you are CRUSHING.
I can't sing the praises of this enough.
Buy this, add a drive and a memory stick and you get a premier laptop for less than $400. And you get a better screen, too. And anyone can do that, it isn't tough at all. If you can turn a screwdriver, you can update this machine.
Make sure to go in and turn S mode off. First, activate Windows, then go to the store and turn off S mode.
This is much better than what other companies are offering as a budget laptop.
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lesima
5.0 out of 5 stars Es una buena laptop y cumple lo que promete
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 15, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
QuerÃa esperar un tiempo prudente probando el equipo antes de dar una opinión. La verdad es que la laptop es muy buena. En cuanto al envÃo, estaba muy nerviosa de que se pudiera dañar algo durante el envÃo y cuando me llegó, la caja que cubrÃa la caja de la laptop estaba muy golpeada y me asusté, pero cuando la abrÃ, la caja de la laptop estaba intacta y luego de casi dos meses usando la laptop sinceramente me parece una buena maquina. Para trabajos es perfecta, puedo diseñar usando los programas de Adobe sin ningún problema y es muy rápida. También la probé con videojuegos y la verdad es que ciertos juegos se puede jugar, pero claro titulos muy exigentes es posible que de problemas. lo estuve probando con el juego de Resident Evil 3 Remake y la verdad es que lo pude jugar de principio a fin, pero si que tuve que hacerle modificaciones porque los FPS no eran muy estables. El problema más bien esta en la VRAM, la memoria dedicada es muy poca y no deja que esos juegos corran mejor, aunque si que es verdad que la laptop te deja hacer una amplicación tanto en la memoria RAM como en el disco duro. Aun asà el equipo es muy bueno y hasta ahora ha trabajado muy bien.
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Minnesota Mike
5.0 out of 5 stars Value line laptop
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 9, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
Bought this for work as I only need it for customer information and filling out forms. Sends forms to the printer WAY faster than my old laptop with Wifi 6. Very happy with that....Thought this version had biometrics, it does not. Web cam quality is potato quality. Works for basic Zoom calls, but I would invest in a better webcam if video quality matters. Touch pad works great, especially during typing...mouse cursor doesn't go flying if you don't have the wrong hand positioning. Still prefer a mouse for web browsing, but the pad works will. Keyboard is fantastic. Usually hate Laptop keyboards, but this feels like I can find home easier and the keys are effortless, yet have solid feedback. 10 key is smaller, but I don't mind as I rarely need a full hand spectrum sized 10 key for numbers.
I'd consider this a great value as I got it for 26% off. Under $400 and I can add more Ram and extra Storage...Hard to complain. Haven't tested battery life and still need to get everything in Windows 11 figured out, but if you are looking for a basic laptop for web browsing, typing..this is a good fit. Look elsewhere if you are looking for a laptop that can crunch hard on graphics without making major upgrades to the system memory and storage.
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lisafrommars
5.0 out of 5 stars Great budget laptop with a backlit keyboard and better sound than its predecessor
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 14, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I'm not terribly techy, but I do use this laptop all day everyday for work and play. It's fast, and was easy to set up. The sound quality is much better than my old Acer Aspire 5 (I liked it enough to get a new one). The old one had very low sound unless one used headphones/earbuds, but this one is much louder and the quality is better. I am a Realtor and always have at least 5 tabs open in Chrome (right now I have 9). Screen quality could be clearer but I'll take it. I don't game so I have no opinion on that. It's a bit on the heavy side but that's also okay with me. No touch screen (that's also okay with me as I am a keyboard person). If you want a good little workhorse this is a great buy.
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RJT378
5.0 out of 5 stars As quick as my $3000 desktop PC. Very pleased.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 13, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
Surprisingly quick. I upgraded the ram to 8 GB using Crucial RAM 4GB DDR4 2400 MHz CL17 Laptop Memory CT4G4SFS824A. You could upgrade to more ram but you'd lose the dual channel benefit and this isn't a gaming laptop for us. That said, you really dont have to. I noticed no differences after upgrading and you're really only getting 2 GB of useable ram by adding another 4 GB stick. The GPU uses the other two. This is a great PC out of the box even on 4 GB of ram.
I do wish you could change the timeout for the backlit keyboard. When it goes off you're kind of left fumbling around. In the BIOS you can set it to constant on but I'm sure that uses a decent amount of battery.
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Kort
VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Quality
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 24, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I got the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R3UB when it was on sale for less than three hundred and fifty. I couldn't be happier with the value of this purchase. This laptop has excellent build quality, a quiet backlit keyboard, speedy processor, tons of ports, lovely 15.6" monitor, and more. It has been reviewed to death so there's not a whole lot more to say that hasn't already been put out there. Suffice to say that for a budget laptop, it rocks.
It's not perfect. You can't really do any serious gaming on it if that's your thing. The speakers are decent but don't get very loud. Battery life is just okay. And, uh, ...that's about it. It really is a good laptop. For web browsing, office work, videos, and general use, it is great. I wish there were more than 4MG RAM and a 128GB SSD included, but for the price and way I use it, it works! I recently got another lappy from a no name brand that was $350 and isn't on the same level as the Acer. I'm very happy I got it.
~ Kort
4.0 out of 5 stars Quick, lightweight, multi-functional
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 28, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
After several months of using this Acer Aspire A515-45 laptop, I gotta say it's been an amazing experience. For under $500, you get a really fast, extremely lightweight, and ultra portable laptop.
Right out of the box and after the setup, this laptop opens everything insanely quick with the help of the SSD that comes with it. I'm coming from another Acer Aspire laptop from a few years ago that had a standard HD so this is a very nice boost, although the big downside is the not-so-big capacity of the hard drive. At only 256gb (which is normal for laptop SSDs I guess), it can't hold much. Thankfully it comes with a hard drive expansion kit, though it can be a little confusing to use. The possibility is there, but you can also get an external hard drive for that extra space. Even after using more than half of the given hard drive space, this thing still hasn't slowed down and that's one of the things I'm really liking about this laptop.
While we're still on the topic of speed, the new Ryzen processor on this laptop is pretty quick too. Equipped with a Ryzen 5 5500U quad core processor, it's a huge boost from the old duo core processor I had on my previous laptop. Though it can't run games like Fortnite on high or max settings at a consistent 60 fps, bumping down some graphics and sacrificing some quality features on Fortnite would help you achieve the near-consistent 60 fps that would help you get those victory royales. The 8 GB ram that comes with this laptop is also nice and should be a standard among all laptops nowadays. I haven't opened the laptop yet to see if there are any open additional expansion slots like my previous Acer laptop, but if there are it would be an even bigger plus.
The keyboard on this Aspire 5 feels great. Typing feels amazing, somewhat comparable to a Macbook and with the grey and black color scheme of this laptop, it even looks kind of like one. The sleek texture of the laptop is satisfying to have your palm rest on while you're typing up a storm.
The picture quality is what you'd expect from a laptop in 2022; clear picture, sharp images, great pixels, and all those good stuff. Sound on the other hand though is not so great on this Acer Aspire 5. No matter what position I have it on; laying flat, screen side down with the speakers facing me, elevated a little bit from the surface, the sound isn't something to be proud of. It feels a little muffled and even pumping the volume to 100%, increasing everything I can to 100%, the sound is still very weak which is a shame because it makes me resort to using my bluetooth devices to get better sound quality.
Speaking of sound quality, I've tried to use my AudioTechnica 2020USB+ microphone on this laptop for work, but at first without knowing, I pluggged it into a USB 3.0 port on the left side and not knowing, the recording quality was very VERY bad. It wasn't until after playback that I discovered the microphone was incompatible (along with my other microphones) with the USB 3.0 side. Not sure if it's just my laptop, but thankfully there's a USB 2.0 port on the right side that works just fine. It took a few days of troubleshooting with Realtek HD audio (which was what I used on my old laptop) to get the sound quality back to standard.
Let's talk more about the ports on this laptop. There's 1 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port (which apparently is rare nowadays on laptops? I know of some people who don't have HDMI ports on them). There's a USB-C port and an ethernet port if you're into being hardwired to your internet. There's also a tiny port that looks like micro HDMI (is that a thing?) or something looks similar to USB-C but a little smaller.
I think the last thing to cover before I talk bad about this laptop is the battery which has an amazing life from the beginning. I've been able to do some work and play video games for a good 4ish hours before it asks to be plugged in. On normal usage where you're just browsing or working or not using really process-heavy tasks, you could probably get 7-8 hours on this on a single charge. Charging this laptop is also pretty quick taking 2-3 hours to get it back to full.
Also something that's nice that the laptop came with was a webcam privacy protector! And it didn't have just one, but two protectors! Simply take it out of the tiny bag it came in and stick in on where the webcam is and you can slide it to cover the webcam and block out any FBI people watching you browse TikTok.
Some qualms I have about this laptop are the function key shortcuts. First of all, by default the function keys are disabled (or enabled, whichever makes it so you have to do extra steps to use them). This means you have to start up your laptop and go to the system menu and enable (or disable) the function keys to make them work as they should. Not sure why this was set as a default, but they're there and they're really useful for everything that you do from lowering and turning down brightness, volume control, and putting the laptop to sleep among other functions. Another (personal) problem I have with the volume control is that on my previous laptop, the volume control function keys were on the arrow which makes sense because if you want the volume up or down, you hold the fn key and press up or down on the arrow! On this laptop, it got moved to the F11 and F10 key respectively. Instead, the arrow keys have the pause/play for up and stop for down and the left arrow has back while the right arrow has forward. One last thing about the function key is that while the placement for the brightness makes sense sort of where raising brightness (F4) is to the right of lowering brightness (F3), the icons on those keys don't make sense! The brightness icons both have a sun, but one is empty in the middle. You'd think that means the brightness is getting lowered as opposed to the icon with the filled in sun, but nope, F3 with the filled in sun means lowering your brightness. Who'd have thought? One last complaint I have about this laptop is the lack of an SD card reader. Maybe this laptop isn't geared towards people who use SD cards often, but my old Acer laptop that costed under $350 at the time I bought it had pretty much all of what this laptop has and an SD card reader on top of it. Would be nice but not detrimental because I know not many people rely on it, but I figure it's not hard to add since it can go in front of the laptop where your left wrist is. Also, while it is good the laptop came with a hard drive upgrade kit with screws and drive holder, taking out the underside of this laptop was a pain compared to my previous laptop. This one has ELEVEN screws you NEED to take out in order to access the inside. This is a lot compared to the only THREE screws needed for my previous Acer laptop. Needless to say, this was a huge time sink especially when all the screws were so tight that it took more than a minute to unscrew them.
All miniscule complaints aside, this is a great laptop in its price bracket. If you're looking for a really lightweight and quick work station on the go, this laptop is pretty good and I'd recommend this one. It took me a few days of comparing other laptops and this one was my choice.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars No fingerprint scanner and my selection on keyboard does not register sometimes.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 11, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
This laptop is decent at best. I got it on a sale for $478, including tax. The false advertisement of the fingerprint reader at the top left corner of the touchpad is FALSE. The laptop purchased is an ACER ASPIRE 5 A515-45- R74Z. The speed is ok, I expected the laptop to be faster because the only thing I use a laptop is to type for law school. With maybe 7 tabs open (sometimes less than that), you can see the stutter and hiccups switching in between tabs. Even worse, downloading a pdf form takes 10 FREAKING SECONDS OR MORE. Sometimes I have to select the download three times for it to even download one PDF document. The battery is ok too. I get a good 7 hours of on screen time, but that is with the exclusion of playing games or streaming videos. All I do is type. I expected it to last a little longer or I may just be nitpicking here. Thankfully, it does not get hot, even with prolonged use so I guess that is a plus with the built-in fan it has. The screen is nice and big, although to dim the screen all the way, it is still bright while working in the dark. The screen dimness is not ideal, but it'll do. The volume is low, even with all the way to 100, but the quality is good/decent. The bass is also pretty decent, depedning on the song that is playing. Typing is ok. Sometimes what I press does not register the way I want it to. I do like the thin frame and style. It looks nice. Overall, I'll give it a 3.5. Not the best at anything, but also not the worst.
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A Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R3UB only has ONE RAM slot, not two.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 25, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I would just like to note that this model only has one RAM slot, not two, as the Q&A answers from Acer have stated. I purchased two 16GB modules on the basis that I would be able to take out the 4GB module and then put the two new ones in, giving me 32GB total. However when you take the back cover off, there is only one RAM slot on the motherboard. I don't mean one FREE ram slot, just one slot, period. It's empty, which means I was able to put one of the 16GB modules in, making for a total of 20GB, which isn't bad, but it's annoying to do your due diligence and read everything you can about a product, including statements from the manufacturer, only to find that the reality is different. My guess is that earlier models did in fact have two RAM slots, but since Amazon mixes models together on the same product page, it can be impossible to know exactly which model someone is talking about. Whatever, it is what it is, just know that this particular model A515-46-R3UB only has a single RAM slot. I don't even know where the other 4GB module is, maybe soldered onto the motherboard elsewhere, but I looked everywhere and I couldn't see any other places to put a second RAM module. I'm not a computer expert by any means, but I am a software developer and I have built my own PC from motherboard up, so I know what a RAM slot looks like. This only has one, so be warned.
The other thing that bugged me about this was the arrangement for inserting a 2.5 hard drive. In my case I wanted to put a 4TB Samsung SSD, which fit just fine into the frame, and then you screw the frame into the case, which is fine. The bad part is the little, itsy bitsy ribbon cable that have to connect the hard drive to the motherboard. First, I had to look up a youtube video to even know what I needed to look for on the motherboard. It's a tiny little slot covered with a white rubber cover, which you lever up, and then slide the end of the ribbon cable into it. The problem is, there's no positivity to the connection, like you have with the larger size regular SATA cables. No "click", because the cable is just a flexible, thin piece of plastic. There's not even any way to really know if it's aligned correctly. So you just fiddle around with it, not knowing if you're damaging the flimsy thing as you try to push it into a slot which gives you zero tactile feedback. After many attempts to insert it, only to feel it lift away without any resistance (meaning it hadn't inserted at all), eventually I got it to "stay", though it wasn't quite straight, that was as good as I could get it. Horrible design, if you ask me. I don't see that they couldn't have made the port a "real" one, there was plenty of height inside the case to be able to accommodate it. But again, whatever.
Finally, I wanted to put Debian on here, since I assumed that the latest version would work with the hardware. Not so much. The Wifi hardware in particular just would not work at all, even with Bullseye. And when I tried putting unstable on there, it stopped dead during install asking me to supply a number of firmware files which appeared to be related to the Wifi hardware, but I couldn't find those files anywhere online. Very frustrating.
Eventually I ended up installing Ubuntu instead, which isn't ideal since I like my development environment to be the same as my server, which is Debian. But I decided to try it, since I know that Ubuntu tends to do a better job with strange hardware drivers. Sure enough, it went without a hitch this time, and the wifi worked.
So now I have an Ubuntu laptop with a 4TB SSD and 20GB RAM, and it seems ok so far, so I'll probably keep it since other options out there seem to have their own issues - either the screen is bad, or the keyboard, or whatever, there's always something. At least this laptop seems to have a nice screen, the keyboard isn't too bad, and 20GB, while not what I wanted, should be enough to do what I want in reality. The webcam seems a little grainy, but I'm not a big webcam user anyway, so.
All in all it's a pretty good deal, if you know what you're going to have to deal with and are willing to fiddle around a bit. The one RAM slot, tiny trashy hard drive cable, and driver issues with Linux (at least the Wifi), everything can be worked around to some extent. I guess it just depends what you are willing to put up with.
I was thinking about posting a photo of the motherboard to show the single RAM slot, but it's all screwed back together now (11 tiny screws) so to be honest I can't be bothered. Just take my word for it, there's just the one RAM slot, not two as all the Q&A seem to say. Be warned.
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Phoenix 2006
4.0 out of 5 stars Update: Built-in microphone doesn't always work
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 10, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
While I don’t love that the microphone stopped working 3 months in, I am impressed with the repair process. I had to mail it back to Acer, which was a $40 pain in the butt, but I received notification as soon as they got. Even more impressive, I was notified a few hours later that it was repaired and on its way back! I’m hoping there won’t be any additional issues that require another update to the review. For now I’ve revised my rating from 1 star to 4. (Having to use my old laptop for a week or so made me appreciate this one even more!
****
really want to love this laptop, and other than this one *critical* issue, I do. I tutor online, and it's not great for business when I start a lesson and my student can't hear me. This has happened several times, and troubleshooting has been zero help. It happened again tonight, and I wasted 30-45 minutes of my student's time trying to fix it, then ultimately waiting for my old laptop to update so I could switch to it. I went to the Acer site, but it doesn't recognize my serial number OR my model number, so what's up with that, Amazon? I've had this computer for less than 5 months, but I don't seem to have any recourse.
I guess I should have bought the extended warranty, but I've had refurbs work without issues for years, so I didn't see this coming. I thought Acer's reputation was protection enough, but...no.
Back to HP or Dell for this consumer.
**Update: I spent roughly 3 hours chatting with Acer technical support person yesterday, and they made the problem worse. The tech gave me step by step instructions that included uninstalling the Realtek audio drivers. The goal was to then reinstall them, but instead of it getting to that step, the installer repeatedly uninstalled them, and produced an error message that prevented us from reinstalling. For some reason, he then asked me to check and see if the issue was resolved. Well guess what? With my audio drivers now removed there was NO microphone driver, and now I’ve lost speaker functionality as well. The “solution”? Mail it back to them on my dime for repair. I’m now stuck using my older, much slower computer for my lessons, and it’s not going well.
Acer may have a superior processor, their subpar customer/technical support makes that great processor completely useless to me. Never again, Acer. 😡
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Martin
4.0 out of 5 stars Great price for ton of features
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 12, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I bought this for my wife as an alternative to the MacBook Air. The screen is obviously not as crisp, but this model has backlit keyboard, a decent sized SSD (love the ease of adding another SSD or extra RAM), and a 1080p camera, to do everything one might need to work online. It took several hours to set up with all the system updates (there are half a dozen or more), and to tweak settings, as Windows sets up a lot of defaults I disagree with. Some folks have complained about quality control issues, and the boot recovery has been tweaked so that I can’t set the timeout on keyboard backlight (as some comments have mentioned) but this is a solid performer so far, especially at less than $500. Giving only 4 stars at the moment to see if screen hinge (mentioned as #1 quality control problem) causes problems, as my wife has only had for a few weeks. So far, though, as a Mac guy, I’m impressed.
UPDATE: 6 weeks in, still performing well. My only criticism is that power source is a small brick, which is awkward for travel (as opposed to a USB-C charge cord or similar). If you can find for less than $400 this is a solid option. Sticking to 4 stars, but would give 4.5.
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LeTara M.
VINE VOICE
4.0 out of 5 stars No complaints so far. It does what I need it to do.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 9, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I'm far from a computer expert. I bought this computer for work because my job requires me to use a couple of different specific software programs. I needed a computer with a lot of storage, a fairly large screen, a numerical keypad, and most importantly, a cheap price tag. This computer has all of those things. I don't do any gaming or anything really sophisticated on it. Just work and some internet browsing. It boots up quickly and has been running smoothly so far. My biggest complaint is that it came with a lot of Microsoft bloatware that I hadn't experienced on my other laptops and by default it uses your Microsoft OneDrive for storage instead of the computer's SSD. The first time I logged onto the computer it asked me to either sign up for a Microsoft account or login to an existing one. My job requires me to take a lot of photos, so I was saving my photos to the computer without realizing it was uploading to my cloud storage account. That was an annoyance because I had to figure out how to switch that off. I unintentionally used up all of my cloud storage space because I didn't realize the system was set up that way. Once I figured out how to fix it, I was good to go. Also, the computer essentially comes in a "safe mode" which limits a lot of what you can do. It is designed for you to only use apps from the Microsoft app store and not download any software from any other source. It can be turned off, but it is another annoyance. I feel like they were trying to make it like their version of a Chromebook, but that makes it just as annoying as a Chromebook. Overall, it is a great computer once you get past all the Microsoft stuff.
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Erika
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 16, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
This is a good computer and it was the best I could find for my purposes. The only thing I was unimpressed with knowing what I was buying was that it comes with Norton Antivirus. Every windows computer since windows 8 has come with windows defender. Once you uninstall Norton windows defender will kick in. From my experience windows defender is the best antiviral program for a windows computer. It also comes with firefox which I dislike but that's a personal preference. Since its a windows computer it also comes with Edge, another program I dislike. I've never been a fan of windows default browsers.
My other complaints aren't about the computer itself. The screen is much larger than I was looking for and it doesn't detach. The only computers I could find with the detachable screens were chromebooks. Yuck. I'm disapointed in Acer that they don't have the smaller computer with a detachable screen but I'm more disappointed in Windows that not all 11 computers have the touchscreen but with a 15.6 inch screen being detachable and using it as a tablet would be highly uncomfortable. To make a long story short I still use my Acer Aspire with the detachable screen and windows 8 touchscreen to do a ton of tedious stuff I can't do on the new computer. Windows 8 touchscreen was the best program microsoft ever created because it has the capabilities of doing all the stuff I need it to do. Its versatile. Sigh...the computer is nice but I need both computers to do my job.
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Lina
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Work/School Laptop
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 10, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I got this laptop so I can do my assignments for college but still be able to play small games. So far the laptop is great. I can do my assignments perfectly on it and I can play games like Stardew Valley (with like 10 mods) on it. The only issue I have is that the speaker is on the bottom on the laptop. So if you want to watch a show on it you should probably just connect headphones to it to get better quality audio. Other than that it’s a good laptop for its price (I got it on Black Friday).
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TenmaRezP1X
4.0 out of 5 stars Good for Lite gaming and mainly for day to day use
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 11, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
My stress test for testing this thing was playing sonic generations on it out the box. Runs it okay with some understandable slow down. Tried sonic all starts racing transformed and mania. Both of those run great. Not sure about the big boy games. Cause I have my PS5 to run those. Oh and storage might be a problem so try to get an External drive or an internal SSD if you need more on board memory. (Assuming you have a lot to store that will easily go over 400+ ish gigs)
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DokgregoryinBoston
4.0 out of 5 stars Great computer, but not as described on the website
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 9, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
This is a great computer for the price. Five of the six pictures online, however, show the finger print reader. Mine doesn't have one. I called Acer...they referred me to Amazon and vice versa. My last call with Acer is that the "Black Friday" shipments may have been mislabeled. My only option is to return the item and wait for another 3 weeks for the stock to be resupplied. It isn't worth it to me. Just know that not all the computers being sold under this model may have the finger print reader.
3.0 out of 5 stars Maybe it's just me...
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 10, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
Even though my first experience with a gaming platform was the Magnavox Odyssey, and my first ownership of a gaming platform was the Atari 2600, and my first computer was the Commodore 64, I have kept up with technology the entire way since then. I have found it disconcerting and annoying that we the people have allowed things to become the way they have. There is no way apparently to even get this laptop started without an email address providing your name personal information and an internet connection. All of these things lead to an invasion of my privacy. Although it seems free to allow every large company on planet Earth to know everything about everybody, it isn't free. There will be penalties there will be consequences. Science fiction has provided many scenarios, but that's why it's called fiction. The reality of the thing is that's pretty soon we will not be able to make a decision by ourselves. I've noticed that some people already cannot do anything without checking out a video first. Everything and everybody is tracked. I use my phone to check my credit card account, my bank account, the TV listings and some internet browsing. I recently installed a tracker blocker made by Duck Duck Go. The aforementioned use of my phone produces 3,000 blocked trackers every 7 days. It is disgusting and creepy. I cannot leave my house or dozens of or maybe hundreds or thousands of companies know where I am and know that I'm not home and know that there's no one at home because I'm gone. At any time you can stop by and do what you want because they know I'm not home. This laptop has language written by Microsoft that tells me how much they are helping me by allowing them to track me. And in so many words, that's not true. Many people, and it was seeing the younger generation, does not see the problem with this. I hear people say, "everybody does it" as if that makes it okay. It is not okay, but my laptop is more than 10 years old and I needed a new one. I can repair my old appliances and some of the old electronics. I can repair older cars, in fact my new car is 20 years old. Unlike the people on TV, I do regular maintenance and I do not have breakdowns. Everything today has programmed obsolescence. There was a time when durable goods meant 16 to 20 years. Today, durable goods last 2 to 4 years. My refrigerator is was purchased at Sears by me in 1995. It still works. My washer and dryer was also purchased in 1995 and they still work. I will be lucky to get four or five years out of this laptop. I am sure windows will be more than happy to sell another copy of their software on some company's laptop. In a time wheen people are more and more aware that the resources on planet earth are finite, we manufacture goods that will end up in a landfill.
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Fred Shoppin
3.0 out of 5 stars A great little computer with a major flaw - the backlit keyboard times out after 30 seconds.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 15, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
The keyboard is easy to see - in daylight. I specifically ordered one with a backlit keyboard thinking they all stay on, like my wife's. This one goes off after 30 seconds, leaving the keyboard dark. For me that is a problem. I'm 73, have very bad vision in one eye and floaters in the other. It breaks up my concentration when I'm writing. The light goes on with a slight touch, but it's distracting.
From what I can gather reading the net, this is a budget computer and Acer does this on lower priced machines because of a government energy saver mandate - the more expensive machines get to guzzle energy.
There is nothing hinting at this in the advertising. There is nothing hinting in advertising for their other computers that the keyboard stays lit as far as I can tell. Why leave the consumer in the dark? (Yeah, I know.)
Some machines have a work around - you can alter the bios if you are technically able. (It is a chancy thing to do.) But not this one. There's a list - my wife looked it up.
Otherwise, it's a good little computer, though my demands are pretty small. I would return it but it seems like there may be a restocking fee. Amazon needs to make the language clearer. I'd suggest to Amazon that they offer this alternative - if within 10 days you trade in for a high priced model they'll credit the entire purchase price of the lower priced one.
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Lauren R.
VINE VOICE
3.0 out of 5 stars Keypad is AWFUL, Storage space incredibly small, Resolution Good. Just Okay laptop.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 24, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I'm not thrilled with this laptop, but I don't hate it either. The keypad really bothers me as I use this for work and gaming, it's too small and awkward to use. The "0" is a small square, the "enter" button is just in the way, and I can't stand it. Also, not knowing much about computers, I was surprised after getting it that I couldn't even load two games and my iTunes on here because of the lack of storage space. The negatives being said, the resolution on this computer is very good. It also comes with a setup for an external hard drive that you can buy through Acer if you need more space - which you WILL. The sound quality is pretty good for a small computer. The positives aside, I think it's worth it to spend the extra $150.00 to get somehting like the HP Pavillion Laptop 15 (my other computer) for gaming and work as I can use that one with ease and the storage space is enough for my games and music.
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Linda Wolfe
3.0 out of 5 stars Worked great…till it didn’t
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 13, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I bought this 2 1/2 months ago, and it worked beautifully. I removed the S mode, and maybe that was the issue (though I doubt it). This weekend my laptop stopped charging. Not sure if it was the charging block or battery. Either way, Amazon did a return with full refund, which I appreciate.
Besides the charging issue. It’sa wonderful laptop ☺️
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Ok for the money... but...
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 16, 2022
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
So I ordered this Acer and I ordered a Asus to compare. Both about the same price and both in windows S-mode. I'm only commenting on 2 things. Between the Asus & Acer, setting up the thing was less stressful with the Asus with far less questions and monopoly from Microsoft. Setting up the Acer took much longer and was forced to set up with a Microsoft account which can be changed later. 2nd thing, going through the process to get OUT of S-mode/Microsoft control was much easier on the Asus then the Acer. I'm not going to lie it was bordering brutal to get out of the S-mode on this Acer. And a comment on my favorite feature which is why I wanted to compare the Asus v/s the Acer was for the backlit keyboard on these cheaper laptops. Again the Asus tops the Acer. The Asus backlit keyboard stays on longer, comes on if you tap the touchpad or move the mouse if you use a mouse. The Acer (this Model) goes off quick and will not come on if you touch the touchpad, will not come on if you move the mouse and this model does not have a setting to set preferences for the keyboard timeout. So for me YES I would order the Asus again but would not order the Acer again. Oh and for anyone wondering about speaker volume? Both the Asus and the Acer were horrible! turn the sound up to 100 and couldn't hear either one of them. Had to plug in extra speakers for both!
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Andrew
3.0 out of 5 stars Your milage might vary on the hinges
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 16, 2022
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
Got this laptop a couple years ago. I'm happy with the software side once I got it off of the S mode (don't remember being a hassle or anything, so that wasn't an issue for me).
Mainly just writing this to warn people the the hinges on these are absolute trash in my experience. Had the right hinge go bad on me just within the warranty, so I sent it in, no big deal. In less than a year the same side hinge went bad, and within that year the other did too. Tried to tape up the bezel and such to add support but after all the wear and tear in a year's time, the hinges just completely broke off the screen side. Idk what it is with these hinges, but looks like they seize up bad after a bit in my experience.
That's really my only main complaint, and it is enough to knock 2 stars from the review I'd probably give instead of this one because everything else has been fine in the 2-ish years I've owned it.
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Darren
3.0 out of 5 stars POOR QUALITY Buy something else that's more durable this on is too fragil!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 25, 2022
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
POOR QUALITY Buy something else that's more durable I had mine for less than 1 year and the left screen hinge broke and the ethernet port broke within the first 2 months and now the cable won't stay connected
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Brett V.
3.0 out of 5 stars You get what you pay for....
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 18, 2022
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I bought this laptop because it was cheap, yet many reviewers still raved about the quality, especially after a couple hardware upgrades (RAM & memory), which I also upgraded. Well, lesson learned: Don't cheap out when buying something so important that will be with you for years to come.
While this laptop isn't too bad per say, there are just too many little nuisances that make it annoying to use. The main problem is the laptop's lack of precision. Certain keys don't register unless your really press them, and the trackpad is temperamental. Often times I'll click the trackpad and it will register a right click for no real reason. I can only assume my fingertips are wide and trick it into thinking I hit the pad with two fingers, which equals a right click. (Note: I don't have fat fingers, I'm just a big guy (6'1").) When opening a new tab on the browser it will more often than not seamlessly drag the tab into new window, which is super annoying. If I'm browsing the net and not paying too close attention, the next thing I know I have four different browser windows open with multiple tabs in each one, which makes it very confusing and frustrating. Also, lately Youtube has been pausing for no reason.
In sum: serviceable laptop, but far from great. If you are looking for a decent cheap computer, this will suffice. However, if you have the money, just get something more top of the line. If you do get this computer, I would recommend upgrading the memory on your own as it's easy to do and the laptop as is needs more memory, but I wouldn't bother with the RAM unless you're really going to push this thing. I upgraded the RAM and honestly couldn't see a big difference between the upgrade and the factory setting. That said I mostly use this for writing, surfing, and watching Youtube, so if you're using this to game or something, more RAM may benefit you. The conservative user probably doesn't need more RAM.
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Ashley
3.0 out of 5 stars Great computer for the Color Blind.....
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 21, 2020
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I'd like to start off by saying for those that say this device has excellent RGB color output, please and I mean please GET YOUR EYES CHECKED! We as humans can distinguish colors from a pretty young age, so when I saw the orange coloring of everything that was supposed to be red, I figured I might've gotten a dud, a bad apple if you will. Then when I received the replacement, I was shocked to see this brand new "ISP" display still had the same color inaccuracy the first one had. Now my previous computer was the Acer Aspire E15, the predecessor to this descendent of the new Aspire series. I compared the two to see If I was really being that picky in terms of color sensitivity, and the results were shocking. Not only does this display have a hard time correctly showing red, but it lacked the ability to show the vibrancy of green, purple, and even pink. Now those are colors that didn't automatically come to my attention, but it was interesting to know the amount of dullness these screens have in comparison to older budget models. Now for those that argue that this is a budget computer, the computer's ability to display color accuracy (Standard colors like BLUE, RED, and GREEN) is something that should at least be set for the general QUALITY of the display. My previous computer, also a budget laptop and an Acer Aspire (see above) had substantial vibrancy in the RGB output. The colors are saturated and the best part is I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE. For those that want to test the color accuracy of their screens (correctly) Find a Windows 10 computer or any monitor..pull up "Choose your accent color" scroll down and see the color pallet and "Custom Colors"...compare those colors to the ones on this laptop, or plug an HDMI cable to another monitor or TV, if the color or the reds are Orange in comparison to what is on your monitor or laptop, you'll know my struggle. Again this is not an issue of colors being a different shade (reds being lighter or darker) this is the inability for the correct color to show up entirely. Now if you're not color sensitive, like I am, and don't expect this "IPS" screen to have color accuracy like I did, then this laptop is the perfect machine for you! Functionality wise, I do see the necessary need for the RAM upgrade if needed for anything other than streaming 1080P videos on Youtube. It can be an excellent tool for school, or work (other Photography or media use). A quick note for Acer: Downgrading elements for functionality and available features are necessary for "budget" laptops, but you've taken an "ISP" feature and provided an sRGB output and color accuracy that is no better than an Aliexpress laptop! What good is the ISP definition if the colors don't correctly display? ....Also there are no CAP LOCK/NUM LOCK notifications, but turn on the Sticky keys sounds and you'll be fine.
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Nathan Fox
3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't come with an operating system, not once, but twice.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 27, 2021
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I bought three of these computers and two of them were delivered without an operating system. That is the message you get, there isn't a product key. The little paper you get on the top of the laptop says that if you have issues to contact Acer directly before calling amazon but i wouldn't waste your time. They told me that i could wait a week so they can verify my purchase although i had given them the serial number off of the laptop or i could call amazon and get a replacement. After getting off of the phone with Acer I called amazon, that wasn't that much better. I did get a replacement however I was charged another $377 or something for a new laptop until i returned the other one. the third laptop was purchased on her account, this is where the second laptop without an operating system came from. Before my wife's laptop arrived it wasn't shipped out until about 4 days after purchasing it. she called before they shipped it out and asked why she hadn't gotten an email about it shipping and they said they had a lot of orders which is believable. about a day or two later she got an email stating it shipped but we never received it so about a week went by and she called again. they told her that it had gotten lost in the mail and they were shipping a new one. Five days later a here it is, a laptop without an operating system. So of course the wife calls for the third time and they said that they will arrange that UPS comes out and picks up the package BUT they can not ship her a new one because they are coming from a different vendor now? I'm assuming its because when we purchased them they were $364 and now they are $385 so amazon doesn't want to eat the extra cost. This is the third order amazon has messed up for us in 2 months so we are just going to start paying a little extra at local businesses.
As for the laptop, I think it's a good laptop for anyone that needs a better than budget laptop for a budget price. If you leave all the programs on it like microsoft edge instead of google chrome it runs great. it can multi function well. its a little sluggish if you are used to fast computers at work or something then you use this for home browsing, you will definitely notice the difference. I would tell someone that this is a good product if you don't run into the same issues i did. It's just not worth my time to have to call them and ship items back since the 3rd laptop is the second one I am sending back and not even getting a replacement.
2.0 out of 5 stars Crippled and bloated right out of the box
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 13, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
Acer are doing themselves a disservice by selling a Windows 11 machine with only 4 gigs of memory and loading it with adware. Thanks to the onboard graphics chip only 3.4 gigs are available for Windows and programs. With this limited amount of memory available to Win 11 it performs horribly, stuttering and jittering on the desktop with nothing running. Acer then compounds this by adding their own adware (half-screen Norton ads) in addition to Microsoft's constant badgering to use Edge, Teams and Office. I added an additional 4 gigs and performance improved quite a bit but make no mistake: this is not a powerhouse.
The final insult is when I went to register my 'sold as new' laptop with Acer only to be told my machine had already been registered to someone else. When I contacted Acer by phone they told me it was a mistake and quickly corrected it but a quick Google search showed me this is a common problem with Acer. You be the judge on whether this is shady or not. Avoid like the plague.
Edit: Returned to seller
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Caliwish
2.0 out of 5 stars It's ok but... the screen isn't
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 18, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I enjoy it and it'll do for school and work but the screen is wrong. The colors are off but I don't know how to fix them. I went into screen calibrations and played with all sorts of settings to try and correct it. I even used my old laptop to compare, but nothing is fixing it. It's so weird that I don't think I can ever use this laptop for watching shows or playing games. Luckily my old laptop isn't dead yet so I will keep that around for games and shows. And the old laptop is an Acer Aspire E 15 so clearly Acer knows how to do it right but something with this screen is just wrong.
As well as the vents are on the bottom and crack between the keyboard and screen. Which aesthetically is nice but functionally isn't great and I've heard this design can overheat because of it. So another reason this won't be used for gaming.
So overall if you need a laptop for work or school, this is great. But if you want to watch stuff in good quality and play games, I would keep looking.
Which is why my personal rating is 2 stars. The screen is one of the most important things to get right and they didn't so it takes a lot off for me, especially since this was to replace my old Acer that was capable of everything. It's disappointing cause I've had a good track record with acer until now.
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mommyhead
2.0 out of 5 stars I had to return it.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 30, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I had a couple of random restarts that were concerning but the real deal killer was the audio. On video calls with my daughter, the sound would just stop working and you'd have to end the call and restart. Some videos were inaudible with the volume all the way up. External speakers weren't much better. I don't know if it was an issue with the jack or the speakers or the cord. Again, there were times it was inaudible and then it would be too loud because you had to have the volume full blast the majority of the time cuz you could barely hear anything. And tick, tick, tick every time you clicked on something. These are the same speakers I was using for my PC and I did not have that problem. It's a shame really, because other than that, it was an ok laptop. The screen was ok. When it wasn't crashing it was fast. I would probably reset it and given it a second chance if it wasn't for the sound. And then, I also bought stuff to go with it like an extra mouse for travel and a laptop desk for sitting on the couch. I'm not going to be returning all that so expense I didn't need. All in all, kinda turned me off to laptops.
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Tanessa Esposito
2.0 out of 5 stars OK in pinch but will not last. Hinges will fail.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 30, 2022
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I bought this because I was short on funds and really needed a replacement for my previous laptop. It had decent reviews and was in my price range. This worked for me when all I needed it for was schoolwork and web surfing but my biggest initial gripe was that the sound volume was very low. It was a necessity to download a sound booster and the scree was not very bright.
I've had this for nearly two years and now the hinges and monitor frame a coming of. The right hinge is completely broken and I have to manipulate the screen into a certain position to even close it. If you can, do yourself a favor and an save for a better laptop. If you just need something inexpensive and you need it now this might work as a temporary fix.
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***Deanero***
2.0 out of 5 stars Laptop crashed after software upgrade
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 10, 2022
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
After only 2 years, the laptop started going haywire. I noticed that my word documents started scrolling down so it had to be a stuck key etc. After a little troubleshooting I realized that it was the number 4 key. I had to remove that key but the problem still persisted. Right now the laptop goes off at random and more keys are nonresponsive. This happened after a software update. I need a new laptop and I'm definitely not getting this one again, although it was exactly what I was looking for in the first place.
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Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Bout this for school
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 28, 2022
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I came I checked it and put in my email access and all.It seemed to have been ok. I took it up this week cause I was and still using my phone and said it is time to use it...it will not even come on at all. won't turn on for nothing..return window is close cause I'm just ready to use it but it's not working so it's up to who want to waste money cause seems that is what I did. Not working and I had bought 1 before that is still working for my daughter..smh.
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CC
2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty but Frustrating
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 29, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
This laptop has a nice feel to it. It’s sleek and light and the backlit keyboard is nice. The sound quality is fine and it’s fast enough for what I need it for. That’s about where my likes end though. I have had nothing but problems getting this thing to connect to my wifi or print simple word documents. I’m constantly getting errors and “cannot connect” messages. I’ve updated printer drivers and nothing. I have to keep pulling out my old laptop to print anything. What’s frustrating is that it’s also random. Sometimes it will print but most of the time it’s a 30-45 minute headache for a simple one page word document. I’ve never had an issue getting any new laptop hooked up to my printer so something about this isn’t compatible with my current software but it won’t tell me what and it’s frustrating. Wish I could return it.
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Jacquelyn
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 15, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I have had this same laptop (although in Windows 10) and I've loved its ease of use. However, after spilling hot tea on it, it was fried.. So, I a ordered a new one (but with Windows 11).
After receiving the new one, It was easy to set up and seemed to work, but after about 10 minutes it began to freeze. It happened constantly. I tried every trick I knew, but nothing seemed to work. Hence I'm returning it and reordering. Because I like the Acer so much I'm trying again, and hoping the new on does not repeat this obvious flaw.
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Stalker
2.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT BUY THIS LAPTOP
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 10, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
From the first look this laptop is made from cheap plastic. In order to start using it get ready to spend couple of hours connected to the internet and provide all your information to the Microsoft and Acer. If you don't have an account with Microsoft it will force to set on up. There is not other option. Without entering all date you won't be able to start using this laptop. Furthermore it will keep downloading all latest updates and if you are on the expensive internet connection with limited speed, you are screwed. I am not sure if all windows laptops are like this nowadays?
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Lorna
2.0 out of 5 stars Speakers are crap
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 17, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
For some reason the speakers aren't working correctly but I've waited too long to send it back. I thought it was just me so I waited for a family member to look at it. I actually needed it for zoom meetings.
1.0 out of 5 stars ***Software didn't work Brand New out of box but read for issue and resolution!***
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 31, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
Biggest case of buyers remorse in my life. Always bought HP with Intel hardware but figured with the reviews for this Acer Aspire 5 with AMD Ryzen 5 and Radeon graphics why not explore unfamiliar territory and see what the hype was about in the reviews. This Acer Aspire 5 for $489 Brand New shipped to the door I was astonished the laptop didn't come with an actual user manual. Was even more pissed that you can not setup and use this without first connecting to a WiFi network.
For those who don't care about WiFi connections and just want a localized laptop with out brand manufacturers spying on you and gathering data your SOL. Wanted to read the user manual to see there if there was a way around this but for $489 you have to have the internet and download it. After I connected to the internet against my will the computer restarted and entered an error message that an error was encountered and it needed to restart. It did this twice with no luck just blue screens. It then went to diagnose repair screen attempting to diagnose the failure to start up with no luck only option was to shut down. After shutdown it actually loaded back up the and the very next screen was demanding to log in with a Microsoft account or sign up for one. Now there are ways around this with HP laptops. All you have to do is say no internet connection at 1st use and then you can sign in with a local account instead of logging in with a Microsoft account. For those who may not understand why this is an issue for some is when you login with a Microsoft account no matter what settings on privacy you think you can control you have zero privacy. Microsoft can see anything any everything you do on your laptop down to the keyboard typing and all activity. Oh well I know how to fix that later and I sign on with a Microsoft account. Finally get to windows and do what I always do download Firefox and Uninstall Microsoft edge. I restart the laptop to the same cycle of error loading operating system and attempt to diagnose that fails. Shut down the laptop and it loads again. Finally found out that anytime you restart the laptop whatsoever it cycles back to the same blue screens of error loading windows and diagnosing. Performed a factory restore back to complete factory settings so it was like the first time I opened the laptop up no difference. Still doing this cycle of device ran into problem gathering info, then diagnosing PC, PC cant be repaired, shut down, loads till the next time it restarts. Being upset is putting it mildly. I'm 38 and have been using computers and fixing them since I was 12, this is not a foreign language to me. This Acer Aspire 5 with AMD processor and graphics is total garbage. Brand new and it don't even work properly right out of the freakin box. I factory restored this thing 3 times and supposedly this wipes the hard drive completely and saves nothing but yet every time it re-installs it still has my name has the device owner. I started growing aggravated with HP but Acer is a complete joke. The display sucks also. Everything looks fine till you open a windows system or program property window then it's so blurry you think u have something in your eye, played with resolution and display settings and everything is clear and fine until you open a windows properties window and you can barely make out the letters. Same windows on my 3, 5 and 7 year old HP laptops zero issues but this brand new $500 Acer laptops display stops wanting to work properly over a properties window??? Who ever designed this model and it components and said yeah let's ship that out to the unexpected consumer needs banished from working in the information technology field. I wanted to get product support from Acer to address this issue but I couldn't even register this product through the preinstalled Acer Care Center software or their website, everytime I tried it gave me an error message and to try again later. So if you know a little about computers and want to fix a Brand New laptop yourself to get it to work properly I think you will be very pleased with the performance of this machine with the AMD components.
UPDATE: Found the fix for above issues. Don't use the operating system or ghost recovery drive programmed into the laptop. Download windows media creation tool and perform a full wipe and installation using the USB flash drive on startup. The install will only load windows 10 but after 2-3 days windows update will automatically install windows 11. I used Driver Booster 9 to update all the drivers for the hardware which always works flawlessly, best part its free and fast and has 1 click upgrades for all drivers. After a bunch of headache and wasted time I'm pretty impressed and happy with the hardware components. I bench-marked and stress tested this PC to some remarkable results. Too bad it couldn't work properly right out of the box, someone at Acer really dropped the ball. What I like about this Acer Aspire A515 45 is that it has 2 memory slots and comes with 8GB preinstalled and is up-gradable to 32 GB. The Graphics card takes half of the preinstalled 8GB and dedicates it to graphics processing which is nice in a way but its a give and take. I had a 4GB card of DDR4 with a 2666MHz clock frequency and threw that in the unused memory slot. I was unsure how the PC would benchmark after this because the memory preinstalled was 3200MHz and that basically bottle necks the original memory card from 3200MHz down to 2666MHz but it still performed better than without it. Ideally you want to match the memory frequency with what is preinstalled to avoid this but like I said I had this 2666Mhz card already. In the near future I will match the preinstalled memory card with an after market 8GB DDR4 card with a 3200MHz frequency as well as matching the rank of the card (single rank/double rank) and all other specs. Ideally you want both slots to match down to the last detail including the memory capacity to prevent bottle necks between the processor and the motherboards ability to communicate with the memory. When I had the back off this the 2nd memory card slot was right there and accessibility but the original wasn’t visible so If you want to replace the original memory card it appears you have to remove the mother board and flip it over to get to the original used memory slot. While I was installing the added memory I scene that it has a space for an extra additional hard drive which is really great! I have a 500 GB Samsung 870 EVO SSD hard drive in one of my older HP laptops that will be going in this next. I thought I was gonna have to buy different brackets and sata cable to install the Samsung Evo SSD but they were included in the box with all the screws as well! If you buy a model with Intel products that stuff will be inside the laptop taped where the second hard drive goes. After setting up the additional Samsung hard drive so it was recognized by the laptop I used Samsung's "Magician" software to benchmark both drives and was astonished that the western digital SSD was 3 times faster than my Samsung EVO 870. My Samsung was doing almost 600MB a second read/speed and the WD was almost 2GB per second! My fastest laptop before this Acer was a HP Notebook 15 with an dual core Intel i3 processor. That HP ran me the same price as this Acer 2 years ago. It worked great but its a night and day difference between this Acer for multi tasking and for video and graphics capabilities. That HP didn’t have the extra bay for an additional hard drive either. I’m very pleased with this Acer after I removed the pre-installed operating system and software.
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Austin
1.0 out of 5 stars I really don't know who this is supposed to be made for
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 16, 2021
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
Okay, so full disclosure. I'm a computer repair technician and I bought the base model (Ryzen 3 w/4GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD). As a technician (meaning someone who can upgrade and repair computers), I'd give this a 3.5/5. As an end user however, I really don't know who this is supposed to be made for. It's woefully underpowered and comes with a crippled OS. If you don't mind those things then there are a lot of cheaper options. If you DO mind those things then I hope you know what you're doing because it's going to take a LOT of time and effort to get this thing usable.
First off, S mode. It's basically a Chromebook in S mode. Again, you can get a Chromebook (or even another S mode device) for much cheaper than this so I don't know why you'd choose this one. Putting that aside however, most people say that you can just get out of S mode and you'll have a normal computer, right? Well, in THEORY that's true. In practice however, Windows 10S likes to randomly and inexplicably revert to S mode without warning. As a technician I see these S mode computers all the time that have reverted back to S mode with no way to go back to Windows 10 Home except to do a complete wipe and reload of the OS. If you want to PERMANENTLY get out of S Mode, you have to get out of S mode, then download a copy of Windows 10 from the Microsoft website and make a USB flash drive with Windows 10. Then you have to open up the flash drive, go into the Sources folder and add an ei.cfg file with the following parameters:
[EditionID]
Home
[Channel]
Retail
Once you do that you can boot from the flash drive, erase the drive, and install Windows 10 Home from scratch. If you don't add the ei.cfg file it will just reinstall Windows 10S again. This is not something a normal end user would be able to do, but it's necessary if you want to be able to feel secure that the thing isn't going to just randomly revert back to S mode and become unusable.
Secondly, the specs. 4GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD? Seriously, Acer? The last time 4GB of RAM was standard on laptops was like 2012. I could see if this were a $150 computer, but at $366 it should have at LEAST 8GB of RAM and a 250GB SSD. I upgraded mine to 8GB of RAM, a 500GB NVMe SSD, and a 2TB 2.5" hard drive. It's been close to a decade since I've personally owned a computer with a hard drive but it's nice to have that ability. I also appreciate the fact that they include the mounting hardware and even the screws in a separate bag.
Third, the screen. The screen is okay, but there's a major flaw that took me a while to figure out. The screen will dim if you unplug the charger and run it on battery. That's normal, right? Well what's NOT normal is that AMD has a setting called "Vari-Bright." If this is turned on and you unplug the computer, the display doesn't just dim but it also loses contrast/color. It's hard to describe it but it looks like crap. Unfortunately the AMD Radeon software doesn't get installed through Windows Update and it's not on Acer's website so you have to go directly to AMD in order to download it. Unfortunately that also means that AMD is going to install the latest drivers on your device, which haven't been tested and certified compatible by Acer. Chances are it will be fine, but it's always best to use the latest driver from the computer manufacturer (in this case, Acer) rather than going to the chip manufacturer. There are a million and one potential compatibility problems with new drivers, which is why they need to be tested by the manufacturer, who may update other drivers to compensate. This isn't possible if you want to turn off "Vari-Bright" because you're forced to install the latest drivers from AMD.
The next problem is with the keyboard backlight. It turns off after 30 seconds and it won't turn back on again if you move the mouse. You MUST touch a key on the keyboard to turn it on again. There's a setting in the BIOS to disable the keyboard backlight timeout, but it doesn't have any effect. Speaking of which, this computer shipped with an older BIOS revision (1.10). I upgraded to the latest BIOS revision (1.11) but it didn't fix the keyboard backlight timeout problem. Looking online it seems that a LOT of people are having this problem and not only with this model of Acer. Apparently, Acer doesn't care about this problem. I almost want to return it for this reason, but I really need another computer so I guess I'll keep it. If I hadn't been able to resolve the screen brightness problem this would have been going back.
The final issue is the battery life. If all you're doing is reading articles this MIGHT be able to get you 4 hours of battery life. If you're watching videos or you have a lot of stuff open, you'll be lucky to get 2-3 hours. I mean, all manufactures overestimate their battery life to make their products look good, but this laptop doesn't last much longer than my 10 year old HP.
In conclusion, I stand by my initial statement. I truly don't know who this computer is for. If you add the cost of the base computer ($366), plus the 500GB SSD ($60), the RAM ($45), and the 2TB hard drive ($80), you're left with a total cost of $551, and there are a lot better computers out there at that price point. There's an 11th gen i5 15" HP laptop on here for $599 with over TWICE the processing power, a 250GB SSD, and 8GB of RAM. It also has space for a secondary hard drive if you need to upgrade that in the future. If you're okay with an underpowered laptop (4GB RAM, small SSD) with a crippled OS (Windows 10S) you can get one for $150 and save yourself $200.
I mean, I wouldn't call this thing a "nice" laptop. It only has a single USB 3 port (the other two, including the one on the RIGHT side are USB 2.0 - that's right, a technology that debut in April of 2000 which means it's even older than Windows XP!). It feels cheap/flimsy. Battery life is mediocre. It's basically a disposable laptop at a non-disposable price. If this laptop was $150 - $200 I wouldn't be so critical of it, but whether you're looking for a cheap Chromebook type laptop or you want a real laptop that you can upgrade yourself, you can do so much better by going with something else. I'm only keeping it because I've put so much time and effort into it and it's easier than returning it and starting over.
The only person I can see that this would be suited for would be someone with a very limited budget that wants to be able to upgrade it over time vs. spending the $550 upfront. But if they knew how to do all this computer stuff, chances are they'd have a better income and therefore a higher budget. Maybe a student or someone just entering the workforce? I dunno.
I must say though, I'm really liking having a secondary drive in a laptop again. It helps if I need to wipe it out because I don't have to worry about backing up the data since it's on the second hard drive. But again, there are other computers with this capability. If you can afford it, the $599 HP with the 11th gen i5 is a great buy. I haven't personally purchased that computer but after doing all this, I wish I had.
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S. Taylor
1.0 out of 5 stars Well that was a disappointment
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 14, 2020
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
This laptop was at the top of my list as far as cost and processing speed, but there seem to be a lot more things to be irritated about than excited about.
1. No CD-ROM/DVD-ROM. I have no idea how I missed this. I went to install my printer software and realized there is no drive to do this. I thought it was so common-place that I never even considered a laptop being sold without one. How very bizarre. This means no DVD burning capabilities, no installing a game disc, nothing. Wow. Now maybe I'm old-fashioned since many things are done digitally now, but geez. My bad on not paying attention to the product description. I always back up my photography to disc, ALWAYS. nope, can't with this laptop. Fixed by spending $50 more to buy a used external drive.
2. Why do modern laptops use one single mousepad for right-click, left-click, and moving the cursor? I can't tell you how frustrating that was. I can only use this laptop with an outside USB mouse, otherwise, I would be pulling my hair out every time I touch the thing. I attempted to adjust the sensitivity but with no way of feeling a right or left click, you end up clicking somewhere in the middle half the time.
3. The sound on this thing is terrible. I had to buy a USB speaker so I can even hear some stuff. Speakers on the bottom of the laptop, wow. You can cup the sound to try to hear what you are listening to. What a joke. Speakers I bought were also crap so spent at least $40 trying to get audible sound for this laptop.
I would rather a laptop be slightly bulkier for better features. I feel that I downgraded from my previous laptop that is at least 5 years older. My last laptop had a larger screen, a mousepad that had separate buttons for right and left click, sound I could hear, AND a DVD-ROM. Wow.
Why I gave it two stars? The processing speed is ok. Still, it is no better or worse than any other new computer or laptop I have ever bought, it is just less bogged down with junk when it is new. I almost thought about returning it numerous times, but it sucks to have to delete everything and start fresh again on a new system. I also think there is a restocking fee since it isn't technically broken. Too bad because I would pay more for a system that was more functional. Since I bought the speaker and have the mouse, at least I fixed two of the issues on my own.
Hell no to playing video games. I tried playing Cloudpunk on Steam and it lagged so bad I gave up. Sure, you can play games, just not higher quality ones.
Lastly because I just can't stop. Why does my backspace key make a weird high-pitched sound? Weird. I do NOT recommend this product and would not buy it again.
Edit: Now my "L" key isn't functioning properly and I have to hit it harder or twice to get it to work. This is by far the cheapest laptop I have ever owned, and I'm very disappointed with it. Saving money did NOT work out this time. I am still a student so use my laptop quite frequently. This will surely agitate and slow me down and now I'm wishing I had paid more for a better laptop. It hasn't even been a year of ownership.. BUYER BEWARE!
Second edit: less than two years after purchase.. I didn’t expect to need to update this again, but now my battery is dead and it barely held a charge for most of its life. I knocked it down to one star. I have an older laptop that still holds charge and the battery still works. The quality of this product is very poor. Still one of my biggest regrets since laptops are extremely useful for school and I’m not finished yet. Do I buy a new battery and suck it up? This laptop will cost $500+ by the time I’m done buying new parts, and still will have issues. I sure wish companies would build quality products made to last… made to last at least 5 years.
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MLS
1.0 out of 5 stars Acer computers are GARBAGE
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 22, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I bought this computer in July 2022 to use with my Cricut. I had problems setting it up from the beginning so I called the number on the Amazon brochure (for Acer). This was July 18th. I was told that there is no warranty and was transferred to a “service department” to someone who barely spoke English. The computer would not stay connected to my Internet, the bluetooth mouse would not stay connected ( tried 2 different devices). They troubleshooted and it worked for a while until I tried to install apps. The internet problem continued and because of the interruptions, I had to keep uninstalling the apps and reinstalling them. When I finally was able to install one app, it said that the computer needed to restart, and it did BUT when the computer came back on, it said there was an error and it kept restarting until I restarted it. I called again on 8/1/22 and they did troubleshooting and I wiped everything off of the computer and started fresh. The same thing kept happening and I got so frustrated that I put it away until my old laptop croaked and I had no choice but to deal with it. I started all over and the same issues kept happening so I called again on 10/31/22 and they said that I needed to send the computer to the repair shop in TEXAS (I live in Maryland), so I wrapped the laptop in 3” of bubblewrap and put it inside a giant padded envelope and sent it to Texas. This was the ONLY choice they gave me to repair it and replacement was NOT an option. On 11/16/22 I got an email from the repair center with a photo saying that the screen was cracked and it would cost $380 to fix the cracked screen. I told them that I didn’t even pay $380 for the computer and they basically said “too bad.” I told them to throw the piece of junk in the garbage, and they did. I cannot get my $ back because too much time has gone by. I’m out almost $400. DO NOT BUY THIS COMPUTER
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James Marshall
1.0 out of 5 stars Support and practices justify the rating
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 7, 2020
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
By itself, this is an excellent device. However, due to terrible support and shady practices, it's been wildly cheapened by Acer.
1. Acer installed their own adware on my device without my knowledge or consent. Worse, they created unchangeable notification settings, buried the installation files in a hidden directory, abused the character limit to hide it from the program removal tool; either hid it from the registry with deceptive location and naming, or used a scheduled executable and won't provide the information necessary to determine whether simply deleting the files is safe.
2. People who have deleted the files are reporting either a failure to completely remove [meaning the files bounced back] or breaks caused by the removal of the files. These breaks include loss of data, boot looping, massive decrease in system performance, and registry errors.
3. Acer has provided no tool for removing their bloatware. One must blindly trust a third party tool for the "safe" removal of the software.
4. The tech support doesn't know how to remove the software, instead redirecting me to other resources that either don't address this specific issue directly or don't provide a solution. Windows cannot detect and remove software that has a name longer than 60 characters in the registry. The removal must be performed through the registry. Because the identify of these files in the registry is not published, it would take hours - days to find and remove the software via the registry. This method could result in the aforementioned breaks, especially if done incorrectly. For example, an accidental removal of a vital system file could occur.
5. After waiting well over half an hour in their support queue, being as how I got in before they closed for business, the support team left for the day while I was STILL waiting for support. The chat support agent doesn't open after hours. I have a screenshot of the agent being open, meaning I made it in time for support. They simply didn't care and left anyway.
I bought this machine for work and have to deal with interruptions because of this adware. I haven't owned this device for even two whole months yet. This wasn't an issue until this week, when the adware went active. During some automatic system update, this was enabled. After the last automatic system update from last month (March 25, 2020), I took advantage of my Windows Pro privileges, looked up the proper way to disable automatic system updates, and then promptly did so [this cannot be done through normal Windows system settings without setting up a metered connection, which I'm unable to do because I telecommute for work and it would interfere with the systems in place with my employer].
The hardware is EXCELLENT for the price, however, the experience with Acer is a NIGHTMARE. I won't suggest missing this device. Buy it, buy and install Windows 10 Pro, find out how to turn off automatic system updates via the Group Policy Editor, disable automatic updates there and in system settings [to be safe] AS SOON AS it this laptop boots for the first time, buy and install your [secondary] 2.5 inch SSD / HDD / hybrid drive, and buy and install your RAM upgrades [up to 32 GB supported]. If you do that, you'll have a wonderful experience with this device. If you make the mistake of trusting Acer not to compromise your system through updates after you purchase, you'll have a pretty bad experience trying to fix what they sneakily do to it. Once you're loaded with dozens of GB of data, it's not nearly so easy to just start over.
This rating is justified by this company policy. The company did this to my laptop. Before they did that, I would have rated it five stars.
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Runly
1.0 out of 5 stars Here's your warning.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 9, 2020
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I researched this thing thoroughly before buying due to rave reviews (*FAKE* I'm sure).
When it arrived, I disabled 10S immediately so I could avoid all the problems I'd read about. Countless problems began immediately.
Can't find anything on this computer. And when you do a troubleshooting search, the first result is called "How to fix all those annoying things about Windows 10", so I knew I was in trouble. And you have to peel the onion down to the last tiny sliver until you find where to fix what you're looking to fix. If you can find an answer at all. Most online forums are dead ends.
Bloatware galore take up most of the room on the computer. You can delete some of it, but many will magically appear again.
Great sound? BS. I've had better sound with two cans and a string. Had to buy a remote speaker immediately, and I live in the country where it's completely silent. Still can't hear anything and had to use captions while waiting for my speaker to arrive.
HD? BS. I had VHS tapes from the '80s that were copies of copies of copies with the same amount of blur.
Took about two months to get rid of the yellow/green text, no matter how many times I tried new colors in settings. This is one of the top complaints that no one in the forums can figure out. The latest is the bright blue box that appeared a few days ago around the window. Can't get rid of it.
Task bar doesn't hold icons. Stuff you're working on just disappears and you search and search the computer and can't find it. Gates doesn't want you using Firefox or Text Edit. I promise you, they will disappear repeatedly unless you use what Microsoft wants you to use. And when things go missing, you get pop-up suggestions, namely EDGE. Which is where you will be if you buy this thing. Even if you delete the unwanted apps from the computer, they will be reinstalled without your permission and you will be unable to get past them. And they will magically appear in your task bar.
Trackpad sucks. Very touchy and wacky, even if you change settings.
If you're buying this for backlit keys, DON'T. They stay backlit for five seconds, then shut off again. No option to keep them lit.
Can't see color scales. I've been trying to design something, and the RGB grids on every single site do not show any colors. I've gone over the setting with a fine toothed comb more times than I can count. Now I can't design anything.
Snooze button is right next to ESC button, so since you can't see your keyboard, you will put your computer to sleep constantly, when you only wanted to back out of something.
Not sure why people say this computer is fast, unless by fast you mean slow. My 11-year-old Mac, which I bought the ACER to replace, is faster. That's right. The dinosaur that barely wakes up is faster.
When I originally started writing this review, it was on Text Edit. The app and all its info disappeared but left behind the icon, which if you click on it, does nothing. I also lost some other important notes because I refuse to use the complicated note app that comes with it. I now use an online notepad. Simply open and type. That's all I wanted, and the ACER doesn't give you anything simple.
Unless you plan on using Google, Edge and Bing, you will be sorely disappointed in this useless monstrosity. I should have waited and saved up the extra $900 for a Mac just so I don't have to deal with this nonsense. Macs don't do ANY of this annoying crap.
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Iodides
1.0 out of 5 stars !!!!Do Not Buy Newer Acer PC's If You Are Planning To Use LInux Rather Than The Windows Virus!!!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 3, 2022
CPU: R3 3350UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I'm a longtime Acer user and I bought this Acer laptop because I liked that it had a second hard drive bay and I wanted to install the hard drive from my old Acer laptop in the bay so I could run my Linux OS rather than the windoze virus.
Pros: The Machine looked nice and was relatively inexpensive.
Cons:
1) The stumblebums at Acer have changed their BIOS so that all you can boot out of the box is the windoze virus pre-installed on the laptop.
2) The fan is incredibly loud and runs continuously!
I contacted their support people, first by chat and then by phone, they were useless, so I tried to talk to someone higher up in their hierarchy, which was also useless. I finally managed to lodge a complaint about this problem after demanding to file a complaint several times and got a case #, of which I doubt I'll ever hear anything back on, and if I do, it'll probably be some garbage that doesn't answer my question.
I also researched workarounds online, but there weren't many viable looking options, as it looks like a few people who'd managed to sneak around the windows virus EUFI by jumping through several hoops to rewrite the windows virus boot info had problems with the touchpad and slow performance afterwards.
Rather than spending an afternoon trying to work around something that used to be easily accomplished in the older versions of the Acer BIOS, I decided to return the useless machine and buy a punching bag and an Acer logo sticker to put on it so I can take out my frustration.
Bottom Line: If you're an enlightened Linux user, DO NOT BUY ACER!!! If you want a nice quiet machine, DO NOT BUY THIS LOUD AND CONTINUOUSLY RUNNING FAN LAPTOP!!!
If they send me an apology and fix this BIOS disaster that they've created (probably to coddle up to the evil Microsoft virus company) I may decide to change my mind, and will let you know in an update to this post.
Thanks for reading this review, I hope it helps.
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saraandduck
1.0 out of 5 stars Is this a joke?
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 14, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I do not typically review purchases, but someone needs to discuss the poor quality on this Acer.
Right out of the box, the build quality is horrendous. The track pad simply does not function properly. There is one square millimeter of the left corner you have to click, otherwise, any click will be unresponsive. See video. I click the track pad over 20 times with no response.
Secondly, basic applications do not function. For example, Windows was unable to sync the time. Literally — a $500 laptop has less utility than a $2 Timex.
The weight is absurd. I frequently travel for business, and at 5 pounds, this laptop carried in a full backpack, walking around NYC or Chicago for an extended period will literally bring a grown man to his knees.
The fan noise brings me back to 2005, which I am not nostalgic for.
Most glaring is the price. At $450, this is simply a poor value. I owned the Chromebook version of this model: Acer 15.6" Touchscreen Chromebook - Model CB315-3HT-C5D3. The difference is the Chromebook is $160, and performs faster out of the box than it’s $300+ more expensive premium model. (And it has a touchscreen.)
So who is this for? The laptop runs slow out of the box at 8GB — upstaging the Ram will help. But this machine will never be powerful enough to maintain gamers or heavy business users. And at a lesser build quality than a significantly cheaper Chromebook option, why would the casual user buy this?
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Beth Rollins
1.0 out of 5 stars Camera stopped functioning in less than 3 months
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 1, 2020
CPU: R3 3200UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
I would not recommend buying this. I purchased in March 2020 to prepare for working remotely. Everything was fine- it all worked as it should. Now the built-in camera has stopped functioning properly. It looks like it is working but there is only a black screen in the image window- for both camera and video. On zoom calls, it looks like the video is working but there is nothing but a black screen. Open up the camera using the camera app- same thing. Updating driver shows that the current driver is installed. Resetting the app does nothing. Resetting privacy settings does nothing. Troubleshooting does nothing- all diagnostics indicate that everything is "working properly", no issues. One day it worked fine. The next day it did not. Searches on both the Acer community forum on their website and google in general show multiple users all reporting the same exact problem- and following all of the same steps, with absolutely no resolution. Chatting with Acer technical support- the best they can offer is "try a factory reset" and if that doesn't work, send it in for repair. Which of course is impossible because the laptop is now my office for work since my company is still working remotely for the foreseeable future. So in order to send this one in to be repaired, I would need to buy a new one anyway in order to keep my job. I've had multiple laptops over the years- HP, Asus, samsung- all worked for years. This is the first (and hopefully only time) that I've had one stop functioning in less than 4 months after purchase- with no viable resolution offered by the company.
**EDIT- Factory Reset fixed nothing and just made re-setting up everything that was removed a pain in the butt. Camera is still non-functional. Acer tech support and customer support useless. No solution offered other than sending the laptop that I rely on every day in for repair- despite the fact that you can easily google and find the same issue reported by multiple users going back to at least 2018. Support rep that I spoke to the second time claimed that on their system, they don't show that there are any reported issues with the Aspire 5. SMH. Worst customer service ever. And I'll never purchase Acer again.
If I could make the rating no stars, I would . Not only did the build-in camera stop working with no apparent solution, a plug & play webcam won't work either. Uninstall the built-in webcam and it aumotically reinstalls itself. The P&P webcam works fine on a $200 5 yr old laptop that my 8 yr old has tortured- but won't work on this 9 month old laptop. Whatever is causing the problem with the built-in camera (that Acer claims isn't a recognized or persistent problem on its machines despite pages of forum posts ) prevents any other camera from working as well.
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Kionna Thompson
1.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Disappointed ☹️
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 18, 2022
CPU: R5 5500UStyle: Notebook OnlyVerified Purchase
This laptop has fantastic reviews. I researched thoroughly before choosing one and was so happy to receive this. The first few days were fine. I use it for my school work and to play The Sims 4. I have an endless amount of CC and Mods and the laptop speed did not slow.
Now on to the cons: I never knew that this was supposed to be touchscreen. It 100% IS NOT. So I received the wrong product? And then, one day my laptop just stopped connecting to the WiFi. It says “no networks available” which of course I know there are because I have WiFi and my neighbors have WiFi but nothing shows up. I can solve that problem myself via online help however it happens frequently and is quite annoying. It never losing connection while I’m on it however I can shut my computer down for the night and the next day the WiFi won’t connect. So strange and infuriating.
And now the biggest issue. My charging cord has magically stopped working. Amazon won’t send me a replacement one even tho it has to be an error on there part. I never dropped, hit, or damaged the laptop or cord in anyway. These issues are out of the blue to me. So now I can’t play the sims or complete school work because my laptop is dead and I’m waiting for the manufacturer to respond about a replacement.
Overall, I wish I could send it back and be refunded my money yet Amazon said I passed my window. I had until August 8th to return and my issues because on August 10. Convenient no?
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