Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R7VH Slim Laptop | 15.6" Full HD IPS Display | AMD Ryzen 3 7320U Quad-Core Processor | AMD Radeon Graphics | 8GB LPDDR5 | 128GB NVMe SSD | Wi-Fi 6 | Windows 11 Home in S Mode

#1:Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R7VH Slim Laptop | 15.6" Full HD IPS Display | AMD Ryzen 3 7320U Quad-Core Processor | AMD Radeon Graphics | 8GB LPDDR5 | 128GB NVMe SSD | Wi-Fi 6 | Windows 11 Home in S Mode

 

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This is NOT a Budget Laptop!
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.

Everything I was looking for
Pretty good laptop. Will make a really good school or low level gaming laptop compared to latest games.
It came with a 128gb 800mbps m.2 drive that was slow for windows 11 so upgraded it to 1tb 3500mbps m.2 drive. There are mixed reviews and info even from the manufacturer on if it has a extra ram slot or not but this one does not have one. All the ram is soldered to the motherboard and needs to be taken to an Acer shop in order to upgrade. Out of the box it used 6/8gb of ram at first then after the updates it dropped down to 4/8gb used. The system is pretty fast for only having 4gb free. The processor is the main feature I ordered it for since it is a 4core-8thread processor with speed ranging from 2.5ghz to 4.3ghz. After trying some more power demanding games the temp could still not pass 50c and stays quiet and cool to touch. It normally stays idle around 41c when not under a heavy load with no sound from the fans. The screen is decent quality but not meant for games since it's LCD and not being led the games get a bit of blur here and there with higher fps. Word of advice is when installing a different operating system the WiFi drivers do not reinstall with the system so any online activation is almost useless unless you have a usb-ethernet adapter. The battery lasts me around 6 hours in performance mode but in power saving mode could possibly last 9+ hours and way longer with some power setting tweaks. The graphics says 600mb dedicated and 3400mb shared but unlike a lot of systems all the shared moves straight to dedicated making it 4gb for the graphics. The value is pretty good and the appearance is slick. My older brother was checking it out and thinking of buying one now because of how well it does. Some upgrades to look into if you know what your doing is a new m.2 drive with a faster transfer rate and also possibly an upgraded 15.6inch screen that's 1080p-4k.

Perhaps you need a tin can
I needed a laptop for simple, low-processor requirement tasks (i.e. I didn't need a gaming laptop), but by the same token, I know how the PC buying experience goes: you want as much processing power and speed as you can get, otherwise you'll just find yourself upgrading everything down the road.

Admittedly, 4GB of ram wasn't ideal, but upon comparing this laptop with HP, Lenovo, Dell and others across every possible vendor (including Ebay), I am convinced the processing speed and features are an incredible deal for the money ($365 USD = Acer Aspire 5 w/ 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD hard drive). Other people suggested buying some additional RAM, and being spoiled w/ 32GB of it on my desktop, I definitely agreed, so I ordered an additional 4GB more (A-Tech 4GB RAM for Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop A515-43 | DDR4 2666MHz SODIMM PC4-21300 260-Pin CL19 1.2V Non-ECC Unbuffered Memory Upgrade Module) for $40 USD.

I also believe more storage is essential. The Acer Aspire 5 comes with a slot for an additional SSD drive to supplement the 128GB drive, but here's where you have to carefully consider your options. You must look at sequential read and write speeds, where faster is always better. You also have to consider that you will likely have your operating system on the main (C:) drive.

If I were to use the supplemental SSD slot, I would have to go with a SATA III type storage (looks like a very small, thin book). If I want much better speed for the price, I'll want to replace the 128GB "C:" drive with the same type (PCIe Gen3 8 Gb/s, looks more like a RAM stick). I went with the 1TB Crucial P5 (1TB 3D NAND NVMe Internal SSD, up to 3400MB/s - CT1000P5SSD8) for $120 USD. It's a pain to switch it out, because you have to make an 'image' (i.e. copy) of your C drive on some other storage device, then put that image onto the new SSD drive, but in the long run, it's worth it because you're coming out of the gate with much more storage and very likely (couldn't find specs on the Aspire hard drive) a much faster hard drive.

So, $525 ( = $365 + $40 + $120) and you get:
CPU 3.52 GHz
8GB RAM
1TB hard drive with up to 3400MB/s read speed and up to 3000MB/s write speed
15 inch monitor
under 4lb SLIM laptop
AND
Windows 10.

I call that an incredible deal.

Now, I've read the comments about Windows 10 S. The myth is that you get locked into a system where you can only buy and install Microsoft software unless you want to shell out... man, what was it? Oh yeah, a trillion dollars. Well, turns out that's:

FALSE!
In fact, all you have to do is sign into your free Microsoft account, push a button and 'boom', you're off of Windows 10S and on Windows 10. No charge, no hassle, no anything. In fact, the laptop asks if you want to do this on setup, but either way, the instructions are easy to find with a Google search. Whoever wrote these other reviews apparently aren't familiar with Google searches. I can only wish them luck on their new journey to 'the internet' and beyond. I have no idea how they were able to buy this laptop or write a review.

Regardless...

It's true that you don't get Windows 10 Pro and have to shell out a few bucks for it ($99 at the time I'm posting, 10 March 2021), but most people don't need it unless they want to use MS OneDrive cloud storage (monthly subscription) or remote desktop. I use Google cloud (free) for some things and never log onto my laptop from another computer (i.e. remote desktop): I just take the laptop with me when I need it. Either way, Windows 10 comes free with this machine, you just have to switch it at the MS store, and that takes less than a minute.

All that said, this laptop is just awesome. I love the weight, size, backlit keys and speed. Could not be happier.

Excellent Laptop!! HIGHLY Recommend!!
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!

All you need in a computer
First, I would like to say to ignore the negative reviews from the people who are saying that you can not switch this laptop out of Windows 10 S Mode. You can indeed switch this laptop out of Windows 10 S Mode IF you follow the correct instructions on the website. It will bring you to a page in the Microsoft Store where it will say to get Windows 10 Home. It will NOT ask you to purchase Windows 10 Home.

Now that that is out of the way, on to the review of this laptop. After fighting with a Chromebook with Microsoft Office I decided that I needed a cheap windows laptop that way I would be able to type on the actual desktop version of Word.

This first thing I would like to mention is the amazing screen quality for the cost of this computer. When you are watching Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, or any other streaming services the screen is clear and the picture is beautiful.

The ability to have a backlit keyboard on a budget laptop is an excellent edition and is extremely helpful for using the laptop in a darkly lit room. The keyboard is also fairly nice to type on. I am someone who does a lot of typing and I have no issues at all with the keyboard.

The variety of ports, especially nowadays, is an nice touch. Try going dongle free with a high end computer such as a MacBook. This laptop comes with two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a headphone jack. I will say that if you do need USB C or you need an SD card reader then you would need a dongle for that but if you are like me and use neither then you are good to go dongle free.

The ability to upgrade both the RAM and the storage is an excellent edition. I would highly recommend bumping up the RAM to at least 8GBs as this would allow the computer to run just a little more smoothly. An extra 4GBs of RAM is not expensive (only around $20).

This laptop doesn't have a touch screen so if you need a touch screen you may need to look at other options, though I personally think a touch screen in a laptop is pointless.

I can say that, though you won't be running high end AAA games at a high resolution or high graphics, you can get certain games to run quite well on the laptop. I can run Sims 4 at the highest graphics settings without any issues and this computer is great as a secondary laptop if you do have a primary desktop PC for gaming. Steam streaming works well with it.

The only downside that I have found with this laptop is the battery life, which can get fairly poor depending on what you are doing. This doesn't really affect me too much as I am usually near a power outlet when I need it.

I can't really tell you too much about how it would do with photo editing or with video editing as I don't really do that sort of thing but if you need a computer for school work, web browsing, writing, media consumption then this computer is really all that you need.

Perfect computer for light workloads.
I bought this laptop as a replacement for my old Toshiba laptop from 2012. The Toshiba one was starting to show its age by failing to pass POST and thus failing to boot. I had used it almost every single day since 2012 after all, as it was my college laptop and even helped me launch my career as an engineer, so it has served me well. But the OS failures were getting troublesome. They were happening increasingly often, so I decided before all my data was lost (which wasn't really that much, since I keep all my actually important data on a home file server), I decided to shop around for a nice, reliable, not-too-cheap laptop I could use to replace it, and this is the one I chose to buy.

For the non-Linux enthusiasts, feel free to skip this paragraph, but a kernel panic is basically the Windows blue screen of death equivalent on Linux. My old Toshiba was having kernel panics all the time starting with Kernel 5, so I thought maybe it was my old hardware which has having trouble with the brand new kernel. I tried an LTS version of Kernel 4.19, thinking it was going to solve my kernel panic issue, but nope. I still had kernel panics all the time, and it was starting to get worrying how often it was happening (multiple times a day near the time I got this new Acer laptop). So I feel like I got the new Acer laptop just in time before the Toshiba hardware became unbootable. Now, I'm an electrical engineer, but I'm a lazy engineer. I didn't feel like dissecting the Toshiba to try and pinpoint what the problem might have been. I use Arch btw (best meme 2k19)

So back to regular English. I'm thoroughly impressed with the hardware that AMD has developed with their Ryzen lineup and their Vega graphics. Sadly, with all the cryptocurrency mining happening nowadays, it's actually hard to find any AMD graphics card for use with actual graphics workloads like gaming. But that's beside the point. This Acer laptop, with its Ryzen 3 processor and built-in Vega Picasso graphics is almost overkill for what I use it for. I haven't tested any games on it, but I imagine it would run Minecraft well enough. Maybe not 60fps, but still enough to play. I use this laptop mainly for just web browsing, and occasional coding when I'm feeling ambitious with some sort of personal software project I want to work on.

In the time that I used Windows 10 S Mode... it was just plain dumb. Not being able to install software from non-Microsoft sources? Really, Microsoft? What are you doing? You can easily opt out of the S Mode crap, but it warns you that you'll never be able to go back to S Mode in the future if you ever change your mind. Like that'll scare me into keeping S Mode! I'll show you how much I care about S Mode. I only spent about a half hour tinkering with it before I just blasted the whole NVMe M.2 drive clean and installed good old Arch Linux on it with a fully encrypted filesystem, so ain't nobody getting into my data. And I can say, this NVMe M.2 drive is freaking lightning quick. Compared to the old HDD on my Toshiba, this new laptop boots in like 15 seconds, if even that. My main PC with Godly specs (Intel i9-9900K + RTX2080Super + 1TB Samsung NVMe M.2) boots in around 10 seconds, so this little laptop is definitely keeping up with the speed.

Overall, this Acer laptop is a fantastic computer; probably the best laptop I've ever owned at this price point. It's perfect for basic usage, and I recommend it to be used for light workloads like checking email, browsing social media, editing office documents, coding, and other basic tasks of the sort. The Ryzen + Vega chip will definitely last several years, and I'm happy to finally support a quality AMD product. Ultimately, it's up to you as the customer to decide if this is the right computer for your needs. Evaluate why you need this computer and determine whether or not the price of this laptop would best suit your needs. I needed something I could rely on with streaming, decoding, and rendering video data from YouTube, Twitch, and/or Netflix which is actually a bigger task than people give it credit for. If you don't intend to watch many videos or do anything more resource-intensive than that, then this laptop might be a touch too powerful for your needs. With all that in mind, it's safe for me to say that this Acer laptop is perfect for the moderately light workloads I intend to use it for.

Better with a couple of upgrades but works OK out of the box

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

Great laptop for the price
A budget-friendly option that doesn't skimp on quality, offering a solid mix of performance, portability, and features for its price.

Starting with the design, the Aspire 5 Slim is, well, slim! It's lightweight and sleek, with a brushed silver aluminum top cover that gives it a more premium look than you'd expect for something in this price range. The 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display is one of its standout features. You get 1080p resolution, which means sharp visuals and bright colors—perfect for streaming, browsing, or even light photo editing. The viewing angles are solid too, thanks to the IPS technology, so you won’t lose too much clarity when looking from the side. The only downside? The screen isn’t the brightest, so if you’re planning to use it outdoors a lot, you might struggle a bit with visibility in direct sunlight.

Performance:
Under the hood, this laptop is powered by an AMD Ryzen3 thirty-two hundred U processor paired with Vega 3 Graphics. For everyday tasks—things like web browsing, Netflix, or working in Microsoft Office—this combo does a solid job. The RAM is also upgradable, so you have the option to improve performance later if needed!

The 128gigabyte SSD is a real plus for a laptop in this price range. It makes everything feel snappy, from booting up to opening files, and apps load much faster than they would on a traditional hard drive. That said, 128gigabytes isn’t a ton of space, so if you’re someone who likes to download a lot of large files or store tons of photos and videos, you may need an external hard drive or cloud storage.

Battery Life:
The battery life is another strong point for the Aspire 5 Slim. Acer claims you’ll get up to 7 and a half hours on a full charge, and most users seem to find that number pretty accurate for lighter usage like browsing or watching videos. It’s not groundbreaking, but for the price, it’s more than enough to get you through a day of casual use or some light work on the go.

Keyboard and Touchpad:
Now, here’s something that really sets this laptop apart in the budget category: the backlit keyboard. This is a feature that’s usually reserved for more expensive laptops, so it’s great to see it here. The keys themselves are comfortable to type on, though they do have a somewhat shallow travel, which might take a little getting used to if you’re coming from a more robust keyboard. As for the touchpad, it’s serviceable but not the most responsive out there. It gets the job done, but some users might prefer using an external mouse for better precision.

Windows 10 in S Mode:
The laptop comes with Windows 10 in S Mode, which is designed to run faster and more securely by only allowing apps from the Microsoft Store. For some people, especially those who are newer to Windows, this can actually be a good thing—it keeps the laptop running smoothly and helps avoid any rogue software. But most people will want to switch out of S Mode (which is quick and free to do) to gain access to the full range of Windows applications.

Notable Features:
Affordable price with good performance for daily tasks.
Full HD display with crisp visuals and solid color reproduction.
Backlit keyboard, which is rare in this price range.
Lightweight and easy to carry around.
SSD storage provides faster performance compared to traditional hard drives, but at 128 gigabytes, you may need cloud storage or an external drive.
Decent battery life of up to 7 and a half hours.

 It Does What You Need
My MSI gaming laptop spontaneously died (after five years to be fair) and I got this thing as a replacement to be able to do my schoolwork. I was looking for something cheap and functional. I think this laptop fits the bill. It can handle the day to day tasks and unless you're looking to run some pretty beefy programs this will do what you need it to do. Right now I have 18 tabs open in Chrome and it's running just fine. The fan CAN get a little noisy if I'm streaming audio or video on discord, but most of the time it's silent. I haven't taken advantage of any upgrades yet, but, as other reviews mentioned, I'm glad to have the capability if I decide I want more storage or memory.

I didn't have any problem turning S mode off. I managed to get my setup pretty much exactly how I wanted.

The speakers and camera are about what you'd expect for the price point - a little grainy but workable.

The only complaint I have with mine after a month is an occasional, soft buzzing from the monitor. Very quiet but definitely noticeable. (Addendum: The trackpad is also slightly wider than I think is necessary and sometimes the base of my thumb will change the mouse position while I'm typing)

Overall, unless you're a CS student who needs lots of parallel processing capability or a gamer running any game released after 2010, this will cut it. Gaming laptops seem like a waste of space, so I'm glad to have this for my day to day and to invest in a desktop machine for my gaming needs.

Amazed By This Cheap Laptop (1 Month in)
If you were like me, looking for a college laptop that would not break the bank, look no further. I am literally writing this review on this laptop in class.

I just wanted a (Windows) laptop that I can code on and do a couple assignments while on campus. I never have to worry about the battery dying on me unless it was already really low. It is surprisingly fast but obviously not as fast as a $2000 laptop. Fast enough I would say.

Right out of the box, I was instantly very surprised at how good quality everything felt and looked. It is actually pretty large in size but not cumbersome. But as I keep using it I do have some nitpicks about it:
- The screen portion is pretty bendable to the point where I feel like you can easily break it. Now I don't know who would do that on purpose but you should watch out.
- No backlight on keyboard makes it hard to see keys in low light.
- Keyboard feels sort of hollow. Probably because it is cheap.
- Fan is noticeably loud, say if the class is quiet. But I do prefer it to be cool and be a little bit loud than it be hot.
- Fan ramps up randomly. Like I could have a simple assignment up with 2 tabs open and it could kick on for some reason even though the workload is not much. Then other times I have a bunch of tabs and another application open but it will stay silent.

Other than that it is perfect if you need a cheap laptop to get some work done at school or code like me. Definitely recommend.

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