Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K Slim Laptop | 15.6" Full HD IPS | AMD Ryzen 3 3350U Quad-Core Mobile Processor | 4GB DDR4 | 128GB NVMe SSD | WiFi 6 | Backlit KB | Amazon Alexa | Windows 10 Home (S mode)

Fast and simple setup, wifi connection strong and fast. Not overloading with shovelware, has a decent variety of utilities and software, most of which looks reasonable for the typical pc user.Havent tested for gaming, and don't plan to on anything modern/4k, mostly emulation which shouldn't burden it too much. Intergrated graphics has enough power to run background apps for any upscaled emulation to 1080p, but I wouldnt try and run anything like twitch simultaneously. I plan on using it lightly, some work, some low key gaming, and for the price it makes sense. A great laptop for students, its a good size with enough umph for your educational needs, or if you're bored.Design is great, feels very solid, keyboard is great, fingerprint sensor actually works (i do construction and my hands get wrecked all the time, this a big deal for me).Sync'd with my phone super easy in under 5 minutes, porting my google account and contacts no problem!I'd highly recommend for someone that wants a great machine for an awesome price. I'm not saying it has all the power in the world, or storage, or biggest battery, but for the price you'll be greatly impressed with how the specs shine on this laptop. Also impressively thin, and hasn't really gotten above a warm temp. Solid state usually helps greatly with this, as all laptops use these now.Overall I highly recommend, and this would also be the perfect backup laptop for travel or to carry daily and not worry about something happening to it and cost you a grand. Mac users could find this as a viable pc option to meet their non-Mac needs.

No one feature is exceptional, but the amount of features/quality at the sub-400 price is impressive.❧ Solid construction, aluminum lid❧ Modern (at time of purchase) and moderately-well-equipped Ryzen APU❧ IPS screen with good max and min brightness, even backlight, and acceptable color rendition❧ Backlit Keyboard with a great layout and good key quality❧ Large, responsive trackpad with a turn-off option in the function keys❧ Good cooling solution for the size❧ User accessible / upgradable parts❧ Acceptable I/O (USB, HDMI, LAN, headphone jack, kensington)Corners that were cut:❧ Storage size - 128gb DRAM-less SSD as configured❧ Win 10 in S mode (I believe Microsoft charges less for the "s" license)❧ Speakers are truly terrible. I cannot overemphasize how bad they are.❧ Ram Size - 4gb DDR4 2400❧ No card reader❧ 1 year warranty (remember when things actually had 2 or 3???)❧ No Mic jackThe storage is upgradeable. The included SSD is user-replaceable, and there is also an included space / hardware to add a 2.5" drive. The 4gb RAM is built in to the board, but there is one slot open for RAM. Having filled mine, CPU-Z reports that it is successfully running in dual channel mode (important for APU memory bandwidth).It strikes me that the corners cut are ALL user-addressable. Windows 10 can leave S mode. Ram/storage is upgradeable. Card readers and external speakers/headphones/audio interfaces can be used.The 3350u processor has a manufacturer-configurable TDP, which affects its boost clock behavior. This one seems to be configured to a relatively medium-low power. I have never seen it boost past 3.1ghz (the AMD spec sheet lists a 3.5 ghz max). Fine by me, but worth noting. The cooling solution seems like it could handle more, but it does dump heat primarily beneath it (i.e. into your lap if you are using it as a laptop literally). I don't really blame them for dialing it back for this reason or to hit battery life targets.After adding RAM and storage, I have successfully done some medium gaming at low settings. Civ 6, Life is Strange 2, and the infamously-processor-bound-poorly-optimized Guild Wars 2. All fine, but I would have gotten something more powerful if I didn't have a gaming desktop.My last laptop was from 2009 and lasted me 'til 2021. The hardware on this one should meet my needs for equally long -- all that's left to be seen is if anything randomly breaks between now and then. If any random breakage occurs between now and 2023 I will update this review.

I'm not an acer fan, as acer was like the hyundai's of the pc tech world in my book, but I needed a laptop for my daughter and this one fit the bill.So far so good, I'd say build quality is fairly decent, it's slimmer than I expected. Performance wise, obviously it's no beast, but it gets the job done. What's really great about this is the fact that the ram is upgradeable to 64GB, but I'll just purchase an 8GB stick to add to it.There is room for a 2.5" SSD. The NVME is also removeable, so while there's no sd card slot, storage is fully expandable in a better way.Having a backlit keyboard with #pad is excellent.Webcam quality is ok, nothing to talk about there, 720p 30fps max, but as mentioned before, gets the job done.Even with only 4Gb Ram, it still ran smoothly despite having several Chrome windows open with multiple tabs. Installed minecraft java edition for her, it was able to play set at 7 chunks render distance, and not very many settings dialed down and still get 60fps (not that she cared about fps), so I still think you may be able to play some titles at 720p maybe medium settings, but i haven't checked it yet.Screen is not bad, viewing angles are quite good and bright enough.The speaker are not loud but audio quality is fairly decent, especially given how slim the laptop is. Your phone may go louder, but it won't scrape your ear canal.Battery life is average I'd say.All in all, this is a laptop that is more expensive than it should be, AS ARE ALL THAT FALL IN THIS PRICE POINT, but definitely compared against all the others I've sifted through, it's the best. In summary, it is because:1. Ability to upgrade internal nvme storage + add 2.5" ssd2. As with internal storage, ram isn't soldered on like the other brand laptops and can be upgraded3. Latest WiFi and Bluetooth technology4. Backlit keyboard with number pad and fingerprint scanner on touchpad5. Inclusion of an ethernet port. Especially helpful if you need a stable internet connection.6. Windows 11 ready7. Decent display with good viewing angles8. Decent quad core apu9. USB-C also available on chassis and overall, decent I/OIt's a solid buy if you're looking for a laptop within it's price range at the time of this review. It offers the most features and flexibility vs the competition.