Acer’s Aspire 5 and Aspire E15- Our 2018 budget Picks

There exists a cheap, low-end market that caters to the needs of the most basic laptop users; A light inexpensive device for word processing and light web surfing. There also exists a high end market for hardcore gamers, content creators and Power users. This category of people seek out the very best hardware; Laptops with copious amounts of RAM, super-fast storage and high resolution displays. With the release of the Aspire series, Acer has finally presented us with an actual mid-range option. With compromises in only a few ignorable areas. They’re of such good value; reaching out to even people on a budget. 

OVERVIEW

Available in 15 or 17 inch variants and lots of configuration options. We’ve singled out the two best value configurations. Let’s talk about the Acer Aspire 5 (A515-51G-515J) and the Acer Aspire E15 (E5-576G-5762). The Acer Aspire series are not exactly new laptops. The A515 was announced last year. And the E15 hasn’t been around before that. Nevertheless, they’ve both kept getting all the CPU updates. The Aspire series are currently equipped with the latest 8th generation CPUs.

BUILD QUALITY

The build quality of the Aspire 5 and Aspire E15 is pretty average. It’s not a Premium look but it still doesn’t scream “cheap”. Plastic is used on the exterior for both these systems. The Aspire 5 however, has a metal hinge and a brushed metallic keyboard deck. Also, a bit of chrome lines the edges and bevels. Little details like these make the A5 look far more expensive than it really is.
In contrast, The Aspire E15 (E5-576G) looks a little cheaper with no metal edges or srips. However, it feels sturdy enough and has a brushed satin-like finish.

Compared to similarly priced machines like the Dell Inspiron 5000, more attention to build quality was obviously paid to the Aspire series.

PORT SELECTION

As for connectivity, there’s plenty of ports here. Along the right side, the A-515 sports two USB 3.0(Type-A) ports, a headphone jack and a barrel type Power connector. And on the left: a full sized SD card reader, a third USB 3.0 port, an HDMI, one USB(Type C), an Ethernet socket and a Kensington lock.

The Aspire E15 comes packed with even more ports. The right edge features a barrel port for a 65Wh Power adapter. There’s also a USB 2.0 port, a DVD drive and a headphone jack. On the left an HDMI, two USB3.0 and a TypeC connector offer all the ports you’ll need in a few years to come. If having future-proof ports doesnt impress you, how about a blast from the past. Along with the DVD drive, a VGA port and full sized LAN connector are available. The E15 having these old ports does not make it an old, phased out machine; The next-gen USB C connector stands to prove that.

The USB-C port is a most welcome addition. Although it doesn’t  support Thunderbolt 3. And that’s not too big of a deal. In addition, the inclusion of legacy drives on the E15 also got you covered for when you need to plug in a projector or play those old CD albums laying around.

KEYBOARD/TRACKPAD

Since they’re on the larger side, there’s plenty of room for the keyboard and trackpad on these laptops. There’s even space for a full sized number pad. The keys are backlit only on the Acer Aspire E15. My only complaints are the bunched up Arrow and Enter keys. The typing experience is just okay. And there’s no significant flex on the deck.

The trackpads on both the laptops are Similarly large and responsive. There’s a Chrome lining around the otherwise plastic material used. For that added luxirious feel. And also placed in a convenient spot off-centre so it doesn’t interfere much with your typing. They both support windows precision drivers. Meaning tracking is fluid and accurate. The only problem is the possible wearing down on the surface since it is plastic. Thankfully you can always get an external mouse.

DISPLAY

Remember how I said there will be compromises but ignorable? Well this is the biggest one yet. True the screens are quite roomy at 15.6″ and even a Full HD Display at 1920×1080 (720p laptops should really not be a thing in 2018 anymore). The problem here is with the types of panels and overall image quality. Also, the Aspire E15 E5-576 has an edge over the A515 in the display aspect.

It doesn’t end there neither.The brightness is really on the low side at 215nits. Indoors this wouldn’t be a problem but a 250-300nit brightness is required for use in direct sunlight. This actually wouldn’t be a problem for most as hardly anyone wants to use a laptop right under the sun. It also has a poor, 273:1 contrast ratio so don’t expect vibrant images and colors that pop.

The Aspire E15 fares alot better in image reproduction and a higher 250nit brightness

AUDIO

As for Audio, there’s really nothing to see here. Just your average laptop speaker with shallow depth, lacking base and staying reasonably clear below 80%. And this holds true for both these products. Atop the screens of these machines sits a mediocre 720p webcam that should never be used to take a selfie. Skype and video calls could be excused though.

PERFORMANCE

The Aspire A515 and Aspire E15 (E5-576G) have very similar internals. They both come packed with Intel’s Coffee lake (8th gen) Core i5 quad-core processors. While still being a Powerful chip, the Aspire Series make use of a more power efficient U versions of the quad forever i5. This ensures wonderful battery life. Furthermore, it Turbo boosts- not just for very long. Besides, it’s still a quad-core chip. And very capable of handling your day to day tasks.

However, for the real cherry on the cake; a dedicated Graphics Processor. Something we hardly see from laptops in this class.

GRAPHICS

Thankfully though both these models sport a Graphics Processing Unit from Nvidia. The new MX150 from Nvidia, a special low power mobile version of the desktop GTX 1030. It’s definitely not some badass overclocked beast, but it’ll do plenty for medium quality gaming. The chip is pretty much above average. Actually, it more than triples the performance of any sort of Intel’s integrated HD graphics. Meaning gaming enthusiasts that can’t quite afford high end Alienwares can now play AAA titles above 10 FPS. This chip will run any game of present so long as you lower the resolution and graphics quality to about average. 720p and “MEDIUM” setting should be the sweet spot.

STORAGE

The Aspire series have numerous Storage variants. The models discussed here come with(drumroll please!)…An SSD. If you’ve not heard of them, SSDs or Solid State Drives are a new storage technology that uses superfast flash storage rather than the old generation spinning hard drives. They are also way smaller. As a result, everything from bootup speeds to app launch times are noticeably zippier than their Hard Disk Drive (HDD) counterparts. But then they are also way more expensive. As an example, Acer offers either a 1TB HDD or a 256GB SSD for the same price.

The Acer Aspire A515 and the Acer Aspire E15 both have the SSD option. I’ve got to mention though, the SSD here is an M2 SATA type which is actually slower than a PCIE type. Nonetheless still much faster than a hard drive. There’s also an empty bay for a drive so you can add in Hard Disk later on.

MEMORY

Likewise, they both ship with 8GB of RAM. However, the Aspire A515 has a faster DDR4 class. 4GB soldered on the board and then a 4GB stick. So on replacement you max out at 20GB. The Aspire E15 though, has a single 8GB DDR3 stick that can be upgraded up to 16GB.

BATTERY LIFE

Here you’ll find a 48Wh lasting really long. The A515 averages around 8hrs on medium usage. Which is not as long as the E15 which can do 10-11 powered by a  62Wh battery. This is made possible by the use of highly power efficient internals. A 90W charger is also included. And it takes about 2 hours to charge these laptops.

	ACER ASPIRE 5 A515
DISPLAY	15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080 px, IPS, non-touch, matte
CPU	1.6Ghz Intel Core i5-8250U CPU, Quad-core
GPU	Nvidia MX150, 2gb VRAM
MEMORY	8gb DDR4 RAM (4 GB soldered, up to 20 GB)
STORAGE	256 GB SSD (M.2 SATA)
CONNECTIVITY	Gigabit LAN, Intel AC 3168 Wireless AC , Bluetooth 4.1
PORT SELECTION	1xUSB 3.0, 2xUSB 2.0, 1x USB 3.1 gen 1, HDMI, headphone jack, SD card reader, LAN, Kensington Lock
BATTERY	48 Wh
DIMENSIONS	15.07” (38.3 cm) x or 10.39” (26.4 cm) x 0.86” (2.2 cm)
WEIGHT	4.62 lbs (2.1 kg)
BUILD MATERIALS	Plastic, Metal

	ACER ASPIRE E15 E576G
DISPLAY	15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080 display, Non-touch, Matte
CPU	1.6GHz Intel Core i5-8250U, Quad-core
GPU	2GB Nvidia GeForce MX150
MEMORY	8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz (1x8GB stick, up to 16gb)
STORAGE	256GB SSD
CONNECTIVITY	802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.2
PORT SELECTION	1xUSB 3.0, 2xUSB 2.0, 1x USB 3.1 gen 1, HDMI, headphone jack, SD card reader, LAN, Kensington Lock
BATTERY	2800mAh
DIMENSIONS	15″ (38.1cm)x10.2″ (25.9 cm)x1.2″ 3.048 cm)
WEIGHT	5.3Ibs (2.4Kg)
BUILD MATERIAL	Plastic

VERDICT

I personally prefer the E15. The bigger battery, slightly better screen and backlit keyboard appeal to me more than the better looking A515. As of the time of this post, you can get a new Aspire A515 at $550 (200,000) and an E15 at $600 (218,000NGN) 

However, the A515 has a far more modern look and feel. The metal used should also guarantee it lasts longer. And the faster DDR4 RAM makes it more future-proof. It’s also slightly slimmer and lighter so easier to lug around. I’d recommend it if you want something classy for the price, and don’t need the extra battery.

If you aren’t about premium looks and want a more spec’d out version of the A515 with all the ports you could ever need, then save up the extra $50 and go for the E15.

Either way, you really can’t go wrong.