Acer Aspire 5 A515-54-51DJ review: Slim and inexpensive, but middling quad-core performance
We've seen faster quad-core laptops, but not for this price.
Today's Best Tech Deals
Picked by PCWorld's Editors
Top Deals On Great Products
Picked by Techconnect's Editors
3DMark Sky Diver
With its integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 core, it’s unfair to expect much from the Aspire 5 in terms of gaming, but we put it through its paces anyway with the 3DMark Sky Diver graphics benchmark.
The Aspire 5 and its integrated graphics core sits bunched up with similarly configured laptops, while the Acer E 15 tops the chart thanks to its discrete graphics card.
No surprises here, with the i5-packing Aspire 5 in the top third of its class in our chart. What’s that one laptop at the top that’s blowing all the others away? It’s the Core i5-enabled Acer E 15, a bargain-priced laptop with an ace up its sleeve: a discrete GeForce MX150 graphics card. The MX150 is no powerhouse, mind you, but it illustrates the difference that even an entry-level discrete graphics card can make.
Battery life
We test battery life on laptops by looping a 4K video over and over using the stock Movies & TV playback app for Windows, with the screen brightness tuned as closely as possible to 250 nits (which meant cranking the Aspire’s brightness all the way up) and with the volume set to 50 percent, with headphones plugged in.
With a little more than nine hours of battery life in our testing, the Aspire 5 is perfect for day-tripped without a power adapter.
On average, it took a little over 9 hours for the 49 watt-hour battery in the Core i5-equipped Aspire 5 to die, which is right in line with our expectations. Topping the list is the Asus ZenBook 13, which wrings an exceptional amount of juice out of its similar-sized battery. The Acer E 15 benefits from a larger 62 watt-hour battery. In any event, the Aspire 5’s nine-hour result in our battery rundown trial means close to all-day battery life.
Bottom line
Capable of smooth-as-butter performance for mainstream computing activities, this Core i5-powered version of the Acer Aspire 5 manages to pack quad-core power into a thin, budget-priced chassis. But while it can run Office like a charm, the Aspire’s quad-core performance isn’t quite as impressive, and we’re also disappointed by its dim display.
Coupon Codes
-
Dell Coupon code
Enjoy $223 off + free shipping on Dell XPS 13 laptop
-
Eastbay Promo Code
20% off $49 orders using Eastbay promo code
-
AT&T Wireless Promo Code
$800 off Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
-
Rosetta Stone Promo Code
$80 off 12-Months of Unlimited Languages
-
Samsung Promo Code
Samsung promo code: Extra 10% off for students & educators
-
OnePlus Promo Code
10% off for faculty members with OnePlus promo code