Well, I guess it's official; mid range laptops have never been more affordable. Such is the case of one of Acer's latest offerings, the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM. This extremely affordable laptop packs some killer features such as a 7th generation Core i3 processor, DDR4 RAM, ultrafast WiFi and up to 12 hours of battery life, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Care to know more? I know I do so here's our in depth review of the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM.
Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM Review of a game changing notebook
An ordinary design for an extraordinary machine
Truth is, at first glance, the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM doesn't do much to convince you that this will be a killer laptop. On the contrary, it packs a rather sober design that could very well go unnoticed for most users. Sure, not every laptop can be as stunning as a Dell XPS, it's within this laptop where we'll find the extraordinary features.
Once you turn on this laptop you'll quickly notice a very big differentiator from others within its price range; it's got a Full HD display with Acer's color blast technology. That means that watching high definition movies and editing video on its 15.6 inch display is all the more convenient.
Finally, being a mid sized laptop, we've got a full chiclet keyboard with a numeric pad to match as well as a modest weight of 5.27 pounds.
How's performance?
It's all fun and games until you look at the spec sheet, but that's not the case with the review of the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM which packs the latest and greatest Intel Core i3-7100U dual core processor. This is a true novelty since most laptops still ship with a 6th generation processor so its very commendable that Acer managed to get this off the ground so quickly.
Specifically, the i3 in place has a very good operating speed of 2.4 GHz with 3 MB of smart cache and four operating threads. What does this actually mean? For all the non-geeks out there, we're talking about a very efficient processor ideal for tasks such as web browsing, light video and image editing as well as coding and video streaming.
Performance on the E 15 E5-575-33BM is further encouraged by its 4GB of DDR4 SDRAM. Once again, we're looking at a spec that's typically reserved for the high end since most affordable laptops tend to carry the previous generation DDR3 RAM.
Finally, this laptop is not meant for gaming. On the contrary, it packs an integrated graphics chip under the name Intel HD 620. This is a graphics chip that simply won't cut it when it comes to high end current games, sorry about that.
12 hour battery life and impressive storage
Perhaps the most surprising feature, aside from the Full HD display and 7th generation CPU is the battery life on this machine. Specifically, Acer packs a 4 cell 2800 mAh battery that, according to the company, can deliver up to 12 hours of battery life.
Those are some very impressive numbers, however we all know that battery life in "real case scenarios" tends to be lower than advertised, but even if we where to adjust our expectations by 25% towards a 9 hour battery life, that's still pretty good for a laptop packing this kind of specs.
Another thing we don't get to see on low cost entry level laptops is a decent storage. Typically you'll run into models with 500GB but on this model we've got a 1TB serial ATA hard drive operating at your standard 5400 rpm.
Connectivity and then some
While most laptops are turning away from the inclusion of DVD drives, this particular model actually includes one. What's more, the WiFi standard on the E 15 E5-575-33BM is 802.11 ac with Mu-MIMO support, a kind of antenna that can deliver up to three times faster download speeds when used with a compatible router.
That said, there's also no shortness of ports with a USB type C port, a couple of USB 3.0 ports as well as a standard USB 2.0 port to connect your standard peripherals. There's also an ethernet port as well as an HDMI port. Bluetooth is enabled with the 4.1 version and, as expected, you'll also get a built in HD webcam.
Wrapping things up; Does it live up the hype?
Upon wrapping this review of the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM we've gotta say things sure have changed in the last couple of years when it comes to getting a good value for your money in the laptop segment. This laptop being the perfect proof of such since you get a latest generation i3 CPU, Full HD display, massive battery life, a respectable 1 TB of storage and a suite of connectivity that was typically seen only on high end laptops.
All in all, the perfect fit for anyone who isn't going to be a hardcore gamer or graphic designer with a perfect price to match.