Pros
- Solid Graphics
- Hexa-Core Ryzen 4500U processor
- Full HD display
- Decent Battery Life
Drawbacks
- 256 GB of SSD storage (upgradeable)
- Obvious design
The Acer Aspire 5 family has made a name for itself by offering top-notch performance at a very interesting price. Today, with the Aspire 5 A515-44G-R83X, the brand has taken a firm step towards design and image editing professionals with the inclusion of a dedicated Radeon graphics card.
Specifically, this model boasts a configuration focused on graphic performance. With a powerful Ryzen 5 4500U processor, 8GB of RAM, and a dedicated Radeon RX 640 graphics card with 2GB of exclusive GDDR5 VRAM it's pretty clear that we're looking at specs worthy of far more expensive laptops than this one.
Now we are going to get to know this model in-depth to determine if it is indeed a worthwhile machine - considering its competitive price point - or if we should look elsewhere.
Who's it for?
With this set of key specs, its limited dimensions, lightweight body, good ventilation, and variety of ports for peripherals, the A515-44G-R83X has managed to solidify itself as a good alternative for those who want a laptop for everyday activities and work with images, videos, and graphic design.
AKA; demanding users in need of a laptop with loads of horsepower. It goes without saying that it's also suited for the average user who's going to use it to chat with friends, stream movies, edit documents, and the likes, as many clients have already attested towards.
Acer Aspire 5 A515-44G-R83X: Review of a killer PC
Design and Display
A polycarbonate chassis with an aluminum frame that reinforces the parts of more intense usage, such as the base of the keyboard and the interior cover, in a design that is already a classic, give the Aspire 5 A515-44G-R83X a professional sobriety.
The bottom cover and sides have discreet openings for ventilation, which is essential if you want to demand maximum performance from this equipment.
Its keyboard is backlit, allowing you to use it in low light conditions and its large screen is framed by a black bezel, narrow at the sides, to give you better definition and deliver a more immersive experience.
The best thing that can be said about the 15.6-inch Full HD backlit LED display of the A515-44G-R83X, is that it is designed to be viewed from various angles (from the front or from the sides) without distortion of the image or annoying reflections, thanks to its large IPS panel with a matte finish.
Another compelling feature is that whether you use this computer for your working day or for streaming your favorite series, you can be sure that this screen will be gentle on your eyes since Acer has manufactured the screen of this computer with technologies that take care of your eye health: Color Intelligence and BlueLightShield.
Let's talk performance
When it comes down to performance this laptop comes powered by an AMD processor of the Ryzen 4000U series, which has been gradually gaining ground to Intel in terms of performance, resource and power management.
Specifically, this model packs the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor with six cores. This is one of the best examples of the second generation of AMD microarchitecture, as it is managed through a 7nm TSMC process, which increases up to 40% the speed of the processor and decreases up to 30% the energy consumption of the CPU in general.
This AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor runs at 2.3 GHz, and can be taken up to 4.0 GHz with Precision Boost Overdrive, AMD's native overclocking application - think TurboBoost with Intel -.
What does this mean if you come from an Intel background?
In case you've always used Intel powered laptops you should know that the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U chip has outperformed the 10th generation Intel i5 and i7 processors in benchmark tests under the use of a single high performance task, such as the use of video or audio editing programs. Therefore it's safe to say that general performance should be along the lines of what you'd expect from an Intel Core i5 packing laptop.
In terms of memory, this laptop packs a sufficient 8 GB of DDR4 RAM. This should be enough for most users and will definitely cover the needs of most multitaskers - as long as your idea of multitasking isn't to have 25 or so tabs open at any given time - .
However, you should know that you can also upgrade RAM on this model by adding a module on the available slot in the chassis, a rather simple procedure we've walked through here for another model within the series.
This is pretty important if you want to future proof your device as 8 GB will certainly get the job done today but maybe not three - four years from now.
What does this mean in terms of everyday tasks?
Overall, with this set of key specs you can expect a laptop that was built with productivity in mind.
A device that will allow you to do a wide array of tasks from streaming movies on Netflix to chatting with friends and doing some back-end programing, not to mention editing documents and general research. Pretty much a laptop that's got all your bases covered.
Storage and Graphics
The Aspire 5 A515-44G-R83X has its biggest limitation in its storage, which is only 256GB. Fortunately it is solid state (SSD) with a NVMe (Non Volatile Memory) protocol, which optimizes the speed in data management and makes it more secure.
This storage can be upgraded just as the RAM can. That said, if you come from a laptop that packs an HDD - if your last laptop was bought 4 years ago this is very likely - then you should know that once you step into the world of SSD laptops you'll never be able to go back.
Forget about waiting 20-30 seconds to turn on your computer, forget about contemplating the wall whilst waiting for an app to load. Forget all of that as performance on an SSD is about 10 times faster than an HDD and this shows in just about everything you do as many customers have already stated.
A solid dedicated graphics card
Perhaps the best asset of this laptop is that it has an efficient dedicated graphics card developed by Radeon: the RX 640 with 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM.
It's a dedicated card that will perform very well if you use it with low-end games, mid-range graphics design and creation, video and high-resolution image editing.
Specifically, the Radeon RX640 card provides smooth, flicker-free graphics in games with 720p settings such as Prey and Watchdogs 2, however, you'll have trouble with high-end titles like Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
Battery life and connectivity options
The 3-cell Li-Ion battery offers up to 10 hours per charge according to Acer, although some users report battery life within the 5-7 hour range. As you know, your mileage may vary, however in general terms it should be more than enough to get you through a day at the office.
As far as connectivity is concerned there's a good variety of connectors for your peripherals and projecting image onto a secondary display: one USB 2.0 port, one USB 3.2 Type C port, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports (one of them with charging capability), one HDMI port and one Ethernet LAN port. In addition to a 3.5 mm audio output and a security cable slot.
The wireless connectivity consists of Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6 Dual Band at 2.4GHz and 5GHz. This is the latest WiFi standard and offers download speeds up to 40% faster than the previous generation WiFi 5, also known as WiFi ac.
What's the verdict?
In closing this review of the Acer Aspire 5 A515-44G-R83X we can appreciate that we're looking at a very complete and balanced laptop that manages to deliver a high-end performance at a very competitive price point.
Its graphics card quickly set it apart allowing it to be considered for non-professional video and image editors, whilst its hexa core processor and crisp Full HD display make it an excellent choice for both students and professionals. Overall, an excellent option.