Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R3SU Review: An Excellent Mid-range PC

It’s difficult to find the perfect mid-range laptop, with a balance of high performance and price. Some laptops are too expensive for their low performance; others offer great performance but with a massive price tag attached.

Finding that perfect middle ground that meets our needs while not crushing our credit score is not as easy as it may sound. However, a few times a year we do find that perfect combo of great specs AND great price, this is one of those times as we embark on a mission to talk to you about the Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R3SU.

The Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R3SU we're going to review today is a nice, proficient laptop that features a solid AMD Ryzen CPU, enough RAM for most multitaskers, and a very generous 512 GB of storage. But, will this be your next laptop? That's what we're here to find out!

Who's it for?

=>Business professionals: The Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R3SU is the perfect laptop for business professionals on the go. Large enough to be productive at work, but small enough to easily carry in a bag. With 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display, AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Octa-Core Processor, and Windows 10 Home, this laptop has everything you need to stay productive throughout your day.

=> Students: If you're a student, it's sometimes difficult to find the perfect balance between price and performance on your laptop. With its AMD Ryzen CPU, large storage capacity of 512 GB SSD, and respectable battery life this Acer is definitely worth taking a look at!

Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R3SU: Laptop Review

Design, Display, & Keyboard

This is a laptop for those who like to keep things minimal and functional. If you're the type of person who's looking at ASUS ROG laptops with vivid colors, RGB lighting, and all kinds of crazy features, this certainly isn't what you want.

On the other hand, if your home/office has more beige than Benny Hill's jacket, and you're looking for a laptop that won't stand out in the crowd - this is your best bet.

The Acer Aspire A515-45-R3SU features mostly plastic construction with an aluminum top cover to give it a little extra touch; it's nothing fancy but we like its simple look (although there are certainly laptops out there which offer more premium builds).

The laptop is designed in a way that allows you to open the lid with just one hand, which isn't always the case for other laptops. It's also fairly thin (just under an inch) and light (under four pounds) - making it very easy to carry around if needed.

The keyboard is your standard chiclet keyboard with backlighting to work in dim environments and a good enough key-travel distance to provide you with that pleasant "clicking" feedback. Oddly enough, unlike other models within this lineup such as the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K, there's no fingerprint reader.

Finally, we've got a 15.6-inch IPS display with a 1920 by 1080 pixel resolution - Full HD -. This is a very proper display, with nice colors and enough brightness to be able to use it comfortably outdoors. Also, the fact that it features an IPS panel means that viewing angles are 178 degrees, making it a great option for those who aren't always looking straight at their computer.

Performance & Functionality

The AMD Ryzen processor with eight cores has been powering all kinds of laptops for quite some time now. You can find it on workstations, budget laptops and it even makes appearances on premium notebooks (Asus Zenbook).

The Ryzen processor is known for its multi-core performance. The number of cores you get with this chip will allow you to easily power through almost any workflow without the need of having an actual workstation at home or in your office. You 've got eight cores with 16 threads, which can reach a max turbo frequency of up to 4.3 GHz - as long as there's adequate cooling.

Couple that with 8 GB of DDR4 RAM and 512 GB of SSD storage and you've got yourself a laptop which, in practice, performs very well when it comes to regular tasks such as internet browsing, videoconferencing or office work.

It's also suitable for programing, doing some photo retouching and even video editing, however if that's your case we would definitely advise you to upgrade the RAM on the Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R3SU. I'd also recommend you check out our complete guide on how to buy the best laptop for photo editing.

Is this laptop suitable for gaming?

With a lack of a dedicated graphics card, we would not recommend this laptop for people looking to use it for gaming. That crowd would be far more comfortable with Acer's affordable Nitro series of laptops which deliver high-quality graphics at competitive price points as well as a design that's built specifically with gaming in mind.

What Are People Saying?

What are customers saying about the Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R3SU? Overall, they appreciate its value for the price, fast performance, and various options it offers. The build quality and sleek design have been praised, with the keyboard receiving compliments for its look and feel. Customers have also highlighted the ample number of ports, including USB-C and Ethernet, which allow for easy connectivity to devices. The laptop's processor, the Ryzen 7 5700U, has been recognized as a great choice for the price, providing powerful performance. Customers have found it capable of handling tasks such as gaming, with some compromise on graphics settings. The option to upgrade to Windows 11 or stick with Windows 10 has been appreciated, as it offers flexibility and avoids potential issues with the newer operating system. While there have been a few minor complaints, such as the screen's poor performance in sunlight and the laptop's charging port being different from standard USB-C, these issues have not significantly impacted the overall positive feedback. Some customers have mentioned the need for additional RAM due to modern app requirements, but they see this as an opportunity for customization since there is an open memory slot for easy expansion. In summary, customers generally find the Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R3SU to be a great laptop with impressive performance and value for the price. Its build quality, range of ports, and upgrade options have been highlighted as positive aspects. While there are a few drawbacks, such as the screen's glare and non-standard charging port, customers find the laptop to be a reliable and customizable choice for their computing needs.

Battery Life and Connectivity options

The Acer Aspire A515-45-R311U features a relatively decent battery which will give you roughly 6-7 hours of real-life usage. It's not bad considering the laptop features a top-notch processor and Full HD display which generally tends to eat up battery life.

In terms of connectivity, Acer has you covered with pretty much every option imaginable. Specifically, we've got a USB-C port (which supports data transfers of up to 5 Gbps), three standard USB ports (one with power-off charging), HDMI output, and an Ethernet port.

The only thing missing would be an SD card reader, though these days you can buy a cheap dongle to expand on the connectivity options.

We also truly appreciate the inclusion of the latest WiFi 6 standard with a dual-band connectivity capable of connecting itself to both 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi bands. Obviously, there's Bluetooth connectivity and you've also got an HD webcam that gets the job done.

Bottom line: Should I buy the Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R3SU?

Well, if you're looking for a laptop that works well in everyday use and offers a solid performance along with some light gaming capabilities (in case you want to play older titles on it), then yes.

Specifically, this Acer Aspire A515-45-R311U is an excellent option thanks to its great combination of Full HD display, fast processor, SSD storage, and nice build quality which makes it a great all-rounder for those who need to power through some work at home or at the office. Overall, an excellent mid-range option.