Writing this review from this laptop, overall very satisfied, and this is coming from someone with a very powerful desktop computer (5800X3D, RTX 3080).
CPU: The Ryzen mobile processors are absolutely insane, they outperform intel in raw performance and somehow also use less power. Ryzen also usually has significantly better integrated graphics. This processor will easily take anything the average person throws at it, including dozens of chrome tabs, email, music, movies, etc.
SSD: This laptop is astonishingly fast to boot. It rivals my desktop which is an 8 core 16 thread beast with ram that is about 50% faster, and a boot SSD roughly twice as fast. Yet somehow boots as fast or faster. I don't have nearly the amount of random software on the laptop but still. You won't be disappointed in load times.
RAM: Admittedly 8GB may be on the low side, but this is not aimed at gamers or productivity so I cant exactly count off for that. What I can say is that having upgradeable RAM is a huge plus, I added another 8GB stick for a total of 16GB. While I haven't tested personally, from what I've seen online in gaming is that making the RAM dual channel roughly doubles FPS. which is insane performance gain for about $40. One downside is the RAM is a bit slow at 2400mhz, and since the original 8GB is soldered on you will never get the ram any faster unfortunately.
GPU: as for as integrated graphics go, this is pretty darn good, for anything other than gaming, it can handle with ease. for gaming, it can handle just about any 2D or indie game, things like binding of isaac, mario, minecraft, terraria, etc. For 3d stuff don't expect a miracle. Its capable, but this is a laptop with no discrete GPU were talking about. for what its worth I played a lot of 'Ty the Tasmanian Tiger' on it and it ran med settings 1080p locked at 60fps. War thunder gets 40fps at min 1080.
Thermals: Holy moly, I always expected laptops to run hot, but this thing somehow manages to be insanely cool. Idle is usually under 50-60 and gaming is usually 60-70. the max is about 105, but will throttle around 80 I think. I even have it on top of blankets sometimes and if the load isn't too heavy its still fine. The fan is also nearly silent which is impressive given its a centrifugal fan which are typically loud. After first turning it on, its nearly ambient temperature for a few minutes which is amazing.
Construction: The all metal chassis is awesome, Its not particularly light, the weight is listed so you can compare to similar laptops, but I don't think its unnecessarily heavy. I can lift it with one hand from the corner and not worry about it bending. I can also press really hard and not feel in bend in. It also of course is more resistant to scratches, spills, etc and feels nice than plastic. it will also help a bit with heat dissipation. Edit: I scratched the cover next to the touch pad rather easily. The costing is silver and the scratch is black so it's very noticeable. Doesn't bother but worth noting. I also broke the hinge. The left side hinge broke but it was very easy to take apart and I just threw in a butt load of glue lol
Screen: Its ehh. there's nothing wrong with it, but its a generic 1080p IPS screen. Colors are average, black is
average. though it does have a lot of that color shift when you press on the screen but that's pretty irrelevant. The bezels are pretty small too
Keyboard: They are clearly membrane keys. They don't feel super satisfying, but its not bad. Its also backlit which is nice. and the key tops feel pretty good, just a good mixture of smoothness without being slippery. I also enjoy having an actual numpad along with a few extras like, delete, insert pg up/dn, etc. the Function keys also have all the standard laptop functions like disabling touchpad, brightness, keyboard backlight, etc.
Webcam: its good, not amazing but the resolution is definitely good enough.
Battery: unfortunately I cant give any accurate estimates for battery life. I ironically have it on the charger a lot. and I also do some gaming and stuff that isn't indicative of normal use. I can say these Ryzen APUs are pretty efficient though. Edit: the battery is pretty good. I don't usually use it for long periods. But I watch Netflix on it occasionally and it lasts probably several hours on a charge
I/O: pretty darn good. 4 USB ports, with 2 being 3.0, 1 being 2.0, and 1 type C 3.1. they're also on both sides if you like having cables on certain sides. Also has ethernet, full size HDMI, 3.5mm aux, power in and Kensington lock. 1 Thing I wish it had was being able to be powered through the USB C port. Not a huge deal, some laptops accept it, but I understand its actually a complicated thing to implement, as the USB C port would need to both be a power in and out, depending on what's plugged in. no micro SD reader, minor inconvenience, USB adapters exist.
Software: Acer has pretty minimal bloatware it seems. it has "Acer Care Center" which actually seems pretty useful. has a myriad of PC health and monitoring tools.
Upgrades: As previously mentioned I added more RAM, helps a lot. and it was very very easy. Other than the annoying amount of screws on the back, the RAM is easy to upgrade. However the SSD was not! unfortunately the factory screws in all the internal screws insanely tight. To plug in a 2.5" SSD you have to remove the WIFI card to access the SSD port underneath. Trying to unscrew the WIFI card was a nightmare. no matter how hard I tried I could not unscrew it without it stripping. This was with atleast 50 pounds of weight on this screw. I tried various tricks like a rubber band pressed into the slot and super glue over night. nothing would work. I even bought a screw extractor and that didn't work. In the end I took a drill bit and drilled out the screw. which sadly destroys the screw and threads, I then Installed the SSD and used a rubber band to hold the wifi card in place :)
Another small negative is that there isn't any physical notch between the screen and bottom piece so when its closed its not super easy to open, you kinda have to wedge a finger in it.
After 2 years it's still great!
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |
| Processor | 3.7 GHz ryzen_5_3500u |
| RAM | 8 GB DDR4 |
| Hard Drive | 256 GB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | AMD Radeon Vega 8 |
| Chipset Brand | AMD |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 2 MB |
| Wireless Type | 802.11ac |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 1 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 5 Hours |
