Acer Aspire 5 (15.6-Inch, 2017) Series

Smart design ; Good all-round performance ; Keeps cool and quiet

A515 version has poor screen ; Cramped cursor keys ; No keyboard backlight

A decent quality mid-range laptop – but be mindful of the version you buy.

Good battery life ; Up-to-date components ; Good build quality ; Decent performance ; Well priced

Cheap-feeling touchpad ; Screen isn’t the most vibrant ; Not as light and thin as other laptops

The Acer Aspire 5 is a mid-range laptop that ticks pretty much all the boxes you’d want for a day-to-day laptop: it performs most tasks well, plays media fine and has a very good battery life, all for a compelling price.

Solid processor performance ; Low price for a solid state drive ; Decent build quality for the money ; Plethora of ports

Screen is dim and seriously lacks in colors and contrast ; Battery life could be better ; Keyboard isn’t backlit

Build quality, lightweight gaming performance, and productivity chops are what separate the Acer Aspire 5 from some other budget laptop alternatives. The display sets it back, though, with a dimness and lack of contrast that makes using it far less...

Affordable price ; Rugged build ; Great keyboard ; Good selection of ports

Affordable price ; Rugged build ; Great keyboard ; Good selection of ports

With its affordable price, decent performance, and robust build, the Acer Aspire 5 is a great budget option for most people.

Intel Optane Memory boosts hard drive speed. 1080p resolution. Comfortable keyboard.

Dim, dark display. Scanty 4GB of system RAM. Lackluster battery life. No SSD, backlit keyboard, touch screen, or Windows Hello support.

Bottom Line: Intel's Optane Memory perks up the 1TB hard drive of Acer's $500 Aspire 5 laptop, but a dim screen and tepid performance will keep it off budget buyers' short lists.

Optane memory delivers impressive boost to HDD performance ; Solid quad-core performance given its budget price ; Springy, tactile keyboard

Dim display with poor viewing angles ; A little heavier and thicker than competing ultraportables ; No keyboard backlighting

Ample memory and storage including SSD. USB-C port. Great battery life.

Dismal display.

Are we being overly fussy, insisting that you should insist on a full HD and IPS display in this price range? Maybe, but we know that such a screen will make you a lot happier than having 12GB versus 8GB of RAM or a hard drive in addition to an SSD....

Inexpensive ; Plenty of mainstream productivity power ; Impressive battery life ; Fingerprint reader

Dim display ; No memory card reader ; So-so quad-core performance

Another benchmark that pushes a CPU to its limits, Cinebench measures how long it takes for a given system to render a 3D image in real time. It’s another multi-core torture test, and again, we should look for laptops with the most processor cores to...