The Acer Aspire 5 15 (2020) is a mid-range ultraportable Windows laptop. It sits between the entry-level Aspire 3 in Acer's Aspire line of laptops and the higher-end Aspire 7. It's available with Intel 10th Gen. and AMD Ryzen 4000 U-series CPUs, up to 32GB of memory, and 512GB of storage. In addition to integrated graphics, you can also configure this laptop with an NVIDIA GeForce MX350 or AMD Radeon RX 640 discreet GPU. Display options include a 1080p TN, a 1080p IPS, and a 768p IPS touch-sensitive panel. It has Wi-Fi 6 wireless connectivity, a 720p webcam, and a 49Wh battery.
You can see our unit's specifications and the available configuration options in the Differences Between Variants section.
Our Verdict
The Acer Aspire 5 is okay for school use. It feels well-built and is easy to carry around. You can get it with an Intel or AMD CPU, all of which are fast enough to handle light productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, and video playback. It has a comfortable keyboard, a responsive touchpad, and a decent port selection, including four USBs and an HDMI port. Unfortunately, the display doesn't get very bright, so you may have some visibility issues in well-lit settings, and the battery lasts only around seven hours of light use. This laptop isn't ideal for students in fields like engineering or 3D graphics, as the available CPUs and GPUs can't handle demanding workloads.
- Sturdy chassis.
- Laptop and charger are very portable.
- Comfortable keyboard.
- Short battery life.
- Screen doesn't get bright enough for sunny rooms.
- CPU and GPU can't handle demanding workloads.
The Acer Aspire 5 isn't designed for gaming. It's only available with low-power CPUs and GPUs, which aren't powerful enough to handle demanding games. You can play older or lighter titles, but you'll have to play with low settings to get playable frame rates. Also, its 60Hz screen has no support for VRR. On the bright side, it doesn't get hot or loud under load.
- Little performance loss over time.
- Quiet fans under load.
- Fairly easy to access internals for repairs and upgrades.
- Must lower graphics settings for playable framerates.
- 60Hz refresh rate with no VRR support.
- CPU and GPU can't handle demanding workloads.
The Acer Aspire 5 is sub-par for media consumption. The speakers get pretty loud, but they sound unnatural and lack bass. Unfortunately, all three available displays look dim and slightly washed out. Also, they aren't ideal for dark room viewing due to their low contrast ratio. The laptop is easy to carry, but the battery lasts less than five hours of video playback.
- Laptop and charger are very portable.
- Short battery life.
- Screen doesn't get bright enough for sunny rooms.
- Narrow color gamut and terrible color accuracy.
- Speakers sound unnatural.
The Acer Aspire 5 is designed for use as a workstation. It's only available with low-power CPUs and GPUs, which aren't powerful enough to handle demanding tasks like video editing or programming. It isn't ideal for color-critical work, as the available displays have a narrow color gamut. On the upside, the RAM and storage drive are user-replaceable, and the laptop doesn't get hot or loud under load.
- Little performance loss over time.
- Quiet fans under load.
- Fairly easy to access internals for repairs and upgrades.
- CPU and GPU can't handle demanding workloads.
- Narrow color gamut and terrible color accuracy.
The Acer Aspire 5 is decent for business use. It feels well-built and is easy to carry around, thanks to its compact design. It's available with Intel or AMD CPUs, which are adequate for productivity tasks like text processing, spreadsheets, video calls, and presentations. The keyboard feels comfortable to type on, and the touchpad is small but responsive. Unfortunately, the battery doesn't last a full workday, so you'll need to bring the charger with you. Also, none of the available displays get very bright, so visibility may be a problem in well lit rooms.
- Sturdy chassis.
- Laptop and charger are very portable.
- Comfortable keyboard.
- Fairly easy to access internals for repairs and upgrades.
- Short battery life.
- Screen doesn't get bright enough for sunny rooms.
- CPU and GPU can't handle demanding workloads.
Changelog
- Updated Aug 07, 2024: Added mention of the Acer Aspire 5 15 (2023) as an alternative with newer, faster CPUs in the Cinebench R23 section.
- Updated Dec 07, 2023: Converted to Test Bench 0.8.2.
- Updated Nov 30, 2023: Updated the review to improve clarity and readability.
- Updated Nov 03, 2023: Converted to Test Bench 0.8.1.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Acer Aspire 5 A515 with a 15.6-inch IPS display, an Intel Core i5-1035G1, NVIDIA GeForce MX350 dedicated graphics, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD. The screen, CPU, GPU, memory, storage, and finish are configurable, and you can see the available options below.
Acer has also released newer variants of the Aspire 5 with 11th Gen Intel and Ryzen 5000–series CPUs, and 14-inch and 17-inch sizes. However, they've had a slight design refresh and use CPUs with different architectures, so to avoid confusion, we consider them entirely different models.
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You can see our unit's label here.
Popular Laptop Comparisons
The Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop is a decent ultraportable for general productivity but doesn't stand out in any way. It has slightly better build quality than other laptops in its price range; however, its battery life is sub-par.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best laptops, the best business laptops, and the best laptops for college.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15 (2021) and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019) are both thin and light Windows laptops. The Surface Laptop 3 provides a better user experience for the most part because it has a sharper, brighter, and more color-accurate display, its keyboard feels better to type on, and its touchpad is larger and more responsive. The Surface Laptop 3 has a better webcam and microphone for video calls. However, the IdeaPad 3 has a wider port selection, longer battery life, and its AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs perform significantly better than the AMD Ryzen 3000 processors on the Surface Laptop 3.
The Acer Aspire 5 15 (2020) is a productivity-focused device, whereas the Acer Nitro 5 15 (2020) is a gaming laptop. The Nitro also has great performance as a workstation, as it's available in a variety of high-power Intel and AMD CPUs, an NVIDIA GTX 1650 or 1650Ti GPU, up to 16GB of RAM, and fast NVMe SSDs, with amazing serviceability. Also, it has better-sounding speakers, and it gets better battery life. The Aspire is much more portable, it has a better keyboard, webcam, and microphone, and it has much better thermal and noise handling. You can get it with an entry-level dedicated GPU, but it won't perform nearly as well for games or workstation tasks.
The Acer Aspire 5 15 (2020) and the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 (2020) are both Windows devices available in a wide variety of Intel and AMD CPUs. However, the Lenovo is a convertible 2-in-1 with a touchscreen, while the Acer is a traditional clamshell laptop. The Lenovo is better for school use, as it's much more portable, has a significantly longer battery life, and has a nicer-feeling keyboard. It also has a better port selection and better-sounding speakers, and you can get it with an HDR 400–certified IPS display. On the other hand, the Acer's larger screen is better for multitasking, it has more serviceable parts, and you can get it with more powerful dedicated GPUs. Also, its webcam, microphone, and touchpad are better.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2019) is a premium-feeling laptop running macOS, whereas the Acer Aspire 5 15 (2020) is a Windows device available in a wide variety of Intel and AMD CPUs. The MacBook is a significantly better laptop overall, with significantly superior construction, a far better display, and a better touchpad, speakers, webcam, and microphone. Also, it gets better battery life, has a faster SSD, and can be equipped with superior dedicated GPUs. The Acer has more serviceable parts, it has a much better-feeling keyboard, and it has far better thermal and noise handling.
Test Results
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