Verdict
The Acer Aspire 3 is a solid all - function laptop computer that provides decent specification at a low price . However , the low - quality display is probable to prove a turn - off for many .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Acer Aspire 3 is one of the more low-cost laptops with some serious power under its belted ammunition .
You could pay off the same amount elsewhere , if you stag around for the Aspire , and get just a quarter of the execution punch by some prosody . There is , however , a fairly substantial stop .
The Acer Aspire 3 has a poor covert , one I find intemperate to work with , even when doing little more than clause writing and internet research . It may be a solid buy if you are less sensitive to screen calibre outlet .
The Acer Aspire 3 retails at £ 549 , although I have seen it sell for as little as £ 399 online . break the progeny you ’ll read about in this brushup , I ’d suggest expect for a cost drib on this one , as it is not all that competitive at its original toll .
Acer deal a lot of version of the Aspire 3 . This review model has a 15.6 - inch sieve , AMD Ryzen 5 processor , 256 GB SSD storage and 8 GB RAM .
Design
Acer prioritised performance and specs in the Acer Aspire 3 . That mean you ca n’t come bear high - course element like an aluminium scale and super - miserable weight .
However , the Acer Aspire 3 looks adequate for its price . It ’s an all - charge card shell that calculate like it could be aluminium at a aloofness , or even up nigh . I do n’t find its control board too flexible , it does n’t creak or give off any foretoken of being poorly made .
Acer has people of experience make stalwart , low - toll laptops , and it render . The Aspire 3 is a 15.6 - inch screen model that consider 1.81 kilo and is 2 cm thick . It ’s a lilliputian threatening to be ideal for everyday portable use , but it will fit happily in a rucksack for offsite meeting or university lecture .
I also wish that , unproblematic as it sound , the silverish aspect score the Aspire 3 appear more like a dash - contribute consumer laptop than some of the more business - attired ones you ’ll find when you shop around .
The Acer Aspire 3 has a becoming keyboard and a passable touchpad . The keys are like those of many budget laptops – they actually have more travel than those of some ultra - premium laptops , but also have a slightly vacuous feeling .
I ’ve preferred Acer keyboard in some of the ship’s company ’s cheap education - obligate laptop computer , but this one is not too bad at all . Thanks to the spare space on the keyboard shell , the Aspire 3 can also meet in a NUM pad .
I discover that , for my use , these are n’t worth it to the extent they shunt the main part of the keyboard off - center . However , the effect is n’t too bad here thanks to the exercise of narrower NUM Francis Scott Key . There ’s no keyboard backlight here , though .
The touchpad is more obviously budget - limited . It is , just as you should expect at this price , a plastic pad . This will find a bit squeaky and high - friction if you ’re switching from an older , higher - end laptop computer with a glass diggings .
The Aspire 3 ’s clicker is also a bit laboured and squishy - feeling , jolly far slay from the apotheosis of being well - delimitate and meaty while retaining a fast flavour . Still , for the money , this level of keyboard and touchpad quality is quite normal .
Screen
The positivistic first impression you get upon unboxing the Acer Aspire 3 is truly test when you turn the thing on , because the screen is not skillful .
mass of internet site appear to suggest the Aspire 3 has an IPS concealment – the kind used in sound and tablets because such panel have excellent viewing Angle . mayhap this series does utilize such a showing in some territories , but my reexamination Aspire 3 clearly has a TN - style panel . It suffers very clearly from contrast shift as you slant the screen back and forwards across its 180 - degree hinge .
Colours eventually invert , and when watching a dark scene in a moving picture it ’s honestly toilsome to cognise exactly how it ’s supposed to look because the view slant sweet spot here is so narrow-minded .
I find it hard to advocate TN - panel laptops at any price these Day , even if the Aspire 3 ’s 1080p firmness sounds bully on paper .
There are other whang - on issue too . color reproduction is very poor . The Aspire 3 covers just 51 % of the sRGB colour standard . The visor cleverness is high-risk , rendering the laptop for the most part useless for oeuvre outdoors , and contrast is imperfect .
However , I would n’t find all of this too much of a barrier to a passport , in this case , were it not for the frightful effect of the TN control board . For example , Acer’sSwift 1has an IPS screen that has technically short people of color reproduction and somewhat modified cleverness , but I think it look great .
Performance
For all the complaint I ’ve had so far in this critique , the core specification Acer tender in the Aspire 3 are undeniably capable .
It use the AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor , 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD . A while back you might have establish these components in an £ 800 laptop – yield , I would n’t advise you drop that much on a laptop computer with a 5500U these sidereal day – it was foretell back in 2021 after all .
However , it does supply dramatically best operation than , for example , the Intel Pentium - based systems you might find sell for similar money .
With such a low - power system task like Photoshop - grade image editing and video editing become ill - advised , to put it lightly . But they are feasible with an Aspire 3 .
The Acer Aspire ’s AMD Risen 5500U also has Vega 7 computer graphic . While this GPU is n’t a temporary hookup on that of the seventh Gen Ryzens useable today , or agaming laptopwith a dedicated graphics poster , the Aspire 3 can still treat some older biz fairly well .
There is one result , though . The Acer Aspire 3 does not rise especially chop-chop out of its sleep mode . This is down to the way it is set up , because the SSD storage is perfectly nipping .
There ’s no USB - C connector here at all , which is a unknown choice in 2023 . Instead , we get two passably fast USB - A connectors , one tedious USB 2.0 , an Ethernet connector , a full - size HDMI and a phone jackass .
The breadth of connectors is good , but the Aspire 3 should really have a USB - C , even if it would likely put up no higher bandwidth than the USB - As . As you might gestate from a no - folderal laptop computer like this , its webcam is a fairly poor 720p modeling , and its speakers are flimsy and not very loud .
Battery life
All the longest - lasting Windows laptop I ’ve used over the last couple of years have had AMD Ryzen mainframe . However , the Acer Aspire 3 ’s shelling life story is merely OK despite using one of them .
It lasts 7 hours 58 minutes of general productiveness work according to my testing with PC Mark 10 . While eight hour is precisely what I look for in a work laptop computer , Acer does n’t put up any additional allowance if , for example , you necessitate to do something somewhat more taxing or have bad internet browser window etiquette .
When teem video , a little under five hours took 79 % off the battery , suggesting it will only last somewhat over six hours . Not great . The Acer Aspire 3 also use a power adaptor with a cylindrical adapter , not aUSB - C.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
A large screen , a healthy amount of power and free weight that does n’t prevail out occasional portable use make the Aspire 3 seem a good all - debauchee laptop for those on a tighter budget .
The depleted - monetary value silver screen serves as a never-ending monitor you are using a tacky laptop computer . Many of you may end up wishing you choose a different model when you come to watch a movie or dally a game .
Final Thoughts
The Acer Aspire 3 offers skilful performance for the price , await serious enough and is n’t too chunky or threatening to reign out occasional portable use .
There ’s one cardinal issue which stop over it from being among thebest budget laptop computer – the show . It does not look great , with a board that brook from hard contrast shift .
If you ’re sound to pass a lot of meter on your laptop , particularly if you want to watch movies or play game , it ’s worth run down a model with an IPS display . We suggest check out theMicrosoft Surface Laptop Go 2 , or even switching over to ChromeOS by checking out ourBest Chromebookroundup .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every laptop we brush up goes through a serial of undifferentiated checks design to gauge cardinal things include build quality , performance , screen quality and battery life .
These let in stately synthetic benchmarks and written trial run , plus a series of real - earth check , such as how well it runs the most frequently used apps .
We also check that to utilise every laptop we look back as our primary gimmick for at least a week to ensure our follow-up is as accurate as potential .
FAQs
While this is an obvious choice for student on a budget , we do n’t conceive the Aspire 3 work well as a jury-rigged TV thanks to its low-pitched - caliber display .
This laptop has a plastic consistence , like most execution - found budget Acer laptop .
It does not have a touchscreen port .
