Wednesday, January 14, 2015

GADGET REVIEW : Acer Aspire E5-571G, performance on a budget

 GADGET REVIEW: Acer Aspire E5-571G, performance on a budget



Acer Aspire E5-571G 
Price: Rs 59,999 
Specifications: Fourth gen Intel Core i7 4510 processor, 12GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Nvidia 820M with 2GB RAM, 15.6-inch display with 1366 x 768 resolution, DVD-RW, HDMI, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x USB 3.0, VGA, Ethernet, SD card reader, webcam, Windows 8.1, 6-cell battery, 2.5kg 
Pros: Excellent build quality, bright display with good viewing angles, top-notch hardware, great performance, good battery 

Cons: no touchscreen, no backlit keyboard, noise visible in webcam, only 3 USB ports 

Acer's E-series of notebooks has always delivered excellent value for money. Acer has expanded the range with six and the Aspire E5-571G is the new top-of-the-line notebook that delivers high performance hardware and specs at an unbelievable price. 
For the price (Rs 59,999) you get a fourth generation Intel core i7 processor, a staggering 12GB of RAM, 1 TB storage and an Nvidia 820M graphic card with 2GB dedicated memory. Windows 8.1 comes preloaded on the notebook and needless to say the performance from such hardware is superb. 
We tried to strain the hardware by running a full HD video alongside working with multiple images in Adobe Lightroom, but the notebook managed it without an issue. High-end games including BioShock Infinite, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Need for Speed: Rivals ran with high graphics setting. Thanks to Acer's excellent cooling system, we did not have any extreme heating up issues.

The brushed aluminum finish on the top lid gives the notebook a professional look but you should know that the body is all plastic. At 2.5kg, it feels well balanced for a laptop with 15.6-inch display. The island style keyboard is great to use and so is the large trackpad (with multiple gesture support). Acer has included a full size keyboard and a separate number pad - this is great for most users. However, the keyboard is not backlit and the arrow keys are small compared to the usual full size keyboards you get on laptops.. Our main issue however, is with the display. Resolution is a paltry 1366 x 768 pixels and it is not a touchscreen -a full HD touchscreen would really do justice to the rest of the hardware - and it could be offered as an option.

For a large 15.6-inch laptop, we felt that Acer has also cut corners with the number of ports. You get only 3 USB ports (only one of which is USB 3.0). There are the standard SD card reader, HDMI, Ethernet and VGA ports also present. The webcam works well for video calls but there is visible noise - an issue common with most laptops. Speaker output is also average - there is no bass at all even though the volume is loud.

In our day-to-day usage, we were able to get a battery life of up to 6 hours. With heavy gaming, the battery backup was around three and half hours. Overall, while the Acer Aspire E5-571G impresses with its performance, it has its share of quirks that might be a turn off for some potential buyers. For roughly the same price, you can consider Dell's Inspiron 15 (5000 series). It has a 15.6-inch touchscreen full HD display, Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, AMD M265 GPU but skips the optical drive that the Acer has. 


By Karan Bajaj, ET 29 Dec, 2014

No comments: