Is this a good laptop? Are Acer Aspire laptops worth it?

[Claymoresama]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Aspire-5-A515-51-3509-15-6-Full-HD-1920-x-1080-7th-Gen-Intel-Core-i3-7100U-8GB-DDR4-1TB-HDD-Windows-10-Home/230736492

I'm looking for a budget laptop for school to replace my old one. I saw this one at my local walmart and thought it was a good price for the specs. I can pay about $30 more for the i5 model as well. I've heard mixed things about Acer laptops so i wanted to ask Tom's Hardware's awesome community.

Are Acer Aspire laptops like the one linked above any good? Are they cheap because they're low quality or because Acer is a simple, budget company? I'm not too familiar with Acer except their cheap monitors which have served me well in the past.

 

[mcnumpty23]

i bought a factory refurbed acer aspire timeline 4 or 5 years ago--i5 cpu

still running perfectly today

 

[Claymoresama]

i bought a factory refurbed acer aspire timeline 4 or 5 years ago--i5 cpu

still running perfectly today

Wow that's impresive. When I looked at LaptopMags review of Acer laptops it seemed like they weren't half bad. Their are other offerings in this price range but they seemed way worse. I tried this laptop on display and thought it had a decent keyboard and trackpad and it's construction was well built for the price.

 

[jaslion]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Aspire-5-A515-51-3509-15-6-Full-HD-1920-x-1080-7th-Gen-Intel-Core-i3-7100U-8GB-DDR4-1TB-HDD-Windows-10-Home/230736492

I'm looking for a budget laptop for school to replace my old one. I saw this one at my local walmart and thought it was a good price for the specs. I can pay about $30 more for the i5 model as well. I've heard mixed things about Acer laptops so i wanted to ask Tom's Hardware's awesome community.

Are Acer Aspire laptops like the one linked above any good? Are they cheap because they're low quality or because Acer is a simple, budget company? I'm not too familiar with Acer except their cheap monitors which have served me well in the past.

Well almost any sub 500$ laptop is meant to last about 5 years max nowadays. However with those specs it's likely you will have upgraded by then. No matter the brand cheap = cut corner (usually lower quality parts).

 

[jaguarskx]

Acer has generally been improving the quality of their laptops especially their more expensive laptops.

Below are links to "Acer 2017 Report Card" on the overall quality. And another for customer support which is ranked #2 only behind Apple.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/acer-brand-rating

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/acer-tech-support


Having said that, nearly all budget laptops cut corners to stay within a budget. If you can afford to buy the version with the i57200u, then I suggest you so for only $30. Below is a review for the i3-7100u version of the Acer; it also contains a link to Amazon where the Acer laptop is selling for $350, but it is on back order for now since it states "Usually ships within 3 to 6 weeks". There is also a link to other related video which shows you how to upgrade the RAM and storage, as well as some game demos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcdK_jmyOJY

 

[dudeman509]

I've had a cheap Aspire for ~4 years now. SSD and Pentium->i7 upgrade, and it still works beautifully.

Surprisingly, the battery still has 80% of its original capacity too...my Dell's went to holding ~15 mins of charge within 3 years.

 

[Claymoresama]

I've had a cheap Aspire for ~4 years now. SSD and Pentium->i7 upgrade, and it still works beautifully.

Surprisingly, the battery still has 80% of its original capacity too...my Dell's went to holding ~15 mins of charge within 3 years.

My old 4 year old dell is like that too. I just replaced the battery and ordered a new charger but the port might be damaged and thats why i'm just considering getting something new.

 

[mcnumpty23]

yes mine is still on original battery and still holds hours of charge even after that length of time

even though it is the higher cell battery in it thats still impressed me

 

[jcarrillolay]

I have actually had my acer aspire i'm pretty sure it was refurnished(my mother bought it for me when i was in the beginning of grade 7). Seven years later i'm in college with the same laptop(only issue is that it cant be unplugged or it dies) but apart from that it's a fast laptop. Sadly it's very heavy and the programs are not updated so I'm in the market for a new acer laptop. I will still use this one as my backup. AMAZING LAPTOP been amazing for SEVEN YEARSSSSSSSS