Acer Aspire E 15 (ES1-511-C59V)
via Amazon
Diamond black Acer Aspire E 15 ES1-512-C88M is a solid, practical and reliable entry-level laptop with a modern slim design that will let you do your daily work, talk to people via email or live on Skype, use social media, surf the net, view photos and videos with its new Celeron N2840 processor, Intel HD graphics, good amounts of memory and hard drive, connectivity options like Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI and USB 3.0 port and quite a long battery life at up to 7 hours. It has its drawbacks like any product, but certainly nothing major especially considering its price tag.
Acer Aspire ES1-512 comes with the dual core Intel Celeron N2840 processor (1MB cache) at 2.16 GHz speed up to 2.58 GHz with Intel Burst technology and no hyper threading, 4 GB DDR3L SDRAM to multitask easily (with a maximum capacity of 8GB on single memory slot), 500 GB SATA hard drive at 5400 rpm spindle speed- ample storage with fast read and write times for a budget PC plus Acer’s Build Your Own Cloud- BYOC system that gives you flexibility in terms of storage size and 64-bit Windows 8.1 with Bing with the more familiar Start screen and button with slightly different functions.
15.6 inch HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit Active Matrix TFT Color LCD display with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio and Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail) card offers decent picture quality when viewing photos or videos and light gaming. It comes with a HDMI port so you can always connect to your HDTV and watch your movies in HD quality on large screen. You can comfortably chat live on Skype via its webcam (640 x 480- not HD) with integrated digital microphone. High Definition Audio Support and two stereo speakers will give you average sound when you listen to music or watch videos- somewhat low volume and you may need external speakers or a headset. As you’d be aware, this is not a gaming laptop but it is interesting to see that it allows you to run games like World of Warcraft fluently at medium settings.
Black matte finish with a unique pattern and nice curvature, simple and stylish Acer Aspire ES1 weighs 5.29 pounds with measurements of 15.02 x 10.16 x 1.03 inches- fairly slim with an average weight (could be lighter) for a 15.6 inch laptop and offers good portability as it lets you be away from power outlets for up to 6.5 to 7 hours on a single charge from its 3-cell lithium-ion battery (3220mAh) and the battery charger is located at the back so no power cords on the sides. Non-backlit keyboard is comfy to type on but with slightly noisy keys and it has no 10-key numeric pad on the side but the responsive Precision Touchpad that is optimised for Windows 8 gestures. Fans work well and let the machine stay cool even after hours of operation. There is no optical drive on this laptop but good connectivity options such as the 802.11bgn wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Media Card Reader – Secure Digital (SD) Card, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x USB 3.0 port and an HDMI port with HDCP Support.
Conclusion: Acer Aspire E15 ES1-512-C88M feels and looks rather premium for its price and nothing like a low cost laptop (solid with good build quality), is easy to set-up and use straight out of the box, is fast and powerful for a budget entry-level laptop with its dual core processor, 4GB memory for smooth multitasking and that can be expanded to a max of 8GB, good amount of storage plus Build Your Own Cloud for as much storage as you want, comes with a good range of convenient connectivity options and a long battery life at up to 7 hours on a single charge (partly because the Celeron N2840 CPU has a Thermal Design Power of only 7.5 watts) however it has no DVD drive (this is a budget PC and even Apple got rid of them in its modern range of computers), keyboard doesn’t have a 10-key numpad for easy data entry even though this is a 15.6 inch laptop and the Windows 8 operating system is not everyone’s favourite. This is a great value computer and if you want something fast and durable to get your basic daily work done like the majority of computer users, it is definitely a good one to have a closer look.
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