Acer Aspire 1 Review: An Affordable Stylish Laptop

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Acer Aspire 1: At First Glance

The competition among laptop manufacturers is getting tighter by the day. Acer, being the world’s third-largest PC manufacturer, doesn’t want to be left behind.

The desire Acer has to stay at the top is very visible in the effort that it put into building the Acer Aspire 1. This Acer Aspire 1 is a sleek 15-inch laptop that offers decent performance for basic computing tasks.

Impressively, this laptop comes at an affordable price. To give more details, at the time of writing this article in November 2021, the Aspire 1 had a starting price of $308.00.

With such a low price tag, will the Acer Aspire 1 be able to deliver the features and performance that buyers seek? Read on to satisfy your curiosity.

Acer Aspire 1: Design, Dimensions, and Weight

Low-cost, durable laptops with appealing designs are hard to come by these days. With the Acer Aspire 1, you’re about to get a taste of one.

Specifically, the Acer Aspire 1 features a sleek design with a chassis made of durable brushed metal. In addition to that, the lid of the laptop has a shiny silver color.

However, because the laptop’s lid has a matte finish, it attracts fingerprints and scratches. On a positive note, you will find a silver Acer logo on the center of the lid – this adds additional beauty to the already appealing design.

Opening the laptop’s lid reveals the glossy black bezels surrounding its display screen. These bezels aren’t thick nor thin – they are about the average size.

However, since this is an affordable laptop, you’ll notice a number of flaws, such as stiff hinges. Due to the laptop’s stiff hinges, you won’t be able to open the laptop with one hand.

Nevertheless, the stiff hinges aren’t particularly a bad thing as they hold the laptop’s display in place.

Speaking of the display, the Acer Aspire 1 features a 15-inch display, as mentioned earlier. Furthermore, this laptop display comes with an HD (1366 x 768) resolution.

Moreover, the display is also available with FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution.

That said, the Aspire 1’s display has an impressive brightness – it achieves a maximum brightness of 310 nits. Therefore, the laptop is suitable for use outdoors or in well-lit environments.

With that being said, let’s move on to the keyboard of the laptop. The Acer Aspire 1 features the standard chiclet keyboard that offers a decent typing experience, which is unusual for a budget laptop.

To be more specific, this keyboard on the Acer Aspire 1 has good feedback and 1.2-millimeter key travel. In addition to that, the keys are decently spaced and are large enough but not too large.

Sadly, the keyboard isn’t backlit. Therefore, you won’t enjoy typing in dark environments.

Proceeding to the touchpad, the touchpad on the Acer Aspire 1 is just fine for an inexpensive laptop. This touchpad can be found on the bottom of the keyboard.

Furthermore, the touchpad has integrated click buttons that offer just the right amount of key travel. Also, the touchpad has a pretty smooth surface that makes navigation easy.

Next up, the speakers, Acer included a pair of stereo speakers on the Aspire 1. These speakers are situated on the base of the laptop.

Unfortunately, the sound that the speakers generate is very poor and inaudible. Therefore, if you know you will be watching movies a lot on the Acer Aspire 1, you better get a headphone or external speaker.

Moving on, the Acer Aspire 1 has a solid number of ports, which are shared on the sides of the laptop. On the left side, you have a USB 2.0 port, an SD card slot, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a Kensington lock.

The right side, on the other hand, features a headphone/mic combo jack and two USB 3.2 ports. Also, there are two LED indicators for power and battery level, along with the power jack on the right.

Unfortunately, despite being a 2021 laptop, the Acer Aspire 1 doesn’t come with a Thunderbolt port.

Now for the dimension and weight of the laptop, the Acer Aspire 1 measure 363.2 x 238.7 x 19.8 mm. The laptop weighs 1900.5 g.

With this weight, the Acer Aspire 1 is light enough to the carried around for a long period of time. However, this laptop isn’t as light as the HP Stream 14 that weighs 1496.85 g.

On a positive note, the Acer Aspire 1 weighs less than the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 which weighs a massive 2267.96 g.

In conclusion, I will rate the Acer Aspire 1 an eight out of ten in this design review section.

Acer Aspire 1: Processor (CPU) Performance

For the processor, the Acer Aspire 1 employs the Intel Celeron 4500 processor. This processor has a base frequency of 1.10 GHz and a maximum frequency of 2.80 GHz.

Furthermore, the Aspire 1’s processor is designed to handle simple computing tasks and light multitasking. As a result, if you use this laptop to perform any intensive task like video editing, you will notice a lot of lag.

Now, let me share a real-world test result of the Acer Aspire 1’s processing performance that I found during my research. In this real-world test, it is said that the Acer Aspire 1 should be able to open about 10 Chrome tabs without experiencing any issue.

However, if the Chrome tabs are more than 10, the laptop will definitely lag. Notwithstanding, the laptop is perfect for word processing, web browsing, and streaming videos on YouTube.

To further verify the Acer Aspire 1’s processing performance, I will now share the laptop’s result on a Geekbench 4 benchmark test. This benchmark test is a common test tool that measures a computer’s capability to perform office-related computing tasks.

Furthermore, the test measures how slow or how fast the computer is able to carry out the task. A high score on the test means the computer is fast while a low score means the computer is slow.

Thankfully, the Acer Aspire 1 delivered a high score – it scored 3,349 points according to the Geekbench 4 test result. Comparatively, the Acer Aspire 1 performed better than the HP Stream 14 which scored only 1,817 points.

However, the Aspire 1’s score falls short of the budget laptop category average of 3,622 points. Therefore, I will rate the Acer Aspire 1 a seven out of ten in this processor performance review section.

Acer Aspire 1: Memory (RAM) Performance

The Acer Aspire 1 comes with a single DDR4 SDRAM slot which can only accommodate a maximum RAM capacity of 4 GB. The maximum RAM capacity that this laptop offer is somewhat low.

However, it is not something unusual as this is always the case with most low-budget laptops. Notwithstanding, handling basic tasks should not be a problem for the Acer Aspire 1 with 4 GB.

To give more details, you will be able to edit documents, browse the web, and even watch movies with ease on the Acer Aspire 1. Furthermore, with its 4 GB RAM, the laptop should be able to handle light-multitasking.

Moving on, I will now be sharing a PCMark 10 benchmark test result based on the Acer Aspire 1 with 4 GB. I found this benchmark test result on notebookcheck.net during my quest to find more about the laptop’s performance.

Furthermore, the PCMark 10 benchmark test measures the memory capability of a computer by running a series of real-world-like tasks on the computer. So, based on the benchmark test result, Acer Aspire 1 achieved a score of 1,879 points.

Unfortunately, this score is below the category average of 1,934 points. Nevertheless, the Acer Aspire 1’s score is significantly above the 1,512 points achieved by the HP Stream 14.

However, when compared to the Lenovo V130 14IGM, the Acer Aspire 1 performed less. To be more specific, the Lenovo V130 14IGM scored a whopping 2,052 points according to the PCMark 10 benchmark test result.

In conclusion, the Acer Aspire 1 offers a limited amount of RAM capacity. However, its 4 GB maximum RAM is enough for performing basic computing tasks.

Hence, to conclude this memory review section, I will rate the Acer Aspire 1 a seven out of ten.

Acer Aspire 1: Storage Options and Performance

For the Acer Aspire 1, an eMMC drive is provided as the system’s storage. This storage drive supports a maximum capacity of 128 GB.

Moreover, you can also purchase the Acer Aspire 1 with a 64 GB eMMC storage drive. However, this review is based on the Acer Aspire 1 with 128 GB of eMMC storage.

128 GB should be sufficient for most users to save their videos, pictures, songs, and applications. However, for storage-hungry users, I doubt if 128 GB will be enough.

Thankfully, the Acer Aspire 1 offers an SD card reader for storage expansion.

In my quest to find out about the Acer Aspire 1’s eMMC storage performance, I found a file transfer test result based on the laptop’s performance. Based on the file transfer test, the Acer Aspire 1’s eMMC storage was able to transfer 4.97 GB of multimedia files in just 1 minute and 2 seconds.

Impressively, the laptop was able to transfer such heavy files at a transfer rate of 82.1 megabytes per second (MBps)

Comparatively, the Acer Aspire 1’s transfer speed is about three times faster than the HP Stream 14‘s 24.7 MBps. Also, this Acer laptop’s transfer speed is faster than the Dell Inspiron 15 3000’s transfer speed of 25.7 MBps.

Interestingly, the Acer Aspire 1’s transfer speed is also faster than the category average of 47.2 MBps.

Lastly, I will be rating the Acer Aspire 1 an eight out of ten in this storage review section.

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Acer Aspire 1: Graphics Card Performance

The Acer Aspire 1 comes with an integrated graphics card, as expected from a low-cost laptop. To give more details, this laptop comes with Integrated Intel UHD Graphics.

Furthermore, this GPU has a 350 MHz base frequency and a 750 MHz boost frequency. However, this graphics card lack dedicated VRAM due to the fact that it is embedded into the processor of the laptop.

Therefore, to perform graphics tasks, the graphics card shares memory with the CPU. As a result, don’t expect the graphics card to deliver smooth performance when running graphics-intensive apps or playing high-end games.

Notwithstanding, the Acer Aspire 1 with this graphics card should have enough power to play web games and a few outdated games like FIFA 12. Also, the laptop will be able to play almost all the games on the Microsoft Store such as Candy Crush.

To further determine the graphics performance of the Acer Aspire 1, I will now offer a 3DMARK benchmark test result that I got from notebookcheck.net. Basically, this benchmark test works by rendering 2D and 3D graphics so users can know how a computer renders graphics.

So, based on the 3DMARK test result, the Acer Aspire 1 scored 22,965 points. Comparatively, this score is way better than the 19,073 points scored by the HP Stream 14.

Additionally, the Acer Aspire 1 performed better than the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 which scored 18,154 points based on the same 3DMARK test result.

In conclusion, the Acer Aspire 1 may not be able to play high-end games with its graphics card. However, it sure performs better than most of its competitors.

Hence, the Acer Aspire 1 deserves a seven out of ten rating in this graphics card review section.

Acer Aspire 1: Battery Life and Performance

When it comes to battery, a 2-cell Lithium-ion 4870 mAh powers the Acer Aspire 1. According to Acer’s website, this battery should last about 8 hours.

However, it is hard to trust manufacturers’ claims nowadays. Therefore, I did some digging to verify Acer’s battery life claim.

Thankfully, I was able to find out that the Acer Aspire 1 should last about 6 hours and 31 minutes. This battery life was gotten from a web browsing test conducted by laptopmag.com.

This test involves setting the laptop’s brightness to 150 nits, then continuously surfing the web via a WIFI connection till the laptop dies.

In comparison, the battery life of the Acer Aspire 1 is shorter than that of the HP Stream 14. Specifically, the HP Stream 14 lasted 7 hours 4 minutes on the same web browsing test.

On a positive note, the Acer Aspire 1 has a better battery life than the Dell Inspiron 15 3000. The Dell Inspiron 15 3000 was only able to last 5 hours and 33 minutes on the web browsing test.

In conclusion, even though the Acer Aspire 1 won’t last for a whole day, its battery life is still adequate. Therefore, I will rate the laptop an eight out of ten.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The Acer Aspire 1 is a low-cost laptop with a decent processor and a good battery life. In addition to that, this laptop offers a good balance of performance and durability.

Additionally, the Acer Aspire 1 has a sleek design that would make buyers think it isn’t a budget laptop. Unfortunately, this laptop comes with a few flaws, as expected from a budget laptop.

The laptop’s weak speaker, lack of a Thunderbolt port, and limited RAM capacity are among these flaws. Regardless, despite these flaws, the laptop still offers decent performance.

Therefore, if you are on a budget and need an adequate-performing laptop, the Acer Aspire 1 is worth considering.

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