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Tablets and smartphones may have taken over a lot of older computing devices, but at any given point of time, there will always be a strong demand in the market for affordable laptops, mostly by students. And the things that are sought after in an entry-level laptop are reliability, a sturdy build, enough power for basic computing needs and a good battery backup.
Acer has a new offering in this segment, the Aspire E 15, and Technophile is ready to tell you whether this new laptop is a must-have for the budget laptop buyer.
Design and build
The Aspire E 15 is a 15.6-inch laptop, and being an entry level device it is shod in plastic casing all over. However, the plastic casing looks and feels quite sturdy. The back lid has nice spiral-dots pattern, which is also replicated in the big and comfy palmrest. This pattern also creates a good grip. The island-type keyboard is not backlit, but the keys have a very good tactile response and there’s ample travel between the keys.
What we really liked about the E 15 is that it comes with an ample amount of ports – it’s got two USB 2.0s, one USB 3.0, an HDMI port, an SD card reader and an Ethernet RJ45 port. For a beginner or a student, these are quite good. Moreover, it’s also got a DVD burner.
However, there are two problems with the design. The first is the heat dissipation – the device gets quite hot on the lap after a few hours, and it feels like the ventilation isn’t appropriate. The other problem is that the E 15 laptop is a bit on the heavier side at nearly 2.5 kilos. Entry-level or not, it’s always good to have a lighter device.
Specs and performance
The Aspire E 15 is powered by an Intel Celeron processor, which clocks up to 2.4GHz. This is augmented further by 2GB of RAM, and there’s 500GB of on-board storage. On these specs, we could manage everyday computing such as surfing, word processing, making slideshows and watching a few movies quite easily.
The device readily multitasks, as long as you’re not using something that takes up a lot of graphic memory. In fact, we even played Counter Strike Source on the Aspire E 15 and the performance was better than what we expected. The multimedia capabilities are a bit on the lower side, because the speakers aren’t too great, and the maximum resolution supported by the display is only 1024x768 pixels.
We could get a battery life of 7.5 hours on an average, on a single charge cycle with mixed usage.
Verdict
The Acer Aspire E 15 doesn’t offer standout looks, nor does it come in a super-slim package. But it delivers what it promises – basic computing needs on a budget. For its price, we think it’s a good value for money proposition.
₹21,999
Love – Performance; build quality
Hate – Heat dissipation; speakers
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