Acer Aspire E1 review

Budget laptops rarely set the pulse racing, but the Acer Aspire E1 excites purely by virtue of its price. For a mere £350, this 15.6in laptop touts a Core i3 CPU, 750GB hard disk and all the essential trimmings. See also: what’s the best laptop you can buy in 2014?

Acer Aspire E1 review: Design

Physically, it’s unmistakably a low-cost laptop. The plain, plastic chassis is finished in matte black, and every edge softens into an inoffensive curve, without a sharp edge in sight. It isn’t completely devoid of style, however: the black plastics are enlivened by the sparkle of tiny flecks of silver beneath the surface.

And despite the plastic construction, build quality is solid throughout. There’s a little flex and creak in the 2.2kg chassis if you manhandle it, but it’s pretty sturdy by budget standards.

The keyboard is a pleasure to use, thanks to widely spaced keys and an uncluttered layout – there’s a reassuring spring to every keystroke, and a full-sized numeric keypad alongside. Our only niggle with the large, buttonless touchpad was its reticence to register edge-swipes; the raised lip around the outside means that it’s necessary to carefully draw your finger in from the edge.

Acer Aspire E1 review: Performance

Internally, the Aspire E1 boasts a very capable specification. The 1.8GHz Intel Core i3 processor is a low-voltage Ivy Bridge-generation CPU, so it’s a little slower than today’s standard Core i3s, but it’s perfectly adequate for everyday tasks. A result of 0.56 in our Real World Benchmarks is a solid showing, and the 6GB of RAM provides enough headroom to take on video-and photo-editing applications. Factor in the 750GB hard drive and the Acer’s specification is positively generous.

You can even play older 3D games: the integrated Intel GPU achieved an average of 46fps in our least demanding Crysis test at 1,366 x 768 resolution and Low quality settings.

There’s also a good selection of ports and features for the money. The single USB 3 port is accompanied by a couple of USB 2 ports on the right-hand edge, plus a DVD writer, an SD card reader, and both VGA and HDMI video outputs. Unusually for a budget laptop, Gigabit Ethernet makes the cut, and wireless networking includes single-band 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.

The Acer’s display is pretty average. As is the norm for a budget laptop, the 1,366 x 768 resolution looks a little rough around the edges. Images look pale and washed out, and while the 228cd/m[sup]2[/sup] maximum brightness and 225:1 contrast ratio are pretty typical figures for a budget laptop, the overall colour balance is a little cold and unnatural.

Battery life is unexceptional: the Acer’s tiny 37Wh, 2,500mAh battery lasted only 4hrs 38mins in our light-use battery test. Increase the screen brightness, turn on Wi-Fi and start surfing the web, and you can expect battery life to tumble dramatically.

Acer Aspire E1 review: Verdict

You don’t expect perfection for £350, but the Acer Aspire E1 puts in a good all-round performance for the money. The specification is generous, the performance ample and – at this price – it’s easy to forgive the mediocre battery life.