For many a years we have been complaining about brands still shipping HD displays with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. We were pleading them to start adding Full HD displays in sub-$500 laptops but who would listen? Well, it looks like finally someone has!

Acer’s latest laptop under its Aspire 5 range features a superb 15.6-inch Full HD display. It’s a budget laptop priced around $300 and we have hardly seen a Full HD display at this price point. And that’s not the only good thing about this laptop. It carries other features which leads us to recommend this Acer Aspire laptop as one of the best budget laptops.

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Acer Aspire 5 A515-56-32DK Overview

This particular model of Acer Aspire 5 Slim laptop features a simple but elegant design. It’s not something you haven’t seen before and that’s not a bad thing. Not a boring black box-like laptop, to say the least. The screen-to-body ratio of 82.58% allows a 15.6-inch display to be fit in 14.3-inch body. So the laptop is not as big as a usual 15.6-inch laptop with bigger bezels normally would be.

The display itself, which has a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1280 pixels, is a widescreen LED-backlit display with In-plane Switching (IPS) technology. The display does a wonderful job at presenting crisp graphics and vivid colors. Watching Full HD videos, looking at high-quality camera pictures, or working long hours – this display is pleasant to work with.

To mention other physical features, Acer has equipped this laptop with what it calls ‘lift-hinge’ that elevates the keyboard for a better note-taking experience during video calls. A comfortable full-size keyboard is also present and so is a smooth, responsive trackpad – both of which work well without issues.

Going inside, an 11th generation Intel Core i3-1115G4 processor powers this laptop. The 3GHz dual-core processor delivers brilliant performance for the price of this laptop. Productivity apps like Office suite, web-browser with multiple tabs open, occasional photo or video editing, casual gaming etc. – this processor does it’s job really well at providing enough power for everything. The processor provides integrated Intel UHD graphics which help make the overall graphical performance smoother.

For multitasking, 4GB DDR4 RAM is present which is enough for lag-free running of multiple apps. With modern apps becoming more and more power-hungry, 4GB RAM is not the best you can get but it’s enough for most day to day tasks as long as you don’t overburden the laptop with too many apps running at the same time. The good news is, you can expand the RAM yourself – if that’s what you would be interested in.

For storage, a 128GB NVMe solid-state drive (SSD) is present. While the SSD performs very well – opening apps, starting up the laptop, copy-pasting data etc. is quick – it might not be enough to store all your data. Luckily a hard drive bay is present if you would like to add more storage. If that’s not your thing, you can also use an external SSD or HDD.

With all the tech specs at hand, the pre-installed Windows 11 Home (in S mode) performs very well. It boots up quickly, apps launch and run quite fast, day-to-day file operations are handled well.

Also worth noticing is the latest dual-band 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 which offers superb wireless network speed and uninterrupted connection. It’s surprising to see the inclusion of Wi-Fi 6 because many laptops still carry the previous Wi-Fi 5 standard.

2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port, 1x USB 2.0 port, 1x HDMI 2.0 port, 1x Ethernet RJ-45 port and headphone/mic combo jack are present to allow multiple devices to be connected to this Acer Aspire laptop. A multimedia card reader is missing which could have been a helpful inclusion. Continuing the norm of the last couple of years, this Acer laptop does not include an optical disk drive either. If needed, both of these functions can be added using external USB card reader and USB optical drive.

To power everything, a 3-cell battery is present. It does a commendable job at providing a backup of around 7 hours of mixed usage. Acer however, claims a backup of up to 8.5 hours. Granted, this is not the best battery performance. But the price tag of this laptop should always be kept in mind.

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Acer Aspire 5 A515-56-32DK Review: Summary

Acer’s latest offering in its Aspire range is ambitious. It aims to offer a decent budget laptop that doesn’t cut down on features as we are used to see. Acer has packed Aspire 5 A515-56-32DK laptop with features such as Full HD display, dual-core processor, SSD storage, full-size keyboard, plenty of ports and latest Wi-Fi among other things. While the RAM or storage may not be a lot, it’s good to know that you can extend them at a later stage.

Overall, this Acer laptop is built to impress the budget-conscious buyer. The tech specs are excellent, overall performance is brilliant and the best part, the price tag is just around $300! If you are a student, a casual day-to-day user, or just anyone looking into buying a decent laptop with Full HD display among other things at a pocket-friendly price, Acer Aspire 5 A515-56-32DK is for you.

At the time of this being written, Amazon is offering this laptop at 15% discount, bringing the final price down to $285.45. Go ahead, check it out on Amazon. You might also be interested in having a look at the latest list of the best Windows laptops under $500.

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