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Hey guys, this is Austin.
Recently, I did a video on this guy.
A six-hundred and fifty dollar gaming laptop
entirely powered by AMD Ryzen.
That got me thinking
how would it stack up to an Intel and Nvidia option.
That's where this comes in.
This is the Acer Aspire Five.
Not only does it have Core i5 processor and MX150 graphics,
but impressively, it comes in with an even cheaper
600 dollar price tag.
On paper this guy looks very similar to the HP Envy.
So we're getting a 15.6 inch display
and it's actually reasonably thin
considering it is a gaming laptop.
I will say at first glance, the build quality
does not match up to that HP.
It's all plastic.
While it doesn't look bad,
it sort of lacks that premium feel of the Envy.
However, what it lacks in feel
it makes up for in actual functionality.
Not only are we getting a full-sized ethernet jack,
but we also get USB-C, HDMI,
a USB 3.0 port, as well as an SD card reader,
and on the other side we're also getting two more USB ports.
You're getting a full-sized keyboard layout
in addition to the number row.
And even though most of the laptop is plastic,
it does have this metal shell on the inside
which does feel pretty nice as a palm rest.
Inside this guy has eighth gen Core i5-8250U
so it's going to be one of the new quad core chips.
You're getting those Nvidia MX150 graphics,
8 gigabytes of dual channel DVR 4,
as well as a 256 gygabyte SSD.
However, all it takes is for you to fire up the Aspire Five
before you realize that there is one major thing missing:
a decent looking screen.
So on paper, it's not bad.
We're getting a 15.6 inch panel with a 1080p resolution.
The issue is... it is a very very
unimpressive looking TN panel;
Color is okay, but the contrast is straight up terrible.
And specially with the viewing angles,
the screen just doesn't look that great.
I get it.
Acer wanted to cut some costs
to be able to get this much performance
in such a cheap laptop,
but the screen is a little bit tough to deal with.
Thankfully though, it's not all bad.
So they keyboard is classic Acer.
It's not the most tactile thing in the world
but specially for gaming you're going to be totally fine.
And thankfully this guy also is using
a Windows precision touch pad.
I love to see these, as they are pretty much always
not only track more accurately,
but specially have those multi-touch gestures.
When you put the Acer side-by-side with the HP Envy
you're going to see that this guy has a much nicer display.
Sure, it might not be quite as bright as I would like,
but compared to the TN panel over here, it is night and day.
Plus, this guy is going to be a touch screen,
it's convertible, and built quality-wise
not only is this side going to be thinner
but also just feels a lot more premium.
One thing the Acer definitely has going for it
is upgrade-ability.
So underneath a couple of flaps on the bottom
you'll see not only do you have access to your memory
if you wanna upgrade that,
but over here if you pop up this little cover
you're going to see that we have full
two and a half inch drive bay that's completely empty.
So if you want you can upgrade with a bigger hard drive.
We can even throw in a second SSD in this guy.
When it comes to performance,
the Aspire is just in a different league.
So sure, the Envy does have that nicer screen
and better build quality, but in return,
you're getting not only an SSD but you're also getting
just a potent combination with the Core i5
and dedicated graphics.
The i5 8250U delivers good quad core performance.
It's right up there with a lot of higher end gaming laptops
and a fair bit above the Ryzen inside the Envy.
The graphics is where things really take off.
So with an Nvidia MX150 GPU, while it might not be
the most powerful graphics card in the world,
you're getting enough performance to play
some pretty decent 1080p games as you guys will soon see.
And when you compare it to the Ryzen chip inside the HP,
the vague graphics are just not going to be able to compete.
However, the real test is, of course,
what it's like to play in real-world games.
First off, we have CS GO.
Now as a game that even though it might be
a couple years old,
it is still incredibly popular
this is one of my favorite ways to test PC's.
And here on 1080p settings at high
We're getting near 80 to a 100 frames per second.
Super super playable.
(Happy music)
What's not playable is my shotgun right now.
Oh, did I get it?!
Did I get it?! Ohhh!
The game I just got my goal in is Rocket League.
So, just like CS GO, it's not really difficult thing to run
so we're getting between 40 to 50 frames per second
on high settings at 1080.
And again, this is another great example...
Well that's not a good idea.
Another good example of a game that is (laughs)...
it's kind of perfect for a 600 dollar laptop.
It's nice that we're getting this kind of performance
out of something that is relatively affordable.
Next up, for something a little bit newer we have PUBG.
Now, obviously we're just in the opening area
but on 1080 low we're getting like 35 frames per second.
Man, this game has come a long way now that they don't have
300 thousand people spawning in one area.
I will say one thing.
Even though the screen isn't that bad on this laptop
just having to angle it down a little bit
to get a better camera angle
means that it looks a little bit washed out right now.
I really wish that they had spent
just a little bit more money on a nicer paneling.
Man, this thing would be perfect.
So yeah, 1080p low is definitely very playable here.
So we are averaging around 30 to 35 frames per second.
If you wanted to really optimize those frames
you could probably go down to 720p.
But with a game like PUBG
I feel like on a 600 dollar laptop
I'm not really complaining about low settings.
To really put this to the test,
we have Middle-earth: Shadow of War.
Now this is not only a much nicer looking game,
but also a more technically demanding one.
And here at 1080p on low settings we're getting
right around 30 frames per second.
So if it's going to be me, I'm probably going to turn on
the dynamic resolution to get that
frame rate up just a little bit.
But again, a very playable game.
So as you guys can see, the gaming performance is not bad.
Specially given this 600 dollar price point.
Something else I like is the standard SSD.
Now sure, it's easy enough to add another SSD
or another hard drive if you want some extra space
but having Windows and everything fully ready
on an SSD out of the box is nice.
I can't tell you how many hours of my life I've wasted
waiting for slow old laptops
with normal hard drives to update.
This makes everything so much faster.
The Aspire Five is a seriously killer little gaming laptop.
Now this is very rare for me to say,
but I don't really have a lot to complain about.
They made a lot of really smart decisions on the components.
There is a ton of performance for 600 dollars.
Really, the only thing I can complain about is the screen.
Now, no, it's not a deal breaker,
but it would've been nice if they had put
just a little bit of a better display in here.
However, besides that, this is a close to perfect
gaming laptop considering the budget.
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Anyway guys, thank you so much for watching
and I will catch you on the next one.