A new, interesting laptop has just surfaced from Acer. Called the Acer Aspire E5-553-T5K4, this is an everyday laptop with more punch than what its price tag would otherwise suggest.
Review
The new model from Acer features a blue-colored external chassis, with a black screen bezel and keyboard/palm rest. It’s vibrant and fresh, without treading into kitch territory. I especially like how the black-blue contrast helps tone down its relative bulkiness. We’re talking about a 1.2″ thick device, after all.
As for the price, the Acer Aspire E5-553-T5K4 comes with a $479 price tag (as of 12/14/2016), which is sort of a bargain, considering how well it’s equipped to tackle everyday tasks and more.
Performance
Unlike most laptops that have been launched in the last couple of years, the Acer E5-553-T5K4 is equipped with the newest generation AMD A10-9600P processor: a quad core 2.4 Ghz unit with 2 megabytes of L2 cache.
It may not be a familiar i3 or i5 processor, but the AMD A-series has some serious punch going for it. Benchmark scores rate it somewhere between the two CPUs I’ve mentioned earlier, so it’s going to be snappy enough for most, if not all users.
Read user reviews at Amazon.com »
The Acer Aspire E5-553-T5K4 has 8 gigabytes of DDR4 SDRAM installed over 2 memory slots, with the possibility of extending it up to 32 gigabytes! I really don’t recommend extending it that much, since it will probably a waste of money. The default amount will prove to be plentiful, even for the most picky of users. Multitasking, simultaneously browsing through dozens of open tabs, and programs like Photoshop and the like will work flawlessly on this CPU-RAM combo.
Also, the 1-terabyte hard disk drive provides ample storage space for all your media, movie or photo collections. As a pro tip, I would replace the hard drive with a consumer grade SSD further down the road to improve its performance ratings and help the system keep up with the increasing demands of software developers.
Graphics and display
Unfortunately, the Acer Aspire E5-553-T5K4 doesn’t have discrete graphics. It comes equipped with integrated AMD Radeon R5 graphics. Thus, playing games on this blue Acer will prove difficult, to say the least. It will, however, play HD/4K content without hiccups and do a good job when editing photos.
The screen is surprisingly good for a an entry level to mid-range consumer laptop. This sub-$500 laptop features a 15.6″ ComfyView LED-backlit FullHD display. It’s no IPS, but the color reproduction is fine enough to satisfy most needs. Moreso, the resolution recommends it as a true multipurpose machine. Whether it will be used to heavy multitask, watch media content or edit documents, the big screen real estate will prove to be especially useful.
Interface and connectivity
There are plenty of interface options available to the end user, allowing for both forward and backward compatibility:
- 1 x USB-C port
- 2 x USB 3.0 ports
- 1 x USB 2.0 port
- 1 x HDMI-out
- 1 x VGA
- 1 x COMBO audio jack
- 1 x RJ-45
- 1 x SD card reader
- 1 x DVD-Writer
Concerning connectivity options, we have a next-gen 802.11ac wireless card (which allows up to 3 times faster transfer speeds), with MU-MIMO technology (which improves transfer rate and signal quality over wireless). There’s also a wired option using Ethernet LAN through the RJ-45 port.
Portability and battery life
The Acer Aspire E5-553-T5K4 is kind of heavy. It weighs 5.3 pounds, which is bulky even for entry-level standards. It’s also quite thick, as I mentioned in the beginning of this article. These two drawbacks make it ideal to keep as a desktop replacement laptop or a home multimedia center, rather than a travel device.
Battery life well exceeds 10 hours of use. It’s the same 6-cell 2800mAh Li-Ion battery pack used in the E5-575G-75MD model I’ve reviewed some time ago.
Conclusion
So, we have a rather inexpensive laptop that will outperform many in its price bracket. It’s a burden to carry around with you, despite the impressive battery stats it boasts. I think we can safely conclude that the Acer Aspire E5-553-T5K4 fills a gap for home and office users who need an affordable and powerful laptop to use indoors.
So, if all you do on a computer is browse the internet, write emails, read PDF files, edit documents and play Facebook games, this laptop will perfectly suit your needs. It’s affordable and has plenty of oomph to never freeze or feel sluggish.
