If you’re looking for a laptop that can handle light work tasks, such as reading Web pages and working with documents, the Acer Aspire 3 is worth considering. But it’s also worth knowing that it’s not a top-end machine, and will struggle to perform more advanced tasks.
That’s because the Acer Aspire 3 has a TN panel, which doesn’t offer the same viewing angles as more modern IPS technology. That can result in a pixelated picture, poor color accuracy, and a dull display.
Videos or Playing Games
The Acer Aspire 3 is a budget laptop that offers decent specs for the price. However, its low-quality display might be a turn off for some buyers. The screen is a good size for productivity and provides room for split-screen multitasking, but it has a poor contrast ratio and a slow response time that causes visible ghosting when watching videos or playing games.
Powerful AMD Processor & Features
If you are looking for a budget laptop that can play games and watch movies, the Acer Aspire 3 may be worth considering. It is powered by a powerful AMD processor and features a dedicated GPU. This is a big step up from Intel’s integrated GPU.
AMD’s Mendocino Architecture
Its CPU is based on AMD’s Mendocino architecture, which is designed to be more energy efficient than its predecessor. It also has the RDNA 2 graphics architecture, which is designed to support a dual-core GPU.
The Radeon 610M integrated GPU isn’t the latest and greatest, but it does perform well enough for older and less demanding games. It does struggle with modern, graphically intense titles though.
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For example, Borderlands 3 isn’t playable at 1080p on the Acer Aspire 3. Even with low graphical settings, it is choppy and freezes at times.
Average Frame Rate
Civilization VI isn’t as bad, but it’s still not playable at high settings and the average frame rate is pretty low. The Acer Aspire 3’s CPU and integrated GPU don’t have enough power to run this and other more demanding games.
It’s not a problem for watching online video or reading documents, but the display has a poor contrast ratio and lacks a vibrant color palette. Blacks are very dark, and colors are dulled by the narrow viewing angles.
The Acer Aspire 3’s battery life is also a little disappointing, especially when compared to other budget laptops. We got around three hours of usage from it on a full charge. That’s better than the Acer Spin 3’s two and a half hours, but not as impressive as the Asus VivoBook Flip 14’s six and a half hours.
Keyboard
If you’re in the market for a budget laptop, the Acer Aspire 3 is a solid choice. It has a good display, decent performance, and is upgradable thanks to the USB-C port.
Biggest Perks of the Acer Aspire 3’s Design
One of the biggest perks of the Acer Aspire 3’s design is that it has a hinge that lets you elevate the laptop to a slightly higher angle for typing. This makes it a better option for people who like to sit at their desks for long periods of time.
The keyboard itself is pretty comfortable to type on, and offers a lot of travel. However, it does get a little mushy over time and can be a bit uncomfortable to use for long sessions. This isn’t a deal-breaker, as it’s not bad for the price, but it can make typing a little more tiring than it needs to be.
Bright Sunlight
Another area of the keyboard that isn’t up to par is the number pad. It feels cramped and narrower than it should be. It’s also a little hard to read in bright sunlight.
Finally, the touchpad is a bit small and doesn’t track palm rejection very well. It’s also a little clicky when you press down on it, which isn’t ideal for productivity purposes.
Overall, the Acer Aspire 3’s keyboard isn’t the best we’ve seen in this price range. It’s just enough to be comfortable and do the job, but it’s not a great overall experience.
There are a few options for the keyboard of the Acer Aspire 3. You can either buy a new one directly from Acer, or from different online retailers. If you do decide to go with a new one, here are some things to look for:
Acer Laptop Model
First, check that the keyboard is compatible with your Acer laptop model. If the keys are the wrong type or color, you’ll need to replace them with a new set.
Once you’ve found a new keyboard, open your Acer laptop and remove any screws that hold the keyboard in place. Typically, these screws are held underneath a strip that is directly below the power button. You’ll need to pry the strip free with a flathead screwdriver or other tool.
Ethernet & Headphone Jack
The Acer Aspire 3 comes with a range of connectivity options. It has two USB-A connectors, one slow USB 2.0 port and an HDMI, Ethernet and headphone jack.
It has an AMD Ryzen 3 7320U processor with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. This is a quad-core chip that should reach a maximum speed of 3.90GHz, which should be enough for light workloads.
Intel UHD Graphics Card
There is also an Intel UHD graphics card that can only handle light productivity tasks, but you can still play some simple games on this machine. If you want to do more intensive tasks such as video editing or gaming, you may need to upgrade to a higher-end model.
Battery life is quite good, too. We managed to get six hours of use out of the machine on a full charge.
High-Powered Laptop
This is a very good result for this price range. We’d recommend this machine if you don’t want to spend a lot of money but don’t need a high-powered laptop.
The display on this laptop is a TN panel that’s quite budget-friendly. It has a Full HD resolution, fast pixel response times, and a non-flickering backlight.
SD Card Reader or USB Type-C Port
However, it has a low contrast ratio, modest color coverage, and poor viewing angles. Its I/O is also very low, and it doesn’t have an SD card reader or a USB Type-C port.
If you’re looking for a better-performing 15-inch laptop, you should consider the Acer Aspire 5. It has a Core i5 processor and Intel Iris Xe graphics.
Currys PC World and Argos
It costs around $549, and is available at Currys PC World and Argos. You can also find it at Amazon, which sells a version with the same Ryzen 3 CPU but with half the memory and a 1TB hard drive for PS429, reduced from PS569.
Overall, the Acer Aspire 3 is an excellent value for money notebook. It offers solid performance and is a great choice for those who want to stay in budget but don’t want to miss out on features such as a backlit keyboard or fingerprint reader and/or face recognition.
Battery
There are a few things you should know about the battery on your Acer Aspire 3. First, it’s important to know that laptop batteries can sometimes report incorrect information and that this can cause them to stop charging prematurely or die entirely. The good news is that there are some steps you can take to ensure your battery is reporting correctly.
The best way to check on your battery’s health is to run a battery life report. The report will show you how your battery has been used, including information about design capacity, full charge capacity, and cycle count. This will help you to get a clearer picture of how long your laptop’s battery can last before it starts to go bad.
Command Prompt
For this, you will need to press Win + X and select Command Prompt (Admin). Once you have this open, you can use the “Battery Usage” tab to get a better idea of how your battery has been used. You can also run a benchmark to see how much time your battery will last before it reaches the end of its life.
Our tests revealed that the Acer Aspire 3 lasted around 7 hours in web surfing and 6 hours 40 minutes in video playback. This is not a particularly impressive result, especially when compared to laptops that cost much more. However, it’s still decent enough to allow you to carry it on a short flight or even a few hours at the beach.
Conclusion:
In fact, if you’re a student looking for a cheap and easy-to-use laptop, the Acer Aspire 3 is a good choice. It’s reasonably well built, and the screen has a decent amount of brightness.
The Acer Aspire 3 isn’t an ideal choice for students who are in more technical fields like 3D graphics, but it’s a fine laptop for everyday use. The Intel Core i3-N305 CPU is capable of handling most light productivity tasks, and the integrated graphics are adequate for web browsing and video playback. The battery doesn’t last very long, though, so you’ll have to charge your Acer Aspire 3 every so often.
