Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G-5762) review: A cheap laptop with all the stuff you've been missing

Acer's Aspire E 15, specifically model E5-576G-5762, is an uncommonly good deal. It's even good by Acer's already high standards: The manufacturer has built some of our favorite budget-friendly PCs in the past, including the Aspire VX 15 gaming laptop. 

8.3

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G-5762)

The Good

The Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G-5762) is a wonderful mix of fresh components, simple design and handy features that have disappeared from most other laptops. Battery life and performance are great for its class.

The Bad

Its size and weight are a bit much if you need a laptop you can regularly use on the go. The display is especially dim.

The Bottom Line

If you've bemoaned the loss of DVD burners, HDMI outputs and Ethernet jacks or you miss being able to easily add RAM and a hard drive on your own, the Acer Aspire E 15 is what you want. Its solid performance and battery life make it an even sweeter deal.

The E 15 starts at an attractive $350 for components that are good enough for absolute basics such as email, web apps and streaming video and music, though you may not get away with using them all at the same time. Step up to the $600 configuration reviewed here (which will cost you £649 or roughly AU$775) and you'll get a new eighth-gen Intel Core i5 processor and discrete Nividia GeForce MX150 graphics, something rarely found at this price. 

Regardless of the main components, though, you get the same base features across the models. That includes a good full-HD display, a bevy of ports -- new and old -- and even a DVD burner for those still working in the world of physical media. What's more, you can open it up and add more memory and storage. It's hard to say how the laptop will hold up over time, but out of the box, it's an easy recommendation for a home office or a student who can live with its weight and size. 

But it's only $600...

This Aspire E is the epitome of "bang for your buck." As you might expect, Acer cut some corners to get the price down, but none that are necessarily deal breakers. Like most things, it all comes down to your needs. 

For example, it's not an ultraportable or even a thin-and-light laptop and it's made of textured plastic and not metal. At around an inch thick (3cm) and a little more than 5 pounds (2.4 kg), it's not unbearable to carry around, though it's also not something I would want to haul all day. The plastic makes it look and feel less sturdy than an aluminum chassis, but if it's never going to leave your home, that likely doesn't matter.

Instead of a 4K-resolution touchscreen, you'll find a perfectly suitable 15.6-inch full HD display. It's a good screen overall with pleasing color and way better off-angle viewing than you'll typically find at this price. It is, however, dim and while the matte finish means reflections are less an issue, you might find yourself reflexively trying to increase its brightness. Oh, and the bezels that surround the display are wide by today's standards. 

The keyboard and Windows Precision touchpad are better than expected for the money, too. Acer squeezed on a full number pad, which is nice, although I'd gladly sacrifice it for a centered keyboard with slightly larger keys. Still, it's a fine typing experience and the keys are evenly backlit. The touchpad is smooth and responsive without being jumpy. It did frequently register my two-finger scroll as a right click until I adjusted its settings, though. 

Around the sides you'll find several ports that are disappearing and being replaced with USB-C ports. While there is one USB-C, it isn't Thunderbolt 3, but a USB 3.1 Gen 1 port. You'll also find:

• Two USB 3.0 ports and a USB 2.0 port
• VGA and HDMI outputs
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Combo headphone-mic jack
• SD card slot

Lastly, for fans of physical media, rounding things out is a drawer-style 8x DVD double-layer DVD-RW drive . It works with M-Disc-type DVDs as well, so you can archive data for several hundred years.  

Everyday performance with a side of gaming

With an eighth-gen quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, 256GB M.2 SSD and 2GB Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics, this E 15 makes quick work of general home office tasks and school work. And if you want to add more storage or up to 32GB of RAM, there are only three small screws stopping you from getting in the laptop. 

Acer Aspire E15 E5-576G-5762

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Cranking through day-to-day activities like streaming videos and music while running Google Chrome with a dozen or more tabs open won't slow it down. This isn't a gaming laptop: The entry-level MX150 graphics chip isn't going to blow you away with its gaming performance. Frame rates aren't going to be fast enough for enjoyable play on high detail settings with newer graphically demanding games. It is, however, a clear improvement over Intel's UHD Graphic 620 integrated GPU. 

The chip did hit playable frame rates on Bioshock Infinite at high-detail settings, and playing Overwatch or Fortnite at medium settings at the display's native 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution was fast and smooth. You'll hear it's fans blowing while you're gaming or doing any other slightly demanding tasks, but they're not horribly distracting. 

One of the few things it doesn't offer is a user-replaceable battery, which have basically disappeared from consumer systems. Luckily, this Acer doesn't disappoint there, either, turning in a runtime of 11 hours, 58 minutes on our video streaming test. That earned it a spot on our list of the top 25 laptops and two-in-one PCs with the longest battery life. 

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A budget-friendly treat

Assuming you don't need an ultraportable, there's little not to like about the Acer Aspire E 15. If you've lamented the loss of DVD burners, HDMI outputs and Ethernet jacks as well as being able to easily add RAM and a hard drive on your own, this E 15 is easy to recommend. Its solid everyday performance and battery life make it an even sweeter deal.