Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop, 15.6 inches Full HD IPS Display, AMD Ryzen 3 3200U, Vega 3 Graphics, 4GB DDR4, 128GB SSD…

This laptop is a fantastic deal for the price. The laptop uses the same body as the $500+ Acer Aspire 5 models which is to say it is a fantastic body that is light and compact and very portable. Ram can easily be upgraded and adding a 2.5″ SSD allows for additional memory over the 128gb included on the computer. The keyboard is comfortable to type on and as a bonus still includes a full numpad even if it is a bit cramped. The screen is a solid IPS screen and when you consider the price tag is amazing and beats a lot of the more expensive laptop screens I have seen.

Got this on sale for $270, which is an absolute steal. Even still, the full price (~$330) is a bargain, too.Despite what the manufacturer has stated in the comments/Q&A, this comes with a vacant bay for a 2.5″ hard drive. It also includes the necessary parts to install the 2.5″ hard drive (mounting bracket, a connection/adapter, and a ribbon to connect it to the mother board).The rear/bottom plastic cover can be removed by unscrewing the 10 screws on the bottom, and GENTLY, with a PLASTIC prying tool, pop the cover off. You have to start at a corner and then slowly/carefully work your way around. Even with great care, I lightly marked the case in a couple of places.UPGRADES:I added a 500 GB HDD (regular, spinning hard drive). Search Amazon for “2.5” 500GB” and take your pick – anywhere from $20-$40 will do the trick. If my instructions above are not enough, Acer’s own YouTube channel has a video you can follow.I also added a 4GB stick of RAM to bump the total memory up to 8GB, which is more than enough for this laptop – you’re not going to be playing any crazy games or doing any heavy duty stuff like video processing anyways. The specs on the RAM that you should conform to are DDR4 2666 SODIMM 260-Pin (as noted by the manufacturer in the Q&A). Someone mentioned the ram is running at a lower Hz, but best practice would be to buy RAM that matches the stick of RAM the computer comes with.Also, do a search on taking Windows 10 out of “S” mode. S mode is a security mode that only allows you to install apps from the Windows Store, which effectively prevents you from inadvertently downloading malware. As long as you use your best judgement when downloading apps (and/or install the antimalware software of your choice), you shouldn’t need S-mode.Took all of 10 minutes to uninstall any extra bloatware that came on the computer.Voila, for ~$330 and about 30 minutes of your time, you effectively have a ~$550 laptop.For the price, the processor is very snappy, and the screen is extremely sharp. The keyboard feels very natural & is satisfying to use.

I could sit here and write all about the specs on this computer, but they are already in the description, and If you are like me… you don’t really understand it anyways.So I am going to tell you what I LOVE about this computer and what I use it for. I am a full time college student as well as a single mother who stays busy. I have previously used a HP All In one computer that I bought brand new a year ago and I hate that thing… It is so slow!!! When I first opened this item, I was just hoping that it would be a little faster! What I got instead was an amazing computer that is faster than I could have ever imagined. Now I don’t use this thing for much more than amazon reviews, school work, and papers. But this is exactly what I needed.It navigated quickly between web pages, my Microsoft word programs opens instantly and doesn’t take forever to load like my HP does. The picture of this monitor is just beautiful. Everything is so clear. I love that the keyboard has a back light so I can see the keys if I need to take a look at them while I am typing, but the back lights go away after a few seconds, so if you are watching a movie, the lit up key board will not bother you.This computer is so light weight and easy to carry. I love the sleek design of it as well. This would be a great computer for anyone who just needs a basic computer for the internet or spreadsheets. I would feel at ease taking this computer with me to college or sending it off to college with my children, and I wouldn’t worry if they had the ability to complete their assignments in school. I am so so so happy with this product!

A very reasonably priced laptop for basic computing needs. The specs that stick out to me for describing this as “basic needs” is 4GB of RAM, and 128GB M.2 SSD. Both are at the bare minimum in today’s needs. Cell phones now come with those specs( high dollar ones though..).Seems like one of the goals of this laptop is to keep an aesthetically pleasing design. Just 1 3.1 USB port and 2 2.0 USB ports are included, one headphone/mic jack, 1 slim RJ45 port, HDMI, and power input plug. No external battery.2 things that stuck out to me when I started using: screen and sound quality. The screen is very sharp and high contrast. Black is actually black. Very impressed. I was also surprised by the audio quality. I don’t expect much from laptop speakers, especially low priced ones, but was pleasantly surprised on how clear the audio is.The back panel of the laptop does not have any easy access ports to swap out hard drives or RAM. Instead, you remove 10 or so Philips screws to remove the entire panel. I’ve already swapped out the 4GB RAM stick for an 8GB. Easy enough.The laptop includes an M.2 SSD. The pro to this is you still have the option of adding a traditional sized disk to expand your storage, without needing to worry about reinstalling an OS or attempting to clone the included drive.Almost puked when I thought I was locked-in to “S Mode” When I went to unlock S-mode, Windows kindly directly me to pay >$100 to purchase a license! I was furious thinking this was some new scheme to sell laptops without a full legitimate Windows license and instead lock you into a Microsoft only app store. I forget the exact steps I took, but somewhere I found that there was an error in activating my Windows license, and I had to click a troubleshoot button, then it magically worked and got me out of S mode. Disaster averted.A couple of things that annoy me:-The touchpad feels a little loose to me. Just gently touching it causes it to move and you can hear a plastic on plastic sound, its distracting…-The keyboard backlight turns off after a set amount of time, you must press a key for it to illuminate again. Moving the mouse/touchpad does not cause the keys to light up. You must touch a key. I see the is a BIOS option for disabling the timeout. I’ve disabled it but it appears to have no effect. It still turns off.-The slim-line RJ45 port seems messed up… I pull the flap down and it does not open far enough to insert a connector. I will probably never use it.. but what gives?

This is the best laptop deal you can get, full stop.Touchescreen? Nope. That feature is stupid in a laptop, in my view. As you use the keyboard, incidental touche s of the screen change focus or move to different screens–touchscreen is a gimmick and sucks.The screen on this laptop is worth the price by itself. Gorgeous, black is actually black, it rivals my AOC gaming desktop monitor.The Ryzen chip inside can be overclosked if you feel like it, but it is not needed. It is plenty fast for a laptop.This is set up to add memory and a hard drive. Do so. I spent an additional $50 to add a 1tb drive and an 8gig memory stick. In so doing, I have the same specs as a $700 consumer laptop.Gaming? I stream from my desktop, it’s perfect. It won’t run any modern games at more than low settings (if that) but you don’t need to run them onboard if you have a gaming machine. DO NOT BUY THIS TO PLAY GAMES ONBOARD. Stream via Steam, it’s perfect.Buy this for $300, spend an additional $50 or $100 on memory and storage, and sit back and realize that you got a premier laptop for 1/3 the money people are spending on nothing.Build quality is bomber. Eveything is solid, no rattles, no warps. Others have ripped on the touchpad–can’t tell the difference between this and any other laptop touchpad. It isn’t loose, responds as usual, no problem.The screen is GORGEOUS and much better than laptops at twice or three times the price.I actually like the compressed number pad on the right. If you aren’t doing a lot of 10-key stuff, it’s what you need.The keyboard backlight stays on while you’re typing, shuts off when you aren’t. Perfectly configured.This boots in about 15 seconds.It has some heft, but is still very light. Hard to describe, but you can carry this all day in your backpack and not even know it is there. The power brick is about the size of a Toblerone tube. I plan on buying an extra to travel with.This will work as a consumer laptop as is, like I said, but add some memory and a hard drive and you are CRUSHING.I can’t sing the praises of this enough.Buy this, add a drive and a memory stick and you get a premier laptop for less than $400. And you get a better screen, too. And anyone can do that, it isn’t tough at all. If you can turn a screwdriver, you can update this machine.Make sure to go in and turn S mode off. First, activate Windows, then go to the store and turn off S mode.This is much better than what other companies are offering as a budget laptop.