Acer Aspire 5 (A514-56M) review – compact and light laptop with PWM-free display

Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power

In light loads, the Core i7-1355U can maintain high P and E core clocks while in medium stress, the frequencies are expectedly lower but still good. In the long run, the E core clock is okay and the P cores are reaching 1.43 GHz which is on the low side. The processor temperatures are always low which is a bit of a pleasant surprise given the modest cooling system.

Comfort during combined load

The fan isn’t quiet in “Performance mode” but it’s not super noisy. The “Silent mode” offers much lower noise levels but even then, the fan is still audible during light tasks. When the CPU is pounded with 100% stress, the hotspot of the keyboard is located on its left side. The temperature there is fine for normal usage because this laptop has an air-inlet keyboard so the fan is sucking fresh air through the keyboard deck. This clever trick reduces the outside temperatures.

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This notebook has a 53Wh battery model. It lasts for 11 hours and 7 minutes of either Web browsing or video playback. The result is very good.

Video playback

Brightness: 180 nits; Display Mode: SDR
Time to Full Discharge: Higher is Better

Acer Aspire 5 53Wh

10h 33m

ASUS Zenbook S 13 63Wh, 4-cell

10h 48m+2.4%

Lenovo Yoga Book 9 80Wh

13h 34m+28.6%

Dell Vostro 3530 54Wh, 4-cell

6h 47m-35.7%

Acer Aspire 5 53Wh, 3-cell

7h 55m-25%

Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga Gen 3 60Wh

9h 19m-11.7%

HP ProBook 440 G10 51Wh, 3-cell

7h 18m-30.8%

HP EliteBook 1040 G9 51Wh, 3-cell

9h 43m-7.9%

Web surfing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Acer Aspire 5 53Wh

11h 07m

ASUS Zenbook S 13 63Wh, 4-cell

15h 17m+37.5%

Lenovo Yoga Book 9 80Wh

16h 40m+49.9%

Dell Vostro 3530 54Wh, 4-cell

10h 00m-10%

Acer Aspire 5 53Wh, 3-cell

12h 30m+12.4%

Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga Gen 3 60Wh

11h 54m+7%

HP ProBook 440 G10 51Wh, 3-cell

9h 05m-18.3%

HP EliteBook 1040 G9 51Wh, 3-cell

13h 53m+24.9%

Author: Nikolay Palaozov

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