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日本Acer Aspire 5 (A514-56M) review – compact and light laptop with PWM-free display
Design and construction
This machine looks like a usual Acer laptop meant for office and home usage. The design and the color scheme are stealthy. Dimension-wise, this is a notebook that can fit in most backpacks and suitcases with ease. It weighs just 1.48 kg and the profile is 17.8 mm.
The lid is made of metal and can be opened with a single hand. The unit is a bit bendy in the center when it’s closed and you can flex it a bit in an open position but overall, nothing serious. The plastic base is solid, we observed slight bends in the upper section between the two hinges and between the Space key and the touchpad. Ultimately, the build quality is good for the class.
The bezels around the panel aren’t thin. The upper one houses a 1080p Web camera with Temporal Noise Reduction.
The lid acts as a lever and it lifts the back of the base when the angle of opening is bigger than 90 degrees. The raised chassis results in better comfort during typing and enhanced cooling capabilities.
The optional backlit keyboard lacks a NumPad but that’s normal for this form factor. It’s more important that the board has a long key travel and clicky feedback. The touchpad is a bit smaller than expected but it’s moisture resistant, and its smooth surface allows good accuracy. The fingerprint reader is positioned in the top left corner of the pad.
On the bottom plate, we can see a large ventilation grille, a battery reset pinhole, and two speaker cutouts. The heat is being exhausted through a vent on the back of the laptop that aims at the lower bezel of the display. This section becomes warm if the CPU is heavily stressed.
Ports
On the left, you can see a power connector, a Thunderbolt 4 port with charging and Display Port support, an HDMI 2.1 connector, and a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with a power-off charging function. On the right, you spot a Kensington lock slot, another USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and an audio jack.
