Slant community chat on Discourse| 8 Recommended Products | Recommendations | CPU | RAM | Screen resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 Asus EeeBook X205TA· · · | 2 | 0 | – | – | – |
| #2 Acer Aspire E 15"· · · | 2 | 0 | – | – | – |
| #3 Asus F555LA 15"· · · | 1 | 0 | – | – | – |
| #4 Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM· · · | 0 | 0 | 7th Gen i3 | 4GB | 1080p |
| #5 Acer Aspire ES 15· · · | 0 | 0 | 6th Gen i3 | 4GB | 720p |
| #6 Acer Aspire R 11· · · | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
Pro Included subscriptions
Microsoft Office 365 comes included for one year, which includes 1TB of OneDrive online storage. As a separate bonus, Asus is offering 500GB of online storage though WebStorage.
Pro Epic battery life
This laptop can handle just over 12 hours of continuous web browsing, which shatters the ultaportable average of nearly 8 hours. This has been tested and verified by reviewers - it isn't a marketing number.
Pro Good screen
The screen goes bright enough, and its color range is better than other laptops under $300 (it scores 68.2 on the sRGB color gamut, while competitive options typically score closer to 60).
Con Bad webcam
The included webcam is just plain bad. The low resolution (640x480) with blurry lines and unnatural colors also has poor focus.
Con Simplified design
The rounded block design isn't flashy, and the matte finish will get very oily from kid's fingers, and cleaning it isn't a simple affair either - it will take more than just a cloth wipedown if you want it to look shiny and new again.
Pro Charger connects to the rear
The charging port is located on the rear of the laptop. This means that there are less cables dangling around your laptop, and the power cable is out of the way.
Pro Good battery life
Around 6-7 hours, longer than competitors which have 3~4 hours.
Con Poor performance
The Aspire E15's Celeron N2840 processor paired with 4GB of RAM scores poorly on benchmarks. GeekBench - a benchmark used to judge a computer's overall performance - scored 1919 points, less than cheaper options.
Con Heavy
Weighing 5.29 pounds, it is as heavy as a lot of thick gaming laptops while not providing near the same level of performance or assuring build quality.
Pro Great display
Most laptops in this range don't have a full 1080p HD screen, while this one does. A full HD resolution allows for more content to be displayed on the screen at once, as each pixel is smaller. It also offers 70.4% of the color gamut, proving more colors than competing laptops.
Pro Lots of ports
Two USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, SD card reader, HDMI port, and VGA are all present. There's also the usual dedicated charging port, Ethernet jack, and combined headphone/mic jack and a CD/DVD drive.
Con Inconsistant performance
Multitasking is decent, with 4GB of RAM able to handle 8 Chrome tabs alongside an OpenOffice document while streaming a YouTube video before slowing down. However, Geekench (a general all-round benchmark) only received a score of 2080 while some cheaper options can provide more bang for less buck.
Con Short battery life
While some sites say the laptop achieves 3-4 hours of battery life, others claim up to 5h44m of continuous web surfing.
Pro Large HDD
Has a 1TB HDD.
Know any negative aspects of this option?
Pro Excellent for light-duty use
For basic tasks, such as browsing the web and working with text editor it's perfectly sufficient and very reliable. It doesn't freeze suddenly or heat up even running for hours at a time.
Pro Lots of storage
Laptop's SATA hard drive has 1 TB of storage, or enough space to keep 40 days worth of films.
Con Poor display quality
The computer has a 720p display, which provides decent image quality, but far from the best available. This is especially frustrating since you can get a similar Acer laptop with 1080p display for just extra $50.
Pro Amazing battery life
While rated at 7 hours, the R11 can last for 10h41m browsing the web.
Pro Good keyboard
The keyboard provides enough travel distance to make it comfortable to use. the chicklet keyboard, and the keycaps provide some grip for added comfort.
Con Gets very hot
The R 11 uses a fanless design, which stays cool when idling, however when in use it gets very hot. The highest temperature recorded was 118 Fahrenheit on the bottom near the hinge of the device. These temperatures can damage the internal materials if sustained. The top of the laptop fared a bit b...
Con Very small screen
While ultra-portable, the 11" screen is very small for a primary computer. As a companion device (a very portable laptop you use on the road), it can do, however pulling up two windows on a screen so small will not make for a good experience.
Pro Good speakers
The two speakers face downwards, however they offer clear audio at a better-than-average volume.
Pro CD/DVD drive included
While many modern laptops forego the CD/DVD drive, Asus has included one here. It allows for easier installation of legacy programs, as well as playing DVDs.
Con TN panel
TN panels are cheaper to manufacturer than IPS panels, and offer much worse viewing angles. You will want to be directly in front of the display when viewing it, otherwise you will start to lose colors. This isn't such a big deal when there is just one person looking at the screen, but when 2+...
Pro Good design
While it is still built out of plastic, the finish makes it look like black brushed aluminum. The SD card slot barely sticks out, and there isn't too much flex on the lid or keyboard. Overall, Lenovo designed the G50 pretty well.
Pro Great thermals
The fan is fairly quiet, and provides adequate cooling to keep the internals from overheating. Average CPU temperature is about 42 Celsius.
Con Lots of bloatware
Lenovo includes lots of pre-installed apps that nobody wants. MalwareBytes detects 79 issues on a fresh purchase which is unacceptable for a tier-1 manufacturer.
Con Bad touchpad
The touchpad isn't very responsive, and the typical sensitivity solutions don't work. You will want to invest in a mouse if you choose this laptop.
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