All-in-one PC by stefan @ 2013-04-26
The Aspire E-531 laptop from Acer is priced competitively and is equipped with a Pentium B960 CPU, 4GB of RAM and also a 500GB HDD from Western Digital (5400RPM). The quality of the build is decent and if we do not mind the glossy display, we can use it successfully for watching HD movies or play simple games on the web.
At first I would like to thank Overclockers UK for sending a sample of the budget-friendly Acer Aspire E1-531 laptop for testing and reviewing.
“Acer designs environmentally friendly products and, with its vendors, has established a green supply chain. The brand’s PC-centric product offering includes notebook and desktop PCs, servers and storage, LCD monitors, projectors, and smartphones and tablets. Sub-brands include the consumer-focused Aspire series, and commercial sector TravelMate and Veriton series. See www.acer.com for more information.”
"Focusing on the best performance hardware at competitive prices, Overclockers UK is famous throughout the enthusiast PC community. The Overclockers UK Forums are the most popular of its type in the UK, featuring a blend of computer and lifestyle discussion topics. Although the UK has been our focus market, we are pleased to have customers and fans in many countries around the world."
Do more
With the Aspire E Series, everyday activities like web browsing, communicating and playing videos are effortless with Intel® or AMD processing. Plenty of memory means you can launch applications quickly, and a large hard drive provides more space for your media.
All media
Get an all-access pass to a new digital life with AcerCloud,1 which shares photos, videos, music and docs among all your devices in seconds! Enjoy media on the CineCrystal™ HD LED-backlit display, or on your giant screen via HDMI®. Plus, an optical drive is ready for all your DVDs.
Connect
Mobile connectivity is always only a hotspot away. Chat face to face wherever you go with the Acer Crystal Eye HD webcam and integrated microphone. Plus, just as Wi-Fi® wireless technology keeps you in touch when you're out and about, Gigabit Ethernet keeps you plugged in when you're at home.
Easy, fun
Its cover is pleasingly glossy, and smart usability features make the Aspire E Series experience simple. A multi-in-1 card reader and USB 2.0 make file transfer a breeze, and a multi-gesture touchpad puts you in control. Acer Backup Manager makes system save and restore a snap, so you have peace of mind.
- Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core B960 (2.2GHz, 2MB Cache)
- Screen: 15.6" (1366 x 768 HD Resolution)
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 64-bit
- RAM: 4GB (DDR3) RAM
- Hard Drive: 500GB
- Optical Drive: DVD Rewriter (Records DVDs 8x & CDs 24x & Dual Layer Super Multi)
- Graphics: Integrated (Intel HD Graphics)
- Wireless LAN: Wireless (802.11b/g/n Wireless)
- Network Card: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Fast Ethernet
- Integrated Webcam: Integrated Webcam with Microphone
- Card Reader: 3-in-1 card reader (SD/SDHC,MMC)
- USB Ports: 3x USB 2.0 ports
- Speakers: Integrated Sound System
- VGA Port: 1 External VGA Port
- Kensington Lock: Kensington lock slot
- Charge Time: 2.5 Hours
- HDMI: 1x HDMI Port
- Keyboard Type: Laptop Keyboard
- Warranty: 12 Months Acer Collect & Return
- Battery Life: 3-4 Hours (up to 4 hours with power management)
- Weight: 2-3 Kg (This Model 2.5 Kg)
In this review we will take a look at a laptop from ACER and to be more specific of their Aspire E series. The box in which the product gets shipped is pretty plain:
On one of the box sides, we will see a list of the system hardware specifications:
The box is also provided with a plastic handle, for easy transport:
Right after unsealing the box and opening it, we will see the laptop standing in the middle, wrapped in a protective bag, along with some documentation:
After the removal of the laptop, we will expose the second layer of the box, which comes with the accessories, which are located in separate locations:
Besides of some other sealed documents, we will also receive a leaflet describing the Acer Offices, a power lead, the rechargeable battery and a power brick:
The E1-531 laptop from Acer comes with a Li-Ion Battery Pack, which has a rating of 10.8V, 4400mAh:
The power supply is manufactured by Delta Electronics and is rated on the output 19V, 3.42A:
The sealed bag of documents that we have mentioned before comes with a Declaration of Conformity, a leaflet about International Warranty and regular Warranty, but also a smaller document regarding Windows 8 key functions:
The top side of the laptop comes with a black and glossy plastic finish (which picks up fingerprints) and on the left side we also have an Acer logo:
The left side of the laptop is filled with multiple ports:
Near the DC-IN port, we have the LAN port and to the right we have the exhaust ventilation grill:
Next, we have a D-SUB connector along with a HDMI:
Near the HDMI we have a single USB 2.0 port along with the microphone and headphone jack:
On the right side we have some additional ports, but also the DVD-Writer:
On a closer look, we will see a Kensington Lock port:
Two additional USB 2.0 ports are to be found on the left side of the DVD Drive bezel:
By lifting the laptop display, we will find some additional notes; for extra protection, Acer have also covered the display from side to side:
The displays’ plastic frame also comes with a black glossy finish, which is covered with a transparent adhesive film. The TN-matrix display itself is not anti-glare, but comes with a glossy finish and has a diagonal of 15.6 inches:
On the top we will see the integrated webcam lens:
The sides of the display have small rubber feet:
This laptop model comes with a full-sized keyboard sporting scissor switches, which means that the keys have a low profile/travel:
The wrist rest has a glossy metallic grey finish and on the left side we will find the Intel Pentium Inside logo:
The touchpad has a rough plastic finish for enhanced precision and the left/right click buttons can be pressed quite easily; on the right side of the touchpad we have a scroll bar:
On the right side the wrist rest, we will find the product specifications listed:
On the upper left side we have the power button with a small blue LED:
Also, on the top side of the keyboard we will find the speaker grill:
Beginning with F3 and ending with F8, we will find the keys with secondary functions:
The arrow keys also have multiple preset functions for setting the volume levels or screen brightness:
The left and right side of the Spacebar, we will be able to find the Windows function keys:
If we look on the back side of the laptop, we will find multiple ventilation grills, most which are placed in the area of the memory, CPU and fan intake; on the left side we have the Windows 8 authenticity logo along with the OEM release serial number:
Here is a closer look at the fan intake grill; unlike some other laptops, in order to reach to it for cleaning, we will have to remove most of the bottom screws:
In the empty area we will have to attach the battery, which can be installed really easy by using the orange spring mechanism:
By removing the bottom cover, we will discover the HDD sitting on the left, along with the WiFi card in the center and also the memory slots on the right:
The HDD is a Western Digital Scorpio Blue, 500GB and with a height of only 7mm. The drive comes with a single platter:
The Intel Centrino Wireless-N 105 card takes care of the WiFi interface and sports two antennas:
Only one SODIMM slot is occupied with a 4GB module:
On the front side of the laptop we have the activity LEDs:
To their left we will find the card reader:
After the Windows 8 installation has been completed, we will be able to see the list of pre-installed applications:
Some Acer applications are present on the desktop; one of them is Acer Backup Manager, for doing different types of data saves and migration:
Acer Device Fast-lane will permit us to quickly see if some of our computer functions are turned on or off:
With the Acer Power Button utility, we will be able to set a different state to our laptop or assign a different function to the hardware power button:
Acer Power Management will show us a list of applications that consume a lot of battery power and we can choose to terminate them:
With the Acer Recovery Management application, we will be able to different type of system restores:
AcerCloud will share our music, photos, videos and documents on your PC with all our devices:
We also have preinstalled Acer Clear.fi which connects us to our media files, everywhere, anytime, and using a wide variety of Acer products:
The Identity Card application from Acer will show us some detailed serial numbers from the product:
The Aspire E-531 comes with the McAfee Internet Security utility pre-installed:
When navigating through the Start menu, we will also find plenty of pre-installed games and a trial for CyberLink MediaExpresso 6.5:
We will also get a trial version for NTI Media Maker 9:
In the next part of the review, we will use some of the well-known utilities for finding more in-depth information regarding the internal components. The CPU that was installed with this version is an Intel Pentium B960 with a frequency of 2.2GHz, and sports a Sandy Bridge microarchitecture:
CPU-Z reports the mainboard model code as being EA_50_HR and the BIOS from Insyde Corp.:
The laptop comes with a single 4GB SODIMM DDR3 memory module preinstalled, running at 1333MHz, with the 9-9-9-24 timings:
Here are some more details regarding the Hyundai Electronics memory module:
Aspire E1-531 does not feature dedicated graphics, but integrated:
With AIDA64, we have also extracted some more information regarding:
CPU
Motherboard
SODIMM Memory
CPU IMC
Integrated Graphics
Display
Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery
HDMI Interface & Audio
Installed Disk Drive
Gigabit LAN & WiFi Controllers
Optical Drive
In a direct comparison with the previous small form factor systems, we have seen that the Aspire E1-531 performs quite well, by keeping a low power consumption. The Shuttle DS61 was equipped with an Intel Pentium G630 CPU, while the Viako ML55 had preinstalled an Intel Core i3-2100, which also features Hyperthreading. Regarding integrated graphics, the Pentium G630 comes with Intel HD Graphics clocked at 850MHz, with a maximum dynamic frequency of 1.1GHz, the Intel Core i3-2100 has Intel HD Graphics 2000 with the same frequencies and the Pentium B960 is equipped with Intel HD Graphics at 650MHz, with a maximum dynamic frequency of 1.1GHz.
We have run the AIDA64 Cache & Memory benchmark in order to calculate the Memory, L1, L2 and L3 cache bandwidths.
In order to determine the temperature of the internal components at high stress, we have used the HWiNFO64 utility, to record the IDLE values after 30 minutes and also the temperatures in Full Load, after one hour of continuous PCMark 7 testing:
We have tested the laptop power consumption in a desktop replacement environment, which means that the product was plugged in, with the battery charged 100%. During IDLE, we have recorded 17.92W and while running the AIDA64 System Stress tests, the maximum recorded value was 39.90W.
For testing the battery, we have used Battery Eater Pro version 2.70 and the system lasted for about one hour, 26 minutes and 15 seconds.
The Acer Aspire E-531 comes bundled with the latest OS from Microsoft, while the hardware is enough for performing most office applications or browsing the web. Thanks to the screen characteristics, we can successfully use the laptop for watching HD movies and playing simple, browser games.
One other feature that we liked about this laptop is the power consumption, which is pretty low in both IDLE and Full Load modes, so we could also use the computer as a seed box if we connect external storage to it; be careful though since the laptop is not equipped with USB 3.0, so we will be limited to USB 2.0 speeds.
While the laptop does come with only 4GB of RAM, we can upgrade it with an additional 4GB or 8GB module if it’s necessary. For boosting the performance even further, we can install a SSD inside the HDD bay and to preserve the original storage (HDD) drive, we are also able to swap the optical drive for a HDD/SSD caddy (bought separately from other vendors).
This particular model has a very good price/performance ratio and we would recommend it to anyone which is on a tight budget.
The Aspire E-531 is not available anymore from Oveclockers UK, but you can freely browse their current offer by clicking on this link.
We would like to thank again to Overclockers UK for making this review possible!