Acer Aspire 5520G review
Marţi, August 26th, 2008
At the beginning of this year I (desperately) needed a laptop (I’m not working in my hometown and I don’t have a stable residence; a laptop gives me the flexibility I need).
So, I looked for a proper solution that would fulfill my expectations:
- decent performance (I’m not a gamer, but I appreciate performance when using my usual set of applications – a bit of image manipulation and software development…; a lot of reading, web browsing, watching online TV and listening to music);
- decent price (I’m not willing to pay an insane price just because a laptop is named whatever trademark);
- an eye to the future (OK, current operating systems are just beginning to migrate to 64-bit, it seems a long way until 64-bit computing will obsolete 32-bit, just as the latter replaced 16-bit; but then again, back in ‘99, who would have believed the CD will be replaced by DVD’s as quickly and as thoroughly?).
After searching products and then trying to find out what customers have written on forums about them, I came up with this solution:
Acer Aspire 5520G.
I’ve bought it from an online retailer and (at least until now) I’m a very satisfied customer. I don’t regret the choice I’ve made (especially when seeing the other options at work: Dell was a disappointment, Asus likewise).
What drew me to it?
Well, this laptop looks quite nice (they call it "Gemstone"; to me, almost anything that isn’t as the majority of its kind has a better appeal 
). Looking at its specifications I thought it would be a good match for my expectations (mentioned above), especially:
* the ‘performance’ part:
- dual-core processor, capable of running 64-bit instructions;
- 2 GB RAM;
- 160 GB hard-disk;
- nVidia 8600M GS, with 512 MB dedicated RAM;
* the ‘price’ part:
- just over $ 1000 (about € 700);
* the ‘future’ part:
- 64-bit processor;
- video adapter with hardware support for DirectX 10;
- lots of storage (at least it’s enough for my needs);
* other convincing enticers:
- incorporated webcam and microphone;
- screen with a good response time (8 ms);
- included high-resolution optical mouse;
- keyboard with a decent layout (ex. ‘Del’ button is easy to find – top right corner; ‘Fn’ button is right next to the left ‘Ctrl’)
- included gamepad (actually, I don’t need this one, but if it’s "included", why not? 
).
Specifications
CPU: AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-58, 1900 MHz [(9.5 x 200), L1 cache 64 KB/core, L2 cache 512 KB/core - dual-core, 64 bit support]
Motherboard Chipset: nVidia nForce 7000M-610M (southbridge), AMD Hammer DDR 2 IMC (northbridge)
BIOS Type: Phoenix
RAM: 2048 MB [667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)]
Video adapter: nVidia GeForce 8600M GS, 512 MB GDDR2 [128 bit, core clock 600 MHz, shader clock 1200 MHz, memory clock 700 MHz - support for DirectX 10]
Monitor: Acer CrystalBrite 15.4" LCD (LG Philips), WXGA [8 ms/220-nit, currently running at 1280x800@60Hz] – HDTV capable
Audio: Realtek ALC268 @ nVidia MCP67/68 – High Definition Audio controller; Dolby Sound; audio jacks (on the front side): headphones, microphone, S/PDIF
Networking: nVidia MCP67/68; (wireless) Atheros AR5007EG – 802.11 b/g
Storage: Hitachi – 160 GB [8 MB cache, SATA, 5400 RPM]
Optical drive: Matshita – 2 MB cache, DVD +/- R/RW/RAM/ROM, dual layer support, CD R/RW/ROM
Card reader: Ricoh – 5-in-1: SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD
Webcam: Acer Crystal Eye (Bison) – 0.3 Mpixels
Connectivity:
4 x USB 2.0,
Broadcom Bluetooth adapter,
CXT Fax/Modem – 56K, V.92,
DVI,
ExpressCard,
IEEE 1394 (FireWire),
VGA,
RJ-11 (modem),
RJ-45 (Ethernet),
CIR (Consumer Infrared),
S-video/TV-out (NTSC/PAL)
Battery: Lithium Ion, 6 cells; (initially) discharge time ~3 hours
also:
Keyboard: multimedia keys, excellent layout
Touchpad: Synaptics; includes a middle button (functioning similarly to arrow keys)
Volume control wheel (on the left side)
Noise: very low level (even when the cooler is working)
Heat: (average values – Centigrade scale) 44 (HDD), 67 (GPU), 57 (CPU)
Weight: ~3 Kg (including batteries)
Design & durability
Pros:
Nice looking, unusual, shiny black/white plastic combination. Rounded corners. Excellent ergonomic placement of keys and connectors.
Well designed lid: it just stays as you put it and hasn’t developed clearance.
Cons:
The keyboard has poorly designed keys: they can easily get hooked by textiles or even nails and can snap.
Performance
Pros:
Fulfills my expectations: multitasking is not a problem, storage is sufficient, even the games are smooth and fast.
Cons:
The nVidia 8600M GS video adapter is lacking quality drivers. Acer doesn’t offer support for XP. There are only some old drivers hosted on obscure Acer sites (getting a proper driver is almost like an initiation).
Actually, from
Software
OS:
I’ve never tried Vista on it. I only use Windows XP SP3 (my nLite ubertweaked version) and Ubuntu Hardy Heron – GRUB, dual-boot.
Drivers:
XP: only the mentioned issue with the video adapter drivers from nVidia.
Ubuntu: it works like a charm – with full bells and whistles (i.e. Compiz Fusion)
Other applications:
XP: I’ve encountered some problems with older games (Cossacks – Back to War, Project IGI 1) – the nVidia drivers broke some stuff and DirectX 7 or 8 games (not all!) behave quirky (from throwing an error to not displaying the game text correctly).
Conclusion
My laptop stores a great deal of my future projects and my other personal stuff (memories shaped like jpegs, music, favorite movies). It’s my refuge from the daily (boring) routine.
Good value for the paid money. Acer definitely needs more attention as a laptop manufacturer.
[Although, unfortunately, your competition rules exclude non-Australia/New Zealand residents (I'm living in Romania), I still gave it shot. Sorry for wasting your time.]
