Acer laptop - your thoughts about these two non-gaming units? aspire 5 A515-43-R19L,

I am an older person with an Acer desktop recently purchased, but I would like to have an Acer laptop as well. No gaming required. My main activities include reading on screen, watching videos, following forums, and listening to streaming music.

Amazon "suggests" these two Acer laptops. What are your thoughts? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

"Best Seller"
Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop, A515-43-R19L, Silver (USD $428 on Apr. 20, 2021)

15.6 inches Full HD IPS Display
AMD Ryzen 3 3200U, Vega 3 Graphics
4GB DDR4, 128GB SSD
Backlit Keyboard
Windows 10 in S Mode

"Amazon's Choice"
Acer Aspire 5 A515-55-56VK (USD $550 on Apr. 20, 2021)

15.6" Full HD IPS Display
10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1
8GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe SSD
Intel Wireless WiFi 6 AX201,
Fingerprint Reader, Backlit eyboard
Windows 10 Home

Thread was edited to add model name to the title

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JackE

The 55-56K is a better deal mainly due to the RAM advantage & superior size/ speed of an nvme SSD. The 43-R19L would soon need more memory and a bigger SSD to satisfactorily keep up with contant Win10 updates and storing your own personal programs and files. Jack E/NJ

dystopiandave

JackE said:

The 55-56K is a better deal mainly due to the RAM advantage & superior size/ speed of an nvme SSD. The 43-R19L would soon need more memory and a bigger SSD to satisfactorily keep up with contant Win10 updates and storing your own personal programs and files. Jack E/NJ

@JackE -- Thanks for your help. The Win10 updates killed my last desktop computer which, admittedly, was 10 years old. Yes, it seems that, as you indicate, the 55-56K has a lot more potential for only $120 more.

JackE

>>> The Win10 updates killed my last desktop computer which, admittedly, was 10 years old. >>>

If System Protection was turned on in Control Panel's restore point app, the errant Win10 updates can usually be reversed and then temporarily blocked from re-installing until a future update fixes whatever issue the installed updates caused in your desktop. Jack E/NJ

ttttt

@dystopiandave

As far as I know the SSD for the Aspire 5 Slim Laptop is also a M.2 NVMe SSD ( but probably a x2 model). Months ago I almost bought this laptop if not because my Dell laptop is still working just fine. The price was lower back then.

Your requirements for PC is kind of low. I got the impression you may not accumulate data fast, so this 128 GB SSD should last for awhile. Anyway, there are external HDD/SSD for storage if the need arise. The most important point is that Win 10 is in the M.2 NVMe SSD.

Many people complained the Windows 10 "S", version. So, be sure to switch from Win 10 "S" to Win 10 Home, otherwise you will be stuck with Microsoft software only.

dystopiandave

@ttttt Thanks for the information on Win 10 "S". I did not know about this, but will definitely choose the "Home" alternative.

ttttt

@dystopiandave

If you visit the U. S. Amazon site , check out the low star reviews of this Aspire 5 Slim model ( or both of them, I believe both come with Win 10 "S"). Some non-technical people or some just made mistakes during the switching from Win 10 "S" to Win 10 Home process ended up paying for a new Win 10 again. I feel sorry for them.

Due to the compact size of laptops, some laptops just do not have enough room for heat sinks of the M.2 NVMe SSD once the drive installed. I believe you should be O.K. with that as you may be a light duty user. For those people who frequently migrate or copying more than 10 GB data from here to there they may have problems. Why I talk about 10 GB ? I tried to copy a big chunk of data from one M.2 NVMe SSD to another one without heat sink. The speed was fast at the first few GB, and then the M.2 NVMe SSD throttled and the transfer speed dropped tremendously at around 10 GB. That was because of the heat generated during copying.

I wonder so may heavy gamers complained that their games experienced heavy FPS drops. Maybe their drives just do not have heat sinks.

Anyway, pay attention to the Win 10 "S" to Win 10 Home process.

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