Acer Aspire Recommendations please

AmyInNH
AmyInNH Member Posts: 8

Tinkerer

edited March 2023 in Aspire Laptops

My fabulous Acer Aspire V has taken many tumbles to the floor but today's … well, dramatic edge over edge down 12 stairs, bounced up from landing to hit the steel exterior door. Surprising, lots of plastic corner chips flew, but the only real damage is Wifi stopped working, quite a testiment to Acer quality.

It has major graphics and memory, because I was doing 3D modeling and printing. But I don't need that any more, nor the weight (it's heavy!). Nor do I want to wade through and do research on the riduculous multitudes of tech specs on Acer's few hundred PCs.

Do want reasonable performance for basic home use, and occasional streaming, zoom use, light enough to move around constantly with this. No use for novel utilities like fingerprint logins, IoT, etc., no interest in Chrome or Linux.

Any serious recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Best Answer

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,454 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    So for it's day the Aspire V3-572G was a really decent mid range machine. Does yours have one of the i5 CPUs? It was 4th gen Intel (current is 12th or 13th gen) and maxed out at 16GB of memory. If I were going to replace with a new system, but didn't need the graphics horsepower, I'd still look at the Aspire line. The Nitro is a great choice if you want the GPU for gaming or productivity, but that souonds like it's just an extra expense in your case. A quick look at Acer's offerings with similar, but modern, specs shows these, among others:

    Of them I'm most partial to the middle one, because it has a touchscreen. They each sport the same size display as your old machine (15.6"), though at higher resolution. All have the 12th gen i7 CPU and 16GB of memory. The first two have a 512GB SSD, the third a 1TB SSD. Likely they also make a model with the touchscreen and a 1TB SSD. I think you'd be happy with any of these…

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    How much money you got? Newest Aspire5 models preferrably with AMD APUs & graphics. Take your pick from this list.

    Jack E/NJ

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 9,691 Trailblazer

    What acer V model did you have e.g. V3 or V5 or V7? As todays laptops are far more superior than what you could spend for a mid range laptop in those V3-5-7 days and for the mid-range prices of yesteryear, for example for USD $750.00 you can get a Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop - AN515-57-537Y that is a mid range and a very capable gaming and creator laptop as it comes oem with Intel® Core™ i5-11400H processor Hexa-core 2.70 GHz and NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 with 6 GB dedicated memory and 8GB ram but you can upgrade it to 32GB at 2x 16GB DDR4-3200MHz CL22 type RAM easily or even to to 64GB max RAM, this laptop has a PCIe 3 x4 M.2 SSD at 265GB OEM that can also be upgraded to 2TB PCIe 3 x4. Of course if you want to spend more there are other Acer laptops that are more superior to a Nitro, so let us know what you budget is?

  • AmyInNH
    AmyInNH Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    It's a V3, specifically V3-572G. But I'm not a gamer and no longer 3D modeling, so the graphics/CPU beef needed for doing so is no longer needed. My budget isn't the issue, right-sizing to current use is the issue. So I'm looking to downgrade, but avoid the Mr's disappointment with his low performance HP. Current use is basic home use, and occasional streaming, zoom use, light enough to move around constantly with this. No use for novel utilities like fingerprint logins, IoT, etc.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    How much money you got? Newest Aspire5 models preferrably with AMD APUs & graphics. Take your pick from this list.

    Jack E/NJ

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    How much money you got? Newest Aspire5 models preferrably with AMD APUs & graphics. Take your pick from this list.

    Jack E/NJ

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 9,691 Trailblazer

    It’s a very strange coincidence that I still have my old V3-572G also 😁 and I tell you what, I’m using a Nitro 5 AN515-56 with the i7-11370H with the RTX3050 with 4GB mem 16GB 2x 8GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM 144Hz refresher rate screen and this thing is so versatile as a laptop and can be used for anything, gaming, high end stuff, low end stuff and that is why I suggested that Nitro to you, suite yourself but I’m suggesting what I’ve used (as I’ve used the V3-572G for a long time as a laptop also). Btw, I have a 10k desktop that I’ve gone to ridiculous measures with building and spending on its hardware, so I know what both ends of computing ends are, but my gaming desktop was specifically setup for high end car racing simulation games which is what I like to do on a coputer if I play games, and is way out there, but that’s another story. Good luck and hope this helps you out some?

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,454 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    So for it's day the Aspire V3-572G was a really decent mid range machine. Does yours have one of the i5 CPUs? It was 4th gen Intel (current is 12th or 13th gen) and maxed out at 16GB of memory. If I were going to replace with a new system, but didn't need the graphics horsepower, I'd still look at the Aspire line. The Nitro is a great choice if you want the GPU for gaming or productivity, but that souonds like it's just an extra expense in your case. A quick look at Acer's offerings with similar, but modern, specs shows these, among others:

    Of them I'm most partial to the middle one, because it has a touchscreen. They each sport the same size display as your old machine (15.6"), though at higher resolution. All have the 12th gen i7 CPU and 16GB of memory. The first two have a 512GB SSD, the third a 1TB SSD. Likely they also make a model with the touchscreen and a 1TB SSD. I think you'd be happy with any of these…

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • AmyInNH
    AmyInNH Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    Thanks. Would you know what their power cord length is for their laptops? I'm not seeing it in their specs.

  • AmyInNH
    AmyInNH Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    I looked at the 3, and came down to the leftmost. Far right had more memory than I use/need, the middle one, I have no need for touchscreen. Far left, unfortunately looks to be no longer for sale.

    I picked up the specs from the far left pc, 748P, and came up with these two, https://store.acer.com/en-us/catalog/product_compare/index/uenc/aHR0cHM6Ly9zdG9yZS5hY2VyLmNvbS9lbi11cy9jYXRhbG9nL3Byb2R1Y3RfY29tcGFyZS9hZGQv/ and of those two, lean 74D6, due to lighter weight and better battery hours. Thanks @billsey and @StevenGen for helping me get my head around this. The Mr's leaving for work in a few days, taking his laptop with him, so I have limited time to resolve this.

  • AmyInNH
    AmyInNH Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    I don't remember having any fights to get my V3-572G to do anything nor having to chase down support for it. But it's gone from desk work for 3D modeling/printing, to being on my lap for use after work. Too heavy to be on my lap for a few hours' research, and stalling on replacing, the tumble down the stairs ended the stalling.

    I've a wicked old desktop beast (1998 or so) that requires regular opening for dusting. Never connect it to the internet, as auto-update killed off some of the software. It's been kept for Photoshop, Illustrator, scanner. "One of these days…" I'll have to address replacing that, but not today.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    As I mentioned immediately after your first post, you might still want to check out the newest Aspire5 models preferrably with AMD APUs & graphics. Take your pick from this list.

    Jack E/NJ

  • AmyInNH
    AmyInNH Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    Months now using my new Acer. Overall, nice machine. One sore spot, sound. Don't know why someone would think it's a good idea to put the speakers facing under the machine. Muffled and low.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    edited September 2023

    Bottom firing speakers reflect sound better when laptop is raised about an inch above a hard surface. Also helps with cooling as long as the air and speaker vents aren't blocked. I use a toaster oven rack to raise my laptop. Sounds and cools well. 🙂

    Jack E/NJ

  • AmyInNH
    AmyInNH Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    edited October 2023

    "when laptop is raised about an inch above a hard surface"

    Yes, Jack. Which is illogical design, for a machine specifically made to be on one's lap.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    Perhaps the term 'laptop' shouldn't be taken too literally especially to help avoid overheating & sound distortion. 🙂 Notebook might be a better term. 😋

    Jack E/NJ