The Acer Aspire 3 has been one of our favorite budget laptops for years, offering reliable performance in a thin and light body at a great price, and it comes with lots of ports – including USB-C and HDMI. The latest in this line is the Acer Aspire 3 A315-24PT-R0UX which offers everything you need to go to class or work and get projects done, and it’s a great upgrade to last year’s model.
When we reviewed the Acer Aspire 3 A314-23P-R3QA last year, we liked it for its solid performance for the price and gorgeous design, at least by budget laptop standards. The latest model gets even better, now boasting AMD’s Ryzen 5 7520U, AMD Radeon graphics, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD NVMe SSD storage. It is not without compromises, though. Its mostly plastic body, but it looks elegant than most laptops in the sub-$500 price point.
The Aspire A315-24PT-R0UX is good value when taken as a package, even if it’s not the best or the most powerful work laptop or college laptop you could get for the money.
About the Acer Aspire 3
Here are the specs of the Acer Aspire 3 in this review:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7520U
- Graphics: AMD Radeon Graphics
- RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 RAM
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Display: 14-inch 1920 x 1080 LCD display
- Ports: 3 x USB-A, 1 x USB-C, 1 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x headphone jack
- Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1
- Webcam: 720p webcam
- Battery: 50 Watt-hours
- Weight: 3.92 pounds
- Size: 14.3 x 9.4 x 0.74 inches
The Acer Aspire 3 is a budget laptop available in several configurations with both Intel and AMD central processors. The base model is the Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R7VH with an AMD Ryzen 3 processors; our review model is the latest in that line (2024 model), with an AMD Ryzen 5 processor.
Design & Features
Like the Aspire 5, Acer prioritized performance and specs in the Acer Aspire 3. That means you’re not getting high-grade case elements like aluminum and super-slow weight.
However, the Acer A315-24PT-R0UX looks decent for its price. It’s an all-plastic shell that looks like it could be aluminum from a distance, or even up close. It doesn’t flex. It doesn’t creak or give off any signs of poor build quality.
Acer has massive experience in making sturdy, low-cost laptops, and it shows here. The Aspire 3 is a 14-inch touchscreen model that weighs 3.9 pounds and measures 14.29 x 0.74 x 9.35 inches. It’s a little heavy than the lightest Chromebook around but is still ideal for everyday portable use and will happily fit in a rucksack for offsite meetings r university lectures.
Around the edges of the laptop are the ports, and Acer is offering a decent selection. There are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB Type-C port, and an HDMI 2.1 port. Those are enough to get you going, but Acer could have thrown in a few more USB-C ports for good measure, especially in 2023.
Display, Keyboard and Touchpad
It’s simple as it sounds, and the silver look makes the Aspire 3 appear more like a style-led consumer laptop than some of the more business-centric ones you’ll find at higher prices. The Aspire gets a decent keyboard and a passable keyboard. The keys are like those of many budget laptops- they have more travel than those of some ultra-premium laptops, but carry along a slightly hollow feel.
The LCD touchscreen, touted as “Full HD IPS” is comfortably bright and crisp. Despite its anti-glare display, colors look surprisingly vibrant and there’s a strong contrast between colors. It’s not excellent, but it should suffice for that casual mix of work and entertainment. At 200 nits of peak brightness, it’s not the most vivid screen you’ll ever see, but it’s OK at full brightness, but at lower settings, it will seem a tad dull.
Overall, Acer has done a decent job with the Acer Aspire 3’s design, considering the price point. It’s not overly sleek or stylish, but it does look fine and is functional enough for everyday tasks.
Performance
Under the hood, our review model of the Acer Aspire 3 comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 7520U Quad-Core processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB NVMe SSD, and AMD Radeon graphics. This makes it more than capable of basic tasks, such as web browsing and word processing. It’s not a performance workhorse though – so, if you’re looking for something for gaming, or for heavy workloads, this probably isn’t it.
However, it does provide better performance than, for example, the Intel Pentium-based systems you might find selling for around the same price. With the Ryzen 5 chip, tasks like Photoshop-grade image editing and video editing become ill-advised, to put it lightly. But most other basic tasks are feasible with an Aspire 3. It uses Radeon graphics, which, while they can’t play the latest AAA titles, can still handle some older games fairly well.
All the longest-lasting Windows laptops I’ve used over the last couple of years have had AMD processors. And the Aspire 3 A315-24PT-R0UX has a battery life that’s excellent, and will last an entire day at work or school.
It lasts 9 hours and 39 minutes of general productivity work. While eight hours is precisely what I look for in a work laptop, Acer does offer that additional wiggle room for an entire day of productivity use and some more for a movie later in the day.
Should you buy it?
Yes, it’s a great budget laptop for class or work.
The Acer Aspire 3 isn’t the most powerful laptop around, but it offers a well-rounded set of features, portability and performance for under $500. Its midrange processor, decent collection of ports, and a comfortable keyboard and touchpad make it a practical choice among budget laptops if you need something for high-school, college or office use.
If you’re not in the market for a laptop that can handle demanding productivity tasks like video editing or programming, the Acer Aspire 3 A315-24PT-R0UX is a great buy. Its battery will last almost an entire workday, and you can upgrade its storage and RAM yourself if you need more in the future. It isn’t the MacBook Air of Windows laptops, but its’s what’s on the inside (and the price tag) that counts.
Recommended Configuration
acer Aspire 3 A315-24PT-R0UX Slim Laptop, 15.6" Full HD IPS Touch Display, AMD Ryzen 5 7520U Quad-Core Processor, AMD Radeon Graphics, 16GB LPDDR5, 512GB NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi 6, Windows 11 Home
$399.99 in stock
1 used from $399.99
The Review
Acer Aspire 3 A315-24PT-R0UX
The Acer Aspire 3 A315-24PT-R0UX is a 14-inch budget laptop that provides respectable performance and battery life for a very reasonable price.
PROS
- Solid performance for the price
- Thin and light body
- Decent battery life
- Robust port selection
CONS
- 720p webcam
- Mediocre screen
Review Breakdown
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ARS SCORE
