Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk
Value laptop winner
Acer Aspire 5536
Verdict
A cheap and cheerful desktop replacement that cuts acceptable corners to hit the low price
Review Date: 2 Oct 2009
Price when reviewed: £365
Overall Rating
Alternative products
Samsung R720
Samsung's latest desktop replacement has a huge, high-resolution 17.3in display - and a tiny, tiny price tag
Sony VAIO VGN-NS30E/S
A dependable budget laptop, but a bit of a porker - and it isn't the most stylish either
advertisement
Comparison
| Product |
Samsung R720
|
Sony VAIO VGN-NS30E/S
|
Acer Aspire 5536
|
| Details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part Code | NP-R720-FS03UK | VGNNS30E/S.CEK | LX.PAW0X.074 |
| Review Date | 5 Oct 2009 | 5 Oct 2009 | 2 Oct 2009 |
| Price ex VAT | £492 | £435 | £365 |
| Price inc VAT | £566 | £500 | £420 |
| Overall rating |
|
|
|
| Features & Design |
|
|
|
| Value for Money |
|
|
|
| Performance |
|
|
|
| Warranty | |||
| Warranty final | 1yr collect and return | 1 yr return to base | 1yr collect and return |
| Physical specifications | |||
| Dimensions | 413 x 271 x 44mm (WDH) | 361 x 269 x 39mm (WDH) | 383 x 250 x 37mm (WDH) |
| Weight | 2.970kg | 2.760kg | 2.590kg |
| Travelling weight | 3.4kg | 3.3kg | 3.0kg |
| Processor and memory | |||
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo T4300 | Intel Core 2 Duo T4200 | AMD Athlon X2 QL-64 |
| RAM capacity | 4.00GB | 3.00GB | 3.00GB |
| Memory type | DDR2 | DDR2 | DDR2 |
| SODIMM sockets free | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SODIMM sockets total | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Screen and video | |||
| Screen size | 17.3in | 15.4in | 15.6in |
| Resolution screen horizontal | 1,600 | 1,280 | 1,366 |
| Resolution screen vertical | 900 | 800 | 768 |
| Resolution | 1600 x 900 | 1280 x 800 | 1366 x 768 |
| Graphics chipset | ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 | Intel GMA 4500MHD | ATI Radeon HD 3200 |
| Graphics card RAM | 512MB | 128MB | 256MB |
| VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| HDMI outputs | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| S-Video outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-I outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-D outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DisplayPort outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Drives | |||
| Capacity | 320GB | 250GB | 500GB |
| Hard disk usable capacity | 298GB | 233GB | 466GB |
| Spindle speed | 5,400RPM | 5,400RPM | 5,400RPM |
| Internal disk interface | SATA/300 | SATA/300 | SATA/300 |
| Hard disk | Fujitsu MHZ2320BH G2 | Toshiba MK2552GSX | Hitachi Travelstar 5K500 |
| Optical disc technology | DVD writer | DVD writer | DVD writer |
| Optical drive | TSSTcorp TS-L633B | Pioneer DVRTD08 | TSSTcorp TS-L633B |
| Battery capacity | 4,000mAh | 4,400mAh | 4,400mAh |
| Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Networking | |||
| Wired adapter speed | 1,000Mbits/sec | 1,000Mbits/sec | 1,000Mbits/sec |
| 802.11a support |
|
|
|
| 802.11b support |
|
|
|
| 802.11g support |
|
|
|
| 802.11 draft-n support |
|
|
|
| Integrated 3G adapter |
|
||
| Bluetooth support |
|
||
| Other Features | |||
| Wireless hardware on/off switch |
|
|
|
| Wireless key-combination switch |
|
|
|
| Modem |
|
|
|
| ExpressCard34 slots | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| ExpressCard54 slots | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| PC Card slots | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| USB ports (downstream) | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| FireWire ports | 1 | ||
| eSATA ports | 1 | ||
| PS/2 mouse port |
|
|
|
| 9-pin serial ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Parallel ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3.5mm audio jacks | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| SD card reader |
|
|
|
| Memory Stick reader |
|
|
|
| MMC (multimedia card) reader |
|
|
|
| Smart Media reader |
|
|
|
| Compact Flash reader |
|
|
|
| xD-card reader |
|
|
|
| Pointing device type | Touchpad | Touchpad | Touchpad |
| Audio chipset | Realtek HD Audio | Realtek HD Audio | Realtek HD Audio |
| Speaker location | Above keyboard | Above keyboard | Above keyboard |
| Hardware volume control? |
|
|
|
| Integrated microphone? |
|
|
|
| Integrated webcam? |
|
|
|
| Camera megapixel rating | 1.3mp | 1.3mp | N/A |
| TPM |
|
|
|
| Fingerprint reader |
|
|
|
| Smartcard reader |
|
|
|
| Operating system and software | |||
| OS family | Windows Vista | Windows Vista | Windows Vista |
| Recovery method | Recovery Partition | Recovery partition, burn own recovery discs | Burn own recovery discs |
| Software supplied | CyberLink DVDSuite, CyberLink YouCam | InterVideo WinDVD 8 | Microsoft Works 9 SE |
| Battery and performance tests | |||
| Battery life, light use | 4hr 11min | 4hr 40min | 3hr 41min |
| Battery life, heavy use | 1hr 23min | 1hr 53min | 1hr 1min |
| Overall application benchmark score | 1.00 | 0.94 | 0.88 |
| 3D performance (crysis) low settings | 40fps | 5fps | 16fps |
| 3D performance setting | Low | Low | Low |
