The Acer Aspire F 15 F5-571T-569T is a desktop-replacement laptop that boasts of a good mix of capability and features. It has a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB system memory, and a massive 1TB hard drive. It’s priced for affordability, but small touches, like a touchscreen and a backlit keyboard make for a nice laptop that looks somewhat better than most competitors.
It’s not a perfect system, but it’s an option worth considering alongside budget laptop replacement laptops, like the Toshiba Satellite C55-C5241, our Editors’ Choice for budget desktop replacement laptops.
Design
The laptop sports a fairly attractive design, with a charcoal black, textured plastic on the exterior meant to mimic the look of brushed aluminum. It weighs 5.29 pounds and measures 1.1 by 15 by 10.1 (HWD) inches. Well, it is not the most compact laptop in the market but it can still give you some great company if you don’t factor in the extra weight.
The 4-cell lithium ion battery can last up to 6 hours before charging and it is non-removable, therefore you need to keep your charger close if you are out for a road trip to plug-in in the nearest gas station or café in order to finish your assignments.
The 15.6” touchscreen HD LCD touchscreen display supports a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 and it is integrated with Intel HD graphics 4400 that deliver acceptable image quality and vivid visuals. The HD 4400 integrated graphics with shared memory is not enough for the hard core game lovers as it can only support lightweight games with lower settings.
For instance, using low and 720p should enable you to play ~25FPS on games like Grand Theft Auto 5. For proper gaming performance you need a dedicated NVIDA GPU and an Intel HD 4600 or 5000 integrated graphics. As such, you will have to consider powerful gaming laptops like the Dell Inspiron i7559-763BLK, our top pick for budget gaming laptops. The Aspire F15’s built-in stereo speakers provide high-quality audio and rich sound for music and movies.
Connectivity
Connectivity options include two USB 3.0 (1 powered), one USB 2.0 Port to connect your accessories and peripherals. It has a SuperMulti DVD Burner with double layer supporting M-Disc, an HDMI output port to connect to HDTV or large screen easily and a VGA output port.
It has an audio port, Bluetooth 4.0, Microphone input/Headphone output combo, security Lock slot, a high definition webcam and an SD card reader. For internet connection it has a built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Gigabits Ethernet LAN (10/100/1000) for faster internet connection. It also has a backlit keyboard with a 1.5mm travel that is touch responsive.
Performance
The Acer Aspire F15 and its fourth-generation Intel Core i5-4210U (1.7GHz, turbo 2.70GHz) and HD Graphics 4400 gives users formidable power on daily computing tasks: web surfing, email, word processing and movies. These are exactly the sorts of jobs that a budget desktop replacement laptop is good for. It is also fitted with 8GB DDR3L RAM which is enough memory for a mid-range user, but it is expandable to 16 GB if need be. This delivers smooth performance and efficient power for some in-house multitasking, you can even keep multiple browser tabs open without experiencing any lags or sluggish performance.
The 1TB hard drive is quite enough for all your movies and documents, but it rotates at 5400 rpm (rotations per minute), which is slower by all standards. At a time when we’re seeing laptops with faster solid state drive (SSDs), we expected even a faster 7,200rpm drive, the price notwithstanding. In as much we cannot demand more at this price range, we cannot deny the fact that its performance is far behind an SSD. If you have a knack for tinkering, you can always swap the HDD for an SSD.
Being a signature edition laptop means that you will not find any third party bloatware or junk, like is an issue in most mainstream laptops. The system runs on Windows 10 Home 64-bit making it easy to use and has faster start-up times, but can’t match the capability of SSDs. The laptop is a good match for both light and mid-range users and to some extent it can act as a secondary laptop for the heavy users. The laptop strikes a balance between power, speed, design and reliability as it can efficiently deliver on browsing the web, watching HD movies, playing moderate games and medium computing tasks.
Summary
The Acer Aspire F 15 F5-571T-569T shows off what Acer does best: deliver well-made machines at reasonable prices. The touchscreen and backlit keyboard is a drum-beater for a competitive desktop-replacement laptop category, and it is a great choice for the home/office use and even college papers. While the system can’t run most of your latest games at high settings, it is a modest option that scores where it matters for basic users.
For that, it deserves a long look as you shop around, but it lacks the chops to unseat the Toshiba Satellite C55-C5241, as our Editors’ Choice for budget desktop replacement laptop; thanks to its well-rounded features, including a fast 5th Generation Intel Core i5 processor, a great light-weight design and a fairly affordable price.
Our Pick
