Acer Aspire 5 i7 11th gen review, the 15-inch A515-56-73AP model.
In today’s review, we are going to look at the Acer Aspire 5 A515-56-73AP the 11th Gen model. It is one of the Acer Aspire 5 family that has the newest generation of Intel i7 processors.
I think that this unit is a good value if you are looking for a 15″ laptop that has 11th Gen of Intel i7 CPU rather than i5, 16GB of memory instead of the usual 8GB, and the Ethernet port, for an affordable price. The additional features like a Fingerprint reader and Backlit keyboard are a big bonus to this notebook.
From the market’s statistics, Acer laptops are successful to be the best sellers of notebooks. From the previous generations of Acer Aspire 5, Swift family, until its Chromebooks, all became last year’s best-seller notebooks.
Is this 11th Gen unit as good as its predecessors? Well, we will find it out soon, after we look at the specifications below.
A515-56-73AP Specs
The highlight of the specifications of this Acer Aspire 5 A515-55 model is the 16GB memory out of the box, and the newest Tiger Lake-U i7 processor (11th Generation).
For the memory, it comes with pre-installed 16 of RAM. The 8GB chip is soldered to the motherboard, and the other 8GB is upgradable to a total of 24GB.
In the table below, we will see the main specs of this Acer Aspire 5 A515-56-73AP model.
| Product: | Acer Aspire 5 A515-56-73AP, 15.6" Full HD IPS Display, 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1165G7, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, 16GB DDR4, 512GB NVMe SSD, WiFi 6, Fingerprint Reader, Backlit Keyboard |
| Preview |
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| Processor | 2.80 GHz Quad-Core 11th Gen i7-1165G7 (4.70 GHz Max when needed) |
| Screen | 15.6″ Full-HD (1920×1080) ComfyView IPS LED-backlight Display |
| Graphics | Integrated discrete Intel Iris Xe Graphics |
| RAM (2x memory slots) | 2x8GB DDR4 SDRAM (Upgradable) |
| Storage ✅ | 512GB PCIe SSD |
| Connectivity | 1x HDMI, 1x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 1x RJ-45 Ethernet port |
| Other features | Webcam, Stereo speakers, built-in Microphone, Fingerprint reader, Backlit keyboard, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Strength & Weakness | VIEW |
If a touchscreen laptop is what you are after, check this different model of Acer Aspire 5.
11th Generation of Intel i7 CPU chip
Intel released the CPU of this laptop (i7-1165G7) 7 months ago, which was in September 2020. The quad-core Intel i7-1165G7 is the most recent generation of Intel’s CPU. This chipset is specifically built for ultrabooks and laptops to be better than the previous generation. It is about 11% faster than its predecessor, see the benchmark screenshot below. Moreover, it’s also more power-efficient.
What is more, this Chipset supports Wi-Fi 6 rather than Wi-Fi 5 and supports the Thunderbolt 4 (USB-4). Meaning your laptop is one of the newer generations of 2021 laptops with these features.
Another exclusive benefit is the new discrete Graphics card which they shipped with this CPU, the Intel Iris Xe Graphics card. They made this Graphics card on the newer architecture generation, which will improve the performance from its older generation.
Is Intel Iris Xe Graphics good?
Intel Iris Xe is the first discrete GPU from Intel that was officially released on January 26, 2021. This Graphics can play modern games at 1080p.
Below are the playable games with this Intel Iris Xe Graphics.
With games like Dot A and Metro Exodus, for instance, this Intel’s discrete GPU can give you a higher FPS compared to the dedicated GPU, NVIDIA’s MX350 (see the graphic below).
There is also Acer Aspire 5 with lower-tier dedicated Graphics, the MX250, we review it on this page.
Certainly, they don’t build this unit to be a gaming laptop, but Intel has made a breakthrough that computer users now, can play games on Ultrabooks or ultra-thin laptops like this 11th Gen Acer Aspire 5 notebook. So yes, in short, Intel Iris Xe Graphics is quite good, better than its predecessors.
However, if intense gaming on a notebook is your priority, opt for real gaming laptops, like the Triton.
Our recommendations on inexpensive gaming devices from Acer are the Helios family. They are the Helios 1660 Ti or 2020 Helios with the RTX GPU. For the 17-inch one, check this AN517 unit.
Pre-installed 16GB of RAM!
In this era, where we can do almost everything on our laptops, having a good amount of memory is beneficial. And because of that, we recommend anyone to get a new laptop with a minimum of 8GB of RAM. So having 16GB of RAM in this thin and portable laptop is a big bonus.
Although this laptop is not specifically built for gaming, the 16GB memory is more than enough to stream and play casual games. Even the dedicated gaming laptops these days are still coming with only 8GB, like this one from Acer.
So this Acer Aspire 5 A515-56-73AP lightweight laptop is an ideal device for power users, who often run demanding video or image editing software, and casually gaming on a notebook.
Furthermore, the memory is upgradable to 24GB if you want to open it up. In short, you are covered for computer needs for the future.
512GB SSD, Plenty of Storage
This 2021 Acer Aspire 5 comes with plenty of storage, which is 512GB SSD. The advantage of having SSD as the storage is, your laptop performs tremendously faster than those laptops which still have a traditional hard drive. The start-up and re-login can be done in seconds.
The 512GB of SSD is more than the expensive laptops can offer, they usually come with only 256GB. It is important to have more room on your storage, as the Windows 10 operating system itself will have more software updates, and will need space for those updates.
Strong Performance
After reading the main features of this laptop, there is no doubt that this thin laptop has strong performance. It may not have the best features and strongest performance on the market, but for the price it offers, this notebook’s performance is something that we cannot miss.
The 11th Gen of Intel i7 CPU alongside the 16GB of RAM and spacious SSD under the hood make this laptop capable to handle your everyday computing task and a lot more.
Furthermore, the advantage of this newer generation of Intel i7 is that they are power efficient, meaning you’ll get decent battery life on the go.
The Wi-Fi6 support is also something that will make this laptop an ideal notebook for your productivity since Wi-Fi6 is faster, more secure, and more energy-efficient than the older Wi-Fi generations.
Summary
All in all, to end this acer aspire 5 i7 11th gen review, you may ask yourself, is this laptop worth the money? Absolutely. I cannot think of a better laptop out there at this price and features. Good specs, newer generation CPU and Wi-Fi, backlit keyboard, plenty of USB ports, Fingerprint reader, and an Ethernet port, all packed in a lightweight and sleek device.
Acer Aspire 5 A515-56-73AP is the best choice available for the 11th Gen i7 chip and 16GB memory with no hassles to upgrade.
