Review Acer Aspire 5024WLMi (LX.A4605.061)
The Acer Aspire 5024WLMi convinces with strong 64 bit performance and a moderate price. However unfortunately the Turion and the X700 empty the battery very fast and often demand the ventilator activity. How the Crystal Brite Display worked in the test and much more you can read in our review...
Case
The relatively solid chassis crunches hardly and the design seems modern. The workmanship is ok for that price-segment. Only on the left back the plastic cover could be raised a little bit.
Most connections are (useful for righthanded people) on the left side of the notebook. Only the two audio connections (entrance and exit) are on the front. For headphones this is useful, but for a long connection of external boxes surely disturbing. It is positive that the laptop offers 4 USB connections (3 right, 1 in the back).
Generally the series Acer Aspire 5020 offers all connections from Firewire to s-video exit, which are usual in this price segment.
- On the left side are the remaining interfaces.
- On the right side there is only the DVD drive assembly.
- In the back there are the most needed interfaces.
- In front there are the WLAN button and the audio interfaces.
input devices
- The keyboard tortions easily.
- The Touchpad functions perfectly.
The keyboard of the Acer Aspire 5024WLMi has keys of normal notebook-size and offers a good layout. Only few current mobile computers offer an enter key of normal size and well placed "pos 1" and "end" keys. However the keyboard can be tortioned easily in the center and at the right edge. In addition the keys cracked on contact. Nevertheless the keyboard was pleasant for us to serve.
Also the keys of the touchpads, which is built in widescreeen format, crunched when using and are inserted somewhat wobbly in the case.
The Acer offers WLAN and a Bluetooth switch at the front and 4 high-speed keys (for Mail, InterNet, eManager and one free for definition).
Display
The very good maximal brightness of 169,9 cd/m² would allow the usage of the 16:10 15.4" screen with 1280x800 pixel resolution under sun exposure too. However the reflecting screen is a problem.
The illumination of 81,2 % is a little bit better than the average.
- The illumination of 81% is average.
The creation of cloudy stains was not remarkably bad and we did not notice problems during the test.
The point of view ranges are moderate for a widescreen display. With the view from above and/or below the panel loses relatively fast the colors. The lateral view shows less color distortions.
- reference image
- frontal view
- falsified colors
- falsified colors
- laterally still good colors
- laterally still good colors
- extrem point of view
performance
- easy accessability of memory, hard disk and WLAN
The Acer notebook demonstrates in all bench marks a good performance which (very similarly to the MSI Megabook M635 only somewhat faster owing to the higher clocked processor). The Turion ML-34 processor combined with the ATI Radeon Mobility X700 video card allows to represent current games (with a few restrictions). High-end players rather should choose a laptop with a video card of the performance class 1, but for normal users the performance surely is sufficient.
3D Mark01 | 3D Mark03 | 3D Mark05 |
PCMark 04 | PCMark 05 |
|
Doom 3
In the test Doom 3 could be played in the higher resolution 1024x786 pixel with the settings "high" without problems.
low: 75,8 fps
normal: 74,9 fps
high: 54,6 fps
ultra: 27,1 fps
Quake 3 Arena
The meanwhile aged OpenGL based game perfectly can be played in highest resolutions and settings.
244,6 fps in the FOUR.DM_68 time demo
HD Tune:
The implemented Seagate Momentus showed a data transmission rate below the average with the HD Tune bench mark. As the curve in the diagram shows, apparently the chipset is the limiting factor.
Transfer rate minimum: 19,0 MB/sec
Transfer rate maximum: 25,8 MB/sec
Transfer rate average: 24,9 MB/sec
Access time: 16,8 ms (12 ms according to the data sheet)
Burst rate: 73,5 MB/sec
CPU Usage: 4.6%
emissions
- The openings of the exhausts unfortunately are on the lower surface
Volume
Unfortunately that moderately loud ventilator (38.5 dB on lowest level) runs permanently. Also without load it switches on fast. Surfing in the internet, the Acer Aspire 5024 sometimes switches to level 2, which is with 44,3 dB noticeably louder. With full load the exhaust winds up to 46 dB (average of all tested notebooks was 47 dB).
Warmth
Interesting is, that the measured temperatures only differ slightly between full load and idle condition. One reason is the continuously running ventilator. The surface heats up to a maximum of 39°C. However the palm areas remain below 32°C (skin temperature). The lower surface heats up to a maximum of 43°C. That causes an unpleasant feeling.
- The small loudspeakers sound also "small"
Loudspeaker
Unfortunately the 2 small loudspeakers at the front side miss any basses. Because of their position they are covered by the human arms using the keyboard, whereby the sound is absorbed. In summary one can say that the loudspeakers sound as small as they look.
- temperature at the top side
- temperature at the lower surface
battery run time
- The battery delivered energy only for a short time of an hour under full load.
Battery Eater ' 05 pro
In the Reader test (text reading with minimum brightness, no WLAN and maximum current savings functions of the video card) the 4400mAh large Akku worked 3h40min (scarce over the average).
Surfing in the internet over a WLAN connection the laptop suffered a lack of energy after 2h14 min.
Under full load the Aspire 5024WLMi functioned only short 62 minutes. In the first test it was remarkable, that the laptop needed a hardware reset after 45 minutes.
Current consumption
The minimum current consumption was 29 watts (Powerplay on "maximum battery run time, minimum brightness, no WLAN, without load). Powerplay alone e.g. brought 6 watts energy saving (with losses in the unnecessary 3D performance). WLAN costs about 2 watts additionally.
With maximum brightness without load the notebook needed 40 watts (an optical mouse 1-1.5 watts cost).
Under full load the Acer needed above average 79 Watts from the plug socket. This also explains the short battery run times with full load.
result
- Acer Aspire 5024WLMi
The well equipped Acer Aspire 5024WLMi convinces with good performance data at an appropriate price. The reflecting display is comfortable bright, but does not convince with different viewing angles.
