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MagyarAcer Aspire 3 Laptop Review: An affordable Mendocino offering with excellent battery life and a sub-par screen
It has been a while since AMD unveiled its Mendocino line of processors. The low-power SKUs were earmarked for entry-level offerings and began appearing in laptops from HP and Lenovo. Even Acer entered the fray with the Acer Aspire 3.
We'll now take a look at how the Acer Aspire 3 A315 performs in the real world. It is the first Mendocino laptop we're looking at. While the Ryzen 5 7520U sounds like a current-gen CPU, Mendocino actually uses Zen 2 cores.
Our test unit has 8 GB of LPDDR5 memory, a 512 GB Micron SSD, and a 15.6-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) TN panel. It costs Rs. 45,999 (US$502) on Acer's official website.
This puts the Acer Aspire 3 in a precarious position, as the Zen 2 architecture is quite dated and can't be compared with current-gen offerings.
It does, however, get an edge thanks to its Radeon 610M iGPU, which AMD claims can play e-sports titles at 720p 60 FPS. Can it really, though?
Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75.7 % | 05/2023 | Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z R5 7520U, Radeon 610M | 1.8 kg | 18.9 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 78 % | 02/2022 | Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | 1.9 kg | 19.9 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 79 % | 06/2018 | Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM R3 2200U, Vega 3 | 2.4 kg | 29.2 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 86 % | 04/2023 | Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN i5-1240P, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | 1.6 kg | 18.5 mm | 16.00" | 1920x1200 | |
| 80.4 % | 12/2021 | Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 R3 5300U, Vega 6 | 1.7 kg | 19.9 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 80.5 % | 11/2021 | Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS R5 5500U, Vega 7 | 1.8 kg | 18.6 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 82.6 % | 05/2022 | Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U R5 5500U, Vega 7 | 1.6 kg | 16.9 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 83.8 % | 10/2022 | LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G R3 5300U, Vega 6 | 1.6 kg | 16.3 mm | 16.00" | 1280x1200 |
Case: Run-of-the-mill plastic body
The Acer Aspire 3 comes with a bog-standard plastic chassis with a dull grey finish. Sticker enthusiasts will find the laptop's back to their liking, as it is bereft of any branding, save for a tiny Acer logo scrawled on the top edge.
However, there are AMD Ryzen and Radeon stickers at the front. A visual representation of the laptop's features such as USB 3.2, HDMI 2.1 and LPDDR5 memory, is also present.
The laptop weighs a hefty 1.78 kg, putting it on the heavier end of the spectrum for a device of its class. Its lid needs two hands to open because of its rigid hinge. There are four rubber feet, but they do little to secure the laptop in place.
The laptop has one exhaust vent at the back, which is sufficient for its solitary fan to expel its excess heat. Acer has even thrown in a power and charging LED at the side, right next to the 3.5 mm audio jack.
Connectivity: Covers just the basics
I/O on the Acer Aspire 3 is a tad lacking, with most of it being concentrated on the left edge. There's a USB Type-A port, an HDMI 2.1 port and a USB 3.2 Type-C port alongside the comically small barrel pin connector. On the other side, there's one USB Type-A port and a 3.5 mm combo audio jack.
The lack of a SD card reader, RJ45 Ethernet jack and other I/O isn't surprising, given the laptop falls on the affordable end of the segment. That said, the ports USB-A and HDMI ports are spaced a little close to each other. There could be some potential interference if someone is using a USB device and an external monitor together.
Communication
The Acer Aspire 3 packs a MediaTek MT7663 Wi-Fi chip. It doesn't support Wi-Fi 6E or even Wi-Fi 6 — not surprising for a budget laptop. However, it does hold up its own quite well in the wireless standards it does support.
Its throughput (upload and download) in iPerf3 remains consistent across the board. All in all, one can rely on the laptop for steady wireless connectivity, but it cannot take full advantage of gigabit connections. That said, it easily achieved speeds of up to 4.5 MB/s while downloading games from Steam.
| Networking / iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Average of class Office (819 - 842, n=2, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Networking / iperf3 receive AX12 | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Average of class Office (883 - 972, n=2, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| Networking / iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Average of class Office (47.8 - 1793, n=89, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average MediaTek MT7663 () | |
| Networking / iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Average of class Office (104.2 - 1752, n=91, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average MediaTek MT7663 () | |
Webcam
Even high-end laptops often ship with sub-par webcams that muddy the overall experience. The Acer Aspire 3 fares surprisingly well in that regard with its 720p unit. While it can reproduce most colours accurately, it has a tough time with blue as confirmed by the attached reference image.
Furthermore, content recorded from the webcam will suffer from loss in quality while zooming. However, it should hold its own for basic tasks such as video conferencing.
Security
The Acer Aspire 3 lacks any form of biometric authentication such as a fingerprint reader or Windows Hello. The latter's absence is understandable, but it would have been nice to see the latter, given how common they are in 2023. A TPM 2.0 module is present along with a Kensington lock slot.
Accessories
Acer has kept the Aspire 3's box contents minimal. The cardboard case comes with a 45 Watt external power adapter and nothing more. By default, the laptop comes with a one-year warranty.
Maintenance
Users can access the Acer Aspire 3's innards by undoing eleven Torx T5 screws, one of which is hidden under a "warranty void if broken" sticker. Storage expansion is possible thanks to it using an off-the-shelf SSD. Memory, on the other hand, is not due to it being soldered to the motherboard. It isn't necessarily a bad thing because the laptop stands to benefit from faster LPDDR5 modules.
Input Devices: Keyboard deck flex galore
The laptop comes with a bog-standard chiclet keyboard and an average-sized trackpad. While it is comfortable to type on, it lacks a backlight, which is quite common for low-cost laptops.
Keyboard
Numpad enjoyers rejoice- the Acer Aspire 3 comes with a complete number pad, although you may have to reprogram your muscle memory a little due to the minuscule keys. Its keys a little mushy with minimal travel. That may irk someone used to mechanical keyboards but casual users should be fine.
Lastly, there is a not-so-insignificant amount of keyboard flex around the center. One can chalk that down to the plastic chassis but it would have been nice if it was a bit more rigid.
Touchpad
The trackpad is nothing out of the ordinary and does its job well enough, although its accuracy does take a dip around the edges. Its palm rejection works fine as long as you don't put too much pressure on it.
Multi-touch gestures such as the three-finger and four-finger swipe work fine. One could easily use this laptop by itself casually, but we'd recommend a mouse for serious work.
Display: Disappointing panel with low brightness and poor colour accuracy
Acer incorrectly markets the Aspire 3's panel as IPS. Our tests determined it was TN and reconfirmed by our earlier review of the Acer Extensa 15, which also used the same panel from AU Optronics.
As you can see in the image below, the laptop's screen doesn't have the best backlight, which bleeds a lot. Its sub-pixel arrangement shows large spaces between columns, likely to compensate for a 1080p resolution on a 15.6-inch screen.
The brightness distribution could have been better. 79% is a bit too low, even for a budget laptop. Furthermore, its contrast ratio is just 642:1, well short of the 1000:1 offered by most modern-day laptops.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 79 %
Center on Battery: 196 cd/m²
Contrast: 642:1 (Black: 0.31 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 10.4 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5, calibrated: 4.25
ΔE Greyscale 11 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
37.8% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
55% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
36.6% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.196
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z AUO B156HTN06.1, TN LED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 AU Optronics B156HTN06.1, TN LED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM Chi Mei CMN15D5, TN LED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN BOE BOE0A32, IPS, 1920x1200, 16.00 | Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 BOE CQ NV156FHM-T07, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS Samsung ATNA56YX03-0, OLED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U B156HAN02.8, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G LG Display LP160WU1-SPH1, IPS, 1280x1200, 16.00 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 1% | 10% | 6% | 8% | 137% | 16% | -1% | |
| Display P3 Coverage | 36.6 | 37 1% | 40.09 10% | 38.9 6% | 40 9% | 99.9 173% | 42.3 16% | 36 -2% |
| sRGB Coverage | 55 | 55.7 1% | 59.7 9% | 58.1 6% | 57.7 5% | 100 82% | 63.4 15% | 55 0% |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 37.8 | 38.2 1% | 41.47 10% | 40.2 6% | 41.2 9% | 96.7 156% | 43.7 16% | 37 -2% |
| Response Times | -66% | -35% | 24% | -89% | 87% | -157% | -105% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 38.05 ? | 38 ? -0% | 44 ? -16% | 20 ? 47% | 24.8 ? 35% | 0.89 ? 98% | 51.2 ? -35% | 38 ? -0% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 9.07 ? | 21 ? -132% | 14 ? -54% | 9 ? 1% | 28.4 ? -213% | 2.31 ? 75% | 34.4 ? -279% | 28 ? -209% |
| PWM Frequency | 52 ? | 25000 ? | 60 ? | |||||
| Screen | -7% | -2% | 33% | 48% | 72% | 44% | 39% | |
| Brightness middle | 199 | 220 11% | 234 18% | 269 35% | 336.4 69% | 401 102% | 299 50% | 299 50% |
| Brightness | 190 | 203 7% | 211 11% | 265 39% | 318 67% | 403 112% | 280 47% | 270 42% |
| Brightness Distribution | 79 | 82 4% | 83 5% | 94 19% | 84 6% | 98 24% | 89 13% | 85 8% |
| Black Level * | 0.31 | 0.43 -39% | 0.43 -39% | 0.305 2% | 0.24 23% | 0.2 35% | 0.265 15% | |
| Contrast | 642 | 512 -20% | 544 -15% | 882 37% | 1402 118% | 1495 133% | 1128 76% | |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 10.4 | 10.74 -3% | 11.27 -8% | 4.89 53% | 6.46 38% | 3.24 69% | 5.2 50% | 4.57 56% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 21.6 | 20.92 3% | 18.03 17% | 8.81 59% | 19.75 9% | 6.42 70% | 20.8 4% | 8.92 59% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 4.25 | 4.44 -4% | 5.12 -20% | 2.09 51% | 2.13 50% | 4.2 1% | 5.02 -18% | |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 11 | 13.29 -21% | 11.54 -5% | 2.91 74% | 5.6 49% | 2.7 75% | 4.1 63% | 3.8 65% |
| Gamma | 2.196 100% | 2.63 84% | 2.09 105% | 2.28 96% | 2.25 98% | 2.14 103% | 2.2 100% | 2.6 85% |
| CCT | 11602 56% | 14880 44% | 11607 56% | 6920 94% | 5934 110% | 6374 102% | 6548 99% | 6142 106% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 38 | |||||||
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 60 | |||||||
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -24% /
-14% | -9% /
-4% | 21% /
26% | -11% /
20% | 99% /
91% | -32% /
9% | -22% /
10% |
* ... smaller is better
As expected, the Acer Aspire 3's panel isn't one of the most colour accurate on the block. It covers just 55% of the sRGB, 36.6% of the Display P3 and 37.8% of the Adobe RGB colour space, rendering it unsuitable for colour sensitive work. Tasks such as web browsing should be fine, but even something as trivial as watching a movie seems like a chore after some time.
Out of the box, the panel's colours are all over the place. Its average and maximum delta E values sit at 21.1 and 10, respectively. Once again, its blues stand out, and not in a good way
Some work with X-rite i1Basic Pro 3 spectrophotometer and the Calman Calibration Software from Portrait Displays brings the ColorChecker delta E values to 4.5 (average) and 16.45 (maximum).
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9.07 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 6.24 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 2.83 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows fast response rates in our tests and should be suited for gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 20 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (21.5 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 38.05 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 19.62 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 18.43 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.2 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 52 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (33.7 ms). | ||
The calibrated ICC file can be downloaded from the link above.
Black-to-white response times on the Acer Aspire 3 are surprisingly low at 9.3 milliseconds. To put things in perspective, the Acer Extensa 15 with the same panel clocked in at 21 ms. Grey-to-grey, on the other hand, sit at a higher 38.05 milliseconds. It may not be the most accurate panel around but could be salvageable with some work.
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected | ≤ 100 % brightness setting |  | |
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 17900 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
We did not find any traces of PWM being used on the Acer Aspire 3.
For more information, check out our PWM Ranking table and also our primer on Why PWM is such a headache.
TN panels are revered only for a handful of applications such as high-refresh-rate gaming. A wide range of viewing angles, unfortunately, isn't one of them. The Acer Aspire 3's monitor has sub-par viewing angles. The screen's colour accuracy is lackluster as it is and it gets much worse when not staring at it directly. Refer to the attached image to see exactly how the details degrade when viewed from different angles.
Performance: Mendocino fails to keep up with the competition
Our Acer Aspire 3 model has the best Mendocino processor around, the Ryzen 5 7520U. A lower-spec model is available with the Ryzen 3 7320U. Laptops with the Athlon Gold 7220U are yet to hit the market.
Testing Conditions
The AMD Ryzen 5 7520U is not a particularly power-hungry SKU with just 15 Watts of TDP. There weren't too many power profiles on the Acer Aspire 3. For all of our tests, we stuck with the default "Acer Balanced" profile that let the CPU spread its wings a little. While the CPU stays within the 15 Watt envelope for the most part, it can go as high as 30 Watts for a brief period, which, for all intents and purposes, is its PL2.
Processor
AMD's new naming convention can mislead people into thinking the Ryzen 5 7520U is a Zen 4 processor. In reality, it uses aged Zen 2 cores which, unfortunately, fall flat in some demanding workloads.
Performance-wise, the Acer Aspire 3's processor sits between the Ryzen 5 5500U (6c/12t) and Ryzen 3 5300U (4c/8t). A low-power processor combined with a large chassis ensures there is no thermal throttling at play.
The processor lives up to AMD's marketed figure of 4.3 GHz. It can hold that figure for quite some time without any difficulties. Single-core performance is about as expected for Zen 2 cores, and multi-core follows suit.
Unsurprisingly, there is up to a 57% regression in Cinebench R20 multi-core performance on battery (1,263) compared to when it is plugged in (1,984).
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
| CPU Performance Rating | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G -2! | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM -12! | |
| Cinebench R23 / Multi Core | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (1056 - 15743, n=122, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Cinebench R23 / Single Core | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (529 - 1995, n=121, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (356 - 5904, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U (1281 - 1984, n=2) | |
| Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (181.3 - 764, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U (250 - 451, n=2) | |
| Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (160.8 - 2642, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (82.6 - 284, n=118, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| Blender / v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Average of class Office (214 - 2844, n=121, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| 7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Average of class Office (4226 - 62349, n=121, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| 7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 -mmt1 | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (2233 - 6687, n=121, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Geekbench 5.5 / Multi-Core | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (1018 - 11980, n=122, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Geekbench 5.5 / Single-Core | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (510 - 1974, n=122, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Average of class Office (1.55 - 17.4, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Average of class Office (31.3 - 117.5, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Average of class Office (0.4244 - 1.397, n=119, last 2 years) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
| Performance Rating | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Average of class Office | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G -1! | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U | |
| AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (763 - 24250, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Average of class Office (4027 - 102228, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Average of class Office (279 - 4442, n=119, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Average of class Office (8031 - 113016, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Average of class Office (404 - 14288, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (2054 - 54365, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Average of class Office (5226 - 147611, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Average of class Office (67.6 - 1018, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (432 - 12755, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (4814 - 48177, n=120, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
More information and performance comparisons can be found in our dedicated AMD Ryzen 5 7520U page.
System Performance
The Acer Aspire 3's affordable price tag only really makes it ideal for light day-to-day applications such as web browsing and Microsoft Office. It is, for the most part, snappy and responsive, although it does get a stuttery if you load the CPU too much. One could perhaps get away with some light photo editing, but not much more.
CrossMark: Overall | Productivity | Creativity | Responsiveness
| PCMark 10 / Score | |
| Average of class Office (2325 - 7157, n=105, last 2 years) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U, AMD Radeon 610M () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
| Average of class Office (5095 - 20841, n=105, last 2 years) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U, AMD Radeon 610M () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Average of class Office (3041 - 10198, n=105, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U, AMD Radeon 610M () | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (1912 - 9056, n=105, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U, AMD Radeon 610M () | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| CrossMark / Overall | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (348 - 1891, n=106, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U, AMD Radeon 610M () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| CrossMark / Productivity | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (393 - 1870, n=106, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U, AMD Radeon 610M () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| CrossMark / Creativity | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (340 - 1982, n=106, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U, AMD Radeon 610M () | |
| CrossMark / Responsiveness | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Average of class Office (258 - 2017, n=106, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U, AMD Radeon 610M () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated | 4041 points | |
| PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated | 4963 points | |
| PCMark 10 Score | 4403 points | |
Help | ||
| AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (7158 - 88119, n=121, last 2 years) | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (7325 - 87297, n=121, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (7579 - 94965, n=121, last 2 years) | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 7520U () | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Average of class Office (44.3 - 188.3, n=122, last 2 years) | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
The Acer Aspire 3 has major DPC latency issues rendering it nigh unusable for any applications that require snappy execution times. Unfortunately, there is no way to offset the problem, at least from the user side.
| DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
* ... smaller is better
Our DPC Latency Ranking page provides more latency comparisons across reviewed devices.
Storage Devices
The 512 GB Micron NVMe SSD that ships with the Acer Aspire 3 isn't particularly fast, but it manages to hold a steady level of read/write performance even under load. One can't really blame the SSD here as it performs much better on other laptops with more powerful hardware.
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance
One of Mendocino's main selling points is its Radeon 610M iGPU. On paper, it is a step up from the Vega-based GPUs found on its predecessors. Unfortunately, in the real world, it doesn't offer much in the way of performance improvements. If anything, it performs worse.
It is unclear as to what caused the Radeon 610M to underperform as much as it did. Perhaps it could have done better with a higher wattage.
Some of the more demanding 3D Mark tests, such as Speed Way and Time Spy Extreme, flat-out refused to run.
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 2636 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 76375 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 9212 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 1548 points | |
| 3DMark Time Spy Score | 590 points | |
Help | ||
* ... smaller is better
Gaming Performance
As explained earlier, gaming on the Acer Aspire 3 isn't really possible, at least for most titles launched after 2015. You can probably get away with playing DOTA 2 on it with lowered expectations. The increased map size with patch 7.33, however, could tank performance a lot, and you may have to use FSR to squeeze out more frames.
Valorant is out of the question despite its modest system requirements. CS: GO is somewhat doable, but you won't be winning any tournaments with this laptop.
GTA V also happens to fall in the playable category, once again, at the lowest settings. Any modern-day AAA will be unplayable.
Then again, the Aspire 3 isn't marketed as a gaming laptop and shouldn't be expected to perform as one, but it would be nice if the Radeon 610M got to flex its muscles a little. Performance-wise, it trades blows with the Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EU found on Tiger Lake CPUs such as the Core i5-1135G7.
| The Witcher 3 - 1920x1080 Ultra Graphics & Postprocessing (HBAO+) | |
| Average of class Office (2.66 - 34, n=110, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| GTA V - 1920x1080 Highest Settings possible AA:4xMSAA + FX AF:16x | |
| Average of class Office (3.35 - 47.8, n=90, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark - 1920x1080 High Quality | |
| Average of class Office (2.03 - 35.7, n=102, last 2 years) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| The Witcher 3 / Low Graphics & Postprocessing | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (8.4 - 177, n=104, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Average AMD Radeon 610M (26.5 - 44, n=2) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| The Witcher 3 / Medium Graphics & Postprocessing | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Average of class Office (7.82 - 106.3, n=96, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Average AMD Radeon 610M (17.5 - 26.2, n=2) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| The Witcher 3 / High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) | |
| Average of class Office (3.49 - 59.1, n=104, last 2 years) | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Average AMD Radeon 610M (7.6 - 13.5, n=2) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM | |
| The Witcher 3 / Ultra Graphics & Postprocessing (HBAO+) | |
| Average of class Office (2.66 - 34, n=110, last 2 years) | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS | |
| Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN | |
| Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 | |
| LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G | |
| Average AMD Radeon 610M (5.46 - 8.49, n=2) | |
| Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 | |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z | |
The Witcher 3 ran quite poorly on the Acer Aspire 3 to begin with, so there's no question of throttling (unless you consider a drop from 6 FPS to 4 FPS throttling).
The already anemic Radeon 610M seems to be further handicapped by the slow and inadequate RAM, whose speeds are comparatively low for LPDDR5 memory.
More information and performance comparisons can be found in the Radeon 610M page.
The Witcher 3 FPS Chart
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
| GTA V (2015) | 62.7 | 49.8 | 12.7 | 4.87 |
| The Witcher 3 (2015) | 26.5 | 17.5 | 7.6 | 5.46 |
| Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 81.6 | 50.9 | 23.4 | 23 |
| X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 26.7 | 17.7 | 14.8 | |
| Strange Brigade (2018) | 38.9 | 13.4 | 10.8 | 9.6 |
Emissions: Silent and cool
System Noise
As mentioned earlier, the Acer Aspire 3 has one single fan that handles all cooling.
Its fan noise seems to be capped as it doesn't ramp up no matter how much the APU is stressed, not that it needs anything more due to its low-power hardware.
The fan is barely audible at 36.2 dB(A), even in a silent room with no ambient noise.
Noise Level
| Idle |
| 26 / 26 / 26 dB(A) |
| Load |
| 36.22 / 35.67 dB(A) |
 | ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
||
min:  , med:  , max:  Earthworks M23R, Arta (15 cm distance) environment noise: 21.05 dB(A) | ||
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z R5 7520U, Radeon 610M | Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM R3 2200U, Vega 3 | Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN i5-1240P, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 R3 5300U, Vega 6 | Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS R5 5500U, Vega 7 | Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U R5 5500U, Vega 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noise | -7% | -16% | -10% | -3% | -14% | -4% | |
| off / environment * | 21.05 | 25 -19% | 30.3 -44% | 25.4 -21% | 25.2 -20% | 28.28 -34% | 24.1 -14% |
| Idle Minimum * | 26 | 25 4% | 30.3 -17% | 25.4 2% | 25.8 1% | 28.28 -9% | 24.1 7% |
| Idle Average * | 26 | 25 4% | 30.3 -17% | 25.4 2% | 25.8 1% | 28.28 -9% | 24.1 7% |
| Idle Maximum * | 26 | 27 -4% | 30.9 -19% | 25.4 2% | 25.8 1% | 28.28 -9% | 28 -8% |
| Load Average * | 36.22 | 32.3 11% | 37.8 -4% | 43.9 -21% | 32.3 11% | 35.76 1% | 35.9 1% |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 36.1 | 34.3 5% | 32 11% | 42.79 -19% | 35.9 1% | ||
| Load Maximum * | 35.67 | 50 -40% | 40.6 -14% | 43.7 -23% | 44 -23% | 42.67 -20% | 43.9 -23% |
* ... smaller is better
Temperature
One can easily use the Acer Aspire 3 as laptops were intended — on the lap. Its surface temperatures are below 30° C (86° F) when idle. There is, however, a hotspot at the edge of the top-right corner of the chassis, likely due to its tiny heatsink being unable to transfer heat to the fans on time. However, it only happens when the hardware is pushed to its limits, which should not happen in most real-world scenarios.
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 44.4 °C / 112 F, compared to the average of 34.2 °C / 94 F, ranging from 21.2 to 62.5 °C for the class Office.
(-) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 63.6 °C / 146 F, compared to the average of 36.7 °C / 98 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 29.1 °C / 84 F, compared to the device average of 29.5 °C / 85 F.
(+) Playing The Witcher 3, the average temperature for the upper side is 30.4 °C / 87 F, compared to the device average of 29.5 °C / 85 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are reaching skin temperature as a maximum (32.2 °C / 90 F) and are therefore not hot.
(-) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 27.7 °C / 81.9 F (-4.5 °C / -8.1 F).
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z R5 7520U, Radeon 610M | Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM R3 2200U, Vega 3 | Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN i5-1240P, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 R3 5300U, Vega 6 | Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS R5 5500U, Vega 7 | Huawei MateBook D 15 Ryzen 5 5500U R5 5500U, Vega 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat | 14% | 31% | 12% | 24% | 7% | 20% | |
| Maximum Upper Side * | 44.4 | 42 5% | 29.9 33% | 38.6 13% | 31.2 30% | 43.8 1% | 40.6 9% |
| Maximum Bottom * | 63.6 | 43.3 32% | 30.1 53% | 44.4 30% | 43 32% | 42.2 34% | 43.9 31% |
| Idle Upper Side * | 30.8 | 27.9 9% | 25.2 18% | 28.9 6% | 24.8 19% | 33.4 -8% | 25.6 17% |
| Idle Bottom * | 33.2 | 30.4 8% | 26.6 20% | 34 -2% | 28.2 15% | 32.6 2% | 26.2 21% |
* ... smaller is better
Stress Test
While the Acer Aspire 3's Ryzen 5 7520U isn't immune from throttling, there is very little of it after a certain point. It managed to sustain clocks of 4.3 GHz on the CPU and 1,900 MHz on the GPU when hit with a Prime95 and Furmark load.
Power draw maxed out at 30 Watts briefly across the CPU and GPU and settled down at 24 Watts shortly after. That's about as much power as both components can realistically draw and it's impressive that the laptop could sustain it for extended periods.
| CPU Clock (GHz) | GPU Clock (MHz) | Average CPU Temperature (°C) | Average GPU Temperature (°C) | |
| System Idle | 2.295 | 1,900 | 37 | 37 |
| Prime95 Stress | 3.875 | 1,584 | 88.7 | 68.4 |
| Prime95 + FurMark Stress | 4.022 | 1,702 | 84.10 | 73 |
| Witcher 3 Stress | 3.130 | 1,894 | 50.2 | 53.9 |
Speakers
Speakers are often the first component to get the axe in budget laptops, and the Acer Aspire 3's in-built audio is no exception. At 70 dB(A), they aren't particularly loud, but one can get away with listening to music in a silent environment. There isn't much bass to speak of, and its mids/highs don't stand out.
Thankfully, unlike a certain OEM, Acer has included a 3.5 mm audio jack with the laptop. One would be better off bringing their own speakers/headphones for superior audio quality.
Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z audio analysis
(-) | not very loud speakers (70.7 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 26.5% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (9.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 4.1% away from median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (8.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 3% away from median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (22.2% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 53% of all tested devices in this class were better, 10% similar, 36% worse
» The best had a delta of 7%, average was 22%, worst was 53%
Compared to all devices tested
» 59% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 34% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (84.7 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(+) | good bass - only 3.8% away from median
(+) | bass is linear (5.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 1.3% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (2.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 1.9% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (2.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(+) | overall sound is linear (4.6% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 0% of all tested devices in this class were better, 0% similar, 100% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 18%, worst was 45%
Compared to all devices tested
» 0% of all tested devices were better, 0% similar, 100% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Energy Management: Decent battery life
Power Consumption
Acer bundles a 45 Watt charger with the Aspire 3. It doesn't need much more, given its low-power processor and GPU. Our tests determined it can draw up to 42 Watts total under synthetic load- an unrealistic scenario for most real-world applications.
Power consumption graphs are analogous to CPU/GPU clocks. They further reinforce the earlier notion of the Mendocino chip being severely power starved.
| Off / Standby | / 0.72 Watt |
| Idle | 3.33 / 5.74 / 6.46 Watt |
| Load |
29.1 / 42.62 Watt |
   
| |
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z R5 7520U, Radeon 610M, Micron 2450 512GB MTFDKBA512TFK, TN LED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs, WDC PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-265G, TN LED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM R3 2200U, Vega 3, SK Hynix HFS256G39TND-N210A, TN LED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN i5-1240P, Iris Xe G7 80EUs, Micron 2450 512GB MTFDKBA512TFK, IPS, 1920x1200, 16.00 | Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 R3 5300U, Vega 6, Samsung PM991a MZALQ512HBLU, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS R5 5500U, Vega 7, WDC PC SN530 SDBPMPZ-265G, OLED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Average AMD Radeon 610M | Average of class Office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption | -15% | -41% | -56% | -30% | -42% | 0% | -35% | |
| Idle Minimum * | 3.33 | 3.5 -5% | 5.6 -68% | 5.2 -56% | 5.6 -68% | 4.96 -49% | 3.33 ? -0% | 4.3 ? -29% |
| Idle Average * | 5.74 | 7.1 -24% | 8.5 -48% | 7.1 -24% | 6 -5% | 7.38 -29% | 5.74 ? -0% | 7.35 ? -28% |
| Idle Maximum * | 6.46 | 8 -24% | 8.4 -30% | 9.6 -49% | 7 -8% | 7.79 -21% | 6.46 ? -0% | 9.15 ? -42% |
| Load Average * | 29.1 | 28 4% | 41 -41% | 47 -62% | 34.9 -20% | 41.77 -44% | 29.1 ? -0% | 41.1 ? -41% |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 20.5 | 28.6 -40% | 32 -56% | 43.3 -111% | 32.5 -59% | 38.2 -86% | ||
| Load Maximum * | 42.62 | 44 -3% | 44.2 -4% | 56 -31% | 52.1 -22% | 50.95 -20% | 42.6 ? -0% | 58.1 ? -36% |
* ... smaller is better
Power Consumption: The Witcher 3 / Stress test
Power Consumption: External monitor
Battery Life
The AMD Ryzen 5 7520U makes up for its lack of performance with excellent power efficiency. We could get 10 hours of battery life out of it with our standard 1080p H.264 video test, close to Acer's advertised figure of 11 hours. Our web browsing test also yielded 9 hours and 42 minutes of battery life. Both were conducted with the monitor set at 150 nits.
At max brightness, the battery gave in after 6 hours and 57 minutes, likely due to the inefficient TN panel. At full load (Prime95 plus Furmark), we got about 1 hour and 50 minutes of battery life. Lastly, The Witcher 3 ran for 2 hours and 22 minutes.
| Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z R5 7520U, Radeon 610M, 40 Wh | Acer Extensa 15 EX215-54-5103 i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs, 43 Wh | Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R7BM R3 2200U, Vega 3, 37 Wh | Acer TravelMate P4 TMP416-51-55KN i5-1240P, Iris Xe G7 80EUs, 56 Wh | Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 R3 5300U, Vega 6, 45 Wh | Asus VivoBook 15 KM513UA-L503TS R5 5500U, Vega 7, 42 Wh | LG Ultra-PC 16 16U70Q-G.AR36G R3 5300U, Vega 6, 72 Wh | Average of class Office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | -28% | -39% | -3% | -3% | -43% | 52% | 9% | |
| H.264 | 600 | 296 -51% | 705 ? 18% | |||||
| WiFi v1.3 | 582 | 418 -28% | 344 -41% | 562 -3% | 628 8% | 382.9 -34% | 1026 76% | 594 ? 2% |
| Witcher 3 ultra | 142 | 152 ? 7% | ||||||
| Load | 110 | 83 -25% | 95 -14% | 53 -52% | 141 28% | 117.7 ? 7% | ||
| Reader / Idle | 536 | 1205 | 709 | 1937 | 1436 ? |
Pros
Cons
Verdict: Could have fared much better with a better screen and a Zen 3 processor
We didn't expect the Acer Aspire 3 to top any charts right off the bat. After all, it is a low-cost offering with dated hardware masquerading as new. The two main gripes we have with it are the CPU and the screen, both of which could have been better.
One can't really fault Acer for the CPU, as it has to work with whatever AMD had to offer. To make matters worse, the Ryzen 5 7520U is the top-spec Mendocino chip out there, so it's not like there are higher-end offerings that could offset its lacklustre performance.
One can, however, fault Acer for the literal and figuratively lacklustre TN panel. The Asus Vivobook 15 KM513, despite being two years old, is still a better pick due to its OLED panel.
If you have to stick to Acer and have a few extra bucks to spare, there is an Aspire 3 model with an Intel Core i5-1235U and 16 GB of RAM available on Amazon India for Rs. 52,990 (US$628).
The Acer Aspire 3 tries to position itself as an affordable offering for those with minimal computing needs. However, it is severely hamstrung by its processor, and anyone who needs to get serious work done would be better off looking at an entry-level Core i3 or Zen 3/Zen 4-based alternatives.
That said, the Acer Aspire 3 would make for a decent work-from-home machine. An external monitor would help offset the disadvantages of its display. That, combined with a keyboard, mouse and USB hub, will be enough to get you by daily meetings, spreadsheets and Microsoft Teams.
Alternatively, we could also recommend it to college students looking for a low-cost solution for their academic work. It might not be the most portable laptop around, but its battery will last for quite some time before it requires charging.
Price and Availability
One can purchase an Acer Aspire 3 with the above configuration on Amazon India for Rs. 47,990 (US$587). A cheaper variant with a Ryzen 5 7320U is also available for Rs. 37,990 (US$464).
Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R77Z
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05/05/2023 v7
Anil Ganti
Transparency
The present review sample was made available to the author as a loan by the manufacturer or a shop for the purposes of review. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review.
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