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Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C Notebook Review Update

Twin. The advantages of the Aspire can be quickly summarized: It is available for not much money and offers very long battery runtimes. Can you go wrong with purchasing it?

For the original German review, see here.

The Aspire ES1-511 uses the same design as its recently reviewed Packard Bell EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1 brother. Despite a low price of 250 Euros (~$313), the EasyNote performed passably and surprised us with a very long battery life. Our review will reveal whether the Aspire can keep up with it.

All 15.6-inch notebooks with a price of about 300 Euros (~$375) are competitors of the Aspire. Apart from the EasyNote, these include the Asus X551MAV-SX391B, the Lenovo B50-30, the Lenovo IdeaPad G50-45, and the Acer Aspire E1-532, for example.

We will not cover case, connectivity, input devices, display, and speakers in detail here since the Aspire and the EasyNote are identical. Information about these is available in our review of the EasyNote.

Case & Connectivity

As already mentioned above, the Aspire and the Packard Bell EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1 are identical. Just the keyboard printings are different. Another difference is the operating systems. While the EasyNote comes with Windows 8.1 with Bing (64-bit), the Aspire uses Linpus Linux.

EasyNote input devices.
EasyNote input devices.
Aspire input devices.
Aspire input devices.

Display

The Aspire also uses the same display as the Packard Bell EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1. They are quite dark but have decent contrasts. In addition, the viewing angles are narrow. The measurement values are slightly different, but this is usual. Two identical displays are never absolutely the same.

158
cd/m²
157
cd/m²
149
cd/m²
176
cd/m²
187
cd/m²
163
cd/m²
183
cd/m²
178
cd/m²
173
cd/m²
Distribution of brightness
ChiMei N156BGE-L11 tested with X-Rite i1Pro 2
Maximum: 187 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 169.3 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 80 %
Center on Battery: 188 cd/m²
Contrast: 479:1 (Black: 0.39 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 9.73 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 10.95 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
52% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
56.2% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
81.9% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
54.4% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.61
Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2930, Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX
Packard Bell Easynote TF71BM-C8R1
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
Asus X551MAV-SX391B
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
Lenovo B50-30
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2815, Seagate Momentus Thin 320 GB ST320LT012
Acer Aspire E1-532
HD Graphics (Haswell), 2955U, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0 12-9WS142
Display
-1%
0%
-25%
-22%
Display P3 Coverage
54.4
53.7
-1%
54.2
0%
40.67
-25%
42.77
-21%
sRGB Coverage
81.9
80.6
-2%
81.6
0%
61.1
-25%
63.4
-23%
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage
56.2
55.4
-1%
56
0%
42.05
-25%
44.24
-21%
Screen
5%
-1%
-14%
4%
Brightness middle
187
197
5%
221
18%
201
7%
239
28%
Brightness
169
177
5%
203
20%
200
18%
218
29%
Brightness Distribution
80
80
0%
85
6%
86
8%
85
6%
Black Level *
0.39
0.37
5%
0.75
-92%
0.6
-54%
0.55
-41%
Contrast
479
532
11%
295
-38%
335
-30%
435
-9%
Colorchecker dE 2000 *
9.73
8.93
8%
5.61
42%
12.23
-26%
7.57
22%
Greyscale dE 2000 *
10.95
10.03
8%
6.55
40%
12.29
-12%
8.82
19%
Gamma
2.61 84%
2.62 84%
2.79 79%
2.16 102%
2.63 84%
CCT
12639 51%
11850 55%
8018 81%
14912 44%
10317 63%
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998)
52
51
-2%
52
0%
38.91
-25%
41.3
-21%
Total Average (Program / Settings)
2% / 3%
-1% / -0%
-20% / -17%
-9% / -3%

* ... smaller is better

CalMAN - ColorChecker
CalMAN - ColorChecker
CalMAN - Gray Levels
CalMAN - Gray Levels
CalMAN - Color Saturation
CalMAN - Color Saturation

Performance

With the Aspire ES1-511-C50C, Acer offers a very cheap 15.6-inch office notebook. The computer is apt for office, Internet and video playback. Our test model costs about 280 Euros (~$350). Other models are available, too.

Processor

Even though the numbers of the processors in the EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1 and the Aspire would only suggest small differences, they are actually bigger. While the EasyNote comes with a dual-core processor, the Aspire features a quad-core processor. As a result, the Aspire is twice as fast in multi-thread applications as the Packard Bell. The Celeron N2930 (Bay Trail) CPU works with a base clock of 1.83 GHz. Thanks to Turbo, the clock rate can be increased to 2.16 GHz. The TDP is 7.5 Watt. The CPU performance is nearly completely available: While the clock rate is 2.16 GHz in the multi-thread tests of the Cinebench benchmarks, the CPU clocks at 1.83 to 2.16 GHz in the single-thread tests.

Cinebench R10 Rendering Multiple CPUs 32Bit
3687
Cinebench R10 Shading 32Bit
2444
Cinebench R10 Rendering Single 32Bit
1120
Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64Bit
1.58 Points
Cinebench R11.5 CPU Single 64Bit
0.41 Points
Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit
6.59 fps
Cinebench R15 Ref. Match 64Bit
97.8 %
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64Bit
6.09 fps
Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64Bit
123 Points
Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64Bit
35 Points
Help
Cinebench R11.5 - CPU Single 64Bit (sort by value)
Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2930, Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX
0.41 Points
Lenovo B50-30
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2815, Seagate Momentus Thin 320 GB ST320LT012
0.32 Points -22%
HP Stream 14-z050ng
Radeon R3 (Mullins/Beema), A4 Micro-6400T, 32 GB eMMC Flash
0.41 Points 0%
Asus X551MAV-SX391B
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
0.43 Points +5%
Packard Bell Easynote TF71BM-C8R1
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
0.44 Points +7%
Lenovo IdeaPad G50-45
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-6310, Seagate ST500LM000 Solid State Hybrid Drive
0.56 Points +37%
Acer Aspire E1-532
HD Graphics (Haswell), 2955U, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0 12-9WS142
0.61 Points +49%
Cinebench R11.5 - CPU Multi 64Bit (sort by value)
Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2930, Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX
1.58 Points
Lenovo B50-30
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2815, Seagate Momentus Thin 320 GB ST320LT012
0.62 Points -61%
Asus X551MAV-SX391B
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
0.81 Points -49%
Packard Bell Easynote TF71BM-C8R1
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
0.82 Points -48%
Acer Aspire E1-532
HD Graphics (Haswell), 2955U, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0 12-9WS142
1.14 Points -28%
HP Stream 14-z050ng
Radeon R3 (Mullins/Beema), A4 Micro-6400T, 32 GB eMMC Flash
1.16 Points -27%
Lenovo IdeaPad G50-45
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-6310, Seagate ST500LM000 Solid State Hybrid Drive
1.98 Points +25%

System Performance

We installed Windows 8.1 64-bit in order to run our benchmarks. The system works smoothly and we did not face problems. Despite a quad-core processor, the Aspire hardly performs better than the identical Packard Bell EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1 with a dual-core processor in the PCMark tests. Reason: In these benchmarks primarily the single-thread performance is decisive and both computers are almost identical here. Computers like the Lenovo IdeaPad G50-45 (AMD A6-6310, Radeon R4 (Beema)) perform much better than the Aspire and the EasyNote. This is not primarily because of the faster CPU, but also because of the significantly faster graphics core.

PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2
1303 points
PCMark 8 Creative Score Accelerated v2
1190 points
PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2
1306 points
Help
PCMark 8 - Home Score Accelerated v2 (sort by value)
Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2930, Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX
1303 Points
Asus X551MAV-SX391B
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
1214 Points -7%
Packard Bell Easynote TF71BM-C8R1
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
1231 Points -6%
Lenovo IdeaPad G50-45
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-6310, Seagate ST500LM000 Solid State Hybrid Drive
2011 Points +54%

Storage Devices

Acer equipped the Aspire with a hard drive from Western Digital with a capacity of 500 GB and a revolution speed of 5400 rpm. The transfer rates of the drive are good and meet the performance level of current 5400 rpm hard drives.

Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX
Transfer Rate Minimum: 51.2 MB/s
Transfer Rate Maximum: 114.1 MB/s
Transfer Rate Average: 87.1 MB/s
Access Time: 18.1 ms
Burst Rate: 151.8 MB/s
CPU Usage: 2.2 %

Graphics Card

The graphics core of the Aspire stems from Intel and is called HD Graphics. It supports DirectX 11 and works at a clock rate of up to 854 MHz. The results in the 3DMark benchmarks are as expected. But, they also show that this is a low-end graphics card. Comparable notebooks with AMD hardware, e.g. the Lenovo IdeaPad G50-45, deliver significantly more graphics performance. E.g. the Radeon R4 (Beema) core in the IdeaPad achieves more than three times the score of the Intel graphics core in the 3DMark 2011 benchmark. The IdeaPad costs about 20 Euros (~$25) more than the Aspire.

3DMark 11 Performance
259 points
3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score
18953 points
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score
1467 points
Help
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance (sort by value)
Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2930, Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX
259 Points
Packard Bell Easynote TF71BM-C8R1
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
214 Points -17%
Lenovo B50-30
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2815, Seagate Momentus Thin 320 GB ST320LT012
218 Points -16%
Asus X551MAV-SX391B
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
227 Points -12%
HP Stream 14-z050ng
Radeon R3 (Mullins/Beema), A4 Micro-6400T, 32 GB eMMC Flash
444 Points +71%
Acer Aspire E1-532
HD Graphics (Haswell), 2955U, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0 12-9WS142
480 Points +85%
Lenovo IdeaPad G50-45
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-6310, Seagate ST500LM000 Solid State Hybrid Drive
795 Points +207%

Gaming Performance

The CPU and GPU of the Aspire were not made for running demanding 3D games. Only a very few games achieve smooth frame rates on the Aspire and these also require low resolution and low quality settings. Games from the Windows Store run without problems.

low med. high ultra
Tomb Raider (2013) 15.9 8.2 5.2

Emissions

System Noise

Regardless of the load, the Aspire is slightly louder than the Packard Bell EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1. This is not surprising since two more processor cores require cooling in the Aspire. Overall, neither notebook gets too loud.

Noise Level

Idle
32.8 / 32.8 / 33 dB(A)
HDD
33.2 dB(A)
DVD
36.8 / dB(A)
Load
35.1 / 37.5 dB(A)
  red to green bar
 
 
30 dB
silent
40 dB(A)
audible
50 dB(A)
loud
 
min: dark, med: mid, max: light   Voltcraft sl-320 (15 cm distance)

Temperature

The Aspire in the stress test.
The Aspire in the stress test.

Whether on battery or in mains operation, the Aspire behaves the same way during our stress test (Prime95 and Furmark run for at least one hour): The processor starts at full speed (2.16 GHz). After about 20 to 30 minutes the clock rate falls to 1.83 GHz and remains there. The graphics core works at 820 MHz. Neither the Aspire nor the identical Packard Bell EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1 get particularly hot. During the stress test the case temperature remains below 40 °C in all measurement segments.

 26.1 °C
79 F
25.8 °C
78 F
24.8 °C
77 F
 
 26.6 °C
80 F
28.3 °C
83 F
25.3 °C
78 F
 
 27.8 °C
82 F
28 °C
82 F
28.5 °C
83 F
 
Maximum: 28.5 °C = 83 F
Average: 26.8 °C = 80 F
25.7 °C
78 F
27.3 °C
81 F
29.7 °C
85 F
26.6 °C
80 F
30.4 °C
87 F
31.1 °C
88 F
29.3 °C
85 F
28.9 °C
84 F
30.1 °C
86 F
Maximum: 31.1 °C = 88 F
Average: 28.8 °C = 84 F
Power Supply (max.)  33.6 °C = 92 F | Room Temperature 22.7 °C = 73 F | Voltcraft IR-360
(+) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 29.4 °C / 85 F, compared to the average of 29.5 °C / 85 F for the devices in the class Office.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 34.7 °C / 94 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 38.3 °C / 101 F, compared to the average of 36.7 °C / 98 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 26.8 °C / 80 F, compared to the device average of 29.5 °C / 85 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are reaching skin temperature as a maximum (34.2 °C / 93.6 F) and are therefore not hot.
(-) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 27.7 °C / 81.9 F (-6.5 °C / -11.7 F).

Energy Management

Power Consumption

The processor of the Aspire does not need particularly much energy. As a result the notebook is quite frugal. While idle the power consumption is, alike the EasyNote's, below 10 Watt. During the stress test it is only slightly higher than the EasyNote's. Two additional processor cores make the difference here.

Power Consumption
Off / Standbydarklight 0.2 / 0.2 Watt
Idledarkmidlight 6.2 / 8.6 / 8.8 Watt
Load midlight 16.1 / 18.9 Watt
 color bar
Key: min: dark, med: mid, max: light        Voltcraft VC 940
Currently we use the Metrahit Energy, a professional single phase power quality and energy measurement digital multimeter, for our measurements. Find out more about it here. All of our test methods can be found here.

Battery Life

Our realistic WLAN test automatically loads websites in 40-second intervals. The energy-saving profile is active and the display brightness is set to about 150 cd/m². The Aspire achieves a battery life of 6:54 h and is on par with the identical EasyNote (7:09 h). This is not surprising since both computers feature the same batteries.

Battery Runtime
WiFi Surfing
6h 54min
Battery Runtime - WiFi (sort by value)
Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2930, Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX
414 min
Lenovo B50-30
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2815, Seagate Momentus Thin 320 GB ST320LT012
217 min
Lenovo IdeaPad G50-45
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-6310, Seagate ST500LM000 Solid State Hybrid Drive
230 min
Asus X551MAV-SX391B
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
244 min
Acer Aspire E1-532
HD Graphics (Haswell), 2955U, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0 12-9WS142
270 min
HP Stream 14-z050ng
Radeon R3 (Mullins/Beema), A4 Micro-6400T, 32 GB eMMC Flash
317 min
Packard Bell Easynote TF71BM-C8R1
HD Graphics (Bay Trail), N2830, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142
429 min

Verdict

The verdict of the Aspire E 15 ES1-511-C50C is virtually identical to the identical Packard Bell EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1's: Both computers are available for not much money. They are apt for office, Internet, and video playback and they feature very good battery runtimes. In addition, they come with decent keyboards and matte, yet dark displays. At least, the contrasts are decent. The main difference between the two is their processors. Users who require more multi-thread performance should select the Aspire, since it features a quad-core processor.

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In review: Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C. Test model courtesy of notebooksbilliger.de
In review: Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C. Test model courtesy of notebooksbilliger.de

Specifications

Processor
Intel Celeron N2930 4 x 1.8 - 2.2 GHz, Bay Trail-M
Graphics adapter
Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Core: 854 MHz, 10.18.10.3496
Memory
4 GB 
, DDR3, single channel, one memory slot (occupied)
Display
15.60 inch 16:9, 1366 x 768 pixel, ChiMei N156BGE-L11, TN LED, glossy: no
Storage
Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX, 500 GB 
, 5400 rpm, 500 GB free
Soundcard
Intel Valleyview SoC - HD Audio Controller
Connections
2 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 1 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: Audio combo, Card Reader: SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC/MS
Networking
Realtek RTL8168/8111 Gigabit-LAN (10/100/1000MBit/s), Atheros Communications AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter (b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/), Bluetooth 4.0
Optical drive
Matshita DVD-RAM UJ8E2Q
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 27.1 x 381.6 x 258 ( = 1.07 x 15.02 x 10.16 in)
Battery
53 Wh Lithium-Ion
Operating System
Linpus Linux Lite
Camera
Webcam: HD web cam
Additional features
Speakers: stereo, Keyboard: Chiclet, Keyboard Light: no, 24 Months Warranty
Weight
2.4 kg ( = 84.66 oz / 5.29 pounds), Power Supply: 276 g ( = 9.74 oz / 0.61 pounds)
Price
279 Euro

 

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Links

Compare Prices

Pros

+Matte display
+Long battery life
+Decent keyboard
+Works quietly most of the time
+Gets hardly warmer
+24 months warranty
 

Cons

-Dark display
-No maintenance hatch

Shortcut

What we like

The matte display and the long battery life.

What we would like to see

A brighter display and a maintenance hatch.

What surprises us

Low price and 2 years warranty are not mutually exclusive.

The competition

Packard Bell EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1, Lenovo B50-30, Asus X551MAV-SX391B, HP 15-g005ng, Acer Aspire E1-532, Lenovo IdeaPad G50-45.

Rating

Acer Aspire E15 ES1-511-C50C - 10/25/2014 v4(old)
Sascha Mölck

Chassis
70 / 98 → 71%
Keyboard
71%
Pointing Device
81%
Connectivity
60 / 80 → 75%
Weight
60 / 20-67 → 85%
Battery
90%
Display
75%
Games Performance
41 / 68 → 60%
Application Performance
46 / 92 → 50%
Temperature
92%
Noise
87%
Average
70%
75%
Office - Weighted Average
Sascha Mölck, 2014-10-31 (Update: 2018-05-15)