Acer Aspire ES1-731G Notebook Review
For the original German review, see here.
Acer's Aspire ES1 series is a notebook from the low-price segment. We have already reviewed several representatives of this series, even our current test model. However, the Aspire ES1-731G differs from its sibling: The ES1-731G brings a GeForce graphics core. Therewith, Acer uses an unusual combination from Braswell processor and dedicated graphics core. Our review will reveal whether the Aspire can convince. The competition of the Acer computer includes notebooks such as the Lenovo G70-80, the Toshiba Satellite C70D-B, the Acer Aspire E5-722, and the Asus X751.
For information about case, connectivity, input devices and display please refer to our review of the Aspire ES1-731 with identical design.
Performance
Processor
Inside the Aspire, there is an Intel Pentium N3700 (Braswell) quad-core processor. This is a weak processor which performs significantly worse than Core i processors. The CPU works at a base clock of 1.6 GHz. The Turbo can increase the clock rate to 2.4 GHz. Our processor works at full speed in our CPU tests in mains operation as well as on battery.
System Performance
The system runs smoothly and we did not face any problems. We have already reviewed an Aspire ES1-731 model without dedicated graphics card. Thus, the comparison of the PC Mark 8 results of these two computers shows the impact of the GeForce GPU. The more powerful graphics core does not have an impact on the Home and Creative subbenchmarks. Things are different for the Work subbenchmark with almost double the score. It is still possible to improve the system performance. Replacing the HDD with an SSD will make for a more responsive system and shorter loading times.
| PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2 | 1741 points | |
| PCMark 8 Creative Score Accelerated v2 | 2003 points | |
| PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2 | 2408 points | |
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Storage Devices
Acer has equipped the Aspire with a 2.5-inch hard drive, which stems from Toshiba. It works at 5400 RPM and features a capacity of 1 TB. The transfer rates of the hard drive are normal for a 5400 rpm model.
Graphics Card
Acer decided to use an unusual combination in the Aspire. A weak Braswell processor was combined with a dedicated GPU. The built-in GeForce 910M is the weakest model of the GeForce 900M series. Alike the GeForce 920M, it is based on Nvidia's Kepler architecture. All other GeForce 900M models are based on the modern Maxwell architecture. The 910M GPU clocks significantly lower than the 920M GPU (641 MHz vs. 954 MHz). Our comparison table shows that the 910M graphics core ranks in slightly above the GeForce 820M and is about on par with the Intel HD Graphics 520 GPU (when using dual-channel mode). AMD's counterpart, the Radeon R5 M330, is slightly better.
| 3DMark 06 Standard Score | 6741 points | |
| 3DMark Vantage P Result | 4325 points | |
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 1432 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 23291 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 3677 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 913 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score | 446 points | |
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| 3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance | |
| Lenovo Ideapad 500-15ISK 80NT005WGE | |
| HP ProBook 470 G3 W4P78EA | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| HP 250 G4 T6P08ES | |
| Lenovo U31-70 80M5003EGE | |
| Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 300-17ISK 80QH001EGE | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 300-15IBR | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| Asus F555LD-XX243H | |
| Asus X555LD-XX283H | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad E560 20EV000MGE | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731-P4A6 | |
| 3DMark 06 - 1280x1024 Standard Score AA:0x AF:0x | |
| Lenovo U31-70 80M5003EGE | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| Lenovo Ideapad 500-15ISK 80NT005WGE | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
| 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| T-Rex Onscreen | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| GFXBench 3.0 | |
| 1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| GFXBench 3.1 | |
| 1920x1080 Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| on screen Manhattan ES 3.1 Onscreen | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| GFXBench | |
| 1920x1080 Car Chase Offscreen | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| on screen Car Chase Onscreen | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| LuxMark v2.0 64Bit | |
| Sala GPUs-only | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| Room GPUs-only | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| Unigine Heaven 2.1 - 1280x1024 high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 AA:off AF:1x | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| Unigine Heaven 3.0 | |
| 1920x1080 OpenGL, Normal Tessellation, High Shaders AA:Off AF:Off | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| 1920x1080 DX 11, Normal Tessellation, High Shaders AA:Off AF:Off | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| Unigine Heaven 4.0 - Extreme Preset DX11 | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| ComputeMark v2.1 - 1024x600 Normal, Score | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| 3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
| Lenovo Ideapad 500-15ISK 80NT005WGE | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| HP ProBook 470 G3 W4P78EA | |
| HP 250 G4 T6P08ES | |
| Lenovo U31-70 80M5003EGE | |
| Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 300-15IBR | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 300-17ISK 80QH001EGE | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| Asus F555LD-XX243H | |
| Asus X555LD-XX283H | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad E560 20EV000MGE | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731-P4A6 | |
Gaming Performance
The notebook is primarily suitable for running classic games such as Diablo 3 or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Modern games only achieve smooth frame rates with low resolutions and low quality settings if they do not have high hardware requirements. The frame rates of the Aspire are about on par with GeForce 820M and HD Graphics 520 notebooks (the latter only with active dual-channel mode). The Aspire falls slightly behind the competition in CPU-intensive games. This is due to the weak CPU. The Radeon R5 M330 graphics core's lead in the 3D Mark benchmarks cannot generally be confirmed in practice. It partly performs worse than the GeForce GPU in real-world gaming.
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diablo III (2012) | 52.8 | 48.6 | 45.5 | 30.6 |
| Counter-Strike: GO (2012) | 39.1 | 36.3 | 34.2 | 29.7 |
| Tomb Raider (2013) | 73.6 | 38.3 | 24.9 | 10.7 |
| BioShock Infinite (2013) | 50.4 | 29.9 | 25.8 | 8.6 |
| Battlefield 4 (2013) | 33.7 | 24.6 | 18.6 | 7.3 |
| F1 2014 (2014) | 41 | 32 | 24 | 16 |
| Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) | 28.2 | 20.1 | 7.2 | 4.4 |
| Battlefield Hardline (2015) | 7.9 | 7.6 | 6.1 | 5.9 |
| Dirt Rally (2015) | 46.8 | 24 | 16.8 | 12.5 |
| Batman: Arkham Knight (2015) | 13 | 12 | 7 | 4 |
| Metal Gear Solid V (2015) | 40.9 | 29.3 | 13.2 | 8.7 |
| World of Warships (2015) | 33.8 | 27.2 | 20 | 13.9 |
| Anno 2205 (2015) | 22.1 | 13.7 | 6.3 | 3.1 |
| Star Wars Battlefront (2015) | 23.2 | 16.2 | 7.7 | 4.3 |
| Rainbow Six Siege (2015) | 38.8 | 25.3 | 12.6 | 10.7 |
| Just Cause 3 (2015) | 16.6 | 14.8 | 8.1 | 5.7 |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | 14.5 | 9.4 | 6.1 | 3.5 |
| XCOM 2 (2016) | 13.5 | 7.1 | 4.9 | 2.1 |
| Far Cry Primal (2016) | 16 | 8 | 7 | 5 |
| The Division (2016) | 19.6 | 11.5 | 5.6 | 3.1 |
| Mirror's Edge Catalyst (2016) | 22.6 | 13.8 | 6.5 | 3.9 |
| Diablo III - 1366x768 High AA:on | |
| Lenovo Yoga 510-15ISK | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| HP 250 G4 T6P08ES | |
| Battlefield 4 - 1024x768 Low Preset | |
| Lenovo Yoga 510-15ISK | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| Lenovo Ideapad 500-15ISK 80NT005WGE | |
| HP 250 G4 T6P08ES | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad E560 20EV000MGE | |
| BioShock Infinite - 1280x720 Very Low Preset | |
| HP ProBook 450 G3 P4P34EA | |
| HP ProBook 470 G3 W4P78EA | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| Lenovo Yoga 510-15ISK | |
| Lenovo Ideapad 500-15ISK 80NT005WGE | |
| Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE | |
| Asus X555LD-XX283H | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| HP 250 G4 T6P08ES | |
| Lenovo E51-80 80QB0008GE | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 300-17ISK 80QH001EGE | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 300-15IBR | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad E560 20EV000MGE | |
| Dirt Rally - 1024x768 Ultra Low Preset | |
| Lenovo U31-70 80M5003EGE | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| Lenovo Yoga 510-15ISK | |
| HP Pavilion 15-aw004ng | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| Counter-Strike: GO - 1366x768 High AA:2x MS AF:4x | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| HP 250 G4 T6P08ES | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| F1 2014 - 1024x768 Ultra Low Preset | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| Metal Gear Solid V - 1024x768 Low / Off | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| HP ProBook 430 G3 P5T00ES | |
Emissions & Energy
System Noise
Despite a significantly more powerful GPU, the Aspire is subjectively not different from the already reviewed sibling in the realm of system noise. The fan does not even speed up much under load. You would need to turn off the sound when running computer games in order to hear the fan at all.
Battery Life
Our Wi-Fi test simulates opening websites. The profile "balanced" is active, the energy-saving functions are disabled and the display brightness is set to about 150 cd/m². The Aspire achieves a battery life of 4:43 h.
| Battery Runtime - WiFi v1.3 | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR | |
| Acer Aspire ES1-731-P4A6 | |
| Chiligreen Mobilitas SF2600 | |
| Lenovo G70-35 80Q5000BGE | |
| Lenovo G70-80 80FF00H0GE | |
| Acer Aspire E5-722-2611 | |
| Toshiba Satellite C70D-C-10N | |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
With the Aspire ES1-731G, Acer offers a simple 17.3-inch office notebook for home use. The built-in processor is suitable for office and Internet applications. Due to the dedicated graphics core, it can run some games. However, this is primarily true for titles which have already been available for several years. The notebook hardly gets warmer and works quietly regardless of the load.
Thanks to a 1 TB hard drive you won't run out of storage space quickly. It is possible to replace the HDD by an SSD, but this requires opening the case. The computer does not have a maintenance hatch. The keyboard provides a decent typing experience and is suitable for regular writing tasks. Battery life is of minor importance in a 17.3-inch notebook. The Aspire neither shines nor disappoints in terms of stamina. The results are normal for a 17.3-inch device. In view of the price point, the display of the Acer computer is alright. Positive: Acer also includes a two-year warranty in the low-price segment.
The combination of weak CPU and entry-level graphics core is interesting for users who want to occasionally play games which are no longer absolutely new.
Our test model costs about 450 Euros (~$502). This is slightly too much for a device of its performance category. In comparison, the Lenovo G70-80 80FF00K5GE (Core i3-5005U, GeForce 920M) was available for about 480 Euros (~$536) at the time of testing and brings a significantly higher CPU and GPU performance than the Aspire.
Acer Aspire ES1-731G-P5UR
- 08/01/2016 v5.1 (old)
Sascha Mölck
Price comparison
