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Review Update Acer Aspire V3-771G (FHD) Notebook

Second try. Although the Acer Aspire V3 was designed as a multimedia notebook, the first test model did not come with a Full HD display. Now, the manufacturer has fixed this shortcoming. The nearly identically equipped successor features an adequate display.

For the original German review, see here.

In June 2012, we scrutinized the Acer Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk. With an Intel i7-3610QM CPU, an entry level quad core Ivy Bridge processor, and Nvidia's GeForce GT 650M GPU, the 17.3-inch laptop was designed for performance-oriented customers. In addition, the model also featured a Blu-ray drive, 16 GB DDR3 RAM and two mass storage devices: a 120 GB Intel SSD SSDSA2CW120G3 as the boot drive and a 1000 GB Toshiba MK1059GSMP.

The CPU and GPU of the completely black Acer Aspire V3-771G are still excellent for multimedia purposes. However, there are several points of critique. We did not like the sensitive high-gloss surfaces, that all the interfaces are inconveniently close to the front of the sides and the HD display (1600x900 pixels) with modest contrast that did not support Full HD.

A further model of the Aspire V3 series, the 17.3-inch Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii features a very similar CPU and GPU combination (Intel i7-3630QM instead of i7-3610QM) as the V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk, but comes with a matte Full HD display. In addition, the test model no longer has a piano-black finish.

Further differences: Instead of an SSD and HDD combination the V3-771G-736B161TMaii only uses a single 1 TB Toshiba MQ01ABD100 hard drive and instead of a Blu-ray drive it features a conventional DVD burner. Connectivity, other features, input devices, and speakers correspond to the Acer Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk's. Therefore, we will concentrate on the small, but important differences, in particular the FHD display.

Display

Wie wir testen - Display

The 17.3-inch anti-glare Acer ComfyView display stems from AUO and features a native resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (Full HD). The IPS panel convinces with wide viewing angles, rather high contrast and a very bright LED backlight. In contrast, the 1600x900 pixels resolution of the V3-771G-53234G50Maii predecessor is especially disappointing, as its Blu-ray drive can deliver 1080p content. Similar competitors, e.g. Dell's Inspiron 17R-SE-7720, MSI's GE70-i789W7H or Samsung's series 7 Chronos 700Z7C also feature Full HD displays.

315
cd/m²
324
cd/m²
317
cd/m²
302
cd/m²
333
cd/m²
303
cd/m²
338
cd/m²
359
cd/m²
335
cd/m²
Distribution of brightness
HC9GK 173HGE tested with X-Rite i1Pro 2
Maximum: 359 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 325.1 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 84 %
Center on Battery: 251 cd/m²
Contrast: 979:1 (Black: 0.34 cd/m²)60.8% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
83.9% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
59.7% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Acer Aspire V3 vs. Adobe RGB (t)
Acer Aspire V3 vs. Adobe RGB (t)
Acer Aspire V3 vs. sRGB (t)
Acer Aspire V3 vs. sRGB (t)

The average brightness of 325.1 cd/m² and the distribution of brightness of 84% are decent. We appreciate the low black value of 0.34 cd/m². So, black appears deep black and not gray in movies, images, and games.

The low black value brings about a very good contrast of 953:1 and so colorful pictures. The competitors cannot quite keep up here, although their black values are on a similar level: Dell Inspiron 17R-SE-7720 (black value: 0.35 cd/m², contrast: 726:1), MSI GE70-i789W7H (black value: 0.39 cd/m², contrast: 679:1) and Samsung Series 7 Chronos 700Z7C (black value: 0.3 cd/m², contrast: 870:1).

In terms of color representation the V3-771G-736B161TMaii does not belong to the best, but it is still passable. It can nearly completely cover sRGB, but fails to cover AdobeRGB.

The following figures depict the color analysis of the i1 Pro 2 photo spectrometer and the CalMAN 5 software (target: sRGB). With factory settings, gray levels are not represented accurately: DeltaE(2000) of 10. After calibration it falls to 6. A DeltaE of above 3 means that the human eye can see differences. Therefore, values below 3 would be ideal.

The strong blue hue in non-calibrated state is striking. Magenta and cyan appear too bluish. In addition, yellow and red have a high DeltaE(2000) of 8 and 7. The last picture, color saturation after calibration, shows how useful a color calibration with appropriate hardware can be. The blue hue nearly completely disappeared and apart from yellow all colors are accurately represented in the sRGB color space (DeltaE < 3). Now the result is similar to the V3-571G's Full HD panel and colors look warm.

Color fidelity after calibration
Color fidelity after calibration
Gray levels after calibration
Gray levels after calibration
Color saturation before calibration
Color saturation before calibration
Color fidelity before calibration
Color fidelity before calibration
Gray levels before calibration
Gray levels before calibration
Color saturation after calibration
Color saturation after calibration

An anti-glare display is most important for comfortable viewing in direct and indirect sunlight. Because of the throughout good display properties, the display content remains clearly readable regardless of the viewing angle.

Outdoors
Outdoors
In comparison: the glare display of the Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk predecessor
In comparison: the glare display of the Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk predecessor

Because of the anti-glare display, the viewing angles are excellent in horizontal direction. The image remains also recognizable at extreme viewing angles without color deviations or darkening. In a vertical direction, the image changes significantly sooner. Depending on the viewing angle, the display content either looks darker or brighter.

Viewing angles: Acer Aspire V3-771G-53234G50Maii
Viewing angles: Acer Aspire V3-771G-53234G50Maii

Performance

Wie wir testen - Leistung

The Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii and its predecessor have about the same field of application. Instead of an i7-3610QM quad core Ivy Bridge CPU, our test model features an Intel i7-3630QM, which is just marginally faster. The GT 650M graphics card from Nvidia remained unchanged. In addition, the test model comes with 16 GB RAM, 1 TB Toshiba MQ01ABD100 hard drive, and preinstalled Windows 8.

Systeminfo Windows performance index
Systeminfo CrystalDiskMark
Systeminfo HDTune
Systeminfo DPC latencies
Systeminfo
Systeminfo GPUZ
Systeminfo CPUZ Graphics
Systeminfo CPUZ RAM SPD
Systeminfo CPUZ RAM
Systeminfo CPUZ Motherboard
Systeminfo CPUZ CPU
Systeminfo HWiNFO
System information: Acer Aspire V3-771G-53234G50Maii

Processor

We use Cinebench R11.5 to evaluate the CPU performance: Because of the marginally faster CPU, the test model is slightly faster than the Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk in this test.

Cinebench R10 Rendering Single CPUs 64Bit
5826 Points
Cinebench R10 Rendering Multiple CPUs 64Bit
21682 Points
Cinebench R10 Shading 64Bit
6431 Points
Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64Bit
6.26 Points
Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit
42.51 fps
Help
Cinebench R11.5
CPU Multi 64Bit (sort by value)
Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii
GeForce GT 650M, 3630QM, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
6.26 Points
Acer Aspire V3-771G
GeForce GT 650M, 3610QM, Intel SSD 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3
6.19 Points -1%
OpenGL 64Bit (sort by value)
Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii
GeForce GT 650M, 3630QM, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
42.51 fps
Acer Aspire V3-771G
GeForce GT 650M, 3610QM, Intel SSD 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3
42.37 fps 0%

System Performance

While the Acer Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk model with SSD + HDD delivers a very high system performance, the Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii only features a conventional hard drive. In the Windows 8 performance index, the negative impact gets apparent: The Toshiba HDD is the slowest component of the notebook and limits the system performance.

Compared to similar notebooks like the Asus N76VZ-V2G-T1011V or the Dell Inspiron 17R-SE-7720 the Aspire V3 nevertheless performs well and Windows runs fast.

5.9
Windows 8 Experience Index
Processor
Calculations per second
7.8
Memory (RAM)
Memory operations per second
7.8
Graphics
Desktop performance for Windows Aero
6.8
Gaming graphics
3D business and gaming graphics
6.8
Primary hard disk
Disk data transfer rate
5.9
PCMark Vantage Result
9850 points
PCMark 7 Score
2770 points
Help
PCMark 7 - Score (sort by value)
Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii
GeForce GT 650M, 3630QM, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
2770 Points
Acer Aspire V3-771G
GeForce GT 650M, 3610QM, Intel SSD 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3
4160 Points +50%

Storage Devices

Our Acer test model uses a Toshiba MQ01ABD100 with a capacity of 1 TB. The data is stored on two 500 GB platters, which work with a revolution speed of 5,400 rpm. So, the average access time of 18.2 is rather slow and the SATA drive is not designed for high performance. Nevertheless, the performance is decent: The Toshiba HDD achieves an average transfer rate of 84.5 MB/s. However, the system performance would be better with an SSD.

Toshiba MQ01ABD100
Transfer Rate Minimum: 43.5 MB/s
Transfer Rate Maximum: 113.5 MB/s
Transfer Rate Average: 84.5 MB/s
Access Time: 18.2 ms
Burst Rate: 152.4 MB/s
CPU Usage: 2.5 %

Graphics Card

The Acer Aspire V3 comes with Nvidia's GeForce GT 650M, which features 2 GB DDR3 memory. Thanks to Nvidia Optimus, the Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated in the CPU can be used alternatively. The laptop automatically switches the graphics card without user intervention and an icon in the task bar shows the active GPU.

The same as for the Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk is also true for our test model: Acer promise "highest performance and quality" and this is not an exaggeration. With a very good score of 2,410 points in 3DMark 11, the Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii's performance also suffices for current games, although the laptop quickly reaches its limits with highest details.

3DMark 06 Standard Score
13514 points
3DMark Vantage P Result
9341 points
3DMark 11 Performance
2410 points
3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score
39962 points
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score
8616 points
3DMark Fire Strike Score
1241 points
Help

Gaming Performance

While the Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii does not deliver top gaming performance, its performance suffices for playing current games in medium to high resolution and details smoothly. However, the tested games notably stutter when the highest details are selected. Our benchmark list of mobile GPUs shows how Nvidia's GeForce GT 650M performs compared to other graphics cards.

low med. high ultra
Anno 2070 (2011) 148.3 63.1 38.9 19.3
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (2012) 107 77.9 46.1 27.4
Tomb Raider (2013) 120 62.7 37.8 14.9

Emissions

Wie wir testen - Emissionen

System Noise

Despite its decent performance the Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii remains quiet. While idle the laptop reaches 33.6 dB(A) and mainly remains unobtrusive during everyday tasks like web surfing, office, and multimedia use. However, a quiet fan noise is still audible. Under load the fan revs up and for example reaches a highly acceptable 38.3 dB(A) during gameplay. Under full stress - unlikely in practice - the Acer Aspire V3 becomes louder and the noise level of 41.6 dB(A) gets clearly audible. All things considered, the test model is slightly quieter than the Acer Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk with a maximum noise level of 44.6 dB(A).

Noise Level

Idle
32.8 / 33.6 / 33.6 dB(A)
DVD
36.6 / dB(A)
Load
38.3 / 41.6 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

Stress test: up to 100 °C CPU core temperature
Stress test: up to 100 °C CPU core temperature

While idle the Acer Aspire V3 remains very cold. At a usual room temperature of 22 °C, we measure a maximum of 29.1 °C. After a one hour stress test the upper side of the laptop reaches up to 45.6 °C while the underside remains cool with a maximum of 38.5 °C.

In our stress test, 100 °C proves to be the maximum core temperature. Once the limit is reached, the processor clocks down to 1.2 GHz. As soon as the temperatures falls, the clock increases to 3.2 GHz, the maximum turbo clock for 4 cores, again.

In order to find out whether you'll also experience downclocking in realistic scenarios, we ran a 3DMark 2006 benchmark immediately after the stress test. The difference compared to the cold state is within measurement errors. Therefore, thermal throttling is not to be expected during everyday tasks and games.

Max. Load
 37.8 °C
100 F
42.2 °C
108 F
30.2 °C
86 F
 
 45.6 °C
114 F
44.1 °C
111 F
28.5 °C
83 F
 
 31.1 °C
88 F
35.1 °C
95 F
26.2 °C
79 F
 
Maximum: 45.6 °C = 114 F
Average: 35.6 °C = 96 F
30.7 °C
87 F
33.6 °C
92 F
38.5 °C
101 F
27.5 °C
82 F
32.8 °C
91 F
30.2 °C
86 F
23.5 °C
74 F
27.7 °C
82 F
34.7 °C
94 F
Maximum: 38.5 °C = 101 F
Average: 31 °C = 88 F
Power Supply (max.)  48.6 °C = 119 F | Room Temperature 22 °C = 72 F | Voltcraft IR-360
(±) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 35.6 °C / 96 F, compared to the average of 31.2 °C / 88 F for the devices in the class Multimedia.
(-) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 45.6 °C / 114 F, compared to the average of 36.9 °C / 98 F, ranging from 21.1 to 71 °C for the class Multimedia.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 38.5 °C / 101 F, compared to the average of 39.1 °C / 102 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 26.6 °C / 80 F, compared to the device average of 31.2 °C / 88 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are reaching skin temperature as a maximum (35.1 °C / 95.2 F) and are therefore not hot.
(-) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.8 °C / 83.8 F (-6.3 °C / -11.4 F).

Speakers

The Acer Aspire V3 produces a decent sound, which is, due to the lack of strong basses, partly a little bit thin. In order to improve the sound for films, music and games, it is recommended to use the preinstalled Dolby Home Theater software.

Energy Management

Wie wir testen - Akkulaufzeit

Power consumption

While the powerful notebook runs idle, the energy demand between 9.1 Watt and 17.2 Watt remains low. If the CPU and GPU are used to capacity, the power consumption of the Acer Aspire V3 increases up to 122.1 Watt and reaches the limits of the 120 W power adapter.

Power Consumption
Off / Standbydarklight 0 / 0.8 Watt
Idledarkmidlight 9.1 / 16.1 / 17.2 Watt
Load midlight 80.4 / 122.1 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

Compared to the Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii predecessor, the battery is overall slightly shorter. This might be caused by the significantly brighter display with higher resolution, as battery capacity, power consumption and other core components like CPU and GPU do not, or only insignificantly, differ.

In the best case (minimum display brightness, disabled Wi-Fi modules, energy saving profile), the 48 Wh battery delivers a maximum runtime of 3 hours 33 minutes. This is in line with the manufacturer's information, which quotes 3.5 hours. In our WLAN test with reduced brightness of 150 cd/m² and a looping script loading web pages, the laptop achieves a battery life of 2 hours 2 minutes. Under high load (Battery Eater Classic test) the battery is already empty after 52 minutes.

Battery Runtime
Idle (without WLAN, min brightness)
3h 33min
WiFi Surfing
2h 02min
Load (maximum brightness)
0h 52min

Verdict

Wie wir testen - Fazit

We found the Acer Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk lacking a Full HD display. The Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii successor fixed this shortcoming: The 1920x1080 pixel LC display of the 17.3-incher is very bright, contrast-rich and convinces with wide viewing angles. While the predecessor featured a glare-type display, the Acer now comes with an anti-glare screen. In addition, the case no longer has a piano black finish. However, the display with higher resolution slightly decreases the battery life.

A completely successful update? Not quite! The Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii unfortunately lacks a Blu-ray drive, which is a clear drawback for a multimedia notebook. In addition, the test model cannot reach the very fast system performance of the Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk, although it is equipped with nearly the same CPU (Intel Core i7-3630QM instead of Core i7-3610QM): Instead of the fast SSD / HDD combination of its predecessor the V3-771G-736B161TMaii only features a conventional hard drive. But, the gaming performance is still decent.

We would like to see a third update based on the Acer Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk predecessor, but with Full HD display. Together with an SSD boot drive, an additional hard drive for storing data and a Blu-ray drive, it would deliver everything a multimedia device needs.

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In Review: Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii
In Review: Acer AspireV3-771G-736B161TMaii

Specifications

Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii (Aspire V3 Series)
Processor
Intel Core i7-3630QM 4 x 2.4 - 3.4 GHz (Intel Core i7)
Graphics adapter
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - 2048 MB VRAM, Core: 850 MHz, Memory: 900 MHz, DDR3, 307.17, Optimus
Memory
16 GB 
, DDR3 (4 x 4096 MB, no free RAM slots)
Display
17.30 inch 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixel, HC9GK 173HGE, TN LED, ComfyView, glossy: no
Mainboard
Intel HM77 (Panther Point)
Storage
Toshiba MQ01ABD100, 1000 GB 
, 5400 rpm, 1000 GB
Soundcard
HD Audio
Connections
2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: headphones, microphone, Card Reader: 5-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, MS, MS Pro, xD)
Networking
Atheros AR8151 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.30) (10/100/1000MBit/s), Atheros AR5BWB222 Wireless Network Adapter (b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/), Bluetooth 4.0
Optical drive
Matshita DVD-RAM UJ8C0
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 347 x 4148 x 2750 ( = 13.66 x 163.31 x 108.27 in)
Battery
48 Wh Lithium-Ion, 11.1V
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 8 64 Bit
Camera
Webcam: 0.9 MP (1.280 x 720 pixels)
Additional features
Speakers: stereo, 24 Months Warranty
Weight
3.1 kg ( = 109.35 oz / 6.83 pounds), Power Supply: 600 g ( = 21.16 oz / 1.32 pounds)
Price
999 Euro

 

The Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii features a Full HD display.
The Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii features a Full HD display.
The already reviewed Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk predecessor ...
The already reviewed Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk predecessor ...
... glossy palm rests
... glossy palm rests
... and a glossy lid.
... and a glossy lid.
CPU and GPU: Intel i7-3630QM and Nvidia GeForce GT 650M.
CPU and GPU: Intel i7-3630QM and Nvidia GeForce GT 650M.
Same case shape for all Aspire V3 models.
Same case shape for all Aspire V3 models.
16 GB RAM, but no SSD and no Blu-ray drive.
16 GB RAM, but no SSD and no Blu-ray drive.
Display and case:
Display and case:
matte surfaces instead of piano black finish.
matte surfaces instead of piano black finish.
A fast SSD HDD works inside.
A fast SSD HDD works inside.
The Dolby Home Theater Software improves the sound.
The Dolby Home Theater Software improves the sound.
3DMark Vantage
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 06
3DMark 06
Windows 8 is preinstalled.
Windows 8 is preinstalled.

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Links


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Pros

+matte FullHD display
+decent system performance
+decent 3D performance
+acceptable system noise
+moderate temperature increase
+decent sound
+comfortable keyboard
 

Cons

-no SSD
-no BluRay drive
-all interfaces near the front of the sides

Shortcut

What we like

The Acer offers a lot of performance reserves and can also run current games, but not at maximum details and resolution.

What we would like to see

A Blu-ray drive to meet its multimedia claim and an SSD, which would make the Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii even faster. The Acer Aspire V3-771G-7361161.12TBDCakk predecessor shows how to do it right.

What surprises us

The relatively low temperature increase. The device also remains rather cool during maximum load.

The competition

Multimedia and gaming notebooks based on Ivy Bridge in 17-inch with a similar CPU and GPU. The following Ivy Bridge laptops use the same Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics card as the Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii: Asus N76VZ-V2G-T1011V, Dell Inspiron 17R-SE-7720, MSI GE70-i789W7H, and Samsung Series 7 Chronos 700Z7C.

Rating

Acer Aspire V3-771G-736B161TMaii - 04/22/2013 v3(old)
Manuel Masiero

Chassis
84%
Keyboard
86%
Pointing Device
82%
Connectivity
73%
Weight
71%
Battery
66%
Display
89%
Games Performance
89%
Application Performance
91%
Temperature
85%
Noise
83%
Add Points
84%
Average
82%
83%
Multimedia - Weighted Average
Manuel Masiero, 2013-05- 9 (Update: 2018-05-15)