Overview
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| Aspire V3-571G |
It's apparent that Acer wanted to produce a work horse when
they made the Aspire V3-571G. It certainly will get the job done with its
impressive 3rd generation Intel Core i3 processor and powerful NVIDIA
graphics card. However, the relatively high-end spec points of this machine comes at a cost. The overall build quality
of the machine is questionable, and the display is rather lackluster. Can the
Aspire's strong performance make up for its weak visual aesthetics and display?
Read the full review to find out.
Build and Design
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| Aspire V3-571G |
The Black Glossy plastic exterior of the Aspire 571G
initially caught my eye when I took the machine out the box. At first glance it
looks sleek, beautifully reflecting light off its surface. However, the second
my finger touched the chassis I realized this was a terrible a design choice.
The glossy plastic is a fingerprint magnet, as even the lightest touch will
sure to result in an unseemly smudge. With only minimal transportation --
usually consisting of taking the notebook to and from work -- the once pristine
exterior looked as though someone had viciously whipped their greasy paws all
over the device. It's unfortunate that the plastic cover is so easily
decremented, as it looked great out of the box; but keeping the machine in that
out-of-the box condition appears to be rather unlikely. I fear for the sanity
of any OCD consumers (like myself) who may purchase this notebook.
On a brighter note the thin metal coating that supports the
keyboard and speakers actually complements the glossy plastic quite well.
Furthermore it is fully resistant to fingerprints, it's a shame that the rest
of the chassis could not be made of the same material.
Due to how messy the device is sure to become in transport I
wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but weighing in at only 5.7 pounds (6.7 with
adapter), it is more than manageable to use this device on the go. Additionally
the device should fit in most travel bags with its dimensions of 15 x 10 x 1
inches.
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| Aspire V3-571G |
While the fingerprints are problematic, what really worries
me about this device is its structure quality. When bending the chassis I was
startled to find the device giving way without much effort on my part. Pressure
on the back of the display case employs noticeable rippling on the display. I
was actually worried about stressing the display panel too much for fear that
it might actually break. Obviously Acer had to save costs somewhere offering
its impressive graphics card and processor, but the poor build quality makes me
apprehensive about the durability of this machine. Seeing how easily the device
gives to even the slightest exertion of force, I seriously question how well
this device will hold up in the long-run, especially if it is being transported
on a consistent basis.
Input and Output
Ports
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| Aspire V3-571G |
The V3-571G offers the majority of its ports on the left
side of the chassis, including a USB 3.0, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, and audio and
mic jacks. There are also two USB 2.0 ports on the right side along with the
disk tray (which sadly, only feeds into a DVD drive). There are no ports
located on the back of the device and only the media card reader is situated in
the front, located at the front left corner of the device.
Keyboard and Touchpad
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| Aspire V3-571G |
The notebook offers a full size 'Chiclet' style keyboard
complete with a dedicated numeric keypad. Thought this keyboard supports all of
the bells and whistles, it is a chore to use. The shallow key compression and
lack of tactile feedback makes it difficult for users to tell when they have
fully struck the desired keystroke. Furthermore, there were several instances
where the keypad failed to read my keystrokes at all. Additionally the
exceptionally wide keyboard, which almost uses the entire width of the
notebook's 15-inch frame, can make entering functions such as ctrl + alt
+delete far more difficult than on other keyboards. Also the strangely spaced
keys makes it difficult to navigate to some of the more estranged keys, such as
the insert key which is not only oddly placed, but difficult to hit due to its
reduced size. While this is fine for average use, if you plan on doing
something more extensive such as gaming you will certainly want to use an
external keyboard.
The touchpad, (which uses Elan drivers in place of
Synaptics) is probably the weakest point of the entire machine. The touchpad by
design appears sound, offering a scroll section located to right and dedicated
right and left click buttons at the bottom of the pad. However, the touchpad is
anything but responsive as it constantly lags or even worse fails to read input
all together. Furthermore, thought the machine has a quarantined scroll
section, I found myself unintentionally scrolling both horizontally and vertically
on pages while simply attempting to move the cursor. It's true that most
touchpads occasionally misread input such as this, but the pad on the V3-571 Gwas far too inconsistent to be overlooked. The pad will work for simple
pointing and clicking; but if you want to do anything else, such as enlarging
images or highlighting text, I'd highly recommend using a USB mouse instead.
Screen and Speakers
Similar to the keyboard and touchpad the Aspire's display is
somewhat of a disappointment. The 15.6-inch HD LED LCD display only offers a1366 x 768 resolution, which is more commonly seen on smaller 13-inch and
14-inch displays. The large display and low resolution combines in a visual
experience that is grainy with minimal color contrast. Additionally the glossy
display also offers limited viewing angles. While not terrible from most
horizontal angles, tilting the screen slightly forwards or backwards will
quickly make the screen appeared dimmed.
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| Aspire V3-571G |
Light is also proves to be a problem, as the glossy finish
is highly reflective. While this of course problematic for outdoor use, strong
indoor lighting also significantly catches the glossy screen. Again the display
is serviceable; but if you are looking for an optimal viewing experience or
want to multi-task, you would be better off using an external monitor.
The speakers on the other hand, which use Dolby Digital Home
Theater fare much better. Located at the back of keyboard the two stereo
speakers are quite boisterous, only requiring around 50 percent capacity to
fill most rooms. At 50 percent the speakers perform admirably offering clear,
clean audio; though there is a noticeable lack of bass due to the lack of a
subwoofer. However, the sound quality does greatly diminish when the audio is
pushed past 90 percent becoming noticeably distorted. The speakers offer better
than expected audio quality for a budget lap top. It's great for personal use,
just don't expect to be able to crank the volume all the way up and receive the
same quality.
