AMD may be a favorite for gamers thanks to a healthy budget to power ratio, but it’s sometimes easy to forget in the hype that AMD-powered machines also often perform better at productivity tasks than Intel ones, while also maintaining lower prices. That makes AMD processors a perfect choice for laptops like Acer’s Aspire line, which is only getting stronger now thanks to refreshes that bring them up to the Ryzen 5000 series.
| Acer Aspire 7 | Acer Aspire 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Ryzen 5000 Series | Ryzen 5000 Series |
| GPU | GTX 1650 | Radeon RX 640 |
| Display | 15.6 inch IPS FHD | 15.6 inch IPS FHD |
| Memory | Up to 32GB | Up to 24GB |
| Storage | Up to 1TB | Up to 1TB |
| Release Window | March 2021 | March 2021 |
| Starting Price | $749 | $549 |
Acer’s new Aspire laptops come in two flavors–the 4.7 pound Aspire 7 and the more cheaper Aspire 5. Both have 15.6 inch IPS FHD screens and discrete GPUs, although the Aspire 7’s far outclasses the Aspire 5’s.
Specifically, the Aspire 7 uses Ryzen 5000 series chips and comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU. It also has RAM options up to 32GB and up to a 1TB SSD. Acer’s not advertising how thin it is yet, though its narrow bezel gives it an advertised 81.6% screen-to-body ratio, and Acer told us to expect about 10 hours of battery life.
The Aspire 5, meanwhile, also uses Ryzen 5000 series processors but downgrades its GPU to a Radeon RX 640. It has up to 24GB of memory and, like the Aspire 7, up to a 1TB SSD. Acer measures it at 0.7 inches thick and is gearing it towards “Amateur bloggers, photographers and students.”
Both computers also come with USB-C and Wi-Fi 6 support, plus basic thermal control options and software for ensuring color accuracy. They also both have minimal visual designs, with the Aspire 7 coming in black and the Aspire 5 having both black and white options.
The Acer Aspire 7 will launch in North America this March for a starting price of $749, while the Acer 5 will come out at the same time for a starting price of $549.