Just before I fly to Japan 3 months ago, i did a check up for my 1.5 years old ASUS Laptop to its nearest service point in Bandung City, West Java. Ever since i realize that my ASUS X555 LJ hard drive was damaged. When I checked it up using HD Tune Pro, i soon find out that the error was coming from Interface CRC Error Count. The impact is, my laptop hang and BSOD often. However, it seldom happen though. But I just spent my first month in Japan and it went totally broke. I had no choice but to purchase a new laptop, because otherwise I can’t do single thing.
However, the laptop price in Japan is hilariously expensive. It really is not worth the price to performance scenario. If you spent 10 millions IDR (equally 80.000 JPY) you only get 7th gen i5 and integrated intel graphic which is for me, it was so LOL. Like, I played Dota and casual gaming quiet often, the integrated intel graphic is far than enough for gaming. Also, I did a lot of 3 dimensional rendering in vray, i worked a lot with graphic processing software, therefore dedicated graphic is necessary. I have visited 3 different store in Yahatanishi, and none of the laptop specs they provided could satisfy me, not even a bit. So, it leave me no choice, I have to bought it from amazon. And guest what, I found a very affordable laptop and is really worth the price to performance. Though, I don’t really care about appearance, this laptop was a gold within a sand. It is Acer Aspie E5 576G 5762. (Disclaimer : Acer didn’t paid anything for this, so this is a honest review from your fist time user, since I have always picked up ASUS brand before)
I bought this laptop on October 28th from this link : https://amzn.to/2RCJkOR and it is referred as amazon’s choice top product ! It is equipped with 8th gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB single channel RAM, 256GB SSD and FHD 15.6″ TN panel. It is so far the best laptop with its technical specs at the current price. Anyway, for full technical specs, you can directly check this link https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.GTSAA.005
(The white backlight keyboard is nice, anyway) Now, let’s get down to the honest review right away ! The build quality is quiet tough. Its interior is alumunium brush finished. However, its quiet prone to fingerprint. The keyboard feels is quiet good, not too tactile but acceptable. Touchpad is responsive, and it supports 10 fingers sensor even though i never use my 10 fingers while using it.
I’ve been using this laptop for a month or so, and so far its performance is satisfying. It never lags, it very stable, and can accommodate my daily needs for designing, office, 3d modelling, and casual gaming such as Dota 2 and StarCraft. (Except, the Windows 10 is quiet troublesome sometimes). However, there is one issue on this laptop. It is thermal and heating issue. I can find it on Google that any other users are experiencing the same thermal issue.
However, the thermal rise tend to be abnormal. For an example, i was only opening Google Chrome with several tabs opened, Office, Music and .pdf management software but the heat is increasing up to 60 degree Celcius and is causing the the fan too noisy. And if I working on Adobe Illustrator, the CPU temperature went up to 65 degree sometimes, and 60 degree at normal even though I was working on Air Conditioned Room. This isn’t comfort thermal to work though. For comparison, my previous i3 laptop went only around 55 C when I was working with Adobe Illustrator and Google Chrome opened. So I can conclude that this temperature is abnormal, though.
When it comes down to gaming, the temperature went incredibly crazy as it reach almost 90 degree in Dota 2. If I played dota for 5 games straight and my CPU might get burned as well. I tried to lower down the resolution, and some graphic settings (even though I can easily reach 60fps in high settings), but still, the temp tend to stay at 85 degree which is quiet worrying.
Afterward, I do a Googling and searching on some forums and I can find the exact same cases for this laptop. Fortunately, i have figured out my solution. The CPU was worked extra hard (especially in high-performance scenario), because the CPU received maximum voltage from the AC adapter. However, when I do the undervolt for the CPU, while on the same time also preventing the CPU to use Intel Turbo Boost the CPU temp decreasing significantly. I did it through Windows 10 power management settings.
In power options settings, in maximum processor state (plugged in), I lower the value down to 85% from 100%. As i have mentioned earlier, this will prevent the CPU to work at the full load which also mean it prevents the CPU to rise its temperature. However, the benchmarking value seems to be decreasing. At its maximum performance, i can get around 500cb scores (for Cinebench benchmarking apps). However, when I do the undervolt, it falls to around 300cb. Though, in my daily use, I can’t feel the significant performance loss, so it is still acceptable.
But, the good thing is the CPU temp is now far more stable than before. For the same daily use scenario, with Office, Chrome, and some other apps opened, the CPU temperature runs stable at around 43 degree celcius. As for gaming, it stays at 75 degree, 10 degree lower than the previous settings. However, it is still capable to run Dota 2 at 60 fps with this settings, so it is still a good performance, though.
Well, my conclusion is, it is a very good laptop for its price. You can get a SSD, 8th gen Intel CPU, 8 GB RAM, MX 150 Graphic which is still capable to play some triple A title games at various settings (though, this laptop was never meant to gaming, but it’s still okay). Although, you still need to do some settings, if the heat of the laptop is troubling you a lot. Well, for me, it caused me so much trouble. Oh, one more thing is, I can never get this laptop in my country (Indonesia), at least for this time. It is only sold in USA and some other countries in Europe, so well, after all I’m happy with this laptop. And hopefully, I did a right investment in this machine.
Acer, this is my first time using your products line up. Don’t let me down.
Cheers !
Sapta Maulida 