Acer Aspire 5336 review

From tiny netbooks to high-performance multimedia centres, Acer manufacturers a broad range of impressive laptops to suit every budget. The Aspire 5336-T353G32Mnkk comes in at the more affordable end of the spectrum and its low price means it's also a distinctly average performer.

The 15.6-inch screen is the first disappointment. It has a green tinge that is sure to irritate anyone who wants to watch films or view photos. Despite featuring a 1366 x 768- pixel resolution, detail is also surprisingly poor. The display is very good at suppressing reflections in bright light, however, so is great for anyone who has to work under harsh office lighting.

The chassis is well put together and built from hard black plastics so will survive the rigours of life on the road.

Unlike the MSI CR620-643uk, the design is a little uninspiring, but at this price point that's only to be expected.

Malleable keyboard

Acer's unique keyboard design is employed here, with the keys standing up off the chassis independently. Unfortunately, the plastics used are fairly malleable, and there's quite a bit of flex evident when typing.

However, only those with a firmer touch will notice this, and the spacious keys make typing quick and easy, which will be good news for regular typists.

An Intel Celeron processor provides the power, combined with 3072MB of memory. Performance isn't very competitive, especially compared to the Core i3 powered laptops from Lenovo and MSI. However, if you're only interested in running everyday applications, such as your web browser and music jukebox, there's more than enough power on offer.

Graphically this is also a weak laptop, while the Lenovo G560 and MSI CR620-643uk can handle regular photo editing, this laptop's integrated card will struggle with anything more demanding than streaming videos via the internet and watching DVDs. Nevertheless, for many this will be enough.

Benchmarks

Battery life: 227 minutes
MobileMark 2007: 165
3DMark 2003: 1551

The 2.5kg chassis is manageable if you've got to carry the laptop around all day, but we had hoped for a battery life of more than 227 minutes from such a low-powered machine - so it is not great for those who need a laptop to travel with.

802.11n and Gigabit Ethernet provide the fastest networking technologies available, which is great for those who need to connect to the internet regularly, while the inclusion of an HDMI video out means you can easily view your content on a high-definition TV or monitor.

Unfortunately the Acer Aspire 5336-T353G32Mnkk isn't all we'd hoped for. Usability, performance and portability are all disappointing and make this laptop hard to fully recommend.

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