TechRadar Verdict
Although this machine was never going to win any awards for graphics performance, there is more than enough power available for your day-to-day computing needs
Pros
- +
Great power
- +
Generous storage
- +
Good networking options
- +
Build quality
Cons
- -
Limited in ports
- -
Graphics grunt
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
Acer's Aspire range consists of its consumer laptops and the Aspire 5732Z-443G32Mn is a laptop that offers real value for money thanks to the great power, performance and portability it manages to offer.
Performance-wise it features a Intel Pentium T4400 running at 2.2GHz, backed up with 3GB of memory, meaning that it offers more power than most laptops at this price. This will be useful if you regularly multitask programs or use resource-heavy applications, such as photo-editing suites.
This isn't a multimedia powerhouse, however - an inevitability at this low price. The integrated Intel graphics card means that, while basic photo editing is possible, playing the latest games is not an option.
The 320GB hard drive is certainly generous, providing plenty of room for storing your photos, music and movie libraries. It's also possible to use the optical drive to burn DVDs and CDs – great for backing up your data.
Build quality is impressive and the chassis is durable enough for life on the road. It's a rather stolid and functional design, however, and those after something that looks a bit more exciting would do well to check out the Samsung R530.
One thing we did notice was that the palmrest tends to get quite hot after a while. Nevertheless, the keyboard is excellent and provides a concise typing action. The travel may be a little firm for some, but we liked it a lot.
A dedicated numeric keypad is included and will prove very useful for those who regularly input data into spreadsheets, for example.
Strong connectivity
Networking is excellent and, even though most other laptops now include 802.11n Wi-Fi as standard, this laptop boasts Gigabit Ethernet for the fastest possible wired connections.
Having said that, this laptop is a little lacking when it comes to ports. There are only two USB ports to connect peripherals to, which we think is a little limiting, and Acer has positioned them directly next to each other, meaning one large peripheral can easily obscure both ports.
This is also doesn't feature an HDMI port, so you can't connect it to an external high-definition (HD) display.
We like the Acer Aspire 5732Z-443G32Mn very much, and are impressed by the power on offer for the money. Ultimately, the lack of ports doesn't really detract from the overall usability, making this a great option.
Follow TechRadar Reviews on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techradarreview
