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The Acer Aspire ES1-512 is an average laptop in the grand scheme of things but then it is cheap, very cheap if you can get it for £179 in flash sales. That said, there's plenty of competition out there especially if you don't mind looking at alternative operating systems (either Ubuntu or Chrome OS). Also, bear in mind that this laptop will get a free upgrade to Windows 10.
We liked
The ES1-512 provides decent value for money. It comes with a few better-than-average applications and a great battery life, outdoing rivals in these respects. It is a great all-rounder which is probably why it has proved to be a best buy.
We disliked
Acer's entry-level laptop could do with a boost in raw CPU performance even if it means cutting other corners. I dislike the location of the ports, and their layout feels unintuitive and counterproductive. As for the bundled software, while it helps bringing in residual revenue for Acer, it does nothing to improve the intrinsic value of the device.
Final verdict
The Aspire ES1-512 could have been a much better laptop but the guys at Acer seem to have hit the right note given how popular the laptop is. I still believe that it would be worth investing a tad extra to get a laptop with a more powerful processor, as the rest of the configuration is more than adequate.
