Acer Aspire V5-171-6867 Pro Reviews

At $550, the Acer Aspire V5 171-6867 offers competitive processing speeds, a sharp display and Webcam, easy portability, responsive keyboard and touch-pad inputs, comprehensive port and connectivity options (including Bluetooth), and a generous amount of hard drive storage. True, gamers will need a faster processor and better graphics—and we found fault with fan noise and the V5’s relatively short battery life. But students and commuting businessfolk will find their general-purpose computing needs easily met by this machine, whether you call it an ultrabook, a netbook, or a notebook.

All things aside if you are in the market for a quality 11-inch notebook this is certainly one of the better options available. Given the impressive price/performance ratio and specs you’d expect to see in a larger notebook you’ll love the Aspire V5. Of course all that in a tiny package gets quite hot, and if you’re going for an Ivy Bridge and 500GB hard drive you might as well pick up something with a 14 or 15-inch display. For those that want some top of the line performance while not suffering in the portability and ease of use department — you could certainly do worse. The battery life barely managing 5 hours no matter the task was a problem with the small battery however. For a few more dollars you could get a bigger screen and better battery life with similar performance. Do you need the lightweight and small size? If so this is the notebook for you.

The Acer Aspire V5 proves that there’s room in 2012 for ultraportable laptops that aren’t technically ultrabooks. Priced between $500 and $550, Acer’s new laptop is a few hundred dollars cheaper than most comparable ultrabooks, but it’s just as light and portable, if not quite as thin. Honestly, I’ve never understood why Intel sets limits on how thick a laptop can be to wear the ultrabook label, but there’s no limit on weight, which is much more important. Anyway, the Acer Aspire V5-171 doesn’t boot as quickly as an ultrabook, and unfortunately it doesn’t have quite as much battery life as I’ve come to expect from an ultrabook. But it has a user replaceable battery, which almost makes up for that deficit. The laptop also lacks some of the premium features you’ll find in some pricier notebooks such as a high resolution display or backlight keyboard. But, slow boot speed aside, the Acer Aspire V5-171 performs just about as well in most tests as an ultrabook that costs twice as much money. Acer’s new laptop is just cheaper.

It's hard not to appreciate a tiny laptop with the guts of a full-fledged ultrabook for only $500. The Acer Aspire V5-171-6867 is a true value pick for an ultraportable, but cramped dimensions and a weak battery life prevent this otherwise fully loaded laptop from being a true killer product. If you want the most computer in the smallest chassis for the least amount of money, however, this is an excellent consideration. I just can't help but wonder about the future of ultraportable products like these in the face of a wave of Windows 8 tablets and hybrid devices to come, many of which might be preferable.