Acer Aspire 5 (2021) – AMD vs Intel

[ntab Configuration]

The Acer Aspire 5 is currently one of the most popular lines of mainstream budget laptops. Earlier this year, noteb.com published a review of the 2021 version with Intel Core i5 11th gen processor, paired with integrated Iris Xe Graphics. It is now only fair to take a closer look at its AMD counterpart, featuring a Ryzen 5 5th generation U-series processor paired with the latest AMD Vega 7 integrated graphics.

Since both Intel and AMD versions have very similar chassis, this review will focus more on the performance difference between these two versions of the Acer Aspire 5. For more general information about the AMD version of this laptop, please click this link for more info.

[ntab General overview]

As mentioned before, at first sight, both versions of the Acer Aspire 5 are rocking almost identical chassis. However, there are two significant differences.

The first difference is the hinge mechanism. While the A515-56 (Intel variant) has a fancy hinge mechanism that lifts the chassis from the ground when fully opened, the A515-45 (AMD variant) has a more traditional hinge design that does not raise the laptop in any way. This hinge behaviour makes the Intel variant, in theory, have better cooling since the lifted chassis allows the laptop to more efficiently pull fresh air from underneath itself. Also, another side effect of the different hinge mechanisms is that the AMD version cannot be opened with one hand, while the Intel version can.

Acer Aspire 5 hinge system

The second difference is that the AMD variant has noticeable less keyboard deck flex and feels sturdier, despite having the same materials.

Both machines have the exact screen panel model, but because each display is unique, the AMD variant does not suffer from backlight bleeding as much as the Intel one.

Here is a link to the calibrated display profile of the reviewed unit. This profile will not perfectly match other displays of the same model. Still, using this profile should give better overall colours.

sRGB profile and calibration

Also, something worth mentioning is that the AMD version had fewer software related problems during testing. For example, while testing the Intel version, some games in x64 format or games that were using the Vulkan renderer refused to run. There were little to no problems with the AMD version, except for Call of Duty: Warzone, which could not be tested due to driver issues related to the latest AMD Ryzen processors.

Call of Duty Warzone error message

[ntab Disassembly]

[ntab Benchmarks]

[ntab Gaming benchmarks]

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[ntab Temperatures]

Acer Aspire 5 cooling system AMD vs Intel

While the two versions of the Acer Aspire 5 have very similar chassis, they approach the cooling solution differently. The Intel version has one big heat pipe that carries heat from the processor to the laptop’s single fan, while the AMD version has two small heat pipes stitched together that also carry heat to a single fan. However, visually the two stitched heat pipes of the AMD version seem to have a higher heat carrying capacity than the single big one on the Intel version. Thus, from this perspective, the AMD version should have better cooling. On the other hand, the Intel version has a hinge mechanism that lifts its bottom while the laptop is in use, improving the laptop’s airflow and cooling. Overall, it is difficult to say which laptop version has better cooling without consistent testing.

All temperature measurements were performed at an ambient temperature of 26° C (78.8° F).

During the standard 30 minutes AIDA64 stress test (CPU, FPU, cache), the processor reached an average temperature of 73.7°C (164.6°F), with a maximum of 74.8°C (166.6°F). The processor managed to keep an average frequency of 2.71 GHz at these temperatures, with occasional dips to as low as 2.57 GHz on some of its cores. 2.71 GHz is noticeably above the 2.10 GHz minimum base speed, meaning that the laptop’s cooling solution is adequate for processor-only intensive workloads.

In the combined AIDA64 + Unigine Superposition stress test (which had both the processor and the RX Vega 7 Graphics under heavy load for 30 minutes), the processor reached a maximum temperature of 79.4 °C (174.9 °F) and throttled until it settled at a temperature of 72.8 °C (163.0 °F). During this time, the processor kept an average clock speed of 2.36 GHz with occasional dips to as low as 2.22 GHz.

Please keep in mind that these synthetic tests are meant to push the machines to their maximum limits. While gaming, the machines behaved very differently than during regular use. The AMD version constantly throttled the CPU to a very low 1.4 GHz clock speed while keeping the laptop’s temperature hovering between 69-70 °C (156.2-158 °F). With the Intel version, the CPU’s clock speeds moved more freely between 1.31 GHz and 4.23 GHz, with temperatures hovering between 60-65 °C (140-149 °F).

After all the tests conducted by the Noteb review team, it is safe to conclude that the AMD version of the Aspire 5 has a better cooling solution. Despite the in-gaming throttling and higher overall temperatures, it had far better results than the Intel version, which heavily sacrifices performance to keep temperatures under 80 °C (175 °F).

[ntab Battery life]

The AMD version has a 50 Whr battery, while the Intel version has a slightly bigger 53 Whr battery. We tested both laptops using a simulated continuous web browsing session over the WiFi. The browsing session involved checking emails/news, social media and accessing multimedia websites, similar to the behaviour of an average user. The level of brightness was set on both machines according to visibility and usability, at 60%. The sound volume was also set to 50%.

Despite having a smaller battery, the AMD version lasted 8 hours and 45 minutes. This is considerably better than the Intel version which lasted 7 hours. The machines were tested using both Firefox and Edge and yielded similar battery life results regardless of the browser.

The AMD version charged from 5% to 100% in 1 hour and 48 minutes with the 45.1 W power adapter included in the box, while the Intel version did it in almost 2 hours.

[ntab Conclusion]

Pros:

• clean design;
• bright display
• decent selection of ports;
• great battery life;
• backlit keyboard;
• decent gaming performance
• fingerprint reader

Cons:

• poor colour coverage display;
• weird Numpad implementation;
• lots of bloatware

So, which one is better? Well, for their designed purposes, both laptops are great in an office environment or school. However, if the user wants to squeeze every bit of performance out of the machine, then the AMD variant is the way to go. Overall, the AMD version offers slightly better performance in gaming and general use. It has better battery life and, depending on the region, sells for a bit less than the Intel version.